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John Cheverus ( January 28 1768 - July 19 1836 ) was a French Roman Catholic Clergy man and Cardinal . HISTORY Early life John Cheverus was born on the 28 January 1768 , in Mayenne, France , where his father was general civil judge and lieutenant of police. He studied at the college of Mayenne, received the Tonsure when he was twelve, became Prior of Torbechet while still little more than a child. Thence he derived sufficient income for his education and entered the College Of Louis Le Grand in 1781. After completing his theological studies at the Seminary Of St Magloire , he was ordained Deacon in October 1790 and a Priest by special dispensation on the 18th of December. He was immediately made Canon of the Cathedral Of Le Mans and began to act as Vicar to his uncle in Mayenne, who died in 1792. America Owing to the progress of the French Revolution , he emigrated in 1792 to England, and thence in 1796 to America, settling in Boston, Massachusetts . His interest in New England had been aroused by François Antoine Matignon , a former professor at Orleans . Matignon was at the time in charge, under Bishop John Carroll , of all the Catholic churches and missions in New England. Cheverus, although at first appointed to an Indian mission in Maine, remained in Boston for nearly a year and returned thither after several months in the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy missions and after visits to scattered Catholic families along the way. During the epidemic of Yellow Fever in 1798 he won great praise and respect for his courage and charity. His preaching was listened to by many Protestants -- indeed the subscriptions for the Church Of The Holy Cross , which he founded in 1803, were largely from non-Catholics. In 1808 the Papal Brief was issued, making Boston a Bishopric , Suifragan to Baltimore, and appointing Cheverus as its bishop. He was consecrated on All Saints’ Day in 1810, at St Peter’s, Baltimore, by Archbishop Carroll. On the death of the latter (?) his assistant bishop, Neale, urged the appointment of Cheverus as assistant to himself; Cheverus refused and warmly asserted his desire to remain in Boston. However, Cheverus was much broken by the death of Matignon in 1818, and his health had declined. Thus, he soon found it necessary to leave the seat of his bishopric. Back in France In 1823, King Louis XVIII insisted that Cheverus return to France. Cheverus became bishop of Montauban , where his tolerance captivated the Protestant clergy and laymen of the city. He was made archbishop of Bordeaux in 1826. On the 1 February 1836 , in accordance with the wish of Louis Philippe , Cheverus was made a cardinal. Cheverus died in Bordeaux on the 19 July 1836 . Cheverus is considered largely responsible for the position that Boston now holds in the Roman Catholic Church of America, as well as for the general growth of that church in New England. His character was essentially lovable: the Jews of Bordeaux and Protestants everywhere delighted to honour him. |
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