The Right Reverend John Baptist Miège, S.J. |
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Vicar Apostolic of Kansas | |
See | Kansas |
In office | 1857–1874 |
Successor | Louis Mary Fink, O.S.B. |
Other posts | Vicar Apostolic of the Indian Territory (1850-1857), Titular Bishop of Messene |
Orders | |
Ordination | September 7, 1847 |
Consecration | March 25, 1851 by Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick |
Personal details | |
Born | September 18, 1815 Mercury, Duchy of Savoy, Kingdom of Sardinia |
Died | July 21, 1884 (aged 68) , United States |
Buried | , , United States |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
John Baptist Miège, S.J. (September 18, 1815 – July 21, 1884), was a Savoyard-born Jesuit prelate who was sent as a missionary to the United States. In addition to a career in education, he served as Vicar Apostolic of Kansas from 1851 to 1874.
Miège was born in a house called La Forêt, in the village of Mercury (close to Albertville), in the Duchy of Savoy as the youngest son of a wealthy and pious family. At a young age he was committed to the care of his brother Urban, who was director of the diocesan seminary of Moûtiers. After completing his literary course at age 19, he was dissuaded from a career in the army and remained at Moûtiers for two years, studying philosophy.
On October 23, 1836, Miège entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus (more commonly known as the Jesuits) at Milan, and professed his first vows on October 15, 1838. In 1840 he became chief disciplinarian at the Jesuit boarding school in Milan. He was briefly stationed at Chambéry from 1843 until 1844, when he was sent to further his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
While in Rome, Miège was ordained to the priesthood on September 7, 1847. He then resumed his theological studies in 1848, but was soon forced to seek refuge in France following the Revolutions of 1848. In 1849, at his request, he was sent by his superiors to work in the Indian missions in the United States, where he first served as a pastor of St. Charles's Church in Saint Charles, Missouri. He later taught moral theology at the Jesuit house of probation in Florissant, and became prefect of discipline and professor at Saint Louis University in 1851.