Everything about Gabriel Richard totally explained
Father Gabriel Richard (
October 15,
1767 –
September 13,
1832) was a
French Roman Catholic priest who became a
Delegate from
Michigan Territory to the
U.S. House of Representatives.
He was born in
La Ville de Saintes,
France and entered the
seminary in
Angers in 1784 and was ordained on
October 15,
1790. In 1792, he emigrated to
Baltimore, Maryland. He taught mathematics at
St. Mary's College, in Maryland, until being assigned by Bishop Carroll to do
missionary work to the Indians in the
Northwest Territory. He was first stationed in what is now
Kaskaskia, Illinois, and later in Detroit.
Work in Detroit
He came to
Detroit to be the assistant pastor at
St. Anne's Church. In 1804 he opened up a school in Detroit, but this was destroyed by the fire that destroyed the city in 1805 . This is when Fr. Gabriel Richard wrote the city of Detroit's motto:
Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus; We hope for better things; it'll arise from the ashes. In 1807 he was invited by a
Protestant congregation to act as their clergyman. He did so successfully by concentrating on the elements of Christianity where they could agree. He had the first printing press in Detroit and published a periodical in the French language entitled
Essais du Michigan as well as
The Michigan Essay, or Impartial Observer, in 1809. He was strongly in favor of the
War of 1812 and trading with
China.
Father Richard ministered among the Indians of the area, and was generally admired by them. During the War of 1812, Richard was imprisoned by the
British for refusing to swear an oath of allegiance after their capture of Detroit, saying "I have taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and I can't take another. Do with me as you please." He was released when the
Shawnee chief
Tecumseh, in spite of his hatred for the Americans, refused to fight for the British while Richard was imprisoned.
He was one of the co-founders of the
Catholepistemiad of Michigania (which would become the
University of Michigan), and served as its Vice-President from 1817 to 1821. Following the reorganization of the University in 1821, he was appointed to its
Board of Trustees, and served until his death.
Political career
Father Richard was elected as a nonvoting
delegate of the Michigan Territory to the U.S. House of Representatives for the
18th Congress, and was the first Catholic priest to be elected to that body, serving a single term, 1823-1825. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1824, being succeeded by
Austin Eli Wing, a member of the
Whig Party.
In 1832, Gabriel Richard died of
cholera in Detroit and was buried in a
crypt in St. Anne's.
Legacy
There are at least four schools near Detroit named after Fr. Gabriel Richard:
Further Information
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