Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus

Jean-Louis Anne Madelain Lefebvre de Cheverus (also known as John Cheverus) (January 28, 1768 – July 19, 1836), French archbishop and later cardinal, was the first Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States.

Cheverus was born on January 28, 1768 in the city of Mayenne, then in the ancient Province of Maine, where his father was the general civil judge and lieutenant of police. He studied at the college of Mayenne, received the tonsure aged twelve and became the commendatory prior of Torbechet while still little more than a child, through which he derived sufficient income for his education. He entered the College of Louis le Grand in 1781, and after completing his theological studies at the Seminary of St. Magloire, was ordained a deacon in October 1790. At the age of 22, he was ordained a priest for Montauban by special dispensation on December 18. He was immediately made canon of the cathedral of Le Mans and began to act as vicar to his uncle, the pastor of Mayenne, who died in 1792, succeeding him at that time.

Cheverus refused to take the oath imposed by the Revolution and this cost him his parish, and very nearly his life. He escaped from Paris to London, in disguise. Offered aid on his arrival, he replied: "The little I have will suffice until I learn something of the language. Once acquainted with that, I can earn my living by manual labor, if necessary". In three months he knew English enough to teach, and within a year gathered a congregation. A letter from a former professor at Orléans, the Reverend François Antoine Matignon, now in charge under Bishop John Carroll of all the Catholic church and missions in New England, urged Cheverus to come there to help in the work of the church. Cheverus first emigrated to England in 1792, then to America, settling in Boston on October 3, 1796.

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