The first Catholic priests in present-day Mississippi were French Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries who accompanied the La Salle, Marquette, and d'Iberville expeditions in the 17th and 18th centuries. The French established Fort Rosalie near Natchez in 1716 and established the first parish in Mississippi.[2]
By 1779, the Spanish were in charge in Florida. In 1787, three priests, McKenna, White, and Savage, arrived in Natchez from Spain and erected three missions in the vicinity. Spanish rule began in the area of Natchez in 1779 and in 1788, a Spanish wood-frame church dedicated to the Holy Savior (San Salvador) was built in the center of the city. Two of these missions disappeared after the Spanish Empire ceded the area to the new United States in 1821.[3] San Salvador burned down in 1832.[2]
Pope Leo XIII converted the vicariate into the Diocese of Natchez on July 28, 1837, its territory covering all of Mississippi. The pope that same year appointed Thomas Heyden of the Diocese of Pittsburgh as the first bishop of the new diocese, but Heyden declined the post. Leo XIII then named Bishop Antoine Blanc of the Diocese of New Orleans to serve as a temporary administrator.[2]
Three years later, in 1840, Leo XIII appointed John Chanche, president of St. Mary's College in Baltimore, as bishop of Natchez. Chanche sailed to New Orleans and then traveled by steamboat to Natchez, arriving in May 1841. On his arrival, he met the only priest in the new diocese, Brogard, there on a temporary assignment. Chanche began to contact Catholics in Mississippi and organize the new diocese. Three of his nieces opened the first Catholic school in Mississippi.[2]
The Cathedral of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary was designed by Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long Jr.,[4] an alumnus of St. Mary's. Two years earlier, Long had designed for Chanche a steeple for the college's chapel. The cornerstone was laid in 1842. Chanche died in 1852, presumably of cholera,[5] in Frederick, Maryland, while returning from the First Plenary Council of Baltimore. The diocese had by that time, 11 priests, 11 churches erected, and 13 attendant missions.[6]
1853 to 1881
Bishop James Van de Velde was named as the second bishop of Natchez by Pope Pius IX in 1853. However, after only 23 months in office, Van de Velde died in 1855 of yellow fever.[7] The next bishop of Natchez was Bishop William Elder, appointed by Pius IX in 1857. At the time he arrived in Natchez, the diocese had eleven missions (churches), nine priests and 10,000 Catholics.[8][9]
After the occupation of Natchez in 1864 by the Union Army during the American Civil War, Elder refused an order from the military government to compel his parishioners to pray for the US president. Elder was then arrested, tried, convicted, and jailed briefly in Vidalia, Louisiana. Elder wrote an appeal from prison to President Abraham Lincoln. Elder explained that his refusal was not based on politics, but on the authority of the Catholic church to regulate its church services. The Federal Government ordered Elder's release from prison on August 12, 1864.[10]
In 1878, a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Natchez. Ministering to the sick, Elder caught the disease. He survived but lost six diocesan priests.[9] When he left the diocese, there were 41 churches, 25 priests, six religious houses for men, five convents, 13 parish schools and 12,500 Catholics. Elder was named coadjutor archbishop for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1880 by Pope Leo XIII.[8]
In 1889, Leo III appointed Thomas Heslin of the Archdiocese of St. Louis as the new bishop of Natchez.[14] St. Mary's Church in Vicksburg, serving the African-American community, was founded in 1906, with half of the funding coming from Sister Katherine Drexel.[15]
When Heslin died in 1911, Pope Pius X named John Gunn as bishop of Natchez. Upon Gunn's arrival, the diocese contained 75 churches, 46 priests, and 17,000 Catholics.[16] He then began extensive pastoral visits to all the parishes and missions throughout the diocese, which covered nearly 47,000 square miles.[17] Gunn received significant assistance from the Catholic Church Extension Society, and incorporated the diocese in 1918.[17] He became known as the "Chapel Builder," and by the time of his death, there were 149 churches and over 31,000 Catholics in the diocese.[16]
1924 to 1977
After Gunn died in 1924, Pope Pius XI appointed Richard Gerow of the Diocese of Mobile as the next bishop of Natchez. During his 43-year tenure, Gerow oversaw an extensive renovation of St. Mary's Cathedral, held biannual clerical conferences, and worked to established Confraternity of Christian Doctrine programs in every parish of the diocese.[18] He moved the episcopal see of the diocese to Jackson in 1948.[18] On December 18, 1956, the Vatican renamed the Diocese of Natchez to the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson.[9]
In 1963, Gerow condemned the assassination of the American Civil Rights Movement activist Medgar Evers in Mississippi, saying, "We need frankly to admit that the guilt for the murder and the other instances of violence in our community tragically must be shared by all of us."[19] The following year, he ordered Catholic elementary schools in the diocese to admit students to the first grade "without regard to race."[20] In 1965, Gerow ordered the desegregation of all grades in Catholic schools to "bring our practice into full conformity with the teachings of Christ."[21] Gerow retired in 1967.
The next bishop of Natchez-Jackson was Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Brunini, appointed by Pope Paul VI in 1967. He was the first native Mississippian to serve in that post.[22] During his tenure, Brunini was an outspoken advocate of the Civil Rights Movement; he once declared, "We as religious leaders can't blame the politicians if we don't do our job first."[23] He co-founded and served as the first president of the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference.[22]
James Oliver Van de Velde was a U.S. Catholic bishop born in Belgium. He served as the second Roman Catholic Bishop of Chicago between 1849 and 1853. He traveled to Rome in 1852 and petitioned the Pope for a transfer to a warmer climate, due to his health. In 1853, the transfer was granted; Van de Velde became bishop of the Diocese of Natchez, in Mississippi, where he served until his death two years later.
William Henry Elder was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Natchez in Mississippi from 1857 to 1880 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in Ohio between 1883 and his death.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of La Crosse is a Latin Church diocese in west-central Wisconsin in the United States. The metropolitan for the diocese is the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The mother church is the Cathedral of Saint Joseph the Workman in La Crosse.
The Diocese of Jackson is a Latin Church diocese in Mississippi in the United States. Its ecclesiastical jurisdiction includes the northern and central parts of the state, an area of 97,458 square kilometers (37,629 sq mi). It is the largest diocese, by area, east of the Mississippi River.
The Diocese of Biloxi is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church that encompasses 17 counties in southern Mississippi in the United States. The diocese was erected on March 1, 1977, when it was split from the Diocese of Jackson. The Diocese of Biloxi is a suffragan diocese of the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mobile, though for its first three years the diocese was in the province of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
The Diocese of Springfield–Cape Girardeau is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in southern Missouri in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Louis.
Joseph Lawson Edward Howze was an African-American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Biloxi from 1977 to 2001, and was the first openly Black Catholic bishop of an American diocese.
Richard Oliver Gerow was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson in Mississippi from 1924 to 1967.
Thomas Francis Brennan was an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Dallas in Texas from 1891 to 1892 before serving as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of St. John's in the British Colony of Newfoundland from 1893 to 1905.
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.
Joseph Nunzio Latino was a bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Jackson in Mississippi from 2003 to 2013.
Henry Cosgrove was a late 19th-century and early 20th-century bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the second bishop of Diocese of Davenport in Iowa from 1884 to until his death in 1906.
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter the Apostle is the seat of the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi. The cathedral is named for Saint Peter the Apostle.
Theophile Meerschaert was a Belgian-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Oklahoma in the United States from 1891 until his death in 1924.
Francis Xavier Leray was a French-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Natchitoches in Louisiana (1877–1879) and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans (1883–1887).
Francis August Anthony Joseph Janssens was a Dutch-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Natchez in Mississippi (1881–1888) and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans (1888–1897).
John Edward Gunn was an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Natchez from 1911 until his death in 1924.
Thomas Heslin was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Natchez in Mississippi from 1889 until his death in 1911.
Joseph Bernard Brunini was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Jackson in Mississippi from 1967 to 1984.
Cornelius Van de Ven was a Dutch-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the fourth Bishop of Alexandria in Louisiana from 1910 until his death in 1932. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Natchitoches in Louisiana from 1904 until its dissolution in 1910.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Natchez". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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