John J. Chanche

The Right Reverend John Joseph Chanche, S.S.
Bishop of Natchez
Daguerreotype of Bishop Chanche
See	Diocese of Natchez
In office	March 14, 1841—July 22, 1852
Predecessor	None
Successor	James Oliver Van de Velde, S.J.
Orders
Ordination	June 5, 1819
Consecration	March 14, 1841 by Samuel Eccleston, S.S.
Personal details
Born	October 4, 1795 Baltimore, Maryland
Died	July 22, 1852 Frederick, Maryland
Signature

The Right Reverend John Joseph Mary Benedict Chanche, S.S., (October 4, 1795 – July 22, 1852) was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Natchez from 1841 to 1852.

Early Life and Family

Chanche was born October 4, 1795, in Baltimore, Maryland. He was of French descent, having been born to parents who had fled to Baltimore from the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), presumably during the Haitian revolution (which itself occurred at about the same time as the French Revolution).

Chanche entered St. Mary's Seminary, where he joined the Sulpicians, and was ordained a priest on June 5, 1819. He was then appointed a professor at the school. In 1833, he was chosen as Master of Ceremonies for the Second Provincial Council of Baltimore, a major step by the bishops of the nation in organizing its structure. Chance was named Vice President of the seminary, and in 1834 succeeded Samuel Eccleston, S.S., as its President.

Chanche was offered the post of coadjutor first to the Archbishop of Baltimore and then to the Bishop of Boston successively, but declined both. He was still President of St. Mary's when he was appointed Bishop of Natchez in 1841.

Bishop of Natchez

Styles of John Joseph Chanche, S.S.
Reference style	The Right Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	His Excellency
Posthumous style	none

The Diocese of Natchez was created on July 28, 1837, and although it encompassed the entire state of Mississippi, a large geographic region, nearly three years passed before Chanche was appointed as its first bishop on December 15, 1840.

Chanche was consecrated March 14, 1841 by Archbishop Eccleston at the Baltimore Basilica. Arriving at Natchez in May 1841,^[1] he met there the only priest in the state, Father Brogard, who was only there temporarily. Taking up the role of a simple missionary, Bishop Chanche began to collect the Catholics and organize a diocese. Chanche set to work building a diocesan infrastructure, and became reasonably well known in the church hierarchy in North America.

In 1842 Bishop Chanche laid the cornerstone of St. Mary Cathedral, and opened an academy for girls. In 1818 he invited the Sisters of Charity to Natchez.

At the First Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1852, Chanche served the role of "chief promoter." He died in Baltimore shortly after the sessions of the Council, at Frederick, Maryland, leaving his diocese with 11 priests, 11 churches erected, and 13 attendant missions. He was buried at the Cathedral of the Assumption there.

In 2007 the body of Bishop Chance was exhumed and returned Natchez to be reinterred in the cathedral at Natchez, now the Basilica of St. Mary.^[2]

See also

• Roman Catholic Church
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson

External links

• Bishop John Joseph Chanche, S.S.
• Photographs of a painting of Bishop Chanche
• St. Mary Basilica Archives Natchez, Mississippi
• St. Mary Basilica Natchez, Mississippi

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.