Church and Spiritual Life 33

The Sylvain E. Gallant family, circa 1910. Sylvain Gallant (son of Méleme) (1839-1918) from Abram’s Village was one of the more prominent men in the Evangeline Region. After teaching for several years, he became the manager and then owner of the General Store in Abram’s Village. He was also clerk of the Circuit Court in District 3, Prince County. His first wife was Eulalie Arsenault; his second was Rosalie Bourque. Two of his children joined the Church: Mother Evangéline Gallant (1879-1959), Superior General of the Grey Nuns in Montreal from 1935 to 1946; and Father Théodore Gallant (1871-1937), parish priest and Music professor. (Musée acadien Collection)

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Father Pierre-Paul Arsenault (1866-1927). Born in Tignish, Father Arsenault served as parish priest in Mont-Carmel from 1896 until his death. He was a promi- nent member of the Acadian community on the Island and is gener- ally recognized as the principal founder of the St. Thomas Aquinas Soci- ety (the chief voice of the Island Acadians) that was created in 1919. He took on many projects, includ- ing the promotion of Acadian history and the protection of Acadian heritage. Around 1905, he began collecting “old French songs” from eld- erly Acadians. His collec- tion constitutes the old- est collection of Acadian folksongs in Canada. (Musée acadien Collection)

The United Church in Welling- ton, 1994. This church was built by Methodists in 1888. Rev. E. Bell was the first Methodist minis- ter in Wellington. The congrega- tion joined the United Church

of Canada in 1925. (Photo by Jacinthe Laforest)