St. Andrew's Cathedral - J. N. Lemmens

Rev. J.N. Lemmens (1890s) Courtesy of St. Ann's Archives

John Nichola Lemmens was born in Schimmert, Holland in 1850. He came to Victoria in 1876, one year after he was ordained a priest at the American College of Louvain, Belgium, and became the first resident Catholic Priest for Nanaimo that September. From there, he established the missionary of Clayoquot. Lemmens extensively studied West Coast First Nations’ languages, travelling throughout the province, but primarily around Vancouver Island, and he wrote a dictionary of indigenous languages, using “Webster as his guide.” Lemmens was named the fifth bishop for the diocese of Vancouver Island and Alaska (1888-1897), after his predecessor Archbishop S. Seghers was murdered in Alaska.

Click here to return to St. Andrew's Main Page
Click here to learn more about St. Andrew's Ceremony
Click here to view St. Andrew's References