Joseph-Alexandre Baile

Joseph-Alexandre Baile (19 April 1801 – 31 July 1888) was a Sulpician priest and administrator of seminaries in Montreal. Baile was often in conflict with Joseph-Vincent Quiblier, the superior of the Sulpicians in Canada. He also opposed splitting the Notre-Dame parish of Montreal, and verbally fought with Ignace Bourget about that issue to such an extent that Catholic officials in Rome ended up having to settle the matter themselves by decree. Baile was also a spiritual guide for the Grey Nuns, and helped establish a new seminary in the town of Oka. He retired in 1881 and died in Montreal.

Early life

Baile was born on 19 April 1801 in Saint-Genest-de-Beauzon, France. He studied with the Basilians, then entered a Sulpician novitiate in 1823. Two years later, he was sent to Canada and ordained a priest in October 1826. Baile defended the teachers and criticised the leader of the Sulpicians in Canada, Joseph-Vincent Quiblier, for being too timid. Baile communicated to the Sulpician superior general Paris that Quiblier would make decisions about the college without consulting Baile and that Quiblier refused to expel any students because he did not want a declining enrollment in the school. Baile's tenure saw a decline of 50% in registrations at the seminary, due to a bias against French-Canadian culture among the Sulpicians that ran the school and Baile's authoritative administration style.

Baile went to France in 1846 to report to the superior general of the Sulpicians about the situation in Montreal. He returned to Canada the following year and became director of the Grand Séminaire de Montréal, where he remained for 20 years. He focused on increasing the theological education of the students, commenting on how many came from impoverished backgrounds and treated the seminary as temporary employment before they were hired by a college. Baile resisted pressure from Bishop Ignace Bourget to have the theology training focus more extensively on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope.

In 1863, a dispute started over the question of dividing the Notre-Dame parish. Baile supported the community consensus against the separation and was worried that Bourget wanted to dismantle the Saint-Sulpice Seminary. Bourget's erection of churches without secular help caused the parish to have one parochial church council which, in his role as superior of the Sulpicians, was to be chaired by Baile. To prevent Baile's influence in the council, Bourget ordered that Benjamin-Victor Rousselot, the acting pastor, be appointed as chair instead.

Later life and death

In 1866 Baile was appointed as the spiritual guide for the Grey Nuns; He also led ecclesiastical retreats and presided at the opening of the faculty of theology at Université Laval à Montréal. He also established a Trappist monastery in Oka, Quebec, The Canadian government was planning to send the Iroquois to Ontario and in 1875 Baile offered $20,000 to the government to expel the Iroquois from the area. When Édouard-Charles Fabre was appointed as bishop of the parish, Baile kept a distant relationship with the bishop, and was annoyed at Fabre's requests for funds. Baile retired in 1881 and died on 31 July 1888 in Montreal.