Pierre-Paul Durieu (; December 3, 1830 – June 1, 1899), was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

missionary and the first Bishop of New Westminster, in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada.

Life

Durieu was born in 1830 in Saint-Pal-de-Mons, the second son of Blaise Durieux and Mariette Bayle, a farming family who had sheltered the clergy during the French Revolution. As a boy, both he and his brother were allowed to study at the local

minor seminary A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Priesthood (Catholic Church), Catholic priests. They are generally ...

Monistrol-sur-Loire Monistrol-sur-Loire is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation wa ...

Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. It is famous for being the location of a Marian apparition that took place in 1657. A church was built on the site of the apparition and completed in 1858. It ...

on October 31, 1848. He professed

religious vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhist tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, many different kinds of r ...

on 1 November of the following year. After that, he did his studies in preparation for

Holy Orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

at the Oblate seminary in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. In 1854 Durieu was ordained as a priest by

Eugène de Mazenod Eugène de Mazenod, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI (born Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod; 1 August 1782 – 21 May 1861) was a French people, French aristocrat and Catholic Church in France, Catholic bishop who founded the congregat ...

, the founder of his

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of Religious institute (Catholic), religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from Religious order (Catholic), religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – i ...

, and, after being sent for further training in English and theology, was sent to join the

Oregon 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 was the principal leader fo ...

s, where he was assigned to serve at St. Mary's Mission in the Yakima Valley and the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of ...

area of

. In 1875, Paul Durieu was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

as the

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

for the

Vicariate Apostolic An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

of British Columbia by Louis-Joseph d'Herbomez, the Vicar Apostolic. Upon his death, Durieu became Vicar Apostolic, and later the first Bishop of New Westminster (which later became the

Archdiocese of Vancouver The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vancouver () is a Roman Catholic Latin archdiocese that includes part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its cathedral archiepiscopal see is the Holy Rosary Cathedral (Vancouver), Holy R ...

). During his tenure, Durieu commanded the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

people of British Columbia to obey four directives: discontinue performing

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

dances; cease the practice of

potlach A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Scienc ...

; cease consulting shamans; and to abstain from drinking and gambling. He wrote a book of

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

stories in

Chinook Jargon Chinook Jargon (' or ', also known simply as ''Chinook'' or ''Jargon'') is a language originating as a pidgin language, pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to othe ...

in order to teach the Catholic faith to the native peoples under his care, and set up mission centers where they could keep their nomadic traditions but be reached by the missionaries. He attempted to secure treaties with the Canadian government to protect the rights of the peoples of the First Nations against the growing encroachments of the white settlers, to no avail. Durieu died in 1899 and was buried alongside his predecessor at St. Mary's Mission. The farming community of Durieu, northeast of Mission, B.C., is named after him.

References

*
"Former Bishops"
Archdiocese of Vancouver. Retrieved March 2, 2013.

Catholic Hierarchy. Retrieved March 2, 2013. *Search in the Haute-Loire civil register (archives43.fr)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Durieu, Pierre-Paul 1830 births 1899 deaths People from Haute-Loire French Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic bishops of New Westminster 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Canada Franco-Columbian people Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Translators to Chinookan French emigrants to pre-Confederation British Columbia 19th-century French translators Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada French expatriates in Canada French missionary linguists