Jean-Louis Anne Madelain Lefebvre de Cheverus (also known as John Cheverus) (January 28, 1768–July 19, 1836), French ecclesiastic, was the first Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boston, Massachusetts.
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He was born on January 28, 1768 in Mayenne, France where his father was the general civil judge and lieutenant of police. He studied at the college of Mayenne, received the tonsure aged twelve, became prior of Torbechet while still little more than a child, then derived sufficient income for his education, entered the College of Louis le Grand in 1781, and after completing his theological studies at the Seminary of St. Magloire, was ordained deacon in October 1790. At the age of 22, he was ordained a priest of Montauban, France by special dispensation on December 18. He was immediately made canon of the cathedral of Le Mans and began to act as vicar to his uncle in Mayenne, who died in 1792.
Cheverus refused to take the oath imposed by the Revolution and this cost him his parish, and very nearly his life. He escaped from Paris to London, in disguise. Offered aid on his arrival, he replied: "The little I have will suffice until I learn something of the language. Once acquainted with that, I can earn my living by manual labor, if necessary". In three months he knew English enough to teach, and within a year gathered a congregation. A letter from a former professor at Orléans, the Reverend François Antoine Matignon, now in charge under Bishop John Carroll of all the Catholic church and missions in New England, urged Cheverus to come there to help in the work of the church. Cheverus first emigrated to England in 1792, then to America, settling in Boston on October 3, 1796.
Cheverus, although at first appointed to an Indian mission in Maine, remained in Boston for nearly a year, and returned there after several months in the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy missions and visits to scattered Catholic families along the way. During the epidemic of yellow fever in 1798 he won great praise and respect for his courage and charity; and his preaching was listened to by many Protestants; indeed, the subscriptions for the Church of the Holy Cross which he founded in 1803 were largely from non-Catholics.
In 1808 the papal brief was issued making Boston a bishopric, suffragan to Baltimore, and Cheverus its bishop. He was ecclesiastically ordained bishop of Boston on November 1, 1810 and was consecrated on All Saints Day in 1810, at St. Peters, Baltimore, by Archbishop Carroll. On the death of the latter his assistant bishop, Neale, urged the appointment of Cheverus as assistant to himself; Cheverus refused and warmly asserted his desire to remain in Boston; but, much broken by the death of Matignon in 1818 and with impaired health, he soon found it necessary to leave the seat of his bishopric.
Cheverus supported the establishment in 1816 of the Provident Institution for Savings in the Town of Boston, the first chartered savings bank in the U.S. He believed the bank would inspire virtuous thrifty behavior amongst his parishioners.[1]
Some of the books in Cheverus' personal library now reside in the collection of the Boston Athenaeum.[2]
In 1823, Louis XVIII insisted Cheverus return to France. Returning to France, Cheverus became bishop of Montauban, on January 13, 1823 where his policy of tolerance won respect from Protestant clergy and laymen of the city. He was made archbishop of Bordeaux on July 30, 1826; and was elevated to cardinal on February 1, 1836, in accordance with the wish of Louis Philippe. He died in Bordeaux on July 19, 1836 at the age of sixty-eight.
His work in New England, covering twenty-seven years, included every form of missionary activity. He lived among the Indians, mastering their dialect; traveled long distances on foot, attending scattered Catholics; nursed the sick and buried the dead during two yellow fever epidemics; collected funds and built a church in Boston; and served as businessman, adviser, peacemaker, servant, and pastor for his flock. His devotion to duty and extraordinary tact gradually won the respect of many Puritans. Ministers invited him to their pulpits. The legislature sought and acted on his counsel. At a state banquet to President John Adams (whose name had headed a list of Protestant contributors to the Catholic Church building fund), he was placed next the guest of honour.
The Roman Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 credited Cheverus, more than any other, for the position that Boston then held in the Roman Catholic Church of America, as well as the general growth of that church in New England.
In 1950, an engraved tablet was placed adjacent to the St. Thomas More Oratory entrance at 49 Franklin Street. It reads: “Near this site stood THE CATHEDRAL OF THE HOLY CROSS, established 1803 by Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus, First Catholic Bishop of Boston; Missionary to the Penobscot Indians; Friend of President John Adams; Advisor to our State Legislature; One of America’s noblest priests. He stood by the bedside of Catholic and Protestant alike. This tablet placed by a group of Protestant Businessmen, 1950.”[3]
Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus, is one of the principal characters in the novel "The Garden of Martyrs" by Michael C. White. The fictional account of the historic murder in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1805 and the conviction of James Halligan and Dominic Daley. The conviction was doubtfull because of the bigotry of the period toward Catholics, and Irish Catholics in particular[4]. Cheverus came to assist Dominic Daley, one of his parishioners in Boston, at great personal risk, in his last days and he was present at the execution in 1806.
| Preceded by erected |
Bishop of Boston 1810–1836 |
Succeeded by Benedict Joseph Fenwick |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.