MAY 2012 - Note: This website is maintained constantly. The materials below are all available.  From the pages of Salvatorian history: CLICK HERE for a brief description of ALL the items listed below - or click on any individual item for its own description. EUCHARISTIC WHISPERINGS Photos from our earliest Salvatorian pioneers   The first Salvatorians to come to the United States settled in the Pacific Northwest in 1892. After a short - but unsuccessful - stint at St. James School in Vancouver, Washington, they went to minister to Native American Catholics on reservations near Siletz and Grand Ronde, Oregon, and to the Catholic churches in the cities of Corvallis, Oregon; Pe Ell, Washington; and Cottonwood, Idaho. Some of the oldest photographs in our Archives come from the collections of three of the first missionaries: Fr. Severin Jurek SDS, Fr. Felix Bucher SDS, and Fr. Victorian Organisciak SDS. It's quite possible that some of the photographs were taken by the priests themselves. The collections show us an interesting glimpse into the world of the Native Americans in the 1890's and early 1900's, as well as a look into the Pacific Northwest at a time when it was still very undeveloped. Some of the settlers moving to the Northwest had come from Europe, but the largest segment of the population was made up of people who had moved from the South after the Civil War. As a result, our priests and brothers in the Northwest sometimes encountered a deeply rooted prejudice against Catholics. Because of this, the Catholic parishes in the Northwest tended to be rather close-knit communities. The Catholic church on the Siletz Reservation was built with funds that were completely supplied by Mother (now Saint) Katherine Drexel, who was living in Philadelphia at the time. Numerous letters between her and Fr. Felix were shared with Mother Drexel's community during her canonization process several years ago. The Catholic parish in the city of Pe Ell, Washington, was populated mainly by white settlers in the Northwest. Fr. Victorian ministered there for a few years before he moved to Los Angeles, California, and built the first Divine Savior Parish in the United States. CLICK HERE to see the photo collection of our Salvatorian pioneers!