Jimmy Tompkins was born in
Margaree Forks, Nova Scotia, a small farming community on
Cape Breton Island. From 1888-1895, he attended
St. Francis Xavier University in alternate semesters while teaching Greek and Mathematics to support himself. He attended the
Urban College of the
Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Papal Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith) in Rome from 1897 to 1902. On his return, he continued teaching at St. Francis Xavier University and became the vice-rector in 1907. Working closely with the
Carnegie Corporation, he implemented various reform and modernization programs, culminating in an unsuccessful attempt to amalgamate various sectarian and non-sectarian colleges in the
Maritime Provinces into one nondenominational university centered around
Dalhousie University in
Halifax. Although the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Halifax
Edward McCarthy supported amalgamation, the Catholic Bishop of Antigonish
James Morrison successfully opposed it and eventually exiled Tompkins to the tiny fishing village of
Canso, Nova Scotia as parish priest for Canso, Little Dover and Queensport. As parish priest Tompkins observed firsthand the plight of the poor fishing community there and helped organize and lead what would become the
Antigonish Movement of cooperative fisheries, stores, housing projects, and adult study groups. The Antigonish Movement was eventually institutionalized in the form of the Extension Department at St. Francis Xavier, which was headed by Tompkins' double-cousin Father
Moses Coady and which included Father Hugh MacPherson,
A.B. MacDonald and others. ==Career highlights==