Antoine Blanc

The Most Reverend

Antoine Blanc
Archbishop of New Orleans
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
ArchdioceseArchdiocese of New Orleans
SeeRoman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans
Installed19 June 1835
Term ended20 June 1860
PredecessorLeo-Raymond de Neckere CM
SuccessorJean-Marie Odin CM
Orders
Ordination22 July 1816
by Cardinal Joseph Fesch
Consecration22 November 1835
by Joseph Rosati CM
Personal details
Born(1792-10-11)11 October 1792
Sury-le-Comtal, Rhône-et-Loire, French First Republic
Died20 June 1860(1860-06-20) (aged 67)
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
BuriedSt. Louis Cathedral,
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
SignatureAntoine Blanc's signature

Antoine Blanc (11 October 1792 – 20 June 1860) was the fifth Bishop and first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans. His tenure, during which the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese, was at a time of growth in the city, which he matched with the most rapid church expansion in the history of New Orleans.[1] More new parishes were established in New Orleans under his episcopacy than at any other time.

Early life and education

Antoine Blanc was born in Sury, near Sury-le-Comtal, then in the Department of Rhône-et-Loire, France. He attended the seminary at Sury-le-Comtal and was ordained in 1816. On 1 July 1817 he embarked from Bordeaux with Louis William Valentine Dubourg Bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, who had traveled to Europe to recruit clergy. They arrived in Annapolis, Maryland in September. Blanc and a number of seminarians stayed with Charles Carroll of Carrollton until the end of October when they joined Dubourg in Baltimore.[2] From Baltimore, they travelled on foot to Pittsburgh, the stage proving too dangerous. From there, they took a flatboat to Louisville, Kentucky, arriving on 30 November. They reached Bardstown, Kentucky on 2 December.

Missioner

The following April, Blanc and Father Jeanjean were assigned to the mission at Vincennes, Indiana.[3][4] Father Jeanjean was soon recalled. Blanc proceeded to build a log chapel at a French settlement on the Illinois side of the Wabash, about twelve miles from Vincennes.[2] Dubourg lent Blanc's services to Benedict Joseph Flaget, Bishop of the Diocese of Bardstown, whose area included most of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.

In February 1820, Blanc was recalled to New Orleans, and then assigned first to Natchez, then St. Francis Chapel at Point Coupee, Louisiana, with its mission chapels in the Felicianas and the Plains on the east side of the Mississippi River) and then at St. Joseph Church in Baton Rouge. In 1827, Blanc, Armand Duplantier, Fulwar Skipwith, Thomas B. Robertson and Sébastien Hiriart received permission from the state legislature to organize a corporation called the Agricultural Society of Baton Rouge.[5]

Bishop

In December 1831, Bishop De Neckere appointed Blanc associate vicar-general of the diocese of New Orleans. Bishop De Neckere died in 1833, and Blanc was appointed administrator until October 1835 when he received the bulls naming him Bishop of New Orleans.[2] Blanc's jurisdiction included the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, to which Texas was added in 1838. Later the territory was reduced when the diocese of Mississippi was established. In 1853 the Diocese of Natchitoches was founded in the northern part of Louisiana. Growth in New Orleans and the region took all of Blanc's attention.

In 1850 the Diocese of New Orleans was raised to an archdiocese, and Blanc became its first archbishop. St. Louis Cathedral remained its cathedral.

Monsignor Blanc invited the Jesuits and Lazarites to Louisiana to establish seminaries for the training of priests. He also invited the Redemptorists and the Christian Brothers. He also wanted to establish convents and schools for girls and invited the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Notre Dame, the Good Shepherd Sisters, and the congregations of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and of the Holy Cross. These new communities of Catholic workers helped the communities and took care of their populations during epidemics and other trials.[1]

Blanc also blocked the congregation of Black sisters known now as the Sisters of the Holy Family, founded by Henriette DeLille, from publicly wear a habits or take public vows.[6]

Blanc also supported the new congregations of English-speaking American migrants and Irish immigrants who had become established in New Orleans and the states since the Louisiana Purchase, as well as French- and English-speaking Blacks. By 1832 New Orleans had grown to be the fourth-largest city in the nation after New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.[7]

The crisis of a yellow fever epidemic resulted in fatalities of 5% of the population of New Orleans.

Blanc died in 1860 in New Orleans while still in office.

Legacy and honors

Blanc's institution building during the rapid growth of New Orleans and the states resulted in the number of churches increasing from 26 to 73, and of priests from 27 to 92.[1] Under his leadership, many schools, academies, colleges, convents, and asylums were established.

  • The Archbishop Antoine Blanc Memorial at 1100 Chartres Street was named in his honor and holds the archives of the archdiocese.
  • The Archbishop Antoine Blanc Assembly # 2047 of the Knights of Columbus, located in New Roads, LA is named in his honor.

References

  1. ^ a b c Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Anthony Blanc" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. ^ a b c Clarke, Richard Henry (1872). Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States. Vol. 2. P. O'Shea. p. 264.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ Herman Alerding (1883). "A history of the Catholic church in the diocese of Vincennes (pp.89–90)". archive.org. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  4. ^ McAvoy, Thomas Timothy (1 January 1940). The Catholic Church in Indiana, 1789–1834.
  5. ^ A general digest of the acts of the legislature of Louisiana, Vol II accessed 1 July 2012
  6. ^ Fessenden, Tracy (2000). "The Sisters of the Holy Family and the Veil of Race". Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation. 10 (2): 187–224. doi:10.2307/1123946. ISSN 1052-1151. JSTOR 1123946. S2CID 144747046.
  7. ^ "New Orleans, Louisiana", Catholic Encyclopedia, accessed 14 July 2008
  • Nolan, Charles E. A History of the Archdiocese of New Orleans
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
(Archdiocese created)
 Archbishop of New Orleans
1850–1860 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Bishop of New Orleans
1835–1850 		Succeeded by
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