Modeste Demers

Modeste Demers (11 October 1809 – 28 July 1871) was a Roman Catholic Bishop and missionary in the Oregon Country. A native of Quebec, he traveled overland to the Pacific Northwest and preached in the Willamette Valley and later in what would become British Columbia.

Early life Modeste Demers was born 11 October 1809, in Saint-Nicolas, Quebec, in Lower Canada. Of French descent, he studied at the seminary of Quebec and was ordained on February 7, 1836 by Archbishop Joseph Signay. It was a diocese which lacked funds and priests and was largely unexposed to Christianity. He worked tirelessly, traveling 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.

He died on 28 July 1871. Modeste Demers, the first Bishop of Victoria, is interred in the crypt of that city's St. Andrew's Cathedral.