Pioneer Bishops of Idaho

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Idaho up to 1900.  For more information about Idaho, see my blog of July 8, 2017.

The first non-Native Americans to come to Idaho were French Canadian fur traders, who came throughout the last half of the 18th Century and first half of the 19th Century, establishing outposts at Kalispell, Fort Hall, and Boise.  The Lewis and Clark expedition came to Idaho during 1805-1806 giving the United States a claim to the region.  But control of the Pacific Northwest would be disputed by the British and Americans until 1848.  In that year, a treaty gave the region to the United States and Idaho became part of the newly formed Oregon Territory.  Gold was discovered near Pierce in 1860 and thousands of miners came from California and the East seeking their fortune.  Mining of other minerals soon became a major industry.  The Idaho Territory was formed in 1863, and by 1870, Idaho had about 11,000 people.  It had 82,000 people when it became the 43rd State in 1890.

Native Americans in Idaho first became aware of the Catholic Faith from the French Canadians who came there over 200 years ago.  Sometime prior to 1820, a group of Catholic Iroquois, led by Ignace La Mousse, settled among the Flathead tribe, and introduced the Faith to them.  Members of the Flathead and Nez Perce tribes journeyed to St. Louis four times in the 1830s seeking the services of a priest.  The Jesuit Father Peter De Smet arrived in Idaho in 1840 and celebrated the first Mass near Henry Lake.  Father De Smet and other Jesuits ministered to the Flatheads, Nez Perce, and Pend d”Oreille tribes and established what is now known as the Cataldo Mission (dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus) in 1842—the current chapel was built in 1853 and is the oldest building in Idaho.

Prior to 1860, most Catholics in Idaho were Native American.  This changed with the discovery of gold in 1860—many of the miners were Irish Catholic.  Pope Pius IX created the Vicariate Apostolic of Idaho in 1868 at which time there were about 1,500 Catholics there.  (The Vicariate was originally of Idaho and Montana.  Montana was made a separate vicariate in 1883.)  Many of the Irish Catholics left Idaho after the gold rush ended in the early 1870s and many of the Native Americans were lost to the Faith because the U.S. Government placed them on reservations under the spiritual guidance of Protestant missionaries.  Pope Leo XIII established the Diocese of Boise in 1893—at which time there were about 7,000 Catholics out of a total population of over 100,000.  Today, it is estimated that half of Idaho’s Catholics are of Hispanic origin.

Louis A. Lootens was born in what is now Belgium in 1827.  He was ordained a priest in Paris in 1851 and came to Victoria, British Columbia, the following year.  He spent nine years there before becoming a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.  He was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Idaho (a missionary diocese) in 1868.  Lootens was given charge of a territory that included all of today’s State of Idaho as well as portions of Montana and Wyoming.  This vast territory had about 1,500 Catholics served by seven priests.  He used St. Joseph’s Church in Idaho City—the first non-mission church of any denomination in Idaho—as his cathedral, and lived in two attached rooms.  He built the first church in Boise in 1870 but it burned down shortly after completion.  Bishop Lootens also attended the First Vatican Council in 1870.  He had a difficult time in Idaho—many people left the area after the end of the gold rush in 1870 and he faced health problems caused by primitive living conditions and the need to travel by foot or horseback over the vast distances of his vicariate apostolic.  He resigned as vicar apostolic in 1876 and spent his remaining years in Canada, ministering to the native peoples and writing books.  He died in 1898.

Alphonse J. Glorieux was born in Belgium in 1844 and entered the seminary intending to become a missionary in the United States.  He was ordained a priest in Belgium in 1867 and soon left for Portland, Oregon.  He spent the next four years serving at churches in Oregon and in 1871 was appointed first president of a boy’s school in Portland.  After a nine-year vacancy, Glorieux was named the second Vicar Apostolic of Idaho in 1885 and became the first Bishop of Boise in 1893.  

The new Diocese consisted of what is now the State of Idaho and had 7,000 Catholics, 10 priests, and 27 churches.  Glorieux selected St. John the Evangelist church in Boise to be his cathedral and replaced it with a new structure.  During his 32 years as vicar apostolic and bishop, Bishop Glorieux built 93 new churches and missions, several schools, five hospitals, an orphanage, and a home for the aged.  He also ordained almost 50 priests.  He died in 1917.