Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1914-01-24
Cardinal and Peer of France
Once a New England
Missionary.
Did the Work of the Humble
Pioneer Priest Among the
Indians.
DIOCESE INCLUDED SIX STATES

The one hundred and forty-sixth
anniversary of the birth of Boston's
first Bishop, the Right Rev. Jean
Louis Lefebre Cheverus, which
occurs on Wednesday, January 2S,
as noted in our Catholic chronology,
will recall to Catholic New England
the early days of the church's strug-
giles in that inhospitable field when
| Catholicity was a plant of recent
growth, and when this indefatigable
missionary, destined to the dignity
of the Cardinalate and the Peerage
of France, was laying the founda-
tions of the faith there.
Beginning his labors, that ex-
tended over twenty-seven years, as
missionary to the New England
Indians, among whom he lived and
| whose dialects he mastered. he did
the work of the humble pioneer
priest, walking long distances, min
istering to scattered Catholics, nurs-
ing the sick, consoling the af-
flicted, burying the dead victims of
yellow fever and performing
miracles of devotion to duty, he
came to be regarded and idolized as
the father, friend, adviser and guide
of his people. He inspired them
with condolences in the near advent
of better days and he disarmed deep
rooted prejudices against the faith
and won all hearts. So when he was
nominated as the first Bishop of
Boston it was an occasion of
universal rejoicing shared by the
friends he had made in all denomin-
ations and among all classes; as his
recall to France to higher dignitar-
les. fourteen years later, was be-
moaned as calamity to the
Commonwealth
He was born at Mayenne France,
January 2S. 176S.. and was ordained
December IS. 1890, by special dis
pensation before he had reached his
twenty-third year, 1t being the last
public ceremony of the kind in Paris
before the Revolution. He refused
to take the prescribed oath and es7!
capped to England in disguise. In
three months he had mastered Eng
fish and then a letter from his old
time teacher in the College of
Louis-le-Grand. Father Francis A..
Matignon, in Boston, telling of the
need of Jealous priests in America,
directed his thoughts to the New
World and he arrived in Boston
October 8, 1896, with all his belong
ngs in a small trunk, the same one
he used years later in taking his
departure.
For fourteen years he performed
all the arduous duties of the pioneer
priest, and when the See of Boston
was established by Plus VII, April
s, 1908, and he was consecrated it's
first Bishop on the feast of All
Saints, 1910, in the Baltimore
Cathedral by Bishop Carroll there
were but 720 Catholics in Boston.
There were only three churches,
Holy Cross, st. Patrick's. New Cas-
tie, and an Indian chapel at Point
Pleasant, though the diocese COM
prised the territory now included in
the States of Massachusetts, Maine,
Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island and Connecticut, where now
there are eight sees.
His old friend, Father Matignon,
was his faithful assistant, and among
the other early priests who labored
with him from time to time there
were the following Fathers James
Romagne, John Thayer, Francis
Xavier Brosius, Dennis Ryan, Paul
McQuade, Patrick Byrne, Virgil H..
Barber, Philip Lariscy, an Angus
tinian; Charles ID. French, Domini-
can, and Father Eugene, a Trappist.
He took up the work of his episco-
pate with the vigor that had marked
his missionary labors, making epis-
copal visitations to such scattered
points as the following: Newberry-
port, Dedham, Wrentham, Pleasant
Point, Portsmouth. Newport. Bristol,
Portland, New Castle, Salem, Prov
ldence, Pawtucket. New Haven
Hartford, New London and Damaris-
Gotta.
Some of the notable converts ad-
mitted to the church through his
ministrations were DR.. Stephen
Cleveland Blythe and family
Thomas VALLEY, of Brookline; the
Rev. Daniel Barber and family, Sam
uel Bishop, of New Castle, and many
others less prominent. He issued q
French edition of the New Testa
ment and also the Roman Catholic
Manual, a prayer book, in 1871, and
he built st. Augustine's church
which was originally intended as 4
mortuary chapel and as
mausoleum for Father Matignon
whoes death was a great blow L
the Bishop.
His services we're In demand out
side his own diocese, and he foun'
time TO dedicate st, Patrick's OLE
Cathedral In New York on May 4
1915. and to pontificate at the con
secration OF Archbishop Marechal II
Baltimore December IA, 1917.
Exhausted and In poor healtl
after his twenty-seven years o
'easeless toll he accepted call q
-eturn to his native land and OF
January is, 1898. he was transferre
TO the See OF Montauban. to b
Elevated few years later. July SO
I226 10 the A rch hblshoDric Of HOI