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Belgians in the Civil War

Emigrants arrival

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BELGIANS IN AMERICA:    Biographies of Belgian settlers  

LEFEVERE, Peter Paul - He was born in Roulers, Belgium, near Ghent, in May, 1804; after passing through a course of theological studies he offered himself to the American mission, and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest at St. Louis in 1831; after laboring in that region for eight years he visited Europe, and in 1841 was appointed Bishop of Zela in part, coadjutor administrator of the diocess of Detroit. and was consecrated in November of that year. His administration as Catholic Bishop of Michigan extended through a _period of twenty-eight years, until his death in Detroit March 4,1869. His immediate predecessor as Bishop was Fredric Rese, who held the office from 1833 to 1040; while the administration of Gabriel Richard (elsewhere mentioned in this volume) extended back to the year 1799 ; and the successor of Bishop Lefevere was C. H. Borgess, who entered upon his duties in May, 1870. The work accomplished by Bishop Lefevere, for his church was perhaps more extensive, but not more important than that performed by Bishop Richard. Leaving out of view the See of Marquette, it appears that within the diocess of Detroit there are now one hundred and sixty organized parishes, in the city itself, not less than eight churches, and among the institutions founded by the late Bishop are the following: St. Mary's Hospital the Michigan State Retreat, the College of Louvain, together with several orphan asylums. convents, academies and schools, while his administration of the merely temporal affairs of the church within the State became. pre-eminently successful. In his day he traversed the State from one extremity to another, making long journeys in his cause, and administering to the spiritual wan of his people among the Indian tribes and miners of Lake Superior. By way of showing his disinterested character, it has been- said of him, that his death brought no profit to his kindred.

Source : Lanman, Charles,  : The red book of Michigan : a civil, military and biographical history; Detroit: E.B. Smith & Co., 1871, 557  pgs.