Pioneer Bishops of Virginia

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Virginia up to 1900.  For more information about Virginia, see my blog February 11, 2017.

Spanish explorers led by Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon established a colony (Guandape) on the James River in what is now Virginia in 1526.  Dominican priests were part of the expedition and one of them, Father Antonio de Montesinos, celebrated the first Mass in Virginia in a primitive chapel.  This colony was abandoned a year later.  In 1570, a group of Jesuits (two priests, three brothers, and three novices) established a mission on the James River.  Accompanied by a native guide, Don Luis, who had lived in Spain for 10 years and who had become Catholic, the Jesuits sought to evangelize among the native people.  Their guide, however, abandoned them and the Faith and went back to his people.  Don Luis eventually took several wives.  Told by the Jesuits that this was against Christian teachings, Don Luis and others killed all eight Jesuits in 1571.  These Jesuits are now known as the Martyrs of Virginia and are declared Servants of God—the first step toward canonization.  The Spanish attempted a colony on the Rappahannock River in 1570 but it lasted only a brief time.  The English established their Virginia colony at Jamestown in 1607 and the few Catholics that lived in Virginia during the Colonial period were not allowed to practice their Faith openly.

After the American Revolution, Catholics were allowed to worship freely, however, it was estimated that there were only a few hundred Catholics living in Virginia in 1785.  Father Jean Dubois, who later became Bishop of New York, visited Richmond in 1791 and said Mass in the State Capitol—the first Mass celebrated in Richmond.  Dubois also visited St. Patrick’s parish (now known as the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception) in Norfolk that same year.  St. Mary’s Church in Alexandria was established in 1795 with the help of George Washington.  Pope Pius VII created the Diocese of Richmond in 1820 which included all of Virginia (including what is now West Virginia).  Catholics at that time were mainly found in Richmond, Norfolk, and the eastern panhandle of what is now West Virginia.  Alexandria was still part of the District of Columbia at that time and did not become part of the Diocese of Richmond until 1858.  Many of the western counties of Virginia became the Diocese of Wheeling (now West Virginia) in 1850.  Pope Pius VI created the Diocese of Arlington in 1974.

Patrick Kelly was born in Ireland in 1779 and ordained a priest in Europe in 1802.  He served in parishes in Ireland and as a professor and president of an Irish seminary until he was appointed the first Bishop of Richmond in 1820.  He arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, in January 1821, and remained there as Norfolk had more Catholics than Richmond.  He engaged in missionary work and supported himself by operating a school.  Because the Diocese could not support him and because he had a cool relationship with Archbishop Marechal of Baltimore, Pope Pius VII appointed him in 1822 to be Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland.  He died from lung inflammation in 1829.

From 1822 until 1841, the Diocese of Richmond was administered directly by the Archbishop of Baltimore.  In 1822 a report showed about 1,000 Catholics in Virginia, mostly in Norfolk (mostly Irish shipyard workers), Richmond (mostly French), and around Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry.  Irish and German laborers settled in Richmond in the 1830s and St. Peter’s Church was established there in 1834.

Richard V. Whelan was born in Baltimore in 1809 and entered Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, at age 10.  He graduated in 1826 and went to Paris to attend seminary.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Richmond in 1831.  He served as a faculty member and business manager at Mount St. Mary’s and also served as pastor in several western Virginia parishes.  Whelan, at the age of 32, was appointed the second Bishop of Richmond in 1841.

Whelan had only six priests to serve his large Diocese.  He established a seminary near Richmond, but it soon closed.  He recruited Irish priests to work with the Irish railroad workers at Harpers Ferry and in the Shenandoah Valley and he also sought clergy from other European nations.  He also established several churches and schools.  He moved to Wheeling in 1846 to minister to Irish and Italian railroad workers and to escape from strong anti-Catholic sentiment in Richmond.  He requested that his Diocese be divided and in 1850 the Diocese of Wheeling (then Virginia, now West Virginia) was created with Whelan as its first Bishop.  Whelan died in 1874.

John McGill was born in Philadelphia in 1809 as the oldest of ten children to parents recently arrived from Ireland.  When he was 10, John moved with his parents and siblings to Bardstown, Kentucky.  He studied law and practiced in New Orleans for six months before moving back to Kentucky to enter the seminary.  McGill was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bardstown (now the Archdiocese of Louisville) in 1835.  He served in parishes in Lexington and Louisville and also edited the Catholic newspaper.  McGill was appointed Bishop of Richmond in 1850. 

McGill’s Diocese consisted of 7,000 Catholics, 10 churches, and 8 priests.  The Diocese was able to avoid the strong anti-immigrant movement that terrorized Catholics elsewhere—Virginia had few immigrants and they tended to be merchants.  There was anti-Catholic sentiment, but it was somewhat minimized by the actions of Catholic nuns who nursed victims of yellow fever and cholera epidemics.  Bishop McGill served as bishop during the Civil War—when Richmond was the Capital of the Confederate States—and defended Virginia’s secession from the Union.  He recruited European priests to serve the Diocese and brought in religious sisters to open schools and a hospital.  Bishop McGill died in 1872.

James Gibbons was born in Baltimore in 1834 as the fourth of six children of Irish parents.  The family moved back to Ireland in 1839.  His mother moved the family to New Orleans in 1853 after the death of her husband.  Gibbons entered the seminary in Maryland in 1855 and despite ill health, graduated in 1861 when he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  He served as a pastor and as a chaplain at Fort McHenry prior to being named private secretary to Archbishop Martin Spalding in 1865.  Gibbons was named the first Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina in 1868 when he was 34 years old.  He was named Bishop of Richmond in 1872.

Gibbons was named Bishop of Richmond, Virginia, in 1872.  Bishop Gibbons authored Faith of Our Fathers, a popular defense of the American Catholic Faith, in 1876.  He also started a ministry to African Americans.  He opposed realignment of his Diocese and the Diocese of Wheeling along state lines.  He was appointed Archbishop of Baltimore in 1877.  Gibbons was named a cardinal in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII—only the second American to be so honored.  He died in 1921. 

John J. Keane was born in Ireland in 1839.  He and his parents and four siblings came to the United States when Keane was seven years old.  He was educated in Maryland and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1866.  He spent the next 12 years at St. Patrick’s Church in Washington, DC, where he formed a national temperance union, a national group for young men, an organization that aided poor parishes throughout the country, and the Carroll Society.  He was appointed Bishop of Richmond in 1878.

Bishop Keane strengthened his clergy through periodic meetings and promoted parish missions for the laity.  He supported the right of workers to form unions, and was a leader, along with Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul, in wanting the U.S. Catholic church to reflect American culture, rather than the cultures of the European immigrants.  Despite opposition, Keane invited the Josephite Fathers to serve African American Catholics.  He frequently spoke to Protestant groups in Virginia thus lessening prejudice against Catholics.  Keane was appointed to a committee to establish a national Catholic University in 1885 and in 1886 he was named the first rector of The Catholic University of America, although he remained as Bishop of Richmond until 1888.  Keane became known as a good administrator and skillful orator, but his progressive views put him at odds with conservative factions in the United States and Rome.  He resigned as rector in 1896 and served in Rome until he was named Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa, in 1900.  He died in 1918.

Augustine Van de Vyver was born in Belgium in 1844 and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Richmond in 1870.  He served in Richmond and Harper’s Ferry before becoming vicar general for the Diocese in 1881.  He was appointed Bishop of Richmond in 1889.  Bishop Van De Vyver founded 12 parishes and built 32 churches, including the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.  He expanded the work of the Josephites and also invited Mother Katherine Drexel to build high schools for African Americans.  He built other schools as well.  He submitted his resignation in 1903, 1905, and 1908, but withdrew it each time upon the petition of his clergy and the people of the Diocese.  Bishop Van De Vyver died in 1911.

Pioneer Bishops of Vermont

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Vermont up to 1900.  For more information about Vermont, see my blog of September 27, 2017.

A party led by the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, were the first Europeans to see what is now Lake Champlain and the State of Vermont in 1609.  The French did not begin colonization until they built Fort Sainte Anne on Isle la Motte in Lake Champlain in 1666.  The first British settlement was made near Vernon in 1690.  For much of the late 17th and early 18th Centuries, the French and British fought for control of Vermont.  This ended with the British conquest of Quebec in 1760.  Bennington was settled in 1761 under the first of several charters granted by New Hampshire.  New York also granted charters for settlements resulting in Vermont declaring itself an independent nation in 1777.  Vermont became the 14th State in 1791.

The French built a chapel at Fort Sainte Anne and the first Mass in Vermont was celebrated there in 1666.  French Jesuit missionaries established several missions near Lake Champlain in the late 17th Century, including one at Swanton.  One Jesuit, Jacques Frémin, converted 10,000 Native Americans to the Faith.  Most Catholics left Vermont after it fell under British control in 1760, and when Father Francois Matignon visited Vermont in 1815, he found only about 100 Catholics.  Bishop Benedict Fenwick of Boston (Vermont became part of the Diocese of Boston in 1808) sent Father Jeremiah O'Callaghan north in 1830 to establish the first parish in Vermont—St. Mary’s in Burlington.  Many French-Canadian and Irish Catholic immigrants came to Vermont in the next quarter century.

Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Burlington—Burlington being then as now Vermont’s largest city—in 1853 to serve the 20,000 Catholics in Vermont.  By that time, there were only about four parishes in the State, but by the end of that decade, there would be a dozen parishes.  Most of the parishes were in the northwest portion of the State, near Lake Champlain between Burlington and the Canadian border, but parishes were also found in other locations including Bennington, Brattleboro, Middlebury, Montpelier, and Rutland.

Louis J. de Goesbriand was born to a wealthy family in France in 1816 and was ordained a priest there in 1840.  He came to the United States the same year and served in Cincinnati until 1847 when he was appointed vicar general of the new Diocese of Cleveland.  De Goesbriand was appointed the first Bishop of Burlington, Vermont, in 1853.

His new Diocese had 20,000 Catholics served by ten churches and five priests.  He traveled to Ireland and France to recruit new priests and brought in religious orders to establish schools.  De Goesbriand established a hospital and orphanage and built the first Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington.   He called the first Diocesan Synod in 1855, attended the First Vatican Council in 1869-1870, and the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884 (during which he helped write the Baltimore Catechism).  He wrote several books and pamphlets.  At the time of his death in 1899, there were 46,000 Vermont Catholics, mostly French-Canadian, served by 78 churches and 52 priests.  De Goesbriand served as Bishop of Burlington for 46 years and died in 1899 with only four dollars, having spent his inherited wealth on the needs of his Diocese.  The Diocese opened a cause for canonization for Bishop de Goesbriand in 2019.

John S. Michaud was born in Burlington in 1843 to a French-Canadian father and an Irish mother.  He graduated from Holy Cross College in Massachusetts before becoming a seminarian in New York.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Burlington in 1873.  Michaud served at several parishes in Vermont and established an orphanage in Burlington in 1883.  In 1892, he was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese.  He became apostolic administrator of the Diocese in 1893 and became Bishop in 1899 upon the death of Bishop Goesbriand.

Bishop Michaud saw an increase of Catholic immigrants to Vermont, especially from Italy and Poland (who came to work in the stone quarries).  Michaud built new churches to accommodate the immigrants—there were about 75,000 Catholics and 100 parishes and priests in the Diocese at the time of his death in 1908.  He established the first Knights of Columbus council in the Diocese, built two hospitals, and helped establish St. Michael’s College in Winooski.

Basilicas in Italy—Sardinia

Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Luogosanto, Sassari

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Honorius in 1227.

The Basilica was built by the Franciscans in the 13th Century on a site chosen by an apparition of the Virgin Mary and completely rebuilt in the 18th Century.

From a local source.

Basilica of St. Mary ad Nives, Cuglieri, Oristano

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XV in 1919.

Fishermen found a statue of the Madonna and Child in the 14th Century and the current church was built.  The Baroque and Neoclassical church has been expanded and renovated several times up till the 20th Century.

 The first picture is from a local source and the others are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria, Cagliari, Cagliari

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

A carob wood statue of the Virgin and Child Jesus was found near this site in the 14th Century.  A church, now known as the Sanctuary, was soon built using a Catalan Gothic style to house the Madonna.  Pilgrims, especially sailors, came to pray to Jesus and his mother.  Spanish conquistadors gave the name of this shrine to what is now the capital of Argentina.  The white limestone Neoclassical Basilica (with Baroque elements) was built in the 18th Century and adjoins the Sanctuary.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady of Remedy, Donigala Fenughedu, Oristano

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1957.

The Basilica was built in the 19th Century.

The first picture is from a local source and the other two are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Sassari, Sassari

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1980.

The church was built between 1943 and 1952.

Pictures are from a local source and Wikipedia.

Basilica of Saint Anticio Martire, Sant Anticio, Sud

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

The Byzantine-style church was built in the 5th Century but has been expanded and renovated several times over the years.

Pictures are from Flicker, a local source, and Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Simplicio, Olbia, Sassari

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1993.

The church is dedicated to a 6th Century bishop and martyr.  The origins of the granite church are murky, but likely date at least to the 11th Century.  The church was a diocesan cathedral until 1839.

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Helen, Quartu Sant’Elena, Cagliari

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.

A church was built on this site in the 12th Century and was replaced by a larger church in the 16th Century.  This church was destroyed by fire in 1775.  The current Gothic and Neoclassical Basilica dates to the first half of the 19th Century.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady of Bonacatu, Banarcado, Oristano

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.

The church dates to the Sixth Century although modifications have been made.  It is built of brick and volcanic stone and has a Romanesque façade.  The basilica houses a Black Madonna and has what is said to be the longest portico in the world with 666 arches.

From the Vatican website.

Pioneer Bishops of Utah

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Utah up to 1900.  For more information about Utah, see my blog of May 4, 2018.

The first Europeans to come to Utah were two Franciscan priests, Francisco Dominguez and Silvestre de Escalante, who crossed Utah in 1776 seeking a route from Santa Fe to California.  They brought the Faith to several Native Americans and named many of Utah’s rivers and mountains.  Fur traders came beginning in 1819, but the first permanent non-Native American settlement was not made until 1846 (at what is now Ogden).  Mormons, led by Brigham Young, arrived in Utah in 1847 and two years later established the independent state of Deseret.  Utah had become part of the United States in 1848 and Congress created the Utah Territory in 1850, which included modern-day Utah, as well as portions of Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming.  Utah became the 45th State in 1896.

The great pioneer priest, Pierre de Smet, visited Utah in the 1840s and priests came as early as 1859 to minister to the few Catholic soldiers, miners, and railroad workers, who then lived in the State.  The first Catholic parish in Utah, now the Cathedral of the Madeleine, was established in 1866.  Two years later, the Vatican created the Vicariate Apostolic (a pioneer diocese) of Colorado and Utah under the leadership of Bishop Joseph Machebeuf of Denver.  The Catholic population of Utah by the early 1870s was about 800, less than one percent of the State’s population.  Over the next few years, parishes were established in Ogden, Park City, and Eureka.  Pope Leo XIII created the Vicariate Apostolic of Utah in 1886, which became the Diocese of Salt Lake in 1891.  By 1910, there were about 20,000 Catholics in the Diocese (which then included part of Nevada) served by nine parishes and about three dozen missions and stations.  With the creation of the Diocese of Reno, Nevada, in 1931, the Diocese of Salt Lake consisted only of the State of Utah.  The name of the diocese was changed to the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 1951.

Lawrence Scanlan was born in Ireland in 1843 and attended a seminary there that trained priests for missionary service.  Scanlan was ordained a priest in 1868 for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.  He served in San Francisco and Northern California until 1871 when he was assigned a parish in Nevada.  He was sent further east in 1873 to the Utah Territory.  Utah had one parish serving 800 Catholics.  He traveled on foot and on horseback visiting Catholics throughout Utah, including those in mining camps.  Scanlan established new parishes, a school, a hospital, and a seminary.  Scanlan also established good relations with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and even celebrated Mass at the Mormon temple in St. George, Utah.  Scanlon was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Utah in 1887 and first Bishop of Salt Lake in 1891.  

As bishop, Scanlan built hospitals, schools and churches, including the Cathedral of the Madeleine, and established the Intermountain Catholic diocesan newspaper.  He also established an orphanage in his former rectory and opened Mount Calvary Cemetery in Salt Lake City.  Scanlan fought for the spiritual and economic well-being of poor immigrant Catholics.  Scanlan suffered from rheumatism starting in 1912 and often sought treatment in Arizona.  His vicar general was nearly blind, and a church-appointed investigator determined that the Diocese was largely unmanaged.  Bishop Scanlan died in 1915 at which time the Diocese had 27 priests, 24 churches, four parochial schools, two hospitals, one orphanage, one boys' college, two girls' academies, and a Catholic population of 13,000. 

 

Pioneer Bishops of Texas

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Texas up to 1900.  For more information about Texas, see my blogs of June 9, 2017, and May 13, 2019.

Spanish and French explorers, usually accompanied by Catholic missionaries, visited the area that is now Texas in the early 16th Century, but European colonization did not begin until 1682, when Spanish Franciscan missionaries built a mission near what is now El Paso.  Between 1682 and 1793, the Franciscans would build more than 30 missions, mostly in East Texas, in the area around San Antonio, and in the area between Victoria and Corpus Christi.  The missions often had settlements grow up around them (for example, San Antonio and Nacogdoches).  The most famous of these missions is the Mission San Antonio de Valero founded in 1718, but today it is better known as the Alamo.

There were few settlers of European descent in Texas at the beginning of the 19th Century.  In 1821, Texas became part of newly independent Mexico and in that same year, a few hundred Americans settled in Texas.  By the mid-1830s, there were as many as 30,000 Americans living in Texas.  They gained their independence from Mexico in 1836 and became the Republic of Texas.  In 1845, Texas joined the Union and became the 28th State.

Most of the Texans of Spanish and Mexican descent were Catholic, as were some those who settled in Texas in the 1830s and 1840s.  Irish Catholics settled near Refugio around 1830 and German Catholics in the Texas Hill Country in the 1840s.  Father John Timon, a Vincentian priest, was appointed by Pope Gregory XVI to be the Prefect Apostolic of Texas in 1840 and was given jurisdiction over the Church in Texas.  Timon had other responsibilities in Missouri and asked Father Jean-Marie Odin, also a Vincentian, to be his deputy in Texas.  The next year, Pope Gregory created the Vicariate Apostolic (a missionary diocese) of Texas and appointed Father Odin as the first bishop.  Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Galveston in 1847, Texas’ first, and appointed Odin as Bishop.  (Galveston, with a population of just over 4,000, was Texas’ largest town at that time.)  The Diocese, which had about a dozen priests, included all of Texas.  Pius IX created two new dioceses in 1874, the Diocese of San Antonio and the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville.  Over the next 40 years, three new dioceses were formed:  Dallas in 1890, Corpus Christi (formerly the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville) in 1912, and El Paso in 1914.

Central Texas has some of the oldest Catholic settlements in Texas—almost 80 parishes were established there prior to 1900.  San Antonio—then Texas’ largest city—was raised to an Archdiocese in 1926 and its Province included all of Texas.  The Diocese of Austin was created in 1947—102 years after it became the state capital.

The Diocese of Dallas covered all of northern Texas (and most of west Texas) when it was established 1890, but there were few Catholics in northern Texas until around that time.  The Diocese was called Dallas-Fort Worth from 1953 until 1969, when a separate Diocese of Fort Worth was created.  The Diocese of Tyler was established in 1986.

West Texas, with the exception of El Paso, is the least Catholic part of Texas.  There were Spanish missions near El Paso dating to the 17th Century, but the first parishes did not open in El Paso until around the time the railroad came in 1881.  The first Catholic church in the Panhandle was not built until 1892.  The Diocese of Amarillo was established in 1926, the Diocese of San Angelo in 1961, and the Diocese of Lubbock in 1983.

Southern Texas also has several parishes dating back to the days before Statehood.  It is now the most Catholic region of Texas—about three-fourths of the population is Catholic.  Most of the area was the Diocese of Corpus Christi until the Diocese of Brownsville was established in 1965.  The Diocese of Victoria was created in 1982 and the Diocese of Laredo in 2000 (the nation’s newest diocese).

Southeastern Texas Catholics have long been served by the state’s oldest diocese, which became the Diocese of Galveston-Houston in 1959.  A portion of the senior diocese became the Diocese of Beaumont in 1966.

At the beginning of the 21st Century, Texas (the Province of San Antonio) had 15 dioceses—the most of any state.  Pope John Paul II split the state into two provinces in 2004 by raising Galveston-Houston to an Archdiocese.  The new Province of Galveston-Houston included the Archdiocese and the Dioceses of Austin, Beaumont, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Tyler, and Victoria.  This reduced the Province of San Antonio to the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the Dioceses of Amarillo, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Laredo, Lubbock, and San Angelo.

John M. Odin was born in France in 1800 and came to Louisiana in 1822.  He was ordained a Vincentian priest in 1823 and began working in Missouri and Arkansas.  Odin was appointed the Vice Prefect Apostolic of Texas in 1840, Vicar Apostolic of Texas in 1842, and first Bishop of Galveston, Texas, in 1847.  The newly established Diocese of Galveston included all of Texas and parts of what are now five other states.  There were 20,000 Catholics in the Diocese, including 12,000 in Texas.  Bishop Odin was assisted by a dozen other priests in nurturing the Faith of these Catholics.  The priests became known as “saddle priests” because they spent much time on horseback visiting the widely spread Catholic churches and homes.  Odin made several trips to Canada and Europe to procure resources and religious personnel for the Diocese.  As bishop, he was able to increase the number of churches from about 10 to 50 and was able to bring in priests and nuns to administer churches and schools.  Odin was named second Archbishop of New Orleans in 1861 and died in France in 1870 while attending the First Vatican Council.

Claude M. Dubuis was born in 1817 in the Loire region of France where his parents were farmers.  He was the fifth of eight children.  When he was ten, Dubuis was sent to live with his uncle, who was a priest.  Dubuis’ parents hoped that their son would also become a priest.  Claude entered seminary but withdrew because his prior education had not properly prepared him.  He worked as a laborer until his uncle found a tutor to help him learn Latin, Greek, and proper French.  Dubuis reentered seminary and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Lyon in 1844.  Two years later, he met Bishop Odin who encouraged him to come to Texas.  Dubuis did so in 1847 after spending time in Perryville, Missouri, learning English, already knowing French and German. Dubuis served several churches north of San Antonio (and was captured four times by hostile Comanches) before being assigned to parishes in San Antonio and Galveston.  He learned Alsatian and Spanish to communicate with his parishioners.  In 1851, Dubuis was appointed vicar general of the Diocese of Galveston and pastor of San Fernando parish in San Antonio.  Dubois was appointed Bishop of Galveston in 1862.

As Bishop, he was able to bring several religious orders to Texas and was thus able to open many new churches and schools and one hospital.  Several of these churches and schools had to be repaired or rebuilt after sustaining damage during the Civil War, including St. Mary’s Cathedral, which was so riddled with bullets that Dubuis said the “only on dry days can I say Mass within its walls.”  By 1880, there were about 30,000 Catholics in the Diocese, which now included only East Texas with the creation of the Diocese of San Antonio and the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville in 1874.  Bishop Dubuis left for France in 1881 because of his declining health, but he officially remained as Bishop until he retired in 1892.  He was named a titular archbishop in 1894 and died after a long illness in 1895.

Nicholas A. Gallagher was born in Ohio in 1846 and was one of 11 children.  He entered the seminary in Cincinnati in 1862 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Columbus in 1868—the first priest ordained for the Diocese.  Gallagher served in several capacities with the Diocese, including pastor of St. Patrick’s church in Columbus, seminary president, and eventually vicar general.  He was named administrator of the Diocese of Galveston, Texas, in 1881.  He became coadjutor bishop of Galveston in 1882 and Bishop of Galveston in 1892.

Gallagher was Galveston’s first bishop born in the United States.  As Bishop, Gallagher established a ministry for African Americans, which included the first Catholic school for African Americans in Texas (in Galveston), four parishes for African Americans, and a trade school in Independence.  He also established parishes for Mexican Americans in Austin and Houston.  He brought several religious orders to staff churches, schools, hospitals, and orphanages.  Gallagher also established Saint Mary’s Seminary and worked to improve the educational standards in Catholic schools.  He survived the devastating Galveston hurricane of 1900 and rebuilt churches and schools destroyed by the hurricane.  Bishop Gallagher died in 1918 at which time the Diocese had 70,000 Catholics and 120 parishes.

Anthony D. Pellicer was born in Florida in 1824 and attended seminary in Alabama.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Mobile, Alabama, in 1850.  During the Civil War, he served as a chaplain for the Confederates.  He was assigned to the cathedral in Mobile in 1865 and became rector of the cathedral and vicar general of the Diocese in 1867.  He was appointed the first Bishop of San Antonio, Texas, in 1874.  Bishop Pellicer’s new Diocese had 40,000 Catholics and covered 90,000 square miles.  Pellicer built new churches and schools—at least two dozen of each.  He lived a simple life, giving away most of his income to charitable causes.  Bishop Pellicer died in 1880.

John C. Neraz was born in eastern France in 1828.  He attended seminary in Lyon and in 1852 accepted an invitation from Bishop Jean-Marie Odin of the Diocese of Galveston to serve as a missionary.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese in 1853.  He served at several parishes in Texas before being named pastor of San Fernando Church in San Antonio in 1873.  In 1874, the Diocese of San Antonio was created and Neraz became vicar general for the new diocese.  He was appointed Bishop of San Antonio in 1881.

Bishop Neraz established the first parochial school in the Diocese, an orphanage, a parish for African Americans, a diocesan newspaper, and helped establish what is now St. Edward’s University in Austin.  He built a chancery building for the Diocese with funds received from selling the Alamo to the State of Texas.  Neraz attended the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore and also administered the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville from 1885 to 1890.  Bishop Neraz died in 1894.

John A. Forest was born in France in 1838.  While attending seminary in France, he was recruited by Bishop Dubois to come to Texas.  He did so in 1863 and was ordained the same year as a priest for the Diocese of Galveston.  He served as pastor of Sacred Heart church in Halletsville until he was appointed the third Bishop of San Antonio in 1895.  Bishop Forest learned to speak both English and Czech as a priest in Texas.  As Bishop, he encouraged religious orders to establish a number of institutions to care for the poor, the aged, and the sick, as well as to establish schools.  He also helped establish Our Lady of the Lake University.  He also attended to the administrative needs of the growing Diocese and hosted the Diocese’s first synod in 1906.  Bishop Forest died in 1911 at which time there were 100,000 Catholics in the Diocese. 

Dominic Manucy was born in 1823 in St. Augustine, Florida, to Majorcan parents.  (His first cousin was Anthony Pellicer, who became Bishop of San Antonio, Texas.)  Manucy was educated at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Mobile in 1850.  He spent most of his young priesthood serving in Montgomery, Alabama, until 1874, when he was named the first Vicar Apostolic of Brownsville, Texas.  (An apostolic vicariate is a missionary diocese.)

Manucy chose to live in Corpus Christi, rather than Brownsville.  Mauncy rebuilt St. Patrick’s Church and opened many new schools staffed by religious sisters.  By the time of his death in 1885, the Vicariate had 33 church buildings, seven convents, six academies, two hospitals, and 40,000 Catholics.  Manucy was appointed third Bishop of Mobile, Alabama, in early 1884, while retaining his position as Vicar Apostolic of Brownsville.  He resigned as Bishop of Mobile in September 1884 planning to return to Corpus Christi, but he died in early 1885 before he could do so.

Peter Verdaguer y Prat was born in Spain in 1835.  He attended seminaries in Spain before finishing his training in Missouri.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles, California, in 1862.  Verdaguer served in parishes in San Bernardino and Los Angeles prior to being named Vicar Apostolic of Brownsville in 1890.

Bishop Verdaguer moved his residence to Laredo.  As Bishop, he opened several new churches and invited religious orders to establish schools and hospitals.  After Spohn Hospital opened in Corpus Christi in 1905, Verdaguer brought in the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word to manage the facility.  He also invited the Sisters of Mercy to open Mercy Hospital in Laredo.  He increased the number of priests in the Vicariate Apostolic from 10 to 32.  Verdaguer, like his predecessor, traveled extensively throughout the Vicariate Apostolic, often on horseback, visiting parishes and homes.  He died in 1911 while on a confirmation tour of rural parishes. 

Thomas F. Brennan was born in Ireland in 1855 and moved with his family to the United States when he was eight years old.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1880 and served as a pastor in the Diocese for a decade.  He was only 35 when Pope Leo XIII appointed him the first Bishop of Dallas, Texas, in 1891—he was the youngest U.S. Catholic bishop at the time.

The new Diocese then included 109 counties in northern and northwestern Texas—stretching from Texarkana to El Paso.  He traveled throughout his Diocese and established several churches, increased the number of priests, and brought in religious orders to serve the Diocese.  Brennan also established a diocesan newspaper—the first in Texas.  Bishop Brennan was a noted preacher and writer, and it was said that he knew anywhere from seven to twenty languages.  Caring for his diocese was difficult, however, especially with few priests and little in the way of financial resources.  It also did not help that his ambition (to be an archbishop) alienated him from many, including the other priests of the Diocese.  After Brennan had served less than two years as Bishop, Pope Leo XIII took the extraordinary step of dismissing him as bishop and sending him to St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, to serve as an auxiliary bishop.  Brennan served in Canada until 1904 when he was called to Rome.  He died there in 1916.

Edward J. Dunne was born in Ireland in 1848 and came to Chicago as a child with his parents.  He attended seminary in Wisconsin and Maryland and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Chicago in 1871.  Dunne served at various parishes in Chicago and also served as a finance official for the Diocese.  He was appointed second Bishop of Dallas in 1893.  Bishop Dunne built the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe and helped established hospitals and the University of Dallas.  He also established a trade school for African American children.  He established many new churches and schools to keep up with a Catholic population that had grown from 20,000 to over 60,000 during his time as Bishop.  He died of a heart attack in 1910.

Pioneer Bishops of Tennessee

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Tennessee up to 1900.  For more information about Tennessee, see my blog of November 22, 2017.

A number of Spanish and French explorers, including Hernando De Soto and Father Jacques Marquette, visited the area that is now Tennessee starting in the 1500s.  By the late 1600s, Franciscan priests likely offered the first Mass in Tennessee near what is now Memphis.  Other Catholics came through the future State during the 1700s, but none of these visits resulted in any significant Catholic presence in Tennessee. 

Bishop John David, the auxiliary bishop of Bardstown, Kentucky, visited Nashville with Father Robert Abell, in 1821.  At that time—25 years after Tennessee became the 16th state—there were probably only 100 Catholics in Tennessee.  Father Abell continued to visit Nashville periodically over the next few years.  In 1830, the first parish in Tennessee was established—Holy Rosary in Nashville—to serve Irish construction workers and the descendants of French fur trappers.  Holy Rosary church was located on what are now the State Capitol grounds.

In 1837, Pope Gregory XVI separated Tennessee from the Diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, and Nashville became the see of the new bishop.  The first bishop of Nashville presided over a diocese that initially consisted of only a few hundred Catholics.  Railroad construction in the 1840s brought many Irish Catholic laborers to Tennessee and they were served by priests who rode horses from camp to camp to say Mass and administer the sacraments.  The diocese continued to grow, and by the time of the Civil War, there were almost a dozen Catholic churches in cities and towns across the state, mostly in middle Tennessee. 

Nevertheless, Tennessee never received large waves of Catholic immigrants as did states in the East and Midwest.  Until 1970, the Diocese of Nashville included all of Tennessee.  It was in that year that Pope Paul VI created the Diocese of Memphis to serve Catholics in west Tennessee.  There were few Catholics in eastern Tennessee—there were only three Catholic churches there in 1900—until Catholics came to the area in the 1930s and 1940s to work for the Tennessee Valley Authority, Alcoa Aluminum, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  Pope John Paul II created the Diocese of Knoxville in 1988 to serve the Catholics in eastern Tennessee.

Richard P. Miles was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland in 1791 and moved with his family to Kentucky as a young boy.  He joined the Dominican Order in 1806 and was ordained a Dominican priest in 1816.  He served communities in Ohio and Kentucky until he was appointed the first Bishop of Nashville in 1837.

Bishop Miles arrived in Nashville on horseback in 1838 to find himself the only resident priest in Tennessee to serve a Catholic population of 300.  He invited some of his fellow Dominicans to staff St. Peter’s parish in Memphis and brought in the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the Dominican Sisters to establish schools and an orphanage.  He also built St. Mary’s Cathedral in Nashville in 1848.  Bishop Miles made an annual trip by horseback to the Catholic communities throughout the State and he was noted for his preaching and musical talents.  By the time of his death in 1860, the Diocese’s 12,000 Catholics were served by 13 priests, 14 churches, more than 30 chapels and missions, a seminary and other schools, and an orphanage.  In 1972, his body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt, and he is being considered for canonization. 

James Whelan was born in Ireland in 1822 and came to the United States with his parents in the early 1830s.  He joined the Dominican Order in 1839, studied in Kentucky and Ohio, and was ordained a Dominican priest in 1846.  He became a college president in Ohio in 1852 before being named Superior of Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 1854.  He was appointed coadjutor bishop of Nashville in 1859 and became Bishop upon the death of Bishop Miles in 1860. 

Whelan became Bishop at a difficult time as many battles were fought in Tennessee during the Civil War.  His job was made even more difficult by his loyalty to the Union.  He invited the Dominican Sisters to Nashville, who established St. Cecilia Academy.  He also enlarged the Cathedral and started an orphanage and boarding school.  Bishop Whelan resigned in 1864 and retired to a Dominican community in Ohio.  He died in 1878. 

Patrick A. Feehan was born in Ireland in 1829.  His father, a successful farmer, insured that Feehan received a good education.  Feehan was a student and a teacher at Maynooth College in Ireland when he met Archbishop Peter Kenrick of St. Louis.  Kenrick invited Feehan to come to St. Louis and teach in the seminary there.  Feehan came to the United States in 1852—his family had emigrated there two years before.  He was ordained a priest later that year.  Feehan served as pastor of several St. Louis churches and taught in the seminary, eventually becoming president.  He was one of the founders of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the United States.  After the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, boatloads of wounded were brought to the docks in St. Louis and Feehan attended to the spiritual needs of the wounded and dying.

Feehan was appointed Bishop of Nashville in 1865.  At that time, there were only three diocesan priests and many damaged Catholic buildings due to the Civil War.  He restored the Diocese spiritually and physically by increasing the number of churches in the diocese to 30, of which 18 had resident priests, building schools and an orphanage, and recruiting priests from Ireland.  He brought religious orders to the Diocese, which resulted in the establishment of Nashville’s St. Bernard Academy and of schools run by the Christian Brothers in Memphis.  He also attended the First Vatican Council.  Many Tennesseans were stricken with cholera and yellow fever during the 1860s and 1870s and Bishop Feehan and other priests and religious worked to take care of the victims of these epidemics.  Almost two dozen priests and nuns died caring for others.  Feehan encouraged the foundation of a Catholic fraternal and insurance organization in 1877 known as the Catholic Knights of America—not to be confused with the Knights of Columbus.  Feehan was named the first Archbishop of Chicago in 1880 and died in 1902 from a stroke.

Joseph Rademacher was born in Michigan in 1840 to German immigrant parents.  He attended seminary in Pennsylvania and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1863.  He served as a pastor in the Diocese for the next twenty years before being named Bishop of Nashville in 1883.

Many Catholics came to the Diocese (which included all of Tennessee) during Bishop Rademacher’s tenure and he built churches and other buildings to serve them.  He was appointed Bishop of Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1893, and died in 1900.  Bishop Rademacher was noted in both dioceses for his intelligence and breadth of knowledge on many subjects, as well as for his charitable works and kindly disposition, despite being in ill-health during his time both Nashville and Fort Wayne.  

Thomas S. Byrne was born in Ohio in 1841.  After attending seminaries in Kentucky, Ohio, and Rome, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1869.  He became a faculty member and later rector of a seminary in Cincinnati.  He was appointed Bishop of Nashville in 1894.

Byrne organized the Diocese by establishing parish boundaries and strong administrative controls and by paying off the Diocese’s debts.  He chaired the first diocesan synod in 1905 with 34 priests attending.  He built many churches and schools, including some for African Americans, and brought in religious orders of nuns to administer hospitals and nursing homes.  His most notable building was the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville.  He was an outspoken Bishop and noted author.  He supported the Spanish American War and the establishment of the Catholic University of America.  Bishop Byrne died in 1923.

Pioneer Bishops of South Dakota

This blog will discuss bishops that served in South Dakota up to 1900.  For more information about South Dakota, see my blog of March 12, 2017.

French explorers and fur traders, such as Joseph La Frambois and Charles Pierre Le Sueur, came to present day South Dakota throughout the 1700s and early 1800s.  Father Augustine Ravoux came from Minnesota in 1841 to minister to the Dakota tribe and to Catholics at Fort Pierre and returned to minister to Catholics in Vermillion in 1845.  Father Pierre DeSmet worked as a missionary among the Native Americans in the region from 1839 to 1870.  In 1850, Pope Pius IX made the Dakotas east of the Missouri River part of the Diocese of St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Dakotas west of the River part of the vast Vicariate Apostolic of the Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains.  The Bishop of St. Paul, Thomas Grace, sent Father Pierre Boucher to the town of Jefferson and he established, in 1867, the Church of St. Peter, the first Catholic parish in South Dakota.

The Dakota Territory (consisting of what is now South Dakota and North Dakota) was established in 1861, but settlement was slow in the southern half of the Territory until the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in the mid-1870s.  Within about five years, much of the land east of the Missouri River had been settled.  Pope Leo XIII named Abbot Martin Marty, OSB, of St. Meinrad's Abbey in Indiana to be Vicar Apostolic of the Dakota Territory in 1879.  Within the next decade, the population of the Territory nearly doubled.

Two significant events took place in 1889:  South Dakota became a State and Pope Leo XIII created the Diocese of Sioux Falls.  At the time, the Diocese and the State were coterminous.  Pope Leo XIII created a second diocese, the Diocese of Lead, in 1902.  The Diocese of Lead consisted of that part of South Dakota west of the Missouri River.  Lead was the second largest town in South Dakota at the time the diocese was created.  With a population of 6,000, it was smaller only than Sioux Falls with its population of about 10,000.  Bishop John Lawler moved his see from Lead to Rapid City in 1930, because Lead had not increased in size, while Rapid City’s population of about 10,000 made it the third largest town in the State, behind Sioux Falls and Mitchell.

Martin Marty was born in Switzerland in 1834 and was ordained a Benedictine priest there in 1856.  His Swiss abbot sent him to take charge of St. Meinrad’s Abbey in Indiana in 1860.  He was successful there and in 1876 was sent to the Dakota Territory to work in the Native American missions.  The Native Americans referred to him as Black Robe Lean Chief and he often traveled long distances in harsh conditions.  Pope Leo XIII appointed him Vicar Apostolic of the Dakota Territory in 1879 and he became the first Bishop of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1889.  He continued to work closely with the Native Americans, notably the Sioux, within the diocese and translated hymns and prayers into their languages.  He invited religious orders to staff schools, hospitals, and Native American missions.  He was named Bishop of St. Cloud, Minnesota, in 1894, and he died in 1896.

Thomas O’Gorman was born in Boston in 1843 and moved as a child with his family to Chicago and then to St. Paul, Minnesota.  He was sent to Rome for his seminary studies, and he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1865.  He was a pastor in Rochester until 1878 when he joined the Paulist Fathers and went to New York City as a missionary.  O’Gorman returned to Minnesota in 1882 to serve as pastor in Faribault and then as the first president of the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul.  In 1890, he was appointed a professor of church history at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.  O’Gorman was appointed Bishop of Sioux Falls in 1896.  Bishop O’Gorman built many schools and churches, including St. Joseph Cathedral.  He also built six hospitals and established Columbus College.  He was also a noted preacher.  During his 26 years as Bishop, the number of Catholics increase from 30,000 to 70,000; the number of parishes from 50 to 114; and the number of priests from 65 to 140.  O’Gorman died of a stroke in 1921.

Pioneer Bishops of South Carolina

This blog will discuss bishops that served in South Carolina up to 1900.  For more information about South Carolina, see my blog of January 10, 2017.

Spanish explorers came to the coast of South Carolina in 1521 and the first Mass was celebrated the same year.  Franciscan priests established missions to the Native Americans, but by 1670 the English had founded Charleston and were firmly in control of the Colony.  Colonial law denied Catholics the right to openly practice their Faith, but by that time, there were few Catholics in South Carolina.

After the American Revolution, South Carolina became the 8th State in 1788.  Mass was first said in Charleston in 1786 by an Italian priest passing through town.  Father Thomas Keating established St. Mary’s Church in 1789 for a congregation of a few hundred. St. Mary’s is the oldest Catholic church in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  Pope Pius VII created the Diocese of Charleston in 1820 to serve the few Catholics in those three states.  By 1869, the Diocese of Charleston only included South Carolina. 

John England was born in Ireland in 1786 and initially sought a legal career, but soon shifted his attention to the priesthood.  He was ordained a priest in 1808 in Cork and was very busy as a priest.   Among England’s activities were prison chaplain and reformer, author, librarian, journalist, and college president and theology professor.  England was also active in Irish Catholic Emancipation.  He was appointed the first Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1820 and became an American citizen shortly after his arrival.

Bishop England came to Charleston to take over a new diocese with 5,000 Catholics served by six priests and covering three states—South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina—an area of 142,000 square miles.  He was the first U.S. bishop to write a pastoral letter and he established a seminary and the first regularly published U.S. diocesan Catholic newspaper.  England built schools for African Americans and celebrated a Mass for them every Sunday morning.  He was a noted preacher and often had to fight anti-Catholic and racial prejudice.  England traveled extensively to visit his widely dispersed flock and wrote several documents to help Catholics better understand their Faith, including a missal and catechism for children.  England believed that Catholicism and democracy were not only compatible, but that separation of Church and State were desirable for both.  He addressed Congress on this topic in 1826—the first Catholic priest to address Congress—and he was a force behind the Councils of Baltimore, the first meetings of U.S. bishops.  He wrote a constitution for the Diocese that gave power to lay people, but prevented parish trustees from interfering with spiritual matters, including the appointment of priests.  He lived austerely and ministered to the sick during cholera and yellow fever outbreaks.  England traveled to Europe in 1841 but became ill on the return voyage and never fully recovered.  He died in Charleston in 1842.

Ignatius A. Reynolds was born in Bardstown, Kentucky in 1798.  He attended St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained a priest there in 1823 but returned to Kentucky.  As a priest, he served as a college president, seminary professor, rector of the cathedral in Louisville, chaplain of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, and vicar general for the diocese.  He was appointed Bishop of Charleston in 1844.

Bishop Reynolds built new parishes and recruited priests to serve the growing number of Catholics—12,000 by 1846—mostly in South Carolina.  He also built St. Francis Infirmary and dedicated the new Cathedral of Saint John and Saint Finbar.  He also paid off the debt incurred by Bishop England and published England’s writings.  Reynolds died in 1855.

Patrick N. Lynch was born in Ireland in 1817 and as a small child came with his family to South Carolina.  Lynch was one of 14 children of a family that owned slaves.  Two of his sisters became nuns.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Charleston in 1840 and served at the cathedral as well as served as editor for the Catholic newspaper.  He later became a pastor and vicar general of the Diocese.  He was named Bishop of Charleston in 1858 after serving as administrator for three years following the death of his predecessor.

Bishop Lynch led the Diocese (which now consisted of North and South Carolina) through an 1861 fire that destroyed much of Charleston, including the Cathedral, and the Civil War that resulted in destruction throughout the Diocese.  Only one Catholic church in Charleston survived the War.  Lynch opposed certain aspects of slavery, but generally supported the institution.  As such, he supported the Confederacy, and was sent to Rome in 1864 by Confederate President Jefferson Davis to seek Pope Pius IX’s support for the Southern cause.  Lynch was unsuccessful and needed a presidential pardon to reenter the United States after the War.  He spent most of the rest of his time as bishop raising money to rebuild churches and schools in the Diocese.  He died in 1882.

Henry P. Northrup was born in Charleston in 1842.  He was educated at Georgetown College in Washington, DC, Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland, and at the Pontifical North American College in Rome prior to his ordination for the Diocese of Charleston in 1865.  Northrup served in parishes in North Carolina and South Carolina until 1881 when he was named Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina (a missionary bishop).  He was named Bishop of Charleston in 1883.

Bishop Northrop had to seek funds to rebuild many of Charleston’s churches after an 1886 earthquake.  One of the churches that he rebuilt was the current Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. He also established a church and school for African Americans, which was funded by St. Katherine Drexel.  He brought religious orders to the Diocese to serve growing numbers of Catholic immigrants and established the Knights of Columbus and Holy Name Society within the Diocese.  He also established St. Francis Xavier Hospital and Bishop England High School.  He died in 1916.

Basilicas in France—Picardy and Nord-Pays-de-Calais

I blogged about the following basilica on May 15, 2019.

• Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame in Lille.

Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame, Amiens, Somme

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

The Basilica is the cathedral for the Diocese of Amiens.  The Gothic church was built between 1220 and 1270—although modifications were later made—and is the largest cathedral in France.  Its 260,000 square yards could fit two buildings the size of Notre Dame in Paris.  The Basilica was built to hold the head of St. John the Baptist, purchased in Constantinople (other places also claim to have this relic).  The Basilica was damaged during the French Revolution—and St. John’s head was stolen—and the Second World War but has been restored.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame and St. Vaast, Arras, Pas-de-Calais

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1855.

The Basilica is the cathedral for the Diocese of Arras.  A Gothic cathedral was built here between 1030 and 1396 but was destroyed during the French Revolution.  Work began on the Gothic and Classical Abbey Church of St. Vaast in Arras in 1750 and was interrupted by the Revolution.  Work resumed after the Revolution and authorities decided to make the Abbey Church the Cathedral for the Diocese.  The church was completed in 1834.  The church was heavily damaged in the First World War but has been restored.  

Pictures are from Expedia, Pinterest, and Wikipedia.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius, Soissons, Aisne

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1857.

The Basilica is the Cathedral for the Diocese of Soissons, Laon, and Saint-Quentin.  The Gothic church was built between 1177 and 1479.  Scholars think that Chartres Cathedral was inspired by this church.  Some of the stained-glass dates to the 13th Century.  A 15th Century tapestry depicts the lives of the church’s patron saints.

 

The first picture is from Pinterest and the other two are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Quentin, Saint-Quentin, Aisne

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1876.

Several churches were built on this site as early as the 4th Century.  The current Gothic Basilica was built between the 12th and 15th Centuries.  It was badly damaged during the First World War and reopened in 1956.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Notre Dame, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII in 1879.

A church has been on this site since Roman times.  An 11th Century church contained a statue of the Virgin Mary which attracted pilgrims.  This church was the location of the 1308 wedding of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France and became the cathedral for the new Diocese of Boulogne in 1567.  The church was destroyed during the French Revolution and the statue of the Virgin was burned.  After the French Revolution the Diocese of Boulogne was suppressed but the destroyed church was replaced.  The current Classical and Renaissance Basilica was built between 1827 and the 1870s.

Pictures are from a local source, Pinterest, and Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady of Miracles, Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII in 1879.

A small chapel was built on this site in the 7th Century.  The current church dates to 1052 but was badly damaged by a fire around 1200.  Reconstruction took place from the 13th to the 16th Century.  At one time, this was the cathedral for the Diocese of Saint-Omer, but the diocese was suppressed in 1801.  A chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Miracles dates to the early days of the church.

The first two pictures are from a local source and the last two are from Wikipedia.  The last is a painting by Peter Paul Rubens.

Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Grace, Cambrai, Nord

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII in 1896.

The Basilica is the cathedral for the Diocese of Cambrai.  The Neo-classical building was constructed between 1696 and 1703 as an abbey church.  The former cathedral in Cambrai was destroyed during the French Revolution and when the Diocese was restored in 1802, this church became the Cathedral.  It was damaged by fire in 1859 and by bombs during the First World War but has been restored.  The Basilica has an Italo-Byzantine painting of the Madonna from around 1340.

The first two pictures are from local sources, the third is from Pinterest, and the last is from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady of Brebieres, Albert, Somme

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.

Churches have stood on this site since the 11th Century.  The church first designated as a basilica was built between 1885 and 1897.  The stone and red brick Byzantine Revival building had a 200-foot bell tower topped with a statue of Our Lady.  This building was almost completely destroyed during the First World War.  It was rebuilt from 1927 to 1931 under the direction of the original architect’s son.

 

The first two pictures are from local sources, the next two are from Pinterest, and the last is from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Notre Dame, Liesse, Aisne

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius X in 1912.

The Flamboyant Gothic church was built of stone primarily in the 12th Century although work continued at least until the 18th Century.  A statue of the Black Madonna attracted pilgrims including many members of the royal family.  Pilgrims prayed for deliverance from all the problems that plagued them.  It was one of the main Marian shrines in France until the 19th Century.  The statue of Our Lady was burned during the French Revolution and its remains are now in Montreal.  The Basilica’s current statue is a replica.

The top picture is from Flicriver, the second from Pinterest, and the other two from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady of the Holy Cord, Valenciennes, Nord

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1922.

The Gothic Basilica was built between 1852 and 1864, although a church has apparently been on this site since the early 11th Century.  Some have nicknamed the church Minas Tirith after the fictional city in “The Lord of the Rings.”

The first picture is from a local source and the other two are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Maxellende, Caudry, Nord

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

The neo-Gothic Basilica was built between the 1830s and 1890 and is dedicated to a 7th Century martyr.  It is a place of pilgrimage for the blind and visually impaired.  It has two rose windows each of which has 4,600 pieces of glass.

The first picture is from the Basilica website, the second is from a local source, and the other two are from Wikipedia.