37 Facts About Gabriel Richard

1.

Gabriel Richard was a French Roman Catholic priest who ministered to the French Catholics in the parish of Sainte Anne de Detroit, as well as Protestants and Native Americans living in Southeast Michigan.

2.

Gabriel Richard established schools, a library, and vocational training with weaving looms.

3.

Gabriel Richard's motto following the fire, Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus is inscribed on the Seal of the City of Detroit.

4.

Gabriel Richard was co-founder of the Catholepistemiad of Michigania.

5.

Gabriel Richard was the first Catholic priest elected to the US House of Representatives as delegate of the Michigan Territory for the 18th Congress.

6.

Gabriel Richard Guild was established in 2020 as one of the first steps towards canonization of Richard.

7.

At age 11, Gabriel was ready to receive a formal education.

8.

Gabriel Richard struggled at first but soon became one of the school's top scholars.

9.

Gabriel Richard was a priest of the Society of Saint-Sulpice, an intellectual order.

10.

Gabriel Richard taught mathematics at St Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, until being assigned by Bishop Carroll to do missionary work to the Indians in the Northwest Territory.

11.

Gabriel Richard was first stationed in what is Kaskaskia, Illinois, and later in Detroit, Michigan.

12.

Gabriel Richard acquired the name Le Bon Pere, regardless of their religion.

13.

Gabriel Richard established the third oldest parish in Michigan along the Clinton River when he established a log chapel called St Peter's of Mt.

14.

The Odawa believed deaths were retributions, either because Gabriel Richard's religion was evil or that the Great Spirit was angered by the possibility of the natives accepting Catholicism.

15.

Gabriel Richard administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to 536 parishioners, of those all but 10 were of French heritage.

16.

Gabriel Richard gave sermons on Sundays for the church parishioners, and at some point began providing sermons for Protestants and Native Americans.

17.

Gabriel Richard trained four people to be teachers and provided education to local Native Americans.

18.

Gabriel Richard had looms delivered and taught members of the church to weave.

19.

Gabriel Richard organized the shipment of food aid to the city from neighboring ribbon farms on both sides of the Detroit River to alleviate a food crisis following the loss of the city's supply of livestock and grain.

20.

Gabriel Richard arranged for funding from Washington, DC and, with other leaders, created a new city plan for the streets in Detroit, including Jefferson and Michigan Avenues.

21.

In 1808, Gabriel Richard established a school for Native American and white children.

22.

Gabriel Richard had the first printing press in Detroit and published a periodical in the French language entitled Essais du Michigan, as well as The Michigan Essay, or Impartial Observer, in 1809.

23.

Gabriel Richard printed books with the press, including reprints of books.

24.

Gabriel Richard is said to have printed The Child's Spelling Book.

25.

Gabriel Richard had a personal library of 240 books on history, literature, theology, philosophy, law, and science.

26.

Gabriel Richard had a book of the Gospel of St John that was printed in Mohawk and English.

27.

Gabriel Richard ministered among the Indians of the region and was generally admired by them.

28.

Together with Chief Justice Augustus B Woodward, Richard was a co-founder of the Catholepistemiad of Michigania, authorized by the legislature in 1817.

29.

Gabriel Richard served as a professor, its vice-president, and a trustee.

30.

Gabriel Richard was elected as a nonvoting delegate of the Michigan Territory to the US House of Representatives for the 18th Congress, and was the first Catholic priest to be elected to that body, serving a single term from March 4,1823 to March 3,1825.

31.

Gabriel Richard secured the first federal appropriation for the Territorial Road across Michigan's lower peninsula; it was developed as Michigan Avenue, connecting Detroit with Chicago.

32.

Gabriel Richard was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1824 to the Nineteenth Congress.

33.

On September 13,1832, after assisting cholera victims during an epidemic, Gabriel Richard died in Detroit.

34.

Gabriel Richard was buried in a crypt in the chapel of Sainte Anne's and was later moved to the Fr.

35.

Gabriel Richard's library was among the collection of the Sacred Heart Seminary beginning in 1925 and were presented to the University of Michigan in 1951.

36.

Gabriel Richard Guild was formed on September 20,2020, as one of the first steps towards canonization of Richard.

37.

Gabriel Richard was a zealous pastor whose missionary heart guided all that he did.