boarders — all sons of farmers except one, the son of an Indian chief. The first Catholic school for girls in Oregon was opened early in October, 1844, by six Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who had just arrived from Belgium with Father De Smet. So immediate was the success of the sisters that Father De Smet writing under date of 9 October, 1844, says that another foundation was projected at Oregon City. This plan was not realized until 1848. In September of that year four sisters took up their residence and opened a school at the Falls. Meanwhile two events occurred which paralyzed all missionary work for a decade. The first was the Whitman massacre already referred to, which aroused the intensest hostility to the Catholic missionaries. The second was the discovery of gold in California which for the time caused a large emigration of the male population from Oregon. This movement of population deprived the Archdiocese of all religious, both men and women. In May, 1849, a large brigade composed of Catholic families from St. Paul, St. Louis, and Vancouver started for the California mines. As a consequence St. Joseph's College was permanently closed in June of the same year. The Jesuit Fathers closed the mission of St. Francis Xavier on the Willamette; the Sisters of Notre Dame closed their school at St. Paul in 1852, and the following spring closed the school at Oregon City and left for California. The outlook was very dark. The tide of immigration soon turned again towards Oregon, but found the Church crippled in its educational and missionary forces. A debt had been contracted in building the cathedral and convent at Oregon City. To raise funds Archbishop Blanchet went to South America in September, 1855, and remained there making collections until the end of 1857.
A new era opened for Catholic education in Oregon in Oct., 1859, when twelve Sisters of the Holy Names arrived from Montreal and opened at Portland St. Mary's academy and college, which as the mother-house of the community in the province of Oregon has for half a century played an honourable part in the educational work of the north-west. In August, 1871, a school for boys, called St. Michael's College, was opened with 64 pupils. Its first principal was Father Glorieux, now Bishop of Boise. In 1875 we find the pupils publishing a college paper, The Archangel . At the invitation of Archbishop Gross, the Christian Brothers took charge of St. Michael's College in 1886. The name was subsequently changed to that of Blanchet Institute in honour of the first archbishop. This school has since been superseded by the modern and ample structure of the Christian Brothers Business College. In 1882 the Benedictine Fathers, at the invitation of Archbishop Seghers, established their community first at Gervais, and two years later at Mt. Angel. A college for young men at Mt. Angel was opened in 1888. The destruction of the monastery by fire in 1892 was the occasion of building the magnificent monastery and college in its present commanding position. While Mt. Angel's theological department is intended primarily for the education of young men for the order, it has been the Alma Mater of a number of priests of the archdiocese. In 1904 the priory was raised to the dignity of an abbey. At Mt. Angel, too, has been located since 1883 an academy for girls conducted by the Benedictine Sisters, and the mother-house of the Sisters of St. Mary. This congregation was founded by Archbishop Gross in 1886. The Dominican Sisters (San Jose, California), the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scranton, Penn.), the Sisters of Mercy, and the Sisters of St. Francis (Milwaukee) conduct a number of excellent schools in the archdiocese. About nine-tenths of the parishes of the archdiocese are provided with Catholic schools. An annual Catholic Teachers Institute has been held under the auspices of the Catholic Educational Association of Oregon since 1905. These summer meetings have become very popular, and are attended by all the teachers in the Catholic school of the archdiocese. Prominent educators from various sections of the country are invited to address the institute. The meetings serve also to promote interchange of ideas and good fellowship between the teaching communities and contribute notably to the uniform educational progress of the schools.
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
The archdiocese is well equipped with institutions of charity. St. Vincent's Hospital, conducted by the Sisters of Charity of Providence, was established in Portland in 1874. It will accommodate about 350 patients. The same community conducts a hospital at Astoria. The Sisters of Mercy have charge of hospitals at Albany, North Bend, and Roseburg. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd have conducted a home for wayward girls in Portland since 1902. The judges of the juvenile court have repeatedly commended the work of these sisters in the highest terms. The archdiocese has three homes for dependent children. St. Agnes Baby Home, conducted by the Sisters of Mercy at Park Place near Oregon City, was established in 1902; it receives orphans and foundlings under the age of four years, and cares constantly for about ninety babies. St. Mary's Home for Boys is situated near Beaverton and is in charge of the Sisters of St. Mary. Here too is the location of the Levi Anderson Industrial school for boys. Occupying a commanding site on the Willamette near Oswego is the magnificent new home for orphan girls under the care of the Sisters of the Holy Names. Since 1901 the Sisters of Mercy have conducted in Portland a home for the aged, where more than a hundred old people of either sex find a home in their declining years. St. Vincent de Paul's and women's charitable societies (e.g. St. Ann and Ladies Aid) are well equipped to relieve the needy. Fraternal societies (e.g. the Knights of Columbus, Ancient Order of Hibernians, and Catholic Order of Foresters, all of which are flourishing) aid materially in the relief of the poor. The Catholic Women's League of Portland was organized in the interest of young women wage-earners, especially for that very large class who have come west to find positions and are without home ties. The proportion of Catholics to the entire population of Oregon has never been very great, perhaps not more than one-tenth, though recent immigration has tended to increase the percentage. Catholics have, however, been well represented in public life and in professional and business pursuits. In early Oregon history Dr. McLoughlin and Chief Justice Peter Burnett were distinguished converts. The latter, who subsequently became first governor of California, is the author of Reminiscences of an old Pioneer and The Path which led a Protestant Lawyer to the Catholic Church . General Lane, the first Governor of Oregon, was also received into the Church. Among the most distinguished citizens of the state today are ex-United States Senator John M. Gearin and General D. W. Burke.
