TheDiocese of Natchez (Latin:Dioecesis Natchesium) was aLatin Church diocese of theCatholic Church; it was the predecessor of theDiocese of Jackson. It served all ofMississippi until the state was split into two dioceses, Jackson andBiloxi.
The former cathedral for the Diocese of Natchez inNatchez, Mississippi is now a minor basilica. The diocese was under the patronage ofOur Lady of Sorrows.[1]
The first Catholic priests in present-day Mississippi were FrenchJesuit andCapuchin missionaries who accompanied theLa Salle,Marquette, andd'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 inNatchez 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 theSpanish Empire ceded the area to the new United States in 1821.[3] San Salvador burned down in 1832.[2]
TheMississippi Territory was originally under the jurisdiction of theDiocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. In 1826,Pope Leo XII moved the new state of Mississippi into the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi. The pope named BishopLouis-Guillaume-Valentin DuBourg as the vicar apostolic.
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 theDiocese of Pittsburgh as the first bishop of the new diocese, but Heyden declined the post. Leo XIII then named BishopAntoine Blanc of the Diocese of New Orleans to serve as a temporary administrator.[2]
Three years later, in 1840, Leo XIII appointedJohn Chanche, president ofSt. Mary's College in Baltimore, as bishop of Natchez. Chanche sailed toNew 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 architectRobert 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] inFrederick, Maryland, while returning from theFirst Plenary Council of Baltimore. The diocese had by that time, 11 priests, 11 churches erected, and 13 attendant missions.[6]
BishopJames Van de Velde was named as the second bishop of Natchez byPope Pius IX in 1853. However, after only 23 months in office, Van de Velde died in 1855 ofyellow fever.[7] The next bishop of Natchez was BishopWilliam 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 theUnion 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 inVidalia, Louisiana. Elder wrote an appeal from prison to PresidentAbraham 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, ayellow 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 theArchdiocese of Cincinnati in 1880 byPope Leo XIII.[8]
In 1881,Francis Janssens from theDiocese of Richmond was appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Natchez by Leo XIII.[11] During his tenure, Janssens completed construction on theCathedral of St. Peter the Apostle inJackson, Mississippi, which had commenced forty years earlier.[12] The pope named him archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1888. St. Joseph School was founded inGreenville in 1888.[13]
In 1889, Leo III appointedThomas 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 SisterKatherine Drexel.[15]
When Heslin died in 1911,Pope Pius X namedJohn 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 andmissions throughout the diocese, which covered nearly 47,000 square miles.[17] Gunn received significant assistance from theCatholic 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]
After Gunn died in 1924,Pope Pius XI appointedRichard 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 establishedConfraternity of Christian Doctrine programs in every parish of the diocese.[18] He moved theepiscopal 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 theAmerican Civil Rights Movement activistMedgar 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 thedesegregation 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 BishopJoseph Brunini, appointed byPope 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]
On March 1, 1977, Paul VI split the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson into theDiocese of Jackson and theDiocese of Biloxi. The pope designated the Diocese of Natchez as atitular see.
Prior to the erection of the Diocese of Natchez,Louis DuBourg served as theVicar Apostolic of Mississippi from 1825 to 1826.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Natchez".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.