François Norbert Blanchet (September 30, 1795 – June 18, 1883) was a
French Canadian-born
missionary priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
and
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...
of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
who was instrumental in establishing the Catholic Church presence in the
Pacific Northwest. He was one of the first Catholic priests to arrive in what was then known as the
Oregon Country and subsequently became the first
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
and
archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oregon City (now known as the
Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon).
Early life and priesthood
François Norbert Blanchet was born near Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud in
Lower Canada (present-day
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
). Along with his younger brother
Augustin-Magloire Blanchet, he entered the
Seminary of Quebec
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
and was ordained a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
in 1819.
Blanchet spent a year working at the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
in Quebec before being sent to do missionary work with the
Micmac and
Acadian people in present-day
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...
. To be able to preach to the local Irish, Blanchet became fluent in English.
[Catholic History''](_blank)
O'Hara, Edwin V. Portland, Oregon.: Glass & Prudhomme Co., 1911 In 1827 he was summoned back to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
and became a
pastor.
Missionary work and episcopal career
In the 1830s,
John McLoughlin sent letters from
French Canadian Catholic employees of the
Hudson's Bay Company requesting from
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
Provencher of the
Red River colony
The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Ba ...
to send
priests to what was then known as the
Oregon Country.
[Blanchet, Francis Norbert, and Edward J. Kowrach. Historical sketches of the Catholic Church in Oregon. Fairfield, Wash.: Ye Galleon Press, 1983] Bishop Provencher originally suggested that priests be sent to the
Willamette Valley but the Hudson's Bay Company pressed for the considered mission to be on the
Cowlitz River, north of the
Columbia River.
Blanchet was appointed the Vicar General of the Oregon Country, with fellow priest
Modeste Demers to aid in the missionary efforts. The missionaries were instructed by Archbishop
Joseph Signay of Quebec: "In order to make yourselves sooner useful to the natives... you will apply yourselves... to the study of the Indian languages... so as to be able to publish a grammar after some of your residence there."
The two priests along with
nuns and lay people departed from Quebec on May 3, 1838, and traveled along the
York Factory Express.
Arriving on 18 November at
Fort Nez Percés, a Hudson's Bay Company fur trade outpost located in the present state of
Washington, Blanchet celebrated
Masses and baptized three Roman Catholic converts.
[
]
In November of that year, they arrived at
Fort Vancouver in present-day
Vancouver, Washington. A delegation composed of French-Canadians from the Willamette Valley composed of
Pierre Belleque,
Joseph Gervais and
Étienne Lucier were present to greet them.
During their winter stay at the Fort, the priests held services in
Chinook Jargon with
Klickitats in attendance.
Blanchet and Demers held Masses in various buildings within the fort, and Catholics often had to share worship space with
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
s, an arrangement that did not please either group.
Beginning on January 3, 1839, Blanchet, with Belleque and Lucier, went to the
French Prairie farms maintained by the French-Canadians. The first Catholic Mass south of the Columbia river (in the Oregon Country) was celebrated at the
St. Paul church on January 6, where Blanchet remained for five weeks.
During his second visit in March 1839 to Cowlitz to visually explain basic Catholic religious concepts, Blanchet created the "Sahale stick" or stick from God in
Chinook Jargon.
[White, Kris A. White, and Janice St. Laurent. "Mysterious Journey: The Catholic Ladder of 1840." Oregon Historical Quarterly 97, no. 1 (1996): 70-88.] This was later made more complex with the use of cloth, to allow for additional representations. The use of the Sahale stick was later adopted by Methodists and Presbyterians like
Daniel Lee and
Henry H. Spalding.
Blanchet was the first non-Native American to make an overnight stay on
Whidbey Island in May 1840, where he offered Mass for several tribes at an outdoor altar; he had been invited by Chief Tslalakum.
[ ] The chief presented him with a huge wooden cross ( long) and by 1841 the inhabitants were building a log church in the same area. Blanchet stayed on the island for nearly a year.
In February 1841 several gatherings were convened to determine the fate of recently deceased
Ewing Young's estate, the first of the
Champoeg Meetings which two years later saw formation of the
Provisional Government of Oregon. Jason Lee as chairman of the first meeting on the 17th proposed that a Willamette Valley-based settler government be formed. Included in the considered government was the position of governor, which led Blanchet to counter propose a political system with a judge as the highest authority.
[Creating a Provisional Government in Oregon: A Revision, Loewenberg, Robert J., Seattle: The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 68, No. 1 (Jan., 1977), pp. 19-20] During the subsequent meeting held at
David Leslie's home near
Champoeg on the next day Blanchet was selected to chair a committee to draft the laws of government.
[Grover, La Fayette]
''The Oregon Archives''
Salem: A. Bush, 1853 Blanchet was still opposed to the contemplated political structure, and six months later asked for a reprieve of his duties.
On December 1, 1843, the
Vatican under
Pope Gregory XVI established the
Vicariate Apostolic of the Oregon Territory, and named Blanchet its vicar apostolic. With no bishops out west to consecrate him, Blanchet had to journey home to Quebec to be consecrated a bishop. He began his journey for Canada in December 1844, boarded a steamer on the Columbia River, touched at
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...
doubled
Cape Horn
Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramà ...
, landed at
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, went by rail to
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
, took a vessel to
Boston, Massachusetts, and finally proceeded by rail to Montréal, a journey of .
Blanchet was consecrated a bishop on July 25, 1845 by Archbishop
Ignace Bourget at
Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral in Montréal.
Then on July 24, 1846, the Vatican under
Pope Pius IX divided the vicariate apostolic into three dioceses:
Oregon City
)
, image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg
, imagesize =
, image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845
, image_flag =
, image_seal = Oregon City seal.png
, image_map ...
,
Vancouver Island, and
Walla Walla. Blanchet was named Bishop of Oregon City, while Demers was named Bishop of Vancouver Island and Augustin Blanchet Bishop of Walla Walla. The Diocese of Oregon City was elevated to an
archdiocese on July 29, 1850, and François Blanchet was elevated to archbishop.
He retired in 1880; retaining the title of archbishop, he was named to a titular see, in the practice of that time. He died in 1883 and is interred at St. Paul Cemetery in
St. Paul, Oregon
St. Paul is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. It is named after the Saint Paul Mission founded by Archbishop François Norbert Blanchet, who arrived in the Oregon Country in 1838 to minister to the Catholic inhabitants of French Pr ...
.
François’s brother was
Augustin-Magloire Blanchet, who was the Bishop of Walla Walla until 1850 and then the Bishop of the Diocese of Nesqually, which later became the
Diocese of Seattle.
Legacy
In 1995, the Archdiocese of Portland approved the plan to build a Catholic secondary school in Salem, Oregon, under the condition the school be named Blanchet.
Blanchet Catholic School
Blanchet Catholic School (BCS) is a private Catholic high school and middle school in Salem, Oregon, United States. Blanchet's school colors are royal blue and white.
History
Blanchet was founded in 1995 after the tradition of two former Catholi ...
opened in 1995.
See also
*
St. Paul Roman Catholic Church (St. Paul, Oregon)
*
Pierre-Jean De Smet
References
External links
François Norbert Blanchet: ''Catholic Encyclopedia''Missionaries Blanchet and Demers reach Oregon*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchet, Francois Norbert
1795 births
1883 deaths
Champoeg Meetings
Roman Catholic archbishops of Oregon City
19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States
Pre-Confederation Canadian emigrants to the United States
American people of Québécois descent
Oregon Country
Oregon pioneers
Canadian Roman Catholic missionaries
Participants in the First Vatican Council
Roman Catholic missionaries in the United States