Jean Louis Cheverus - First Bishop of Boston

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

History, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

Jean Louis Cheverus was a remarkable man and the first bishop of Boston. He was another of the many bishops, priests, and religious who fled France due to the French Revolution and made a tremendous impact on the Church in America. During his 27 years in New England he changed things dramatically. When he arrived, Catholics were a definite minority, and a reviled one at that. But through his tireless ministry, good humor, erudition, and holiness, he won over many previously hostile protestants, and became a friend to John Adams, Josiah Quincy, and many other prominent protestants. His counsel was sought by legislators. He aided in establishing the first chartered savings bank in the U.S. He worked tirelessly among all of his flock, no matter their social status or race. He established the first two parishes in New England, including St. Patrick for Penobscot and Irish in New Castle, Maine. His sudden departure in 1823 when he was named bishop of Montauban in his native France saddened everyone. But he left a lasting legacy on Boston and New England.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic History, brought to you by the support of listeners like you.
0:11.0	If you like this podcast and would like to support our work,
0:14.3	please visit American Catholic History.org slash support.
0:18.9	I'm Noelle Heister Crowe.
0:20.3	And I'm Tom Crow.
0:21.7	Today we're talking about the first bishop of Boston, the erudite and congenial Frenchman
0:27.2	Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Chavreux.
0:30.0	Now we understand that in Boston they pronounce it Chavarus, which is, well, something
0:35.5	my French grandfather would not like.
0:37.3	Yeah, I know.
0:38.2	And Chevroo isn't even that hard.
0:40.0	Even I can pronounce it, and I hate fumbling through French pronunciation.
0:43.5	This just seems like an unnecessary Americanization.
0:46.5	But since we're doing American Catholic history,
0:49.2	will accept the local pronunciation of the person's name,
0:52.3	as we did during episode 121 on St. John Newman.
0:56.3	Most people outside of Philadelphia pronounce it Neumann, but in Philly it's Newman.
1:01.2	So we went with that.
1:02.4	Right. So that said, we'll get on with our discussion of Bishop Chevros.
1:07.3	Yes, he was a great man because of his great simplicity, kindness, tirelessness, and his
1:13.0	largeness of spirit.
1:14.1	He's almost out of central casting for Amazing Catholic Priest.
	...

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