Antoine Langlois (1812-1892) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest that acted as a missionary in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

and later

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Early life

Anthony Langlois was born in

Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud () is a parish municipality in Quebec, Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud had a population of living in of its total ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, on 10 November 1812.John B. McGloin. ''Anthony Langlois, Pioneer Priest in Gold Rush San Francisco.'' Southern California Quarterly 49, No. 4 (1967), pp. 407-424. Langlois studied at

Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

. He was ordained as a minister by

Pierre-Flavien Turgeon Pierre-Flavien Turgeon (November 13, 1787, in Quebec City, Quebec – August 25, 1867, in Quebec City) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop of Quebec for 17 years. Life Pierre-Flavien Turgeon was born in Québec on November 13 ...

Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec The Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec ("Our Lady of Quebec City"), located at 16, rue de Buade, Quebec City, Quebec, is the primatial church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec. It is the oldest church in Canada and was the f ...

in 1838. After several assignments in Quebec, Langlois joined Jean-Baptiste Bolduc on a journey to the

to aid Catholic conversion efforts there.

Polynesia

Langlois departed from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

on 14 September 1841 and sailed for the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

via the

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

. Their vessel visited the port of

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

at the end of December, where they waited for 63 days for another ship to continue ferrying them. They then went across

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

to visit the

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

and other parts of the

Polynesian Triangle The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawaii (''Hawaiʻi''), Easter Island (''Rapa Nui'') and New Zealand (''Aotearoa''). This is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia. Outsi ...

. Next Langlois and Bolduc on 5 May 1842 reached the

Kingdom of Tahiti The Kingdom of Tahiti or the Tahitian Kingdom was a Polynesian monarchy founded by paramount chief Pōmare I, who, with the aid of British missionaries and traders, and European weaponry, unified the islands of Tahiti, Moʻorea, Teti‘aroa, ...

. The two priests had a meeting with Queen

Pōmare IV Pōmare IV (28 February 1813 – 17 September 1877), more properly ʻAimata Pōmare IV Vahine-o-Punuateraʻitua (otherwise known as ʻAimata – "eye-eater", after an old custom of the ruler to eat the eye of the defeated foe), was the Queen of ...

to explain their status as British subjects rather than French.Landerholm (1956), pp. 130-134. Heading north from Tahiti, on 21 June their ship reached the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian:

ɛ ɐwˈpuni həˈvɐjʔi Latin epsilon or open E (majuscule: Ɛ, minuscule: ɛ) is a letter of the extended Latin alphabet, based on the lowercase of the Greek letter epsilon (ε). It was introduced in the 16th century by Gian Giorgio Trissino to represent the pronunc ...

, was an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country from 1795 to 1893, which eventually encompassed all of the inhabited Hawaii ...

. Greeted by fellow Catholic

Louis Désiré Maigret Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...

, he informed the two priests that they had to wait several days for the next ship to visit

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

barge ''Cowlitz''. On 18 August the ''Cowlitz'' left the port of Honolulu for the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

.Landerholm (1956), p. 143.

Pacific Northwest

Disembarking at Fort George on 19 September, the Catholics met priests from the

Methodist Mission The Methodist Mission was the Methodist Episcopal Church's 19th-century conversion efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Local Indigenous cultures were introduced to western culture and Christianity. Superintendent Jason Lee (missionary), Jason Lee was ...

departing the region for the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

. Langlois and Bolduc on 15 October reached

Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th-century fur trading post built in the winter of 1824–1825. It was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was ...

where they were greeted by

John McLoughlin John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, (October 19, 1784 – September 3, 1857) was a French-Canadian, later American, Chief Factor and Superintendent of the Columbia District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver from 1 ...

. The two priests reached

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

on 17 October after traveling through the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, the ...

and

Oregon City Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, located on the Willamette River near the southern limits of the Portland metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 37,572. Established in 1829 ...

.Landerholm (1956), p. 145.

Vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

François Blanchet, their superior, after having the men join him in performing religious services, gave them their appointments. Langlois was to remain at St. Paul while Bolduc was to winter at the St. Francis Xavier Mission. Over the next six years Langlois was often stationed at St. Francis Xavier to proselytise among the

Cowlitz people The term Cowlitz people covers two culturally and linguistically distinct indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest; the Lower Cowlitz or Cowlitz proper, and the Upper Cowlitz / Cowlitz Klickitat or Taitnapam. Lower Cowlitz refers to a southwe ...

. During this time he met members of the

Jesuit Order The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by ...

, such as Michael Accolti, John Nobili and

Pierre-Jean De Smet Pierre-Jean De Smet, SJ ( ; 30 January 1801 – 23 May 1873), also known as Pieter-Jan De Smet, was a Flemish Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He is known primarily for his widespread missionary work in the mid-19t ...

, who likely had an influence on him in considering joining the order. Intending to study further in Quebec, Langlois departed from the Pacific Northwest early in 1849.

California

While in the

Boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, Father Jean Baptiste Brouillet convinced Langlois to remain there to administer the spiritual needs of the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

city. He was active in the city until at least 1853.

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Joseph Alemany Joseph Sadoc Alemany, Dominican Order, O.P. (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Josep Sadoc Alemany i Conill''; July 3, 1814 – April 14, 1888) was a Spanish Catholic Church in the United States, Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdioc ...

of the

Diocese of Monterey The Diocese of Monterey in California () is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese, of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the central coast region of California. It comprises Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz counties. ...

appointed Langlois as vicar of the northern half of the spiritual district. He joined the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

in 1853 and remained an active member until the late 1860s. Langlois later was appointed to be the pastor in Spanishtown on the coast, arriving on 21 July 1866 and remained until 1872.Russell, Jack. "Historic Church Marks Centennial." The Times (San Mateo), October 1, 1968. Langlois' last position was as chaplain of the

Congregation of Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers (; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice. Their first school opened in Waterford, Ireland in 1802. At the time of its ...

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, later appointment to an additional location in Martinez during 1872. Langlois died on 9 May 1892.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langlois, Antoine 1812 births 1892 deaths People from Chaudière-Appalaches 19th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Canadian Roman Catholic missionaries Canadian missionaries in the United States Oregon Country Clergy from Oregon Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California Roman Catholic missionaries in the United States Pre-Confederation Canadian expatriates in the United States 19th-century American clergy