Benedict Joseph Flaget
Encyclopedia
Benedict Joseph Flaget was a U.S.
bishop. He served as the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bardstown
between 1808 and 1839, then as bishop of the Diocese of Louisville
between 1839 and 1850 when the See was transferred to Louisville
in 1839.
, at Clermont-Ferrand, France. He was ordained a priest June 1, 1788. Flaget taught theology for two years at Nantes
, and later was chairman of the seminary at Angers
until the institution was closed by the French Revolution
.
mission and arrived at Baltimore
March 29, 1792. After spending but two months in America, the Bishop of Baltimore, John Carroll, sent him on his missionary work to Fort Vincennes
in the Indiana Territory
. His journey west on horseback was a route that took him through the Allegheny Mountains
to Fort Pitt
, the area now known as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
. A letter of introduction from bishop Carrol provided an introduction to General "Mad" Anthony Wayne
. Travel was to be by flatboat
down the Ohio River
. Due to low water conditions he stayed at Fort Pitt for a few months, learning the English language and tending to persons afflicted by an outbreak of smallpox in the area. Flaget left Pittsburgh in November and travelled down the Ohio River
to the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville), where he continued on his journey to Fort Vincennes with George Rogers Clark
. They reached the fort on December 21.
At Vincennes he founded the Old Cathedral Library (now a Museum), the oldest library in Indiana. At Vincennes he ministered to the Catholics at the small parish located there and also tended to the Native Americans, especially nursing the Miamis
and other Indian tribes, and baptized many of them.
On April 23, 1795 Flaget was recalled to Baltimore, returning by travelling down the river to New Orleans and returning to Baltimore by ship. He taught at Georgetown College
for three years.
Flaget left Baltimore in 1798 bound for Cuba
with other Sulpicians. They were not permitted to celebrate Mass
in Havana
. He contracted yellow fever
and was left behind when the other Sulpicians returned to America. He recovered and acted as a tutor to the son of a wealthy Spaniard. Later he was permitted to celebrate Mass at the church of the Capuchin friars. While in Cuba, Louis Phillippe of France and his two brothers had made their way to Havana as part of their exile journey. The exiles were befriended by their fellow Frenchman, Flaget, in 1800. He returned to Baltimore in November 1801.
Returning from Bordeaux, France after his appointment, he brought other early missionaries to America: Simon Bruté, Guy Ignatius Chabrat
, Anthony Deydier
, James Derigaud and Julian Romeuf. The first two became bishops in America.
He built St. Joseph Cathedral
in Bardstown as the center of the diocese. He was one of only two bishops of Bardstown (along with John Baptist Mary David
), since the diocese was removed to Louisville, though Bardstown remains a Titular See
.
Eventually the diocese was subdivided, the first being the Diocese of Cincinnati
. Flaget was the principal consecrator of the new diocese's first bishop, Bishop Edward Dominic Fenwick, O.P.
Though he resigned May 7, 1832 as bishop he was appointed again March 17, 1833. The Bardstown See was transferred to Louisville, Kentucky
on February 13, 1841, becoming the Diocese of Louisville
.
Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget died February 12, 1850 and was buried two days later after a Requiem Mass celebrated by Rt. Rev. Dr. Spalding and a homily by Rt. Rev. Dr. Purcell, bishop of Cincinnati. He was buried in the Undercroft
of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, KY.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
bishop. He served as the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bardstown
Roman Catholic Diocese of Bardstown
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bardstown was established on April 8, 1808, along with the dioceses of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, out of the territory of the Baltimore Diocese, the first Catholic diocese in the US. When founded, the Bardstown Diocese included most of Kentucky, Tennessee,...
between 1808 and 1839, then as bishop of the Diocese of Louisville
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville consists of twenty-four counties in Central Kentucky, USA, covering . It is the seat of the Metropolitan Province of Louisville, which comprises the states of Kentucky and Tennessee...
between 1839 and 1850 when the See was transferred to Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
in 1839.
Education and Call to Ministry
At the age of 17 Flaget entered The Society of Saint-SulpiceSociety of Saint-Sulpice
The Society of Saint-Sulpice is a Catholic Society of Apostolic Life named for Eglise Saint-Sulpice, Paris, in turn named for St. Sulpitius the Pious. Typically, priests become members of the Society of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work. Uniquely, Sulpicians retain...
, at Clermont-Ferrand, France. He was ordained a priest June 1, 1788. Flaget taught theology for two years at Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
, and later was chairman of the seminary at Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
until the institution was closed by the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
.
Early Church work in America
In 1792 he determined to devote his life to the AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mission and arrived at Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
March 29, 1792. After spending but two months in America, the Bishop of Baltimore, John Carroll, sent him on his missionary work to Fort Vincennes
Vincennes
Vincennes is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...
in the Indiana Territory
Indiana Territory
The Territory of Indiana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1800, until November 7, 1816, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Indiana....
. His journey west on horseback was a route that took him through the Allegheny Mountains
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
to Fort Pitt
Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
Fort Pitt was a fort built at the location of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.-French and Indian War:The fort was built from 1759 to 1761 during the French and Indian War , next to the site of former Fort Duquesne, at the confluence the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River...
, the area now known as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. A letter of introduction from bishop Carrol provided an introduction to General "Mad" Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne was a United States Army general and statesman. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the sobriquet of Mad Anthony.-Early...
. Travel was to be by flatboat
Flatboat
Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with (mostlyNOTE: "(parenthesized)" wordings in the quote below are notes added to...
down the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. Due to low water conditions he stayed at Fort Pitt for a few months, learning the English language and tending to persons afflicted by an outbreak of smallpox in the area. Flaget left Pittsburgh in November and travelled down the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
to the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville), where he continued on his journey to Fort Vincennes with George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
. They reached the fort on December 21.
At Vincennes he founded the Old Cathedral Library (now a Museum), the oldest library in Indiana. At Vincennes he ministered to the Catholics at the small parish located there and also tended to the Native Americans, especially nursing the Miamis
Miami tribe
The Miami are a Native American nation originally found in what is now Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is the only federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States...
and other Indian tribes, and baptized many of them.
On April 23, 1795 Flaget was recalled to Baltimore, returning by travelling down the river to New Orleans and returning to Baltimore by ship. He taught at Georgetown College
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
for three years.
Flaget left Baltimore in 1798 bound for Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
with other Sulpicians. They were not permitted to celebrate Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
. He contracted yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
and was left behind when the other Sulpicians returned to America. He recovered and acted as a tutor to the son of a wealthy Spaniard. Later he was permitted to celebrate Mass at the church of the Capuchin friars. While in Cuba, Louis Phillippe of France and his two brothers had made their way to Havana as part of their exile journey. The exiles were befriended by their fellow Frenchman, Flaget, in 1800. He returned to Baltimore in November 1801.
Bishop
He was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Bardstown April 8, 1808 and ordained November 4, 1810. This was the largest diocese ever formed in the United States and comprised the area equivalent to 10 states, including Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana and others. Today this area comprises 35 dioceses.Returning from Bordeaux, France after his appointment, he brought other early missionaries to America: Simon Bruté, Guy Ignatius Chabrat
Guy Ignatius Chabrat
Guy Ignatius Chabrat P.S.S. was a French Roman Catholic missionary and Coadjutor Bishop of Bardstown, Kentucky . He was the first priest ordained west of the Alleghenies....
, Anthony Deydier
Anthony Deydier
Anthony Deydier, was a French priest, missionary and teacher.- Early Years in America :Deydier was born in France on April 30, 1788. He left his native country on June 10th, 1810 on the same boat as Simon Bruté, accompanying Benedict Flaget. After his ordination to the diaconate he refused...
, James Derigaud and Julian Romeuf. The first two became bishops in America.
He built St. Joseph Cathedral
Basilica of Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral
The Basilica of Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral is a Catholic parish church at 310 West Stephen Foster Avenue in Bardstown, Kentucky. It is the former cathedral mother church of the former Roman Catholic Diocese of Bardstown...
in Bardstown as the center of the diocese. He was one of only two bishops of Bardstown (along with John Baptist Mary David
John Baptist Mary David
John Baptist Mary David P.S.S. was a French prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Bardstown from 1832 to 1833....
), since the diocese was removed to Louisville, though Bardstown remains a Titular See
Titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....
.
Eventually the diocese was subdivided, the first being the Diocese of Cincinnati
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati covers the southwest region of the U.S. state of Ohio, including the greater Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan areas. The Archbishop of Cincinnati is Most Rev...
. Flaget was the principal consecrator of the new diocese's first bishop, Bishop Edward Dominic Fenwick, O.P.
Edward Fenwick
Bishop Edward Dominic Fenwick, O.P. was born on the Patuxent river, Maryland to Colonel Ignatius Fenwick and Sarah Taney...
Though he resigned May 7, 1832 as bishop he was appointed again March 17, 1833. The Bardstown See was transferred to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
on February 13, 1841, becoming the Diocese of Louisville
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville consists of twenty-four counties in Central Kentucky, USA, covering . It is the seat of the Metropolitan Province of Louisville, which comprises the states of Kentucky and Tennessee...
.
Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget died February 12, 1850 and was buried two days later after a Requiem Mass celebrated by Rt. Rev. Dr. Spalding and a homily by Rt. Rev. Dr. Purcell, bishop of Cincinnati. He was buried in the Undercroft
Undercroft
An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.- History :While some...
of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, KY.
Legacy
Several Institutions have been named for Benedict Joseph Flaget:- Bishop Flaget School - Chillicothe, OhioChillicothe, OhioChillicothe is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States.Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio and is located in southern Ohio along the Scioto River. The name comes from the Shawnee name Chalahgawtha, meaning "principal town", as it was a major settlement of...
- Flaget Memorial Hospital - Bardstown, KentuckyBardstown, KentuckyAs of the census of 2010, there were 11,700 people, 4,712 households, and 2,949 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,113 housing units at an average density of...
- Flaget Elementary School - Vincennes, IndianaVincennes, IndianaVincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
- Flaget Center (Senior Center) - Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, KentuckyLouisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
- Flaget Community Center - Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, KentuckyLouisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
- Knights of Columbus, Flaget Council - Chillicothe, OhioChillicothe, OhioChillicothe is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States.Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio and is located in southern Ohio along the Scioto River. The name comes from the Shawnee name Chalahgawtha, meaning "principal town", as it was a major settlement of...
- Bishop Flaget High School - Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, KentuckyLouisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
(now closed)