Missionaries
1.
Father De Smet
Introducing the 'black robe'
Father DeSmet was a holy man, peacemaker for Indians on frontier
By RENA DELBRIDGE
About six miles from Pinedale (Wyoming), the Green River flows past a tall bluff, a marker to
travelers past and present.
It once was the site of the energetic Green River Rendezvous, held in the early 1800s to bring
Indians, trappers and traders together for business and pleasure between Wyoming’s high
plains and rugged mountain ranges.
It is still the site of 1840’s La Messe de la Prairie, the location of the first Mass ever performed in
Wyoming and, some say, in the Rocky Mountains, a religious ceremony performed by the first
Jesuit missionary to the mountains Indians on his first voyage to meet the tribes he’d devote a
lifetime to.
Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a young Jesuit missionary fresh from Belgium and eager for
adventure, answered the Flathead Indians’ plea for a "Black Robe" of their own, someone to
guide them in Christianity, baptize and teach their children, encourage them in the Lord’s way.
"He came to them at their request," Father Robert J. Lynch, S.J., explained. As priest for Our
Lady of Peace Church in Pinedale, he stands atop that same bluff every July to honor the historic
La Messe de la Prairie and De Smet’s life work by saying Mass. "Father De Smet lived up to their
(the Indians’) expectations and they were very much committed to learning about Christianity.
He responded in a way that they took him as one of their own . . . He was devoted to them. He
really loved them."
De Smet wrote of that first Mass, "It was a spectacle truly moving to the heart of a missionary,
to behold an assembly composed of so many different nations, who all assisted at our holy
mysteries with great satisfaction. The Canadians sang hymns in French and Latin, and the
Indians in their native tongue. It was truly a Catholic worship."
His other writings of journeys and experiences among the Indians gained rapid popularity along
America’s eastern shores and throughout Europe, which in turn spurred his fundraising efforts
in his quest to establish permanent missions among the native tribes.
The Jesuit dedicated his life to America’s Indians, traveling an estimated 180,000 miles in 30
years, across oceans to raise funds in Europe for his work and repeatedly across the dangerous
West, from Missouri and Iowa to Wyoming, Montana and Canada, and to the reaches of the
Pacific Ocean.
His rapport with the Native Americans was noted by the U.S. government, which called on him
seven times in 20 years to help negotiations with tribes. De Smet was a party to several critical
peace treaties, and only at his urging did the infamous Sioux chief Sitting Bull agree to
participate in peace talks. De Smet had braved Sitting Bull’s camps on his own, without armies
and negotiators. He went in peace and was heard, helping bring an end to the hostilities
between the Sioux and other tribes among which he’d worked as a missionary.
De Smet proved more willing to see past most of his contemporaries’ negative views of Indians.
Most of their purported faults, he felt, stemmed from the way the White men pushed them
from their lands; from the alcohol introduced to their culture; and from the diseases spread by
new people of European descent.
The years of travel and harsh conditions took their toll. De Smet suffered throughout his life
from serious health problems, passing away in 1873 in Missouri, where his work started.
Source: http://www.madeinwyoming.net/profiles/desmet.php
2.
David and Catherine Blaine, about 1853
Source : http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/portraits&CISOPTR=52
Blaine, David (1824-1900) and Catharine Paine Blaine (1829-1908)
From a biography on historylink.org
David Blaine and Catharine Paine Blaine came to Seattle from Seneca Falls, New York, the site
of America's first women's rights convention, in which Catharine Paine participated. The Blaines
were Methodist missionaries who arrived in Seattle in 1853 via the Isthmus of Panama sea
route. David founded Seattle's first church, called the "Little White Church," and Catharine
became Seattle's first teacher and school administrator. After the January 1856 Battle of Seattle
(a conflict with Indians), the Blaines left for missionary duty in Portland. They returned to
Seattle in retirement in 1882.
The Blaines traveled to Puget Sound, not on the famous Oregon Trail, but by ship and on mules
over the steamy Isthmus of Panama. On their way north, the Blaines stopped for a few days at
the Olympia home of Rev. Benjamin Close, whom they called "Brother Close," followed by a
layover at Steilacoom. Arriving at Alki (present-day West Seattle) in a high wind on November
26, 1853, David took the opportunity to preach two sermons in the tiny beach settlement. This
resulted in a collection of $12.50 for the young missionaries. (Both David and Catharine were
still in their 20s.)
The Blaines were paddled from Alki to Seattle, where Arthur and Mary Denny graciously
received them. The young couple stayed several weeks in the Denny's two-room cabin. David
used the time to prepare sermons and to organize a Methodist Episcopal church.
White Church, Seattle's first church, established by David Blaine in 1855.
A Miscalculation
David's first sermon was a flop: He misjudged his small but well-educated audience, talking
down to them as if they were country bumpkins. Catharine signaled her husband in mid-sermon
to change course, which he did, and the event ended on a lighter note.
Many considered the young Blaines Eastern effetes. The couple, in turn, were offended by the
rowdy nature of early Puget Sound residents. Especially disturbing to Catharine were the habits
and living conditions of the local Indians. Catharine described entertaining in their cramped
quarters overnight guests who rolled up in blankets and slept at the foot of the Blaines' bed: "It
seemed funny at first to undress and go to bed in a room where there are men and women, but
I have got used to it."
They learned fast and immediately went to work in the fields of religion and education, making
a considerable contribution to the life of early Seattle.
Seattle's First Church
Carson Boren (1824-1912), one of Seattle's first citizens, who was known as "Uncle Dobbins,"
contributed land for a Methodist parsonage at the southeast corner of Columbia Street and 2nd
Avenue. Until the church was built, the Blaines lived in a small frame house. David held his first
services in a building known as "Bachelor's Hall" or Latimer Building near 1st Avenue and Cherry
Street.
David Blaine, without field skills of any kind, and often wearing Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes,
set to work clearing the lots given by Boren. On May 12, 1855, the " Little White Church," so
called because of the white paint, was dedicated. It was Seattle's first house of worship, and
was only 24 by 40 feet in size. Rev. William Roberts, presiding Methodist elder of the district,
preached a "cheering" dedicatory sermon based on the origins of Methodism. Jacob Maple (or
Mapel) had done most of the carpentry on the church and Henry Adams added the white paint.
Showing their Eastern upbringing, the Blaines worried about the church's dirty windows, mud
from shoes on the floor, children standing on the seats, tobacco chewers expectorating
(spitting) wherever they wished, and wet umbrellas lying about.
The White Church was nestled next to the town's first burial ground. After David T. Denny
donated land for a new cemetery, located at the present (1999) Denny Park south of Lake
Union, the remains and headstones were moved to the new site far outside the city limits.
The letters David and Catharine wrote to relatives are a source of rich detail about young
Seattle. Catharine made jam and jelly from wild raspberries and dewberries which she and
David collected by scrambling over logs. Their food included clam soup, turnips, potatoes,
lettuce, gooseberry pie, stewed apples (Catharine established the first apple orchard in Seattle)
and "Indian pancakes."
A Low Turnout
David Blaine's prayer meetings seldom attracted more than four people, and David complained
in a letter that "we are low in the scale of spirituality ... even those who moved in refined
society at home ... now show no respect for religion, no regard for the Sabbath."
Despite these disappointments, townspeople grew to like the Blaines and supported them in
many ways. Doc Maynard (1808-1873) and Carson Boren each offered land for church,
parsonage, and seminary.
On January 20, 1856, a son John was born to Catharine and David Blaine. Six days later the
Battle of Seattle erupted. David had duty at one of the blockhouses, but managed to get
Catharine and their babe aboard the Decatur in Elliott Bay. David had described the Indians as a
"poor degraded race," which would "soon disappear." Catharine compared their "stupidity and
awkwardness" to that of the Irish. The Indian uprising confirmed their worst fears and
prejudices.
In March 1856, after the Battle of Seattle, David and Catharine Blaine left for missionary duties
in Portland, where they stayed until 1863. In 1882, after Seattle had grown into a real town,
they returned in retirement. Catharine Blaine started a kindergarten, and she voted in
Washington Territory in 1884.
Monument in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery for David Blaine (1824-1900) and Catharine Paine Blaine
(1829-1908), June 2003
Catharine's role as the community's first schoolteacher is remembered today in the Catharine
Blaine Elementary School in Magnolia.
Source: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=1447
3.
Mother Joseph
Mother Joseph of the Sisters of Providence (Esther Pariseau) (1823-1902)
Mother Joseph of the Sisters of Providence gained posthumous (after her death)
recognition in 1980, when the U.S. Senate accepted her statue, a gift from
Washington state, for inclusion in the national Statuary Hall Collection. The
inscription reads: "She made monumental contributions to health care, education,
and social work throughout the Northwest." Known as "the Builder," Mother
Joseph designed and/or supervised construction of 29 schools and hospitals, one
of which was Seattle's first hospital. She is recognized as one of the first architects
in Washington Territory.
Bronze statue of Mother Joseph (Felix W. de Weldon, 1980), Capitol Visitor's
Center, Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., May 2009
Mother Joseph was born Esther Pariseau on April 16, 1823, in a farmhouse near
Saint Elzear, Quebec. The third of 12 children, she learned carpentry skills from
her father and the domestic arts from her mother. At age 20, she entered the
convent of the Sisters of Charity of Providence (later renamed Sisters of
Providence) in Montreal, where she took the name Joseph in honor of her father.
Mission to the Northwest
When Bishop A.M.A. Blanchet of the Nisqually Diocese, located on the west side
of the Cascade Mountains in Washington Territory, requested assistance, the
mother house sent five sisters, led by Sister Joseph, to the Northwest. On a cold
December 8, 1856, they arrived at Fort Vancouver, just north of the Columbia
River, ending an arduous 45-day, 6,000-mile journey by land and sea. They set to
work, converting an old Hudson's Bay building into a combination dormitory and
church, and constructing facilities for their school and orphanage.
Despite primitive conditions and hardships, the nuns persevered, feeding the
poor, caring for the sick and orphaned, teaching, and gardening. In 1858, they
opened St. Joseph's hospital, the first in the Northwest -- one tiny room with four
beds, benches, and tables carved by Sister Joseph (later given the title of Mother).
In 1874, when space needs were critical, Mother Joseph designed the large, threestory brick building -- a combination hospital, residence and academy (now listed
on the National Register of Historic Places) -- that became the sisters'
headquarters at Fort Vancouver.
Begging Tours
To finance new buildings and their work, Mother Joseph and some of the sisters
launched what they called "begging tours." They spent weeks on horseback and
camping outdoors to go to mines as far away as Montana and Colorado, where
they appealed to lucky prospectors for donations. Their records tell of outwitting
stagecoach robbers, of surviving severe storms, and of brushes with fire, wolves,
and even a grizzly bear.
Sisters of Charity of Providence with guides, Yakima, ca. 1890
When Father Kauten of Seattle contracted with King County Commissioners to
care for the indigent (very poor and possibly homeless) sick, he called on the
Sisters of Providence to manage the County's Poor Farm on the Duwamish River.
Mother Joseph sent three nuns to Seattle to run the King County Poor Farm in
Georgetown beginning in May 1877. They used a remodeled farmhouse, but soon
found the arrangements inadequate. Clothed in long black habits, the Frenchspeaking nuns encountered hostility and ridicule in the predominantly Protestant
and unchurched community. Sister Chronicler wrote, "At our arrival the people
were so prejudiced that they prevented the sick from coming to us ...."
Seattle's First Hospital
Despite all obstacles, charity cases and paying patients alike came to rely on
Seattle's only hospital. With the help of community members, they moved to
larger quarters in central Seattle, where they continued to provide free meals and
care for the indigent. As the population increased, the Sisters had to turn away
patients for lack of beds.
They called upon Mother Joseph, who purchased an existing house at 5th Avenue
and Madison Street. Although functioning in 1877, the hospital opened officially
on April 25, 1878. It was quickly inundated (filled up) with patients, and Mother
Joseph came to Seattle. She retained and worked with architect Donald McKay
(b.1841) to draft plans for the three-story wood-frame hospital that rose at 5th
Avenue and Spring Street, the site of today's Federal Courthouse. Clad in habit,
with hammer and saw in hand, she personally supervised the construction,
sometimes ripping out faulty workmanship and redoing it herself.
Providence Hospital, designed by Mother Joseph and Donald McKay, Seattle, 1881
Maintaining a demeanor of humility and self-effacement (she was humble and
didn’t grab attention), Mother Joseph continued to sign her letters with
salutations, such as "Your imperfect," "Your humble daughter," or "Yours
devotedly in Jesus' Sacred Heart." Under her leadership, the Sisters founded the
Northwest's first school of nursing in Portland in 1892, followed by the Providence
School of Nursing in Seattle. Another innovation was the popular Providence
"ticket," a pioneer form of medical insurance, which for $10 per year guaranteed
full hospital coverage for its owners.
Mother Joseph died of cancer on January 19, 1902, in her room at the Sisters of
Providence headquarters in Vancouver, Washington. In 1910 when the Seattle
hospital again ran out of space, the sisters had to hire an architect for the first
time. On September 24, 1911, they moved to their new building at 17th Avenue
and Jefferson Street. The wood-frame hospital was demolished and replaced by
the Federal Courthouse.
Today, Mother Joseph's legacy lives on. The Sisters of Providence in Washington
state are headquartered in Seattle.
Source: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5483