Oldest U.S. Jesuit, Father Elliott, Dies ‘We Will Remember Him As A Patriarch’

He was a Jesuit for 82 years.

The Rev. William Elliott died in Spokane on Monday at age 100, the oldest American member of the Catholic men’s order also known as the Society of Jesus.

He was the first spiritual mentor for hundreds of priests, many of them now close to retirement themselves.

Throughout his career, he was known for his dedication and dignity. No one dared call him “Bill.” Even his peers addressed him as “Father Elliott.”

“He was too revered to be spoken of informally,” said the Rev. Stephen Sundborg, head of the Oregon Province of Jesuits, which covers the Northwest.

“As a child, I remember his presence vividly. He was slender, tall and stately,” said George Peterson, a former altar boy who served the priest at St. Patrick’s Church in Hillyard. “He is one of the reasons why I’m still a Catholic today.”

Elliott divided his career between parish priest and caring for younger Jesuit clergy.

He took his last assignment at age 77, as pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Cave Junction, Ore. That job lasted 17 years.

He retired at 95, decades after the age most priests retire.

Elliott was born Oct. 24, 1895, the youngest son of Irish homesteaders who settled in Potomac, Mont. After being educated at a Jesuit boys school, he began studying for the priesthood at age 17.

He spent five years at the Jesuit novitiate in Los Gatos, Calif., then moved to Mount St. Michael’s in Spokane for theology training. He taught at a Seattle boys’ school, then went to Europe for additional study.

Elliott was ordained a priest in Dublin, Ireland, on July 31, 1927, the feast day of the Jesuit founder, St. Ignatius Loyola.

He served as a minister in Spokane and Missoula before pronouncing his final vows as a Jesuit in 1932. He was the first Jesuit of the newly formed Oregon Province, which covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

After several assignments throughout the Northwest, he returned to Spokane in 1943 as priest at St. Patrick’s.

He then moved “up the hill” to Mount St. Michael’s as rector of the theology school for priests. But he never forgot his Hillyard parishioners.

He spent his spare time chauffeuring the boys of Hillyard around in old funeral coaches, providing them with summer jobs up on “The Mount” and spiritual guidance.

“Probably no other person had as much influence on my life as Father Elliott,” said Peterson, now a deacon at Sacred Heart Church in La Conner, Wash. “The boys of Hillyard will never forget how this great priest helped keep us out of trouble, the time that he gave to us and the gentleness that he offered us in those crucial years.”

Elliot left Spokane in 1950 to become the novice master for young priests-to-be in Sheridan, Ore. For 11 years he ushered young men, most of them fresh out of high school, into the priesthood.

At the time, an average of 25 men joined the Jesuits regionally every year. Now that number has dropped to five, Sundborg said.

The Rev. Peter Ely, now rector of the Jesuit House in Spokane, was one of those men in 1956.

“(Father Elliott) was my first introduction into what it means to be a Jesuit,” Ely said. “A very human person, but also very spiritual and prayerful.”

Elliott took his parents’ immigrant history to heart.

“While many of our Jesuit customs and traditions are European, he was very much an American,” Ely said. “If you would come to him to tattle on someone else for breaking the rules, he would ask, ‘So how are you doing?”’

Their relationship came full circle recently when Ely became rector of the Jesuit House, thus making him Elliott’s superior.

“In some ways, I was always one of his novices,” Ely said. “I was always in awe of him.”

After his job as novice master, Elliot worked as a parish priest at St. Stanislaus Church in Lewiston for 12 years and then moved to Cave Junction for his final assignment.

He spent the last five years of his life praying for the Society of Jesus and the Catholic Church, which may have been his most difficult task. After spending decades being busy, he found the slower, contemplative life hard to adjust to.

“He was always in an active position of leadership,” Ely said. “The last thing I heard him say was, ‘I don’t have any idea what I’m supposed to do.’ It was a common theme for him in these last five years.”

He was a familiar sight on the Gonzaga University campus, where staff would drive him around in a golf cart. He continued his practice of sending out hundreds of Christmas cards to former parishioners.

“He had a large, large influence,” Sundborg said. “We will remember him as a patriarch.”

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MEMO: A vigil for the Rev. William Elliott, 100, will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Jesuit House Chapel at Gonzaga University. Funeral Mass will be 11 a.m. Saturday, also at the chapel.