Michael Porter

Michael Porter

Michael Portier (born September 7, 1795 in Montbrison , France , † May 14, 1859 in Mobile , Alabama , United States ) was a Roman Catholic clergyman and the first bishop of Mobile .

Life

Porter immigrated to the United States in 1817. He studied at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore , Maryland and was for the Diocese of Saint Louis on May 16, 1818 by Bishop Louis William Valentine Dubourg for priests ordained. Eight years later, on August 26, 1825, he was named Titular Bishop of Olena and the first and only Vicar Apostolic of the newly created Vicariate for Alabama and Florida . The Apostolic Administrator of Louisiana, Bishop Joseph Rosati , ordained him episcopally on November 5 of the following year .

When the doorman took office, he was the only clergyman in the vicariate, which included only three parishes: Mobile, Alabama, and St. Augustine and Pensacola , Florida. Porter rode through his district on horseback, celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments .

In search of helpers he sailed to Europe in 1829 and returned with some seminarians and the priest Mathias Loras . On May 15, 1829, the vicariate was elevated to the status of the Diocese of Mobile and Porter became its first bishop. His cathedral was a small church that was about six meters wide and sixteen meters long, his residence and official residence was a timber frame building with two rooms. Construction of a new cathedral began in 1837 and Bishop Portier was able to consecrate the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1850 . That year the eastern part of Florida was separated from the Diocese of Mobile and assigned to the Diocese of Savannah .

Bishop Portier founded Spring Hill College in 1830 and appointed Mathias Loras its rector. Loras remained in this post until he was ordained Bishop of Dubuque on December 10, 1837 by Bishop Portier ; in 1847 he ordained another rector of the college as bishop: John Stephen Bazin became the third bishop of Vincennes on October 24, 1847 .

In 1833 the Order of the Visitation of Mary sent some nuns from Georgetown , who set up the Visitation Convent and a girls' school in Mobile . From France he brought members of the Frères du Sacré-Cœur from France and the Cooperative of the Daughters of Christian Love of St. Vincent de Paul from Emmitsburg , Maryland to Mobile in 1847 to build orphanages for boys and girls. One of his last steps was the establishment of a hospital, what is now Providence Hospital, which, then as now , is operated by Caritas .

Bishop Portier died on May 14, 1859 at the age of 63 and was buried in the crypt of the cathedral in Mobile.

Web links

• Entry to Michael Portier on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Thomas Eaton:  Mobile . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Robert Appleton Company, New York 1913.

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Bishop of Mobile 1825-1859	John Quinlan