- Stephen Badin
Reverend Fr. Stephen Theodore Badin (July 17, 1768 - April 21, 1853) was ordained a
priest by Bishop John Carroll, 25 May, 1793. The significance is that his was the firstRoman Catholic priest ordination in theUnited States .Early life
Born in
Orléans ,France , he completed his theological studies and after ordination continued to learn the English language until he was appointed to the Mission of Kentucky.Missionary
His mission began in the fall of 1793. He travelled by
flatboat down theOhio River to Maysville, then overland toLexington, Kentucky . By April, 1794 he removed toBardstown, Kentucky , as his home location for his mission to Kentucky. His mission was accomplished on horseback travelling between the Kentucky Catholic settlements for the next 14 years alone in his work. One estimate puts his travels at over 100,000 miles in the saddle in his mission. In 1806 he received permanent help with the arrival of Rev.Charles Nerinckx .After a time he returned to France in 1820 to accept the pastorship of a parish near Orléans, the city of his birth. He worked constantly to secure gifts of money and church furniture to send to the Kentucky mission churches.
Notably, Badin gave 524 acres of land in South Bend, Indiana to the Diocese of Vincennes. This land would become the site for the
University of Notre Dame . [cite book | last=Tucker | first=Todd | title=Notre Dame Vs. The Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan | publisher=Loyola Press, Chicago | year=2004]He returned to America in 1828, first on a mission to
Michigan , then returning to Kentucky in 1829. In 1830 he offered his services to BishopEdward Fenwick of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and continued missionary work with thePottawattamie Indians at St. Joseph's River. He continued in this mission until 1836.He returned to
Bardstown, Kentucky in 1837 and resumed missionary work. In September 1846 he accepted the pastorship of the French settlement at Bourbonnais Grove, Kankakee County,Illinois for two years.His final mission work to Kentucky came in 1848 and lasted about two years.
Later years and death
About 1850 he accepted residence at the cathedral while Bishop
John Baptist Purcell was Archbishop of Cincinnati where he spent his final years until his death in 1853.He was buried at the cathedral crypt until in 1904 the Archbishop of Cincinnati,
William Henry Elder , permitted the removal of his body and reinterrment at theUniversity of Notre Dame ,Indiana .Legacy
A Catholic High School,
Father Stephen T. Badin High School , located in the city ofHamilton, Ohio (Butler County, Ohio ) was named in his honor.External links
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02200b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia article]
* [http://www.badinhs.org/index.asp Father Stephen T. Badin High School website]
* [http://www.badinhs.org/about/fatherbadin.asp Info about Stephen T. Badin]References
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