Modeste Demers

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Bishop Modeste Demers, (11 October 1809 – 28 July 1871) was born in Lower Canada and studied at the seminary of Quebec. He was ordained as a priest in 1836 and left the following year to be a missionary at the Red River Settlement. There he worked under the direction of Bishop Joseph-Norbert Provencher. His stay there was short and he travelled to the Oregon Country with François Norbert Blanchet to perform his duties as a priest and missionary.

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.

Shortly, his work carried him north to present day British Columbia where his knowledge of French and English, and his affinity for native languages allowed him to continue his Catholic mission.

In 1847, Demers was consecrated bishop of Vancouver Island and also held responsibility for the Queen Charlotte Islands and New Caledonia. It was a diocese which lacked funds and priests and was largely unexposed to Christianity. He worked tirelessly, travelling 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.

Modeste Demers, the first Bishop of Victoria, is interred in the crypt of that city's St. Andrew's Cathedral.