Modeste Demers
| His Excellency, the Most Reverend Modeste Demers | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Vancouver Island | |
| |
| Province | Oregon City |
| Diocese | Vancouver Island |
| Appointed | July 28, 1846 |
| Installed | November 30, 1847 |
| Term ended | July 28, 1871 |
| Successor | Charles John Seghers |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | February 7, 1836 by Joseph Signay |
| Consecration | November 30, 1847 by François Norbert Blanchet |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 11, 1809 Saint-Nicholas-de-Lévis, Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) |
| Died | July 28, 1871 (aged 61) Victoria, British Columbia |
| Buried | St. Andrew's Cathedral |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Parents | Michel Demers & Rosalie Foucher |
| Education | Séminaire de Québec |
Modeste Demers (11 October 1809 – 28 July 1871) was a Roman Catholic Bishop and missionary in the Oregon Country.[1] A native of Quebec, he traveled overland to the Pacific Northwest and preached in the Willamette Valley and later in what would become British Columbia.
Early life
Modeste Demers was born 11 October 1809, in Saint-Nicolas, Quebec, in Lower Canada.[2] Of French descent, he studied at the seminary of Quebec and was ordained on February 7, 1836 by Archbishop Joseph Signay.[2] After becoming a priest in 1836, he left the following year to be a missionary at the Red River Colony. There he worked under the direction of Bishop Joseph-Norbert Provencher. His stay there was short and he traveled to the Oregon Country with François Norbert Blanchet to perform his duties as a priest and missionary. (See St. Paul's Mission.)
Oregon Country
In 1838, Demers arrived with Blanchet in the Willamette Valley of what would become the U.S. state of Oregon.[2] Demers quickly became immersed in the work with the local trading post staff and the Chinookan nation. For the Chinooks, he quickly learned the language and worked on a dictionary, a catechism, a prayer book, and hymns in that language. In 1844, he became the first priest at Oregon City.[2]
British Columbia
Demers's work carried him north to present day British Columbia where his knowledge of the French and English languages, and his affinity for native languages allowed him to continue his mission. In 1847, Demers was consecrated Bishop of Vancouver Island by Bishop François Norbert Blanchet of Oregon City and also appointed apostolic administrator of the Queen Charlotte Islands and New Caledonia (Canada).[2][3] It was a diocese which lacked funds and priests and was largely unexposed to Christianity. He worked tirelessly, traveling to raise funds and acquire new priests. As well, he struggled with health problems during his last years.
One of his friends was Sir James Douglas who was governor of Vancouver Island and British Columbia and the head of the Hudson's Bay Company operations in the Columbia District. Demers and Douglas had met when Demers had first arrived at Fort Vancouver. They had interacted in this small colony which was replaced by a much larger and modern society during Demers tenure.
He died on 28 July 1871.[2] Modeste Demers, the first Bishop of Victoria, is interred in the crypt of that city's St. Andrew's Cathedral.
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Modeste Demers — An apostle of the Pacific Coast of North America, and the first Catholic missionary among most of the Indian tribes of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia; born at St. Nicholas, Quebec, 11 Oct., 1809; died at Victoria, B. C., 21 July, 1871. His father, Michel Demers, and his mother, Rosalie Foucher were two worthy representatives of the French Canadian farmer class. Endowed with a delicate conscience and a distinctly religious disposition, young Demers resolved to enter the ecclesiastical state, and studied first privately and then at the seminary of Quebec. He was ordained 7 Feb., 1836, by Bishop Signay, and after fourteen months passed as assistant priest at Trois-Pistoles, he volunteered for the far-off mission of Oregon, where the white population, made up mostly of French Canadian employés of the Hudson Bay Company, was clamouring for the ministrations of a priest. Having crossed the American continent in the company of the Rev. F. N. Blanchet, his superior, he reached Walla-Walla, on the lower Columbia, 18 Nov., 1838, and immediately applied himself to the care of the lowliest, that is the Indian tribes, which were then very numerous and not any too meek. He studied their languages and visited their homes regularly, preaching, catechizing the adults, and baptizing the children, especially those whose habitat lay to the north of the Columbia. His apostolic zeal even led him on along the coast of British Columbia, and in 1842 he proceeded inland as far north as Stuart Lake, evangelizing as he went all the interior tribes of that province.
His companion, the Rev. F.N. Blanchet, having been elevated to the episcopate, Demers had to submit to what he considered a burden beyond his strength. He was consecrated bishop on 30 Nov., 1847, and appointed to the spiritual care of Vancouver Island, making the incipient town of Victoria his headquarters. As a bishop he continued his favourite work among the Indians, though he soon had to give his best attention to the rough and cosmopolitan element which now formed his white flock. For its benefit he procured in 1858 the services of the Sisters of St. Anne, who established schools at Victoria and elsewhere, and of the Oblate Fathers, who took in hand the evangelization of the natives and also founded a college in his cathedral city. In 1866 he assisted at the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, and shortly afterwards he was one of the fathers of the cumenical Council of the Vatican. He died soon after his return, beloved alike by Protestants and Catholics, and revered for his gentleness and his apostolic zeal on behalf of the poor and lowly.
Historical Sketches of the Catholic Church in Oregon (Portland, 1878); PAQUET, Fragments de l'histoire de la paroisse de Saint-Nicolas (Lévis, 1894).
References
- Back to citation Jean Usher. "DEMERS, MODESTE". University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 Back to citation occurrence 2.3 Back to citation occurrence 2.4 Back to citation occurrence 2.5 Corning, Howard M. Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956.
- Back to citation "Bishop Modeste Demers †". Catholic Hierarchy.
External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Modeste Demers". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.