The Oblates arrived in Oregon in 1847, at the request of Bishop Magloire Blanchet, of Walla Walla. Five missionaries made up the first contingent that came from France. They were: father Pascal Ricard, superior, scholastic brothers Felix Pandosy, Casimir Chirouse, Georges Blanchet and lay brother Célestin Verney. Brothers Pandosy and Chirouse were ordained a few months after their arrival, but Georges Blanchet refused this responsibility for a long time, out of humility, and because he had lost a finger in a hunting accident.

All around man
He was born in France in 1818 and entered the Novitiate of Notre-Dame de l’Osier in 1841. He pursued his ecclesiastical studies and taught for four years at the Juniorate in Lumières. Arriving in Walla Walla, Washington on September 5, 1847 he immediately became purchaser, architect, and builder for the missions in this territory. Wherever he lived, whether in Yakima, Vancouver, New Westminster, Lake Stuart or other missions, his name was always attached to a church, a school, or a residence.

One day, as American officials were seeking a name for a small burgeoning town at the extremity of Puget Sound, Brother Blanchet came up with a personal suggestion: “I propose Olympia. This well-known name from Greek antiquity could make our city famous one day, who knows?” Time proved him right, since Olympia became the capital of the state of Washington.

 

With gentleness
In 1872 Bishop Louis D’Herbomez ordained him to the priesthood, at the age of fifty-four. When he arrived at Lake Stuart, in British Columbia, he was saddened to learn that a recently converted Amerindian had insulted Father Pandosy. In the preceding year, the priest, in a sermon, had spoken quite strongly against drunkenness and violence. One of the congregation, who probably felt that he was the object of these words, rose in the midst of the assembly, shook his fist towards the preacher and cried out: “Come here, let’s go outside and face each other, then we’ll see who’s the top man.”

The Catholics in the area couldn’t let this insult to the priest go unpunished. The tribal chiefs ordered the delinquent one to go kneel in the middle of church and ask forgiveness. He obstinately refused for a year. When Father Blanchet got wind of the affair, he asked that the braggart be brought to him. Slowly, with gentleness, he reasoned with him: “Come on, my friend, what is this all about? You’re aware that what you did was wrong, aren’t you? Well, just do what is asked of you and it will be all over once and for all.”

The guilty one answered: “You, at least, are speaking to me softly. Yes, I committed a serious fault, and I will do everything you told me.” That very night he asked forgiveness of the whole assembly, added that he regretted all his past, and that he would not do that again. A marvel of Grace: he kept his word.

The dead man who is alive and well
Then, at the age of eighty, Father Blanchet visited a mission neighboring Lake Stuart. A stranger, upon seeing his cassock and cross, approached him hesitantly. “Did you know the old priest at Lake Stuart who just died?” Father Blanchet replied that he did not. . . But, he thought for a moment. “ An older priest at Lake Stuart… I don’t know anyone but myself!” Then he began to wonder. His surprise was complete on the following day. While returning to his residence he heard the local chief exclaim: “Father Blanchet? But I thought you had died…”

No, the dead man wasn’t dead. He would live for another eight years, but truly eight very difficult years, since he became nearly blind, and was incapable of offering Mass. He died on November 17, 1906, at eighty-eight years of age, after a long career of sixty years in the missions. He was called by the Amerindians “cher grand-père” (dear grandfather) and he left his name on a river and a lake in British Colombia.

André DORVAL, OMI