History
In the late 1830s French Canadians in the Oregon Territory petitioned the Quebec bishops to have missionary priests sent beyond the Rocky Mountains. In response to this plea, Fathers François-Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers were sent West to a remote part of the Quebec diocese referred to as New Caledonia by the Hudson’s Bay Company. While at Boat Encampment on the Columbia River (Mica Dam area), Blanchet and Demers celebrated Mass on October 10, 1838 the first Mass celebrated in what later became the Diocese of Nelson.
During the years of westward expansion and settlement, the spiritual needs of the region presently administered by the Diocese of Nelson came under the jurisdiction of various bishoprics: • Vicariate Apostolic of the Oregon Territory, 1843-1846 • Diocese of Vancouver Island, 1846-1863 • Vicariate Apostolic of British Columbia, 1863-1890 • Diocese of New Westminster, 1890-1908 • Archdiocese of Vancouver, 1908-1936
On February 22, 1936, His Holiness Pope Pius XI erected the Diocese of Nelson to cover the Kootenay and Okanagan regions of southeastern British Columbia.
Read more about this topic: Roman Catholic Diocese Of Nelson
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