Bishop Josheph Armand Legrand, CSC
THE GREAT VISIONARY BISHOP JOSEPH ARMAND LEGRAND, CSC (1916-1929)
- Name : Bishop Josheph Armand Legrand, CSC
- Date of Birth : April 19, 1853
- Place of Birth : Laigle, France
- Death : April 10, 1937 (Dreux, France)
- Role : Bishop of Dacca, Congregation of Holy Cross (C.S.C.)
- Tenure : 1916–1929 (Bishop Emeritus thereafter)
Rev. Bishop Joseph Armand Legrand, CSC, became bishop in 1916 was a Holy Cross missionary from France and was the second Bishop of Dhaka. He had been a missionary in Japan for six years as a member of the Foreign Mission Society of Paris before he joined Holy Cross in 1895. He first came to East Bengal in 1903, returned to France in 1914, then came back as bishop of Dacca June 1, 1917. Due to World War I the See had remained vacant for a full year. The first official act of Bishop Legrand was to name Father Crowley his Vicar General in 1916, recognising fully his zeal and many talents.
Being inspired by the Ad Extremas, the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, bishop dreamt of founding a local congregation at Toomilia, (a parish under Dhaka Archdiocese, where the Mother House of SMRA Congregation is located). To achieve his aim, Bishop Legrand brought in Holy Cross Sisters and Catechist Sisters of Mary Immaculate to supplement the work of the sisters of Our Lady of the Mission, who had worked alone for so many years in East Bengal. He shared his dream with the American Holy Cross Sisters who were serving at St. Mary’s School. In 1929, he gave the responsibility to them. Meanwhile, he retired and the great project of founding a new congregation was entrusted to his successor Rev. Bishop Timothy John Crowley, CSC.