On this day, July 22, in 1822, John Stephen Bazin (Jean Etienne) was ordained a priest in the Cathedral in Lyon, France.
He came to the United States in 1830 at the invitation of Bishop Michael Portier, the first bishop of 
Mobile, Alabama, a fellow Frenchman who had emigrated to the United States in 1817.
Bazin served in the Mobile diocese for nearly 17 years when the Provincial Council of Baltimore recommended him to succeed Bishop Hailandiere.
Although his time in Vincennes was short, Bazin brought a great deal of relief to the people of the Diocese of Vincennes, especially the clergy and the Sisters of Providence who suffered under Hailandiere’s insistence on complete authority.
One of Bazin’s accomplishments while in Mobile was the recruitment of Christian Brothers to teach in the schools and the Jesuits to staff the new Spring Hill College. Bazin served as the College President on a number of occasions.
