Vicar Apostolic Bishop of Oleno
What position did Michael Portier take from Aug 1825 to May 1829?
Michael Portier Bishop Michael Portier ( September 7 , 1795 , Montbrison , France – May 14 , 1859 , Mobile , Alabama ) was a Roman Catholic bishop in the United States and the first Bishop of Mobile . He immigrated to the US in 1817 , being ordained there . He later founded many parishes and Catholic institutions in Alabama and Florida , particularly in Mobile . Among them was Providence Hospital . He also recruited religious orders of men and women to teach and care for parishioners . Biography . Michel Portier was born in Montbrison in the diocese of Lyon , France . He was a student at the seminary in Lyon when recruited by Bishop Dubourg Louis William Valentine Dubourg , for the American mission . He immigrated to the United States at the age of 22 in 1817 with the goal of becoming a priest . He sailed from Bordeaux with Bishop Dubourg and about thirty companions on the French ship of war Caravane and landed after sixty-five days at Annapolis , Maryland on 4 September 1817 . Upon arrival , they stayed for nearly two months under the hospitality of Charles Carroll of Carrollton . Vicar general . After completing his studies at St . Marys Seminary , in Baltimore , Maryland , where he also studied English , he was ordained deacon . From there he proceeded to St . Louis , where he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas , by Bishop Dubourg , on May 16 , 1818 . Yellow fever outbreaks were not infrequent at the time , and he devoted himself to the sick and dying until he too fell ill . Upon his recovery , Bishop Dubourg called Portier to New Orleans , where he established a collegiate school in the former Ursuline convent in the French Quarter . During his time in New Orleans , Portier served as Vicar-General to Bishop Dubourg . Vicar apostolic . Eight years later , on August 26 , 1825 , he was consecrated titular Bishop of Oleno by Bishop Joseph Rosati . He became the only Vicar Apostolic of the new Vicariate of Alabama and the Floridas , which included the Territory of Arkansas . At the time of his accession , Portier was the only clergyman in the vicariate and had practically three parishes with churches : Mobile , St . Augustine , and Pensacola . The first priest who came to his assistance was the Rev . Edward T . Mayne , a student of Mt . St . Marys College , Emmitsburg , Maryland , sent by Bishop England of Charleston , to take charge of the deserted church of St . Augustine . His parishioners were Catholics who were descendants of colonial era peoples , including ethnic French , Spanish , German and African of former French and Spanish territories . Bishop Portier began his administration by riding through his vicariate , offering the Holy Eucharist , preaching , and administering the Sacraments as he went . Bishop of Mobile . Portier sailed for Europe in 1829 to recruit assistants , and returned with a few seminarians and a priest , Father Mathias Loras . On May 15 , 1829 , the vicariate was raised to the Diocese of Mobile , and Bishop Portier was made its first bishop . His cathedral was a small church twenty feet wide by fifty feet deep , his residence a still smaller two-roomed frame structure . A new cathedral was begun in 1837 , and on December 8 , 1850 , Bishop Portier consecrated the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception . Also in 1850 , the eastern portion of Florida was detached from the Diocese of Mobile and annexed to the newly created Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah , based in Georgia . In 1830 , Bishop Portier established Spring Hill College , and named Father Mathias Loras its head . Loras served in that role until he was consecrated Bishop of Dubuque , Iowa , on December 10 , 1837 , by Bishop Portier . The bishop also consecrated Rev . John Stephen Bazin , another president of Spring Hill , and later the third Bishop of Vincennes , Indiana on October 24 , 1847 . In 1833 Portier secured from the Georgetown Visitation Monastery , Georgetown , Washington , D.C. , a colony of nuns who established the Convent and Academy of the Visitation in Mobile . He brought the Brothers of the Sacred Heart from France about 1847 , and the Daughters of Charity from Emmitsburg , Maryland , to manage orphan asylums for boys and girls , respectively . One of his last acts was founding a hospital at Mobile , presently known as Providence Hospital , administered by the Daughters of Charity . Portier died May 14 , 1859 , aged 63 . He is entombed in the crypt of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile .