Francis Xavier Leray

The Most Reverend

Francis Xavier Leray
Archbishop of New Orleans
See New Orleans
Installed December 28, 1883
Term ended September 23, 1887
Predecessor Napoléon-Joseph Perché
Successor Francis Janssens
Other posts Bishop of Natchitoches (1877-1879)
Coadjutor Archbishop of New Orleans (1879-1883)
Orders
Ordination March 19, 1852
Consecration April 22, 1877
Personal details
Born April 20, 1825
Châteaugiron, Ille-et-Vilaine, France
Died September 23, 1887 (aged 62)
Châteaugiron, Ille-et-Vilaine, France

Francis Xavier Leray (April 20, 1825 – September 23, 1887) was a French-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Natchitoches (1877–1879) and Archbishop of New Orleans (1883–1887).

Biography

Leray was born in Châteaugiron, Ille-et-Vilaine, to René and Marie (née Roncin) Leray.[1] He studied at the College of Rennes from 1833 until 1844,[2] when he accepted an appeal for missionaries in Louisiana, United States.[3] Following his arrival, he taught for several months at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, before entering St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland, where he completed his theological studies.[3] In 1852 he accompanied Bishop John J. Chanche to Natchez, Mississippi, where Leray was ordained to priesthood on March 19 of that year.[4]

He then served as pastor of Jackson, and ministered to the sick and dying during the yellow fever epidemics of 1853 and 1855.[5] Leray himself was stricken by the fever and only by great care did he recover.[2] In 1857 he was named pastor of Vicksburg, where he built the first Catholic church and in 1860 introduced the Sisters of Mercy to establish a school.[3] During the Civil War (1861-1865), he served as a chaplain to the Confederate Army of Tennessee.[1] On several occasions he was taken prisoner by Union forces but was released as soon as he was identified as a priest.[3] After the war he returned to Vicksburg, which was visited by cholera in 1867.[5] He was also vicar general of Diocese of Natchez from 1871 to 1877.[1]

On November 27, 1876, Leray was appointed the second Bishop of Natchitoches, Louisiana, by Pope Pius IX.[4] He received his episcopal consecration on April 22, 1877 from Cardinal Geoffroy Brossais Saint-Marc, with Bishop Célestine Guynemer de la Hailandière and Charles Nouvel de La Flèche serving as co-consecrators, at Rennes Cathedral.[4] Leray remained in Natchitoches for only two years, being named Coadjutor Archbishop of New Orleans and Titular Archbishop of Ionopolis on October 23, 1879.[4] He was also charged with the administration of the financial affairs of the Archdiocese, which was left nearly $600,000 in debt from the war;[6] he managed to reduce this debt by at least half.[3]

Upon the death of Archbishop Napoléon-Joseph Perché, Leray succeeded him as the third Archbishop of New Orleans on December 28, 1883.[4] He received the pallium, a vestment worn by metropolitan bishops, from Cardinal James Gibbons in January 1884.[2] Leray attended the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in November 1884, and continued his efforts to relieve New Orleans of its immense debt for the rest of his tenure.[2] An advocate of Catholic education, he increased the number of parochial schools from 36 to 70 during his administration as well.[2] In the hope of strengthening his failing health, he returned in 1887 to his native Châteaugiron, where he died shortly afterwards at age 62.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "LERAY, Francis Xavier". Louisiana Historical Association.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Clarke, Richard Henry. "Most Rev. Francis Xavier Leray, D.D.". Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "New Orleans". Catholic Encyclopedia.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Archbishop Francis Xavier Leray". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske. "LERAY, Francis Xavier". Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.
  6. ↑ "A History of the Archdiocese of New Orleans: Reconstruction and its Aftermath (1865-1888)". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Episcopal succession

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Augustus Marie Martin		 Bishop of Natchitoches
1877–1879 		Succeeded by
Anthony Durier
Preceded by
Napoléon-Joseph Perché		 Archbishop of New Orleans
1883–1887 		Succeeded by
Francis Janssens