Francis X. Prefontaine

Francis Xavier Prefontaine (French: François Xavier Préfontaine; 1838–1909) was a French Canadian Catholic priest and missionary, an early resident in the pioneer days of Seattle, Washington, and a figure in the history of Seattle and the Puget Sound region of Washington State. He was Seattle's first resident Catholic priest and built the city's first Catholic church.

Early life Préfontaine was born in Longueuil, Quebec, near Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1838, the eldest of five children in a French-speaking, devout Catholic family. His early education took place at parochial schools and Nicolet College and he went on to study for the priesthood at the Grand Seminary of Montreal in 1859. Within three weeks after his graduation and ordination on November 20, 1863, he departed on a long sea voyage for Washington Territory in the United States via the Isthmus of Panama. He was never to return to his native Quebec.

First mission

Prefontaine's voyage finally brought him to Vancouver, Washington, in February 1864. and a fellow French Canadian. Prefontaine spoke no English, so during his stay in Vancouver he studied English and also Chinook Jargon, a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest.

Prefontaine rented a small two-room house at Third Avenue and Yesler Way in Seattle for $6 per month to be used as a church as well as his living quarters. He converted one room to a small chapel so that he could conduct services there while working to raise funds to build a church.

Honors

Monsignor The Msgr. F.X. Prefontaine fountain at Third & Yesler in Seattle, in disrepair

In July 1908 Pope Pius X conferred on Prefontaine the honorary degree of protonotary apostolic as a reward for his distinguished service in Seattle since 1869. He was invested with robes and the title of Monseigneur Member of the Papal Household (Monsignor) by Bishop Edward John O'Dea.

Namesakes In Seattle a short street named Prefontaine Place South on the site of his first church is named for Prefontaine.

On Prefontaine Place South stands the Prefontaine Building, a six-sided but nearly triangular building in the Beaux-Arts style, completed in 1909, the year of Prefontaine's death.

At the intersection of Third Avenue and Yesler Way, which is at the north end of Prefontaine Place South, just about at the site of his first house, stands a fountain inscribed with the name Francis X. Prefontaine. In his will he left the sum of $5,000 to the city "for a fountain in a public square", although the fountain was not completed until 1925.