St. James Catholic Church (Vancouver, Washington)
| Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater |
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St. James in 2014
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| 45°37′51″N 122°40′23″W / 45.6307°N 122.6731°WCoordinates: 45°37′51″N 122°40′23″W / 45.6307°N 122.6731°W | |
| Location | 218 W 12th St. Vancouver, Washington |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Pro-cathedral |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Completed | 1885 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Brick |
| Administration | |
| Archdiocese | Seattle |
| Clergy | |
| Archbishop | Most Rev. J. Peter Sartain |
| Pastor(s) | Rev. W.R. Harris |
The Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater (formerly St. James Catholic Church) is a church building and parish of the Catholic Church located in Vancouver, Washington, United States. The parish is part of the Archdiocese of Seattle and traces its roots to the initial arrival of missionary priests in the Oregon Country in the 1830s; its first dedicated church building was built in 1846. The church was elevated to a cathedral when the Diocese of Nesqually (the original name of the Archdiocese of Seattle) was established in 1850; the present-day church building was completed in 1885. It was reverted to a parish church when the present-day St. James Cathedral opened in Seattle in 1907. The church building was listed on the Washington Heritage Register in 1986. The church was formally dedicated as a proto-cathedral, i.e., former cathedral, in 2013.
In the 1830s, French Canadian Catholic employees of the Hudson's Bay Company petitioned the bishop in their native Quebec to send priests to what was then known as the Oregon Country. François Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers were sent to the area and arrived at Fort Vancouver in 1838. Blanchet and Demers held Masses in various buildings within the fort, and Catholics often had to share worship space with Protestants, an arrangement that did not please either group. In 1845 Blanchet gained the company's permission to build a new church just outside the fort, and the wooden building was dedicated as St. James Church on May 30, 1846.
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