Augustin-Magloire Blanchet
Encyclopedia
Augustin Magloire Alexandre Blanchet (22 August 1797 – 25 February 1887) was a French Canadian
prelate
of the Roman Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest
who served as the first bishop
of the now-defunct Diocese of Walla Walla and of the Diocese of Nesqually (now known as the Archdiocese of Seattle
). Along with his elder brother and several other fellow French Canadian missionaries, Blanchet was instrumental in establishing the Catholic Church presence in the present-day U.S. state
of Washington.
. The younger brother of François Norbert Blanchet, Augustin Blanchet studied at Le Petit Séminaire de Québec
and then at the Grand Seminary of Quebec. He was ordained
to the priesthood
on 3 June 1821 in the Archdiocese of Quebec
and held several church positions in Quebec and Nova Scotia
, mainly around the Montreal
area.
in Montreal, Blanchet was appointed bishop of the new Diocese of Walla Walla in the Oregon Country
(now in the U.S. state
of Washington). Blanchet was to follow his brother, who had gone to the Oregon Country in 1838 to set up a Catholic Church presence there, and was the bishop
of the Diocese of Oregon City (now the Archdiocese of Portland
).
Blanchet was ordained bishop on 27 September 1846 by Archbishop Ignace Bourget
at Saint-Jacques Cathedral
in Montreal. He left for Oregon on 4 March 1847 and arrived in Walla Walla on 5 September. The killing of Protestant missionaries
in the Whitman massacre
on 29 November 1847 led to an uneasy relationship among Blanchet, the native Cayuse
people, and the United States
government, and as a result Blanchet retreated to St. Paul
in the Willamette Valley
.
On 31 May 1850, the Holy See
under Pope Pius IX
established the Diocese of Nesqually (later spelled "Nisqually"), with its episcopal see
in Vancouver
in what was by then known as the Oregon Territory
, and named Blanchet bishop of the new diocese. 3 years later the Walla Walla diocese was completely eliminated and much of its territory transferred to the new Nesqually diocese.
located at Fort Vancouver
as his cathedral
, renaming it St. James Cathedral. In 1853, the diocese's territory became part of the Washington Territory
.
In 1868, Francis X. Prefontaine
, a young priest and fellow Quebec native, requested Blanchet's permission to build a church building in bustling Seattle to support the city's first Catholic parish
, which he had recently established. Blanchet believed that Seattle was a lost cause, but nevertheless he gave the priest permission to build a church as long as Prefontaine would raise the money for it himself and it would cost the diocese nothing. Prefontaine eventually raised enough money to build a church, and in 1869 he opened Seattle’s Catholic church.
of Ibora. He continued to live in the Diocese of Nesqually in his retirement, and died in Vancouver on 25 February 1887.
Blanchet's first cathedral at Fort Vancouver
was succeeded by a new St. James Cathedral in Vancouver in 1885; the original cathedral burned down in 1889. In the early 20th century, Francis X. Prefontaine
, who years earlier had requested Blanchet's permission to build a church in Seattle, convinced Bishop Edward O'Dea
to move the episcopal see
of the Diocese of Nisqually to Seattle, and in 1903 the diocese was renamed the Diocese of Seattle. The cathedral O'Dea built in Seattle retained the St. James Cathedral name of Blanchet's original cathedral.
Bishop Blanchet High School
in Seattle is named for Blanchet.
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
of the Roman Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
who served as the first bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
of the now-defunct Diocese of Walla Walla and of the Diocese of Nesqually (now known as the Archdiocese of Seattle
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle
The Archdiocese of Seattle is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. state of Washington. Headquartered in Seattle, the archdiocese encompasses all counties in the state west of the Cascade Range. Its cathedral is St. James Cathedral, and its present archbishop is J...
). Along with his elder brother and several other fellow French Canadian missionaries, Blanchet was instrumental in establishing the Catholic Church presence in the present-day U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Washington.
Early life and priesthood
Augustin Magloire Blanchet was born in the village of St. Pierre Riviere de Sud, in present-day QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. The younger brother of François Norbert Blanchet, Augustin Blanchet studied at Le Petit Séminaire de Québec
Petit Séminaire de Québec
Le Petit Séminaire de Québec is a private French-language Roman Catholic secondary school in the Vieux-Québec area of Quebec City which was originally part of the Séminaire de Québec...
and then at the Grand Seminary of Quebec. He was ordained
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
to the priesthood
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
on 3 June 1821 in the Archdiocese of Quebec
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec
The Archdiocese of Québec is the oldest Catholic see in the New World north of Mexico. The archdiocese was founded as the Apostolic Vicariate of New France in 1658 and was elevated to a Diocese in 1674 and an Archdiocese in 1819...
and held several church positions in Quebec and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, mainly around the Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
area.
Bishop of Walla Walla
On 28 July 1846, while a canonCanon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
in Montreal, Blanchet was appointed bishop of the new Diocese of Walla Walla in the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
(now in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Washington). Blanchet was to follow his brother, who had gone to the Oregon Country in 1838 to set up a Catholic Church presence there, and was the bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
of the Diocese of Oregon City (now the Archdiocese of Portland
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland
The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It encompasses the western part of the state of Oregon, from the summit of the Cascades to the Pacific Ocean...
).
Blanchet was ordained bishop on 27 September 1846 by Archbishop Ignace Bourget
Ignace Bourget
Ignace Bourget was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several courses of religious study, and in 1837 was named co-adjutor bishop of the newly...
at Saint-Jacques Cathedral
Saint-Jacques Cathedral (Montreal)
Saint-Jacques Cathedral was the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Montreal from 1825 to 1852, named for St. James the Greater....
in Montreal. He left for Oregon on 4 March 1847 and arrived in Walla Walla on 5 September. The killing of Protestant missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
in the Whitman massacre
Whitman massacre
The Whitman massacre was the murder in the Oregon Country on November 29, 1847 of U.S. missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven others. They were killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians. The incident began the Cayuse War...
on 29 November 1847 led to an uneasy relationship among Blanchet, the native Cayuse
Cayuse
The Cayuse are a Native American tribe in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation...
people, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government, and as a result Blanchet retreated to St. Paul
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 Territory in 1838 to minister to the Catholic inhabitants of French Prairie. The population was 354 at the 2000 census...
in the Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...
.
On 31 May 1850, the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
under Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
established the Diocese of Nesqually (later spelled "Nisqually"), with its episcopal see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
in Vancouver
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
in what was by then known as the Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
, and named Blanchet bishop of the new diocese. 3 years later the Walla Walla diocese was completely eliminated and much of its territory transferred to the new Nesqually diocese.
Bishop of Nesqually
On 23 January 1851, Blanchet established the existing St. James ChurchSt. James Catholic Church (Vancouver, Washington)
St. James Catholic Church is a church building and parish of the Roman Catholic Church located in Vancouver, Washington, United States. The parish is part of the Archdiocese of Seattle and traces its roots to the initial arrival of missionary priests in the Oregon Country in the 1830s; its first...
located at Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...
as his cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
, renaming it St. James Cathedral. In 1853, the diocese's territory became part of the Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
.
In 1868, Francis X. Prefontaine
Francis X. Prefontaine
Monsignor Francis Xavier Prefontaine was a French Canadian priest and missionary, an early resident in the pioneer days of Seattle, Washington, and a figure in the history of Seattle and the Puget Sound region of Washington State...
, a young priest and fellow Quebec native, requested Blanchet's permission to build a church building in bustling Seattle to support the city's first Catholic parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
, which he had recently established. Blanchet believed that Seattle was a lost cause, but nevertheless he gave the priest permission to build a church as long as Prefontaine would raise the money for it himself and it would cost the diocese nothing. Prefontaine eventually raised enough money to build a church, and in 1869 he opened Seattle’s Catholic church.
Retirement, death, and legacy
Blanchet retired as bishop on 23 December 1879, at age 82, and was named titular bishopTitular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....
of Ibora. He continued to live in the Diocese of Nesqually in his retirement, and died in Vancouver on 25 February 1887.
Blanchet's first cathedral at Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...
was succeeded by a new St. James Cathedral in Vancouver in 1885; the original cathedral burned down in 1889. In the early 20th century, Francis X. Prefontaine
Francis X. Prefontaine
Monsignor Francis Xavier Prefontaine was a French Canadian priest and missionary, an early resident in the pioneer days of Seattle, Washington, and a figure in the history of Seattle and the Puget Sound region of Washington State...
, who years earlier had requested Blanchet's permission to build a church in Seattle, convinced Bishop Edward O'Dea
Edward John O'Dea
Edward John O'Dea was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Seattle from 1896 until his death in 1932....
to move the episcopal see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of the Diocese of Nisqually to Seattle, and in 1903 the diocese was renamed the Diocese of Seattle. The cathedral O'Dea built in Seattle retained the St. James Cathedral name of Blanchet's original cathedral.
Bishop Blanchet High School
Bishop Blanchet High School
Bishop Blanchet High School is a coed Catholic high school located just north of Green Lake in Seattle, Washington, United States. The school was founded in 1954 by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, and named for the first bishop of the diocese, A.M.A. Blanchet...
in Seattle is named for Blanchet.
External links
- Bishop Augustin Magloire Alexandre Blanchet at Catholic-Hierarchy.org