Pioneer Bishops of Mississippi

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Mississippi up to 1900.  For more information about Mississippi, see my blog of March 18, 2017.

Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to come to what is now Mississippi in the early 16th Century.  Hernando DeSoto came to the area in 1640 and his party became the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River the following year.  LaSalle claimed the whole Mississippi River delta area for France in 1682 and the French built colonies along the Gulf Coast around 1700 and established Fort Rosalie (Natchez) in 1716.  Mississippi became part of the State of Georgia after the American Revolution and became the Territory of Mississippi in 1798.  The United States acquired the southeastern portion of Mississippi from Spain in 1813 and four years later Mississippi became the 20th State.

French and Spanish missionaries worked in Mississippi throughout the 18th Century serving Catholic communities at Natchez, Vicksburg, and along the Gulf Coast, and attempted to convert the local Natchez, Yazoo, Choctaw, and Chickasaw tribes.  Some of the missionaries were martyred in their attempts to convert the Native Americans to the Faith.  After Mississippi became part of the United States, Mississippi Catholics only rarely saw a priest and there were no churches or other Catholic institutions.

Pope Pius VII created the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama (headquartered in Mobile) in 1822—Joseph Rosati was appointed vicar apostolic, but he declined the appointment, and it was later withdrawn.  Pope Leo XII established a separate Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi in 1825.  Mississippi became part of the Diocese of New Orleans in 1826 and became a separate diocese in 1837 when Pope Gregory XVI established the Diocese of Natchez.  By 1850 there were about 10,000 Catholics and parishes had been established primarily in three areas:  the Gulf Coast (Biloxi and Bay Saint Louis), along the Mississippi River (Natchez, Vicksburg, and Port Gibson), and near Jackson (Jackson, Camden, and Paulding).  Few Catholics lived in Northern Mississippi—by 1900 there were only about six parishes in that part of the State.

The name of the Diocese of Natchez was changed to the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson in 1956 and became the Diocese of Jackson in 1977.  Pope Paul VI created the Diocese of Biloxi in 1977.

John J. Chanche was born in Baltimore in 1795.  His parents were of French ancestry who had fled Haiti during the Haitian Revolution.  Chanche’s father was a merchant and Chanche was educated at St. Mary’s College in Baltimore.  He was ordained a Sulpician priest in 1819.  He became a professor at St. Mary’s and eventually became its president.  Chanche declined appointments as coadjutor archbishop of Baltimore and Bishop of Boston before accepting the appointment as first Bishop of Natchez in 1840.

When he first arrived in Natchez in 1841, there were only two other priests in the state—in Natchez and Vicksburg.  As bishop, he brought more priests to the Diocese and built almost 10 new churches, including St. Mary’s Cathedral in Natchez.  He also established schools and orphanages and invited the Sisters of Charity to the Diocese.  Bishop Chanche died in 1852, probably of cholera, shortly after attending the First Plenary Council in Baltimore.

James O. Van de Velde was born in 1795 in what is now Belgium.  He entered the seminary in Belgium in 1815 after teaching French and Flemish for two years.  He was recruited by Father Charles Nerinckx in 1817 to come to Kentucky, but Van de Velde became ill during the voyage and stayed in Baltimore.  He attended seminary at what is now Georgetown University and entered the Jesuit order.  He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1827.  Van de Velde developed two major skills.  He was Georgetown’s librarian from 1818 to 1831 and grew the book collection from 200 to 20,000.  He also was fluent in English, Flemish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin.  After his ordination he was assigned as chaplain of Georgetown Visitation School and as pastor of two churches in Montgomery County, Maryland.  He was sent in 1831 to what is now St. Louis University in Missouri, first as a professor, and after 1840, as president.  He was named Jesuit vice-provincial in 1843 and Western Provincial in 1846.  He was appointed the second Bishop of Chicago in 1848.

Van de Velde did not enjoy good health in Chicago and was granted permission by the Vatican in 1853 to become Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi, in an attempt to regain his health.  Unfortunately, Van de Velde broke his leg three months after his arrival in Natchez.  Shortly thereafter, he contracted yellow fever, and he died in 1855.  Despite his short tenure as bishop and his poor health, Bishop Van de Velde was able to establish two schools, complete the cathedral in Natchez, repair some church buildings, and establish a college.

William H. Elder was born in Baltimore in 1819 to a Maryland Catholic family.  He was related to the Spalding family which produced two 19th Century bishops and one foundress of a religious order.  Elder attended seminary at Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland and in Rome before being ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1846.  He taught at Mount St. Mary’s until he was appointed Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi, in 1857, which then included the entire State.  Bishop Elder presided over the Church in Mississippi during the Civil War.  At the beginning of the War, there were 10,000 Mississippi Catholics served by 18 priests, 13 parishes, and 28 missions.  In 1864, the Union Army, which occupied Natchez, ordered that all church services include prayers for President Abraham Lincoln.  Bishop Elder, who had tried to remain neutral during the war, refused to allow this on the basis of government interference with religious activities.  He was arrested by the Army and imprisoned for about three weeks.  He was released upon appeal to President Abraham Lincoln.  He ministered to victims of a yellow fever epidemic that struck Mississippi in 1878—he survived the disease but six of his priests did not.  Elder attempted to meet the spiritual and temporal needs of freed slaves after the Civil War.  By 1880, there were 12,500 Mississippi Catholics, 19 priests, 48 churches, and 15 schools.  Bishop Elder was named coadjutor archbishop of Cincinnati in 1880 and became Archbishop of Cincinnati in 1883.  He was a good and holy priest, hearing confessions almost to the day he died in 1904 from influenza.

Francis A. Janssens was born in Holland 1843 and ordained a priest in Belgium in 1867.  His interest in serving in the American missions brought him to Richmond, Virginia, in 1868.  Two years later, he was appointed rector of the Cathedral and later became vicar general for the Diocese of Richmond.  Janssens was named Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi, in 1881.  Bishop Janssens built churches and schools, including a parish for African Americans in Natchez—there were about 1,500 African American Catholics in Mississippi—and a mission for the Choctaw Indians.  He also paid off the debt on St. Mary’s Cathedral in Natchez and established mission schools to evangelize African Americans.  He also completed what is now St. Peter’s Cathedral in Jackson.  Bishop Janssens was appointed Archbishop of New Orleans in 1888 and he died at sea in 1897 sailing from New Orleans to New York.

Thomas Heslin was born in Ireland in 1845 as one of seven children and came to New Orleans in 1863.  He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1869.  He served at several New Orleans parishes until his appointment as Bishop of Natchez in 1889.  Bishop Heslin sought to evangelize African Americans and he established half a dozen African American parishes—administered by the Society of St. Joseph and the Society of the Divine Word.  He also invited Mother (Saint) Katharine Drexel to establish a school for African Americans.  He also opened other parishes and invited the Brothers of the Sacred Heart to start a boy’s school in Natchez.  Bishop Heslin died in 1911, possibly from pneumonia following a fall from a mule cart.