Fonds CTK - Boniface Heidmeier fonds

Father Boniface Heidmeier was born Hermann Joseph on 6 Dec 1880 in Westphalia, Germany. On 1 Nov 1902, Fr. Boniface took the habit in Amiens, France, and made his simple profession on 4 Nov 1903 in Clevedon, England. He obtained a degree in Dogmatic Theology and Philosophy from the International College of St. Anthony in Rome in 1903-1904. He received minor orders on 23 July 1904 at the Lateran in Rome. His solemn profession was made on 4 Nov 1906 in Quebec and he was ordained into the priesthood on 20 Dec 1908 in Quebec.

Fr. Boniface's ministries included the Thuringian Province of St. Elizabeth of Fulda in Germany, 1904-1905, and ministry to Polish Franciscans at Pulaski, 1909. In April 1909, Fr. Boniface arrived at the Franciscan mission in Lamoureux, Alberta, and supervised the construction of the first Franciscan friary and parish in Western Canada in the north Edmonton Packing Plant Mission. From 1909-1927, Fr. Boniface served various parishes and missions in Alberta in English, German, French, and Polish; the parishes and missions included Ross Creek, Chipman district, Cookville, Suckerslough, Pine Creek, Warspite, Redwater, Smokey Lake. He also conducted clergy and sisters' retreats for many years. In 1926, Fr. Boniface recruited 21 young men for St. Anthony's College in Edmonton from a series of missions in Saskatchewan.

In 1927, Fr. Boniface was sent to Vancouver where he founded St. Francis of Assisi Parish in 1936 and was its pastor for the next 25 years. St. Francis church was constructed in 1938 and St. Clare's Convent for sisters was founded in 1945. The St. Francis Parish school was built in 1945-1947. Fr. Boniface was the superior of the Vancouver's St. Francis Friary and Regional Commissary for the Third Order. In 1961, Fr. Boniface moved to St. Joseph's Friary in Victoria as the Custodial Historian.

Fr. Boniface Heidmeier died on 18 Mar 1971 in Victoria. He is buried in Ocean View Cemetery in Vancouver.