‘Why . . . I have come home’
Islanders grieve death of legendary priest, historian, and man of the people
As Islanders grieve the loss of one of their own, the passing of Rev. F.W.P. Bolger, there will be celebrations in the Pearly Gates that an eminent, intellectual and man of the people is joining their ranks.
No doubt St. Peter has organized a cèilidh with all the personalities that crossed the pen of this prolific historian. Bishop Bernard Angus MacEachern, the Scottish, multilingual priest who came to the Island in 1790, might say grace, perhaps hosted by Fr. Bolger’s favourite Canadian politician, Sir John A., helped of course by his private secretary, Joseph Pope from Charlottetown, and whose family hosted the first prime minister’s family in the summer of 1870. His favourite Island politician, George Coles, a 19th century Liberal Premier, merchant and distiller, who introduced responsible government to the Island, might act as bartender, first serving Lucy Maud Montgomery, the subject of one of his many books.
Few Islanders had travelled to so many villages, parishes, and landmark sites as this avid historian.
His glowing personality, clever quips, and terrific memory made him a friend of the great and near great. That includes politicians of all stripes, religious leaders of all faiths and persuasion, including his students who flocked to take his courses, and numerous audiences who were enthralled by his soaring rhetoric on Canadian figures of note, the Confederation debates, the Fathers of Confederation, and such Island personalities like Bishop MacEachern, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Edward Whelan.
Born in Stanley Bridge in 1925, and graduating with an arts degree from St. Dunstan’s, Francis William Pius Bolger entered the seminary and was ordained in 1951.
He then started graduate study in Canadian history at the University of Toronto. Professor Donald Creighton dominated the department, the biggest and best in Canada, and by force of luck and circumstance, became his thesis advisor.
A superb writer, he was working on a two-volume magisterial study of Sir John A. Macdonald, while his colleague, Maurice Careless, was working on a biography of George Brown. Both suggested openly there was little real chronicle of the historic 1864 Charlottetown conference, and they suggested this young priest would be the perfect candidate to document what really took place at this landmark meeting. That meant going to London and trace through the archives of the Colonial office, the British Library, and the private papers of leading figures in the British government. The end result became his thesis, published in book form in 1964, the 100th anniversary of the Charlottetown conference, entitled Prince Edward Island and Confederation.
The preparation of this study, and the thoughtful comments from Creighton and Careless, taught him three important lessons. The first, comparing other countries, Canada needed to place key documents in Canadian archives. He quietly built a following to improve the archives in Ottawa, the Confederation Center and the Island collection at UPEI. He pressed for the foundation of the Island Magazine, a pioneering course on Island history, allowing students to do papers on local stories, community histories, and prominent personalities by addressing real documents - letters, diaries, newspapers, parish records and land titles. The third lesson was the need to advance Island studies, not only within the university, but to engage Islanders to write their family stories, open their archives to the wider community, and encourage local histories.
Islanders of all sorts knew well this man of the cloth. Many knew him for his countless hours at St. Dunstan’s as the coach of the debating team, when many Island teams advanced to Maritime champion tournaments or the national finals. Others knew him as a welcoming voice for students from other provinces, or other countries. He had a huge contribution in Ottawa circles, as a member of the National Historic Sites and Monuments board, the P.E.I. Heritage Foundation board, and chaplain for the Royal Airforce.
But home was his life story, no more than in Stanley Bridge, not far from the birthplace of the author of Anne of Green Gables.
No doubt she will be called at the heavenly cèilidh to welcome Fr. Bolger to this august gathering. She might well repeat one of his favourite Lucy Maud writings, a piece that expresses her love of the Island, written in 1939 for a volume called the Spirit of Canada: Peace! You never know what peace is until you walk on the shores or in the fields or along the winding red roads of Abegweit on a summer twilight when the dew is falling and the old, old stars are peeping out and the sea keeps its nightly tryst with the little land it loves. You find your soul then. even if you are not Abegweit born, you will say... “Why . . . I have come home.”