His Excellency John Dubois | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of New York | |
 Third Bishop of New York | |
| See | Diocese of New York |
| Term ended | December 20, 1842 |
| Predecessor | John Connolly,O.P. |
| Successor | John Hughes |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | September 28, 1787 by Antoine-Eléonore-Léon Le Clerc de Juigné |
| Consecration | October 29, 1826 by Ambrose Maréchal, S.S. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1764-08-24)August 24, 1764 |
| Died | December 20, 1842(1842-12-20) (aged 78) New York, New York, United States |
| Buried | Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, New York, United States |
| Signature |  |
John Dubois (French:Jean Dubois) (August 24, 1764 – December 20, 1842) was a French-bornCatholic prelate who served asBishop of New York from 1826 until his death in 1842.[1]
Dubois was the first Bishop of New York who was notIrish-born and, as of 2024, remains the only bishop or archbishop of New York of non-Irish ancestry.
John Dubois was born inParis, France, on August 24, 1764. As a teenager, he attended theLycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Deciding to become a priest, he studied theology at the Oratorian Seminary of Saint-Magloire in Paris.[2]
Dubois was ordained apriest for the Archdiocese of Paris on September 22, 1787, by ArchbishopAntoine-Eléonore-Léon Le Clerc de Juigné. After his ordination, Dubois served as an assistant to the curé of theChurch of Saint Sulpice in Paris. He also served chaplain to theHôpital des Petites-Maisons (the Hospital of Small Houses), a mental hospital run by theDaughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.[3]
By 1790, theFrench Revolution was causing huge upheaval in France. In November 1790, theNational Constituent Assembly decreed that all clergy must swear an oath of loyalty to the government of France, ahead of loyalty to the pope.[4] Failure to sign the oath mean loss of income, military conscription or death.[5]
Many priests of theOrder of Sulpice fled to England. In early 1791, Reverend Charles Nagot led a group of Sulpicians toBaltimore, Maryland. Dubois was able to flee France to America with the assistanceMaximilien Robespierre, a leader of the revolution who had attended the Collège Louis LeGrand with Dubois.[3]
Dubois landed atNorfolk, Virginia in August, 1791, and traveled toRichmond, Virginia. He was carrying a letter of introduction from theMarquis de Lafayette, a French hero of the recently concludedAmerican Revolution. Dubois was warmly received in Richmond by ColonelJames Monroe, the legislatorPatrick Henry and other prominent Richmond families. Henry helped Dubois learn English. The Richmond families hosted Dubois until he was able to rent a house in the city and open a school to teach French, the classics and arithmetic.[6]
Virginia had disestablished theEpiscopal Church as the official church by statute in 1786. That same law also guaranteedfreedom of religion, releasing the Commonwealth's small Catholic population from civil restrictions. Dubois soon became friends with the EpiscopalianJohn Buchanan and the Presbyterian John Blair two ministers who alternated holding religious services in theVirginia State Capitol. On one occasion, theVirginia General Assembly invited Dubois to celebrate mass in the Capitol courtroom. During his time in Richmond, Dubois celebrated masses in rented rooms or at the homes of the city's few Catholic families.[1]
In 1788, the Vatican appointed ReverendJohn Carroll, the superior of the American mission, as bishop of the Diocese of Baltimore, the first Catholic diocese in the United States. In 1794, Carroll sent Dubois toFrederick, Maryland, to tend to the growing Catholic population in that region. He was also responsible for the church presence in theShenandoah Valley of Virginia and the frontier regions westward to theMississippi River. TheSociety of Jesus had previously supervised missions in these areas, butPope Clement XIV had suppressed the order in 1773, forcing them to surrender all their holdings.[7]
In May 15, 1800, Dubois consecrated the cornerstone ofSt. John the Evangelist Church in Frederick. For the next eleven years, Dubois served as pastor ofSt. John the Evangelist Church, making excursions into the frontier.[7]
In 1808, Dubois foundedMount St. Mary's College inEmmitsburg, Maryland and became its first president. Later that same year, in November 1808, he joined theSulpician Order. Mount St. Mary's trained many missionaries who were sent out west to build mission churches. In 1809, Dubois invitedElizabeth Bayley Seton, a recent widow and convert to move to Emmitsburg. That same year, she established the firstreligious institute of teaching sisters in the United States. In 1810, Seton establishedSaint Joseph's Academy and Free School in Emmitsburg, the first Catholic girls' school in the nation. Seton wascanonized a saint in 1975.[1]
In 1824, Dubois left the Sulpician Order. He continued as president of Mount St. Mary's until his appointment as bishop of New York.
On May 23, 1826,Pope Leo XII appointed Dubois as bishop of New York. The pope made this appointment on the recommendation of ReverendAnthony Kohlmann, who was pastor ofSt. Peter's Church, the first Catholic church in New York City.[8] Dubois wasconsecrated at theCathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore by ArchbishopAmbrose Maréchal on October 29, 1826.[9]
The primarily Irish clergy in the Diocese of New York did not appreciate the appointment of a French bishop. Although Dubois had acquired an adequate command of English, he spoke with an accent; they viewed him as a "foreigner". Many of the clergy believed that MonsignorJohn Power, the Irish-Americanvicar general, should have become bishop. There were suspicions that Maréchal, also French-born, had influenced the pope to select Dubois. At one point, the trustees ofSt. Patrick's Old Cathedral in Manhattan, tangled in a dispute with Dubois over the ownership of church property, withheld their contributions of food and shelter from him.[10]
In 1837, Dubois traveled toSalina, New York to marrySilas Titus and Eliza McCarthy. The marriage certificate became the first record of a Catholic service inOnondaga County. ReverendJohn McCloskey, a future archbishop of New York, accompanied Dubois to Salina as a guide.[11] In 1837, Dubois requested that the pope appoint acoadjutor bishop to assist him.
During his tenure as bishop, Dubois erected six new parishes in New York City. He also commissioned Reverend Phillip O’Reilly to serve the "Congregation of the Hudson" north ofManhattan.[10] Dubois ordered that the diocesan pastors direct all church collections on Christmas Day to the care of orphans. In 1838, he extended this edict to include the Easter collection.[12]
Dubois died on December 20, 1842, in New York City. He is buried under the sidewalk at the entrance to the Old St Patrick's Cathedral. He requested this spot so that people could "walk on me in death, as they wished to in life".[8] A plaque at the church's entrance memorializes Dubois.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "John Dubois".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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| Preceded by | Bishop of New York 1826 – 1842 | Succeeded by |
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