Jean-Baptiste Brondel

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Jean-Baptiste Brondel , in the United States also John B. Brondel (born February 23, 1842 in Bruges , Belgium , † November 3, 1903 in Helena , Montana , United States ) was a Belgian clergyman and Roman Catholic bishop of Vancouver Island (1879 to 1883) and von Helena (1884 to 1903).

Live and act

The St Peters Mission in Montana, which Brondel was instrumental in establishing, on a recording from before 1908.

Jean-Baptiste Brondel was born on February 23, 1842 to Charles Joseph and Isabella Brondel (née Becquet) in Bruges. As one of seven children, he was the youngest of his parents' five sons. Along with his eldest brother and two sisters, Jean-Baptiste was one of four children in the family who embarked on a religious career. After an early education with the Xaverian Brothers , founded by Theodoor Jakob Rijken in Brondel's hometown in 1839 , Brondel moved to the College of St. Louis in Bruges at the age of ten in 1852, which he then attended for ten years. Inspired by the work of Pierre-Jean De Smet , who came to America for the first time as a 20-year-old in 1821 and rendered valuable services there in the following decades, among other things as a missionary, Brondel decided to become a missionary in North America as well.

At the American College of Louvain , a Roman Catholic seminary in Leuven operated by the Bishops' Conference of the United States and founded in 1857, Brondel then studied philosophy and theology . On December 17, 1864, he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx , then Archbishop of Mechelen . Since he was just 22 years old at that time and therefore under the necessary age limit for a priestly ordination, an exemption from Pope Pius IX was required . Then Brondel continued his studies at the American College for two more years before arriving in Vancouver in the province of British Columbia in Canada in 1866 . There he initially taught for one year at Holy Angels College before he came to the adjacent Washington Territory and worked there for ten years as rector of the Church of Steilacoom and its affiliated missions.

During his tenure there, he had churches built in Tacoma and Olympia . After being transferred to Walla Walla in 1877 , the Belgian returned to Steilacoom the following year. After Charles-Jean Seghers learned in the summer of 1878 that he had been appointed coadjutor of the Archdiocese of Oregon City , and accepted this office, although he wanted to continue serving as Bishop of Vancouver Island , Brondel was elected on September 26, 1879 third bishop of Vancouver Island by Pope Leo XIII. He then received his consecration on December 14, 1879 by his predecessor, the current Archbishop Charles-Jean Seghers. The diocese were at that time the British colony Vancouver Iceland , as well as to the United States belonging Alaska . His tenure as Bishop of Vancouver Island lasted until April 7, 1883, when he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Montana . Pope Leo XIII. the Apostolic Vicariate Montana had officially founded about a month earlier, on March 5, 1883, after territories of the Apostolic Vicariates Idaho and Nebraska . On March 11, 1883, part of the territory of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis was added.

After the Apostolic Vicariate had been elevated to a diocese on March 7, 1884 , Brondel was appointed as the first bishop of the current diocese of Helena. He held this position for a period of around 20 years until his death in 1903. During this time he traveled extensively in Washington and was involved in the establishment of new parishes and churches. Furthermore, the number of priests in the state increased significantly; In the year of his death, the number of seminars in Montana had grown from one to thirteen. Brondel was particularly committed to the evangelization of Native Americans, which the United States government has sometimes used. On November 3, 1903, Brondel, who was still in the office of Bishop of Helena, died after a short illness at the age of 61 in St. John's Hospital in Helena and was buried in the vault below the Cathedral of Saint Helena . The cause of death in the Anaconda Standard of the same evening was given as fatty heart disease . On November 3, 1921, exactly 18 years to the day after his death, his remains were transferred to the Resurrection Cemetery of Helena .

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predecessor Office successor
none Bishop of Helena
1884–1903 		John Patrick Carroll
none Vicar Apostolic of Montana
1883–1884 		none
Charles-Jean Seghers Bishop of Vancouver Island
1879–1883 		Charles-Jean Seghers
personal data
SURNAME Brondel, Jean-Baptiste
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brondel, John B.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian clergyman and bishop of Vancouver Island and Helena
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH Bruges , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH November 3, 1903
Place of death Helena , Montana , United States