1. Jean-Marie Odin served as the second Archbishop of New Orleans from 1861 to 1870.
30 Facts About Jean-Marie Odin
1. 2.
Jean-Marie Odin has been called the father of the Catholic Church in Texas.
3.
The seventh of ten children, Jean-Marie Odin was born in Hauteville, an hamlet inside the city of Ambierle in the Department of Loire in France to Jean Odin and Claudine Marie Odin.
4.
Jean-Marie Odin eventually attended schools in Roanne in Verrieres, then began his studies in philosophy at L'Argentiere and Alix.
5.
Jean-Marie Odin finally ended up at the Sulpician seminary in Lyon.
6.
In 1822, while still in seminary, Jean-Marie Odin was recruited by a representative of Bishop Louis Dubourg to do mission work for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
7.
That same year, Jean-Marie Odin immigrated to the United States, After arriving in New Orleans, the archbishop sent him to Perryville, Missouri, to complete his formation as a priest at St Mary's of the Barrens Seminary in Perryville, Missouri.
8.
Jean-Marie Odin professed his vows for the Congregation of the Mission on November 8,1822.
9.
Jean-Marie Odin was ordained to the priesthood for the Vicentians by Bishop Dubourg on May 4,1823.
10.
Jean-Marie Odin became a faculty member at St Mary's Seminary, later being named president.
11.
Jean-Marie Odin accompanied Bishop Joseph Rosati to the Second Provincial Council of Baltimore in 1833 as theologian.
12.
Jean-Marie Odin briefly served as pastor of St Vincent de Paul Parish in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, opening a Catholic school there in 1838.
13.
Jean-Marie Odin worked to bring Catholics back Catholics who had left the church during the Texas Revolution as well as to proselytize among Protestants and Native Americans.
14.
Jean-Marie Odin received his episcopal consecration on March 6,1842, from Bishop Antoine Blanc, with Bishops Michael Portier and John J Chanche serving as co-consecrators, at New Orleans.
15.
Jean-Marie Odin opened several schools and invited the Ursuline nuns as the first religious community in Texas to operate them.
16.
On May 21,1847, Jean-Marie Odin was named the first bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Galveston, which include all of Texas.
17.
Jean-Marie Odin recruited the Brothers of Mary and Oblates of Mary to operate St Mary's University at Galveston, which he established in 1854.
18.
Jean-Marie Odin completed arduous visitations into the more remote parts of Texas, and twice visited Europe to secure priests and material help for the diocese.
19.
Jean-Marie Odin was appointed the second archbishop of New Orleans by Pope Pius IX on February 15,1861.
20.
When Jean-Marie Odin arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana had seceded from the United States and the American Civil War had started.
21.
Jean-Marie Odin was one of Pope Pius IX's contacts in his unsuccessful attempts to mediate a peace agreement to end the war.
22.
Jean-Marie Odin allowed priests from the diocese to serve as chaplains in the Confederate States Army and nuns from the diocese served in field hospitals across the southern states.
23.
Jean-Marie Odin soon ran into conflict with Father Claude Paschal Maistre, a French priest who was a strong advocate of the abolition of slavery.
24.
Jean-Marie Odin put Maistre's parish under an interdict in May 1863, accusing Maistre of "preaching the love of liberty and independence" to slaves and "exciting insurrection against their masters".
25.
When Maistre officiated the funeral of Andre Cailloux, a mixed-race soldier in the Union Army who died heroically, Jean-Marie Odin expressed his condemnation.
26.
Jean-Marie Odin discovered that Maistre had left France under a cloud of accusations of financial impropriety; he used this as a pretext to restrict Maistre.
27.
Jean-Marie Odin incorporated the archdiocese in 1866 and closed the diocesan seminary in 1867 due to lack of funds.
28.
Jean-Marie Odin founded the diocesan newspaper, The Morning Star in February 1868.
29.
Jean-Marie Odin went to Rome to attend the First Vatican Council in 1869, but left the city early for health reasons.
30.
Jean-Marie Odin Odie died in Ambierle on May 25,1870, at age 70.