| François Norbert Blanchet | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop Emeritus of Oregon City | |
Archbishop François Norbert Blanchet |
|
| Archdiocese | Oregon City |
| See | Oregon City |
| Enthroned | July 24, 1846 |
| Reign ended | December 12, 1880 |
| Predecessor | None (first bishop) |
| Successor | Charles John Seghers |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | July 18, 1819 |
| Consecration | July 25, 1845 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 30, 1795 Saint-Pierre, Rivière du Sud, Province of Quebec |
| Died | June 18, 1883 (aged 87) Portland, Oregon |
| Buried | St. Paul Cemetery, St. Paul, Oregon |
| Parents | Pierre Blanchet |
François Norbert Blanchet (September 30, 1795 – June 18, 1883) was a French Canadian-born missionary priest and prelate of the Roman Catholic Church 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 and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oregon City (now known as the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon).
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François Norbert Blanchet was born near Saint-Pierre, Rivière du Sud in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec). Along with his younger brother Augustin-Magloire Blanchet, he entered the Seminary of Quebec and was ordained a priest in 1819.[1] Blanchet spent a year working at the cathedral in Quebec before being sent to do missionary work with the Micmac and Acadian people in present-day New Brunswick. In 1827 he was summoned back to Montreal and became a pastor.[1]
In the 1830s, French Canadian Catholic employees of the Hudson's Bay Company petitioned the bishop in their native Quebec to send priests to what was then known as the Oregon Country. Blanchet was appointed the Vicar General of the Oregon Country and left Quebec on May 3, 1838 along with fellow missionary priest Modeste Demers as well as nuns and lay people.
They arrived at Fort Walla Walla, a Hudson's Bay Company fur trade outpost located in the present state of Washington where Blanchet celebrated Masses and baptized three Roman Catholic converts.[2] In November of that year, they arrived at Fort Vancouver in present-day Vancouver, Washington. Blanchet and Demers held Masses in various buildings within the fort, and Catholics often had to share worship space with Protestants, an arrangement that did not please either group.[3]
Years later, in the aftermath of the death of pioneer Ewing Young, Blanchet was selected to help draft the laws of a new government in Oregon at a February 18, 1841, meeting.[2] This meeting was held at David Leslie’s home on French Prairie near Champoeg.[2] The meeting was one of the first Champoeg Meetings that were held to deal with the estate left by Young at his death as there were no known heirs. Two years later these meetings would culminate in the formation of the Provisional Government of Oregon.
On December 1 1843, the Vatican under Pope Gregory XVI established the Vicariate Apostolic of the Oregon Territory, and named Blanchet its vicar apostolic. Then on July 24, 1846, the Vatican under Pope Pius IX divided the vicariate apostolic into three dioceses: Oregon City, 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 died in 1883 and is interred at St. Paul Cemetery in St. Paul, Oregon.
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 Diocese of Seattle.[1][4][5]
In 1995, the Archdiocese of Portland approved the plans to build a Catholic secondary school in Salem, Oregon under the condition the school be named Blanchet. Blanchet Catholic School opened in 1995.