I’ve said this before… October is a “busy” month for Indiana Catholic history!
It is already the middle of the month and here are some of the items from the calendar:
On October 14, 1837, Bishop Brute ordained two men. Benjamin Petit and John Plunkett. Both men would go on to do great things in service to the Church in Indiana. Both would die outside of the state and within three years of their ordination.
John Plunkett, an Irishman, did heroic work on the canals in northern Illinois, ministering to the people there. He died while on a sick call on a stormy night in March of 1840. You can read all about it in a previous post.
Benjamin Petit, a Frenchman who yearned to serve the Indians in northern Indiana, was also ordained on this day. He came over from France with Bishop Brute in 1836, inspired, as so many were, by this “Servant of God”. Petit’s biography can be read here. He died in 1838 after accompanying the Potawatomi Indians on the “Trail of Death”.
Although not officially canonized, these two men were truly Saints… Remember them… Pray FOR them and WITH them.
Also, on October 15th we celebrate the 9th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin whose feast day was October 3rd, as well as the birth of Right Rev. John Stephen Bazin, third Bishop of Vincennes. He was born in Duerne, in the Archdiocese of Lyons, France, on October 15, 1796. Bazin was ordained priest at Lyons, on July 22, 1822. He came to the United States in 1830 and was appointed vicar general of Mobile Alabama. He was consecrated bishop of Vincennes in the cathedral at Vincennes, on October 24, 1847.
On October 17th we honor the memory of Archbishop George Biskup who died in 1979. He had resigned due to ill health, on March 20, 1979 and had been the Archbishop for about nine years, although he served as Coadjutor to Archbishop Paul Schulte for about three years. Read more about him in a Wikipedia Article.
Finally, Saturday, October 19th marks the 6th anniversary of one or our own priests, Fr. Paul Etienne, being named Bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
