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Archdiocesan Information · Former Bishops

Bishop Paul Durieu OMI

Bishop Pierre-Paul Durieu, OMI (1830–1899)

Date of Birth:
December 4, 1830, in Saint-Paul-de-Mons, Haute-Loire, France

Ordination:
March 11, 1854, by Bishop Eugène de Mazenod, OMI, Marseilles, France

Episcopal Ordination:
October 24, 1875, by Bishop Louis-Joseph d’Herbomez, OMI, assisted by Bishop Louis Lootens, Apostolic Vicar of Idaho, and Archbishop Charles-Jean Seghers, Archbishop of Oregon City, at St. Mary’s Mission on the Fraser River

Length of Episcopacy:
1890–1899

Motto:
Pauperes evangelizantur—justus ex fide vivit. (The good news is preached to the poor. The just man lives by faith.)

Bishop Pierre-Paul Durieu came to the Oregon mission in 1854 and was a missionary with the Yakima people and also worked as a missionary in the Fraser Valley and on Vancouver Island (1855–1875). He was appointed by Pope Pius IX as titular bishop of Marcopolis and coadjutor of the Vicariate Apostolic of British Columbia on June 2, 1875. In 1890, with the death of Bishop d’Herbomez, OMI, he became bishop of the Vicariate Apostolic of British Columbia. That same year, September 2, 1890, the vicariate apostolic became the Diocese of New Westminster, thereby making Bishop Durieu the first bishop of New Westminster. Bishop Durieu was instrumental in expanding the mission territories and oversaw construction of many churches, chapels and schools. He died on June 1, 1899, at age 69.