Pioneer Bishops of Montana

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

The first non-Native Americans to come to Montana were French Canadian fur traders, who came to Idaho and Montana throughout the last half of the 18th Century and first half of the 19th Century.  Eastern Montana became part of the United States as a result of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Lewis and Clark expedition explored Montana during 1805-1806.  U.S. control of western Montana was not firmly established until 1848.  Fur traders established scattered settlements during the first half of the 19th Century, but large numbers of American settlers would not come until the 1860s as a result of the discovery of gold at Bannack, Alder Gulch (Virginia City), Last Chance Gulch (Helena), and Confederate Gulch (Diamond City).  Parts of Montana belonged to several different territories until the Territory of Montana was established in 1864.  Montana’s population was 21,000 in 1870.  When Montana became the 41st State in 1889, its population had grown to over 132,000.

In the second decade of the 19th Century, a group of Catholic Iroquois settled among the Flathead tribe, and introduced the Faith to them.  After several petitions to Church officials in St. Louis for the services of a priest, Jesuit Father Peter De Smet arrived in Montana in 1840 and celebrated the first Mass near what is now Three Forks.  Other Jesuits, including Father Antonio Ravalli, soon followed and several missions were established among the Native American tribes, including St. Mary in 1841, St. Ignatius in 1854, and St. Peter in 1858.  Churches were soon established in the new towns, including Helena in 1866, Butte and Missoula in 1881, Frenchtown in 1884, Billings in 1887, and Great Falls in 1889.

Montana became part of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Indian Territory East of the Rock Mountains—along with all or parts of seven other future states—in 1850.  Later eastern Montana Catholics were served by the Vicariate Apostolic of Nebraska (1857), and western Montana Catholics by the Vicariate Apostolic of Idaho (1868).  Eastern Montana became the Vicariate Apostolic of Montana in 1868.  In 1883, Pope Leo XIII established Montana as a separate Vicariate Apostolic—a mission diocese.  The following year, Pope Leo established the Diocese of Helena for the whole Territory of Montana—Helena had been the Territorial capital since 1875.  Pope Pius X separated eastern Montana from the Diocese of Helena in 1904 creating the Diocese of Great Falls.  The name of this second diocese was changed to the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings in 1980.

John B. Brondel was born in Belgium in 1842 as one of seven children.  He entered seminary in 1852 intending to be a missionary in North America.  He was ordained a priest in 1864 and came to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1866.  He taught in Vancouver for a year before being sent to what is now the State of Washington.  He served at various churches there before being appointed Bishop of Vancouver Island (Canada) in 1879.  His diocese included Vancouver Island as well as Alaska.  In 1883, he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Montana and less than a year later he became the first Bishop of Helena, Montana.

Bishop Brondel increased the number of schools and hospitals in the Diocese and increased the number of churches by 50.  He also increased the number of Diocesan priests from 4 to 38 and he paid special attention to the religious and material needs of the Native Americans in the Diocese.  Brondel traveled throughout Montana ministering to Catholics throughout the state.  His concern with the size of his Diocese led him to successfully petition the Pope to create another diocese for Montana.  Bishop Brondel died in 1903.