John Tessier

Last updated

John Tessier S.S. (1758-27 February 1840) was a French Sulpician priest who emigrated from France at the time of the Revolution. From 1810 to 1829 he was the Provincial Superior of the Sulpician congregation in the United States. He served as vicar-general to the Roman Catholic Bishops of Baltimore, and for a time oversaw both St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore and Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Life

St. Mary's Seminary Life and times of the Most Rev. John Carroll, bishop and first archibishop of Baltimore (1888) (14779367425).jpg
St. Mary's Seminary

Jean-Marie Tessier was born in 1758 in Chapelle-Blanche, France. Tessier had taught theology for two years at Viviers when, on April 8, 1791 John Tessier sailed for America from St. Malo, France in company with Francis Nagot S.S., Michael Levadoux, and A. Ganier, together with several seminarians. Given the threatening aspect of affairs in France, Rev. J. A. Emery, Superior-General of the Sulpicians, deemed it prudent to found a house of their institute in some foreign country, and at the suggestion of Cardinal Antonio Dugnani, nuncio at Paris, the United States was chosen. Negotiations were opened with the recently consecrated Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, Maryland, and after some delay Rev. Nagot was named first director of a projected seminary, with Levadoux as treasurer. [1] Also on the voyage was François-René de Chateaubriand.

The Sulpicians, fleeing the French Revolution, arrived in Baltimore on 10 July. They first lodged at 94 Baltimore Street but soon purchased the One Mile Tavern on the edge of the city, dedicated the house to the Blessed Virgin, and in October opened classes with five students whom they had brought from France. Called the Seminary of St. Sulpice (more commonly known as St. Mary's), this was the first American Roman Catholic seminary. [2] That same year, Tessier attended the first synod of Baltimore. Bishop Carroll had opened an academy at Georgetown run by Jesuits in 1792, and some members of the Sulpician community sometimes taught there, as well as, undertaking parish duties.

Tessier taught theology at the Seminary and in 1810, succeeded Francis Nagot as superior of the Sulpician community in the United States, a position he held until 1829. In addition to his duties at the seminary, he served as Vicar General to the first four archbishops of Baltimore. [3] He also ministered at St. Patrick's Church in Baltimore. [4]

Tessier became the superior of St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore and the effective superior of Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. [5] In 1826, the Sulpicians ceded their rights to the Emmitsburg college to John Dubois, the college's president, and his associates. [6]

He worked closely with members of the St. Dominguan refugees, conducting catechism classes and ministering to the Afro-Haitian community that worshiped at St. Mary's Seminary Chapel. [3] In 1827, Tessier directed fellow Sulpician James Nicholas Joubert to assume the duties of catechist in the Chappelle Basse (Lower Chapel). From this ultimately led to the foundation of the religious community of the Oblate Sisters of Providence.

Tessier died 27 February 1840 at the age of eighty-two. The archives of St. Mary's University contain one of his notebooks, listing events year by year from 1791 to 1830. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Baptist Purcell</span> Roman Catholic archbishop

John Baptist Purcell was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Cincinnati from 1833 to his death in 1883, and he was elevated to the rank of archbishop in 1850. He formed the basis of Father Ferrand, the Ohio-based "Irish by birth, French by ancestry" character in the prologue of Willa Cather's historical novel Death Comes for the Archbishop who goes to Rome asking for a bishop for New Mexico Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount St. Mary's University</span> Catholic liberal arts university in Emmitsburg, Maryland, U.S.

Mount St. Mary's University is a private Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It has the largest Catholic seminary in the United States. Undergraduate programs are divided between the College of Liberal Arts, the Richard J. Bolte School of Business, and the School of Natural Science and Mathematics. "The Mount" has over 40 undergraduate majors, minors, concentrations, and special programs, as well as bachelor's/master's combinations in partnership with other universities, 8 master's programs, and 6 postgraduate certificate programs.

The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice, also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the nominal letters PSS after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. Typically, priests become members of the Society of the Priests of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work. The purpose of the society is mainly the education of priests and to some extent parish work. As their main role is the education of those preparing to become priests, Sulpicians place great emphasis on the academic and spiritual formation of their own members, who commit themselves to undergoing lifelong development in these areas. The Society is divided into three provinces, operating in various countries: the Province of France, Canada, and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis William Valentine DuBourg</span> French Catholic archbishop and missionary in the American West

Louis William Valentine DuBourg was a French Catholic prelate and Sulpician missionary to the United States. He built up the church in the vast new Louisiana Territory as the Bishop of Louisiana and the Two Floridas and later became the Bishop of Montauban and finally the Archbishop of Besançon in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's Seminary and University</span> Roman Catholic seminary in Baltimore, Maryland, US

St. Mary's Seminary and University is a Catholic seminary located within the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland; it was the first seminary founded in the United States after the Revolution and has been run since its founding by the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice.

Francis Charles Nagot (1734–1816) was a French Roman Catholic priest, who worked for the Society of Saint-Sulpice. He is perhaps most famous for founding two Catholic teaching establishments in Baltimore, USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambrose Maréchal</span> French-American Catholic prelate (1764–1828)

Ambrose Maréchal, P.S.S. was a French-born Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1817 until his death. He was a member of the Sulpicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dubois</span> French-American Catholic bishop (1764–1842)

John Dubois was a French-born Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of New York from 1826 until his death in 1842.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Whitfield (bishop)</span> English-born prelate

James Whitfield, PSS was an English-born Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1828 until his death in 1834. He was a member of the Sulpicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Eccleston</span> American archbishop

Samuel Eccleston was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1834 until his death in 1851. He was a member of the Sulpicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John J. Chanche</span>

John Mary Joseph Benedict Chanche, S.S., was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop Diocese of Natchez in Mississippi from 1841 to 1852.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. Francis Malooly</span> American prelate

William Francis Malooly is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Malooly served as the bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware from 2008 until 2021. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland from 2000 to 2008.

Michael Levadoux (1746–1815) was a French Sulpician, one of those who left France during the French Revolution. He went to the United States and founded St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques-André Emery</span> French priest

Jacques-André Emery, France, was a French priest of the Society of Saint-Sulpice, who served as its Superior General during the French Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seton Hill, Baltimore</span> United States historic place

Seton Hill Historic District is a historic district in Baltimore, Maryland. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

George Elder was a pioneer Roman Catholic educator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Baptist Mary David</span> French-born Catholic prelate in the United States (1761–1841)

John Baptist Mary David, S.S., was a French-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky from 1832 to 1833.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry P. Northrop</span> American prelate

Henry Pinckney Northrop was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as vicar apostolic of North Carolina (1882-1888) and bishop of the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina (1883-1916).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John J. Conroy</span> Irish-born clergyman

John Joseph Conroy was an Irish-born clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Albany from 1865 to 1877.

The history of the French in Baltimore dates to the 18th century. The earliest wave of French immigration began in the mid-18th century, as many Acadian refugees from Canada's Maritime Provinces. The Acadians were expelled from Canada by the British, who were victorious in the French and Indian War, and in the Seven Years War in Europe. They took over French territory in North America east of the Mississippi River.

References