Last November I posted an article about Fr. Jean Augustus Vabret, a member of the Society of Eudists who came to Vincennes at the request of Bishop Brute, to run St. Gabriel College. The relationship that Vabret and the Eudists had with the bishop was very close. In fact, it was Vabret who administered last rights to Brute.
After Brute’s death in June of 1839, Vabret himself developed tuberculosis, or “consumption” as it was known. He spent part of 1838 and 1839 in New Orleans to help in his recovery. It was Fr. De La Hailandiere, who became the second Bishop of Vincennes, who accompanied him to New Orleans. He returned to Vincennes in 1839 and in June, he ministered to Bishop Brute. At some point after Brute’s death, Fr. Vabret returned to France. He taught at College Saint-Martin in Rennes. In 1843 he returned to Vincennes where, of course, Hailandiere was now bishop. The good bishop, who was known to have a hand in just about everything, tried to run the College of St. Gabriel. The run-in with the Eudists reached a point where they were, essentially driven out of the diocese. So, in 1846, Vabret once again returned to France where he remianed until October 1859.
Once again, Vabret found his way to the west by coming to the island of Dominica. It was written:
On 20 October 1859, Rev. Father Jean Aug Vabret of the Eudist Order,
born in the Diocese of Alby, France, arrived at Roseau and was forthwith appointed parish priest of St. Joseph in succession to Rev. Father Bompart. The appointment, however, was only provisional; “for,” says the Bishop, “I do not intend to leave him there; I want him with me at the Cathedral as soon as possible.” But “man proposes so often and God disposes all the time”; after a short illness, Rev. Fther Vabret breathed forth his last on the 14th of September 1860. “As parish priest of St. Joseph,” says the Bishop, “he has done lasting work during his all too short stay.” 1
Vabret was buried under the church of St. Joseph and his grave was pretty much forgotten until recently when the parish placed a plaque over the place of his burial. above, you can see the plaque and the mention of his service in Vincennes.
- an extract of an unpublished manuscript of Most Rev. James Moris, 6th Bishop of Roseau (+1956), on the history of the Parishes in Dominica. The Bishop at the time quoted in this extract would be Most Rev. Rene-Marie-Charles Poirier, 3th Bishop of Roseau ( + 1859) and an Eudist himself. He must have held Fr. Vabret in high regard as he wanted to bring him to The Our Lady in Fair Haven Cathedral in the capital town of Dominica, Roseau.[↩]
