John Dubois

Roman Catholic Diocese of New York from 1826 until his death in 1842.^[1] He was the first Bishop of New York who was not Irish

Archbishop of Paris. In Paris, Dubois served as an assistant to the curé of St. Sulpice as well as chaplain to the Hospice des Petite Maisons, which was under the direction of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.^[3]

Baltimore, Maryland, where they opened a seminary, Saint Mary's, which is still in operation today. Dubois had attended the Collège Louis LeGrand with Maximilien Robespierre, who helped the disguised 27-year-old priest escape in June 1791 from what became the massacre of the non-oathtaking clergy, before his own fall from power and execution.^[3]

Marquis de Lafayette (whose wife was devout) to James Monroe, Patrick Henry, and members of other distinguished families including the Lees, Randolphs and Beverleys. All received him cordially, even ardent supporters of revolutionary principles like Monroe, who served as his host until Dubois rented a house in Richmond near a major bridge and opened a school to teach French, classics and arithmetic.^[4] Virginia had disestablished the Episcopal Church by statute in 1786, and that law also guaranteed freedom of religion, releasing the Commonwealth's small Catholic population from civil restrictions. Patrick Henry helped the priest learn English, and the two priests who alternated holding religious services in the capitol, the Episcopalian John Buchanan and the Presbyterian John Blair, became his friends. At the General Assembly's invitation, Dubois even once celebrated Mass in the courtroom of the new State House, but for two years mostly celebrated mass in rented rooms or at the homes of the town's few Catholic families.^[1]

Ohio Valley. After a farewell party in Richmond, the new missionary moved to Frederick, where he would serve a region stretching as far as the Mississippi River. The Jesuits, temporarily disestablished by the Holy See (only being restored as a religious order in the United States in 1805), had been serving this region's growing population for over a century. Their former residence in Frederick contained a chapel dedicated to Stanislaus Kostka. Meanwhile, the town was booming. On May 15, 1800, Dubois consecrated the cornerstone of a new brick church on the north side of Second Street, naming the parish after John the Evangelist. For the next eleven years, Dubois served as pastor of St. John's Church, as well as traveling out into the frontier.^[5]

Sulpician Order. The seminary trained missionaries, and was located on one of the major trans-Appalachian routes. During his presidency and with his support, a young New York widow, Elizabeth Bayley Seton, moved to Emmitsburg and founded the country's first Catholic girls' school as well as the first religious institute of teaching sisters in the nation. Seton was canonized a saint in 1975.^[1]

Baltimore Cathedral by the Archbishop of Baltimore, Ambrose Maréchal, on October 29, 1826.^[7] His appointment was not well received in some quarters. Although Dubois had acquired an adequate command of English, he spoke with an accent and was therefore viewed as a "foreigner". There was also some partisan support for the appointment of John Power, who had been serving as the vicar-general of the diocese. It was supposed that Maréchal, also a French-born Sulpician, had arranged for Dubois to be appointed. At one point the trustees of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral withheld contributions for food and shelter.^[8]

Dennis McCarthy. The marriage certificate became the first record of a Catholic service in Onondaga County. John McCloskey, later to become the first Archbishop of New York to be created cardinal, accompanied Dubois to Salina as a guide.^[9]