Early life

Born July 18, 1837, at Thoriseau, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Isidore Robot entered the Roman Catholic Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 of Saint Marie de la Pierre-qui-Vire, in central France. He was professed as a monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

 in 1859 and ordained a priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 in 1862. Anticlericals began closing convents and monasteries after the fall of Emperor Napoleon III, and as Robot's monastery was among those threatened, he and a companion, Brother Dominic Lambert, came to French-speaking Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 in 1873, seeking a fresh start.

At this time the Indian Territory

Indian Territory

The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...

 was organized under the Diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 of Little Rock, in Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

. The archbishop of New Orleans, Napoleon Perche, arranged with Roman officials to let Robot take charge of a quasi-independent jurisdiction to be known as the Prefecture Apostolic of the Indian Territory. With this in mind, Robot and Lambert arrived in the territory in October 1875. They were the first Catholic missionaries to settle permanently in Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

. The relevant documents were issued from Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 in July 1876 and reached Robot in Atoka

Atoka, Oklahoma

Atoka is a city in Atoka County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,052 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Atoka County.-Geography:Atoka is located at ....

 two months later.

Prefect of Indian Territory

One of Robot's principal concerns continued to be a new monastery for his French brethren. To this end, he obtained a section of land from the Potawatomi

Potawatomi

The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...

 Nation in exchange for his promise of a church and school. Here he laid the foundation for what would become Sacred Heart Mission and Abbey

Abbey

An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...

, in present Pottawatomie County. In 1880 he obtained five nun

Nun

A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

s from New Orleans to teach in his school for girls. In 1884 these were replaced by Sisters of Mercy

Sisters of Mercy

The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....

 from Lacon

Lacon, Illinois

Lacon is a city in, and the county seat of, Marshall County, Illinois, United States. It is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,979 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Lacon is located at ....

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, whose ministry in Oklahoma has continued ever since.

As a missionary, Robot's focus was on American Indian

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

s, especially the Potawatomi

Potawatomi

The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...

s and the Osage

Osage Nation

The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...

s, and the coal miners of the Choctaw

Choctaw

The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...

 Nation. These last were a polyglot

Multilingualism

Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...

 mixture, with Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 and Italians predominating. In 1884 he opened Oklahoma's second Catholic church, Our Lady of Good Counsel

Our Lady of Good Counsel

Our Lady of Good Counsel is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, after an allegedly miraculous painting now found in the thirteenth century Augustinian church at Genazzano, near Rome, Italy. Measuring 40 by 45 centimeters the image is a fresco executed on a thin layer of porcelain no thicker...

, at Lehigh

Lehigh

-Places:United States*Lehigh, Iowa*Lehigh, Kansas*Lehigh, Oklahoma*Lehigh Acres, Florida*Lehigh Township *Lehigh Valley, a region in eastern Pennsylvania**Lehigh Canal, constructed along the Lehigh River**Lehigh County, Pennsylvania...

. (St. Patrick's at Atoka

Atoka, Oklahoma

Atoka is a city in Atoka County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,052 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Atoka County.-Geography:Atoka is located at ....

, built by Irish railroad workers in 1872, was the first.)

A brusque and uncompromising man, Robot seems to have alienated parishioners and fellow monks alike. Replaced as monastic superior in 1882 (though not as prefect), he moved in 1884 to North McAlester, where he built a cabin that served as a chapel and residence. In 1885 he also started parishes at Krebs

Krebs

Krebs is the German language word for "crab" and "cancer" . It is also a common German surname:- People :* Arthur Constantin Krebs , French officer and pioneer in automotive engineering...

 and Savannah

Savannah

Savannah or savanna is a type of grassland.It can also mean:-People:* Savannah King, a Canadian freestyle swimmer* Savannah Outen, a singer who gained popularity on You Tube...

.

In December 1884 he went to 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...

 for a council of American church superiors, and from there he went to Rome, where he submitted his resignation as prefect. He then returned to North McAlester. In 1886 his resignation was finally accepted, and his replacement arrived from France in November. Robot died while visiting a friend in Dallas, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, on February 15, 1887. He was buried in the parish cemetery at Krebs, but in 1900 his remains were transferred to Sacred Heart.

External links

• http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/R/RO010.html
• http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/brobot.html
• http://www.catharchdioceseokc.org/history/beginning.htm