Note 245 — LETTER XII
Reading edition
Francis Norbert Blanchet had been a parish priest in the diocese of Montreal. In 1838, when a call came from the Canadians in the valley of the Willamette for a priest to minister to their settlement, Blanchet was sent out with the Hudson's Bay brigade, arriving at Fort Vancouver in the autumn of that year. Early in January, 1840, St. Paul's parish, in Willamette Valley, was established by Blanchet, and the church erected therefor in 1836 was occupied. In 1843 Blanchet was appointed vicar apostolic of the territory of the British crown west of the Rockies. Going to Montreal for consecration, he afterwards visited Europe, where he was created archbishop of Oregon, with a seat at Oregon City. For his portrait see Lyman, Oregon (New York, 1903), iii, p. 422. His Historical Sketches of the Catholic church in Oregon during the past forty years was published at Portland in 1878.—Ed.