Retired bishop of Prince Albert also served in Africa
(Updated April 17)
An anticipatory funeral for Bishop Thévenot will be held in the Notre Dame de la Nativité Catholic Church in Somerset, Manitoba on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Funeral liturgies will then be held at Sacred Heart Cathedral, 1401-4th Ave. West, Prince Albert, SK, with a Viewing from 2 pm. to 4 p.m. Thursday, April 24; a Funeral Vigil at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 24; and the Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. Friday, April 25. Interment will take place in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
Communications office, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Most Rev. Albert Thévenot, M. Afr., Bishop Emeritus of Prince Albert, died on 13 April 2025, at the age of 79.
Born on Nov. 4, 1945, in Somerset, Manitoba, Bishop Thévenot dedicated his life to missionary service, pastoral care, and evangelization.
He entered the Society of the Missionaries of Africa in September 1964, making his first profession of vows on June 19. 1967, and his perpetual profession Aug. 7, 1975. He was subsequently ordained to the priesthood on Aug. 2, 1980.
On May 26, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Prince Albert. He was consecrated on Aug. 6, 2008, and served the diocese with devotion until his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis on March 25, 2021.
“We are grateful to God for his many years of loving ministry and holy witness to Christ who ‘came that they may have life’ (John 10:10),” said Prince Albert Bishop Stephen Hero in a message about the death of Bishop Thévenot. “Please keep Bishop Albert, his family, brother bishops, confreres in the Missionaries of Africa, and each other in your prayers as we mourn his sudden loss.”
From 1967 to 1973, he completed his classical formation at the University College of Saint-Boniface. He pursued studies in education from 1972 to 1973, and later studied Swahili in Kipalapala, Tanzania.
From 1975 to 1976, he completed a year of studies in education at the University of Manitoba.
From 1977 to 1980, he studied theology at the Missionary Institute of London, England. He also participated in spiritual renewal programs in Jerusalem (1989) and at the Dominican Institute of Montreal (2004).
From 1973 to 1976, he served in Tanzania, teaching at the Minor Seminary of Katoke.
After his priestly ordination in 1980, he returned to Tanzania as associate pastor of Bushangaro Parish and later served at the Tabora Student Centre from 1982 to 1985. He returned to Canada to promote missionary vocations in Western Canada from 1985 to 1992, then resumed his ministry in the Diocese of Tabora, Tanzania, as pastor.
He was named regional assistant for the Tanzania-Kenya-Sudan region in 1996 and became a member of the General Chapter of the Missionaries of Africa in 1998. From 1998 to 2004, he served on the General Council in Rome as Assistant General, responsible for finances and the care of elderly members of his congregation.
In 2005, he was appointed by the Holy See as National Secretary of the Pontifical Mission Society for French-speaking Canada. On 1 July 2006, he became Provincial Superior of the North American province of the Missionaries of Africa.
Within the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Thévenot contributed to national dialogue and evangelization efforts. From 2009, he was a member of the Anglican / Catholic Bishops’ Dialogue, and from 2011 to 2017 served on the Commission for Evangelization and Catechesis.
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