Jean-Nicolas Lemmens

Jean-Nicolas Lemmens was born the son of Godfried Lemmens and Gertrude Bemelmans, within a large Dutch Roman Catholic, family originating from the Beek-Schimmert area in the southern Netherlands.

His family produced a number of Catholic priests, including his brother, Hendrik Lemmens, also a priest in Victoria, Canada, and Guillaume Lemmens (1884-1960), Bishop of Roermond in the Netherlands.

[3][4] He laid the foundation stone of St. Andrew's Cathedral in 1890, which can still be seen near the side entrance.

[5] During the early 1890s, Lemmens actively encouraged local Catholics to join labour organisations (including the forerunner to the British Columbia Federation of Labour which had been established in 1890) and to unite with other citizens to press, "for better working conditions".

[6][7] Lemmens travelled to Guatemala in June, July and August 1897 owing to the "prolonged exile" of local Archbishop Casanova.