April has been an extra busy month, but Indiana Catholic History is not forgotten! Here are some items from the April calendar to keep us all up to date and “keeping alive the memory of those who have before us.”
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Ordinations – Matthew Ruff was ordained a Sub-Deacon at Vincennes by Bishop Brute on April 4, 1835. Mentioned in Alerding who said:
In three places they had begun to build churches. At Fort Wayne they were finishing one, 60 feet by 30, and the congregation numbered 150 Catholic families. I was happy to send them the Rev. M. Ruff, from Metz, in France. recently ordained, and speaking the three languages, French, English and German.
I had ordained Mr. Ruff Sub-deacon and Deacon before my journey to Chicago, and had sent him to the Seminary of St. Louis (St. Mary of the Barrens), to make his retreat, and there he was ordained priest by that excellent prelate, Dr. Rosati.
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Marriages – On April 21, 1749 The marriage of Julen Tratier and Josette Marie was witnessed by Fr. Sebastian Louis Meurin S.J. This is the oldest church record preserved at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Vincennes [Cauthorn p.228]
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Death – On April 23, 1848 the Right Rev. John Stephen Bazin died at Vincennes after becoming the third Bishop of Vincennes just six months earlier. Born in Duerne, Archdiocese of Lyons, France on October 15, 1796, He was ordained a priest at Lyons on July 22, 1822. He came to the United States in 1830 and was appointed vicar general of the Diocese of Mobile, Alabama. He was consecrated bishop of Vincennes in the cathedral at Vincennes on October 24, 1847, by Bishop Michael Portier of Mobile, assisted by Bishop Purcell of Cincinnati and Bishop de la Hailandière, his predecessor. After his death his body is interred in the Old Cathedral, Vincennes.
