(30 June 1787-8 May 1857), clergyman. Born at Quebec. Parents: François Gaulin and his wife Françoise Amiot. He was ordained to the priesthood 13 Oct. 1811. Soon after, he was named curate to Fr Alexander Macdonell. After a short period in Kingston, he ministered to the parishes of St. Raphael’s and St. Andrew’s from June 1812 to the spring of 1815, therefore during the War of 1812. A period of service in the Maritimes and Lower Canada followed. In the Maritimes he learned some Gaelic, though in doing so he presumably built on skills he had begun to acquire at St. Raphael’s and St. Andrew’s. Some authorities speak of his proficiency in Gaelic (“an intimate knowledge of the Gaelic tongue,” Flynn 27), but Choquette in his life in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, which is the standard source on Gaulin, speaks more cautiously of his having “acquired some facility in Gaelic while in the Maritimes.”

     In 1833 Gaulin was made bishop of Thabraca in Numidia and coadjutor (with right to succession) to Bishop Macdonell, by whom he was well regarded. Among his duties, he was in charge of completing the church at St. Raphael’s. At this stage of his life he resided, apparently for several years, at St. Raphael’s. He was therefore the second bishop to be resident at St. Raphael’s. In 1837 he moved from St. Raphael’s to Toronto, and later he moved to Kingston. The Montreal Transcript of 7 Nov.1837 reported that “An address has been presented to Bishop Gaulin, by the Catholics of the county of Glengary, on the occasion of His Lordship’s removal from St. Raphael’s to Toronto. This is a very happy instance of attachment to a good man, without reference to origin. Bishop Gaulin is a French Canadian.” The newspaper was being condescending, but most certainly the address and the newspaper comment on it must be seen in the light of the current troubles in Lower Canada. And the Glengarrians of course were just on the brink of their memorable intervention in Lower Canada on the loyal side in the Rebellion.

     On the death of Bishop Macdonell in 1840, Gaulin became the second bishop of Kingston. He was troubled by mental illness and although he kept the title of bishop to his death he had to be removed from the administrative duties of his office. He died at Sainte-Philomène in Lower Canada. St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedal in Kingston, where Bishop Macdonell is buried, was built during Gaulin’s period as bishop (the great 200-foot tower is of later date).

Life of Gaulin by J.E. Robert Choquette, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, VIII * Flynn * Margaret Angus, The Old Stones of Kingston (1966) 50