Re-interment of first bishop set for Saturday NATCHEZ — Bishop John Joseph Chanche, the first Catholic bishop of Natchez from 1841-1852, will be re-interred this Saturday, Jan. 19, on the grounds of St. Mary Basilica.
“It is customary for a Catholic bishop as chief pastor of his peopleto be buried in or near his cathedral church,” according to Father David O’Connor, pastor of St. Mary Basilica.
The ceremony and rituals reserved for a bishop, he said, will reverently welcome home his remains and give them their final resting place beside the Gothic church structure, St. Mary Basilica, which he constructed in the 1840s as the original cathedral for the diocese.
Cardinal William Keeler, retired Archbishop of Baltimore, will be the celebrant and homilist for the Mass. Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of Mobile and Bishop Joseph Latino of Jackson will concelebrate the Mass along with Bishops William Houck, retired Bishop of Jackson; Thomas Rodi, Bishop of Biloxi; Roger Morin, Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans; Ronald Herzog, Bishop of Alexandria, La.; David Foley, retired Bishop of Birmingham; and Dominic Carmon, SVD, retired Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans.
The Sulpician Fathers, of which Bishop Chanche was a member, will be represented by Father Ron Witherup, SS, current provincial for the order in the United States. Priests from the Jackson and Biloxi dioceses will also be concelebrants.
The re-interment Mass will begin at 11 a.m. in St. Mary Basilica and will conclude with the burial of the remains in a Venetian vault on the grounds of St. Mary Basilica. The casket being used is hand-crafted from dark walnut wood by the Trappist monks at New Melleray, Iowa.
The monument that marked his grave in Baltimore for 155 years has been transferred to Natchez and is now in place on the church grounds.
John Joseph Chanche was born in Baltimore in 1795 and began his theological studies at St. Mary Seminary in that city in 1814. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1819, and in 1832, he became the vice-president of St. Mary College. In 1834 he became the president of that institution.
In 1840, he was appointed by Pope Gregory XVI as the first Catholic bishop of the then Diocese of Natchez, which covered the entire state of Mississippi. He was ordained a bishop on March 14, 1841, in the cathedral in Baltimore, and arrived in Natchez on May 18, 1841. A year later, he began the construction of St. Mary Basilica and in 1846, he completed the construction of the bishop’s residence, which is now used as parish offices.
When Bishop Chanche arrived in Mississippi, there were no Catholic church structures in place, church members were few, and there was little or no money and only a few priests. At the time of his death, July 22, 1852, there were 13 priests, 11 churches and several in the planning stage.
Bishop Chanche also became a prominent leader in the American Catholic church, taking an active role in the councils of Baltimore. It was shortly after the 1852 First Plenary Council of Baltimore, where he served as chief promoter, that he contracted what was thought to be cholera and died a few weeks later in his family home in Frederick, Md. It was not possible to transfer his body to Natchez, so he was buried in the Cathedral cemetery in Baltimore.
Father O’Connor said, “Bishop Chanche, who left the comfort, security and status of presidency of St. Mary College in Baltimore to be the founding bishop of the Catholic Church in Mississippi, was a pioneer and faith-filled missionary. The return of his remains here came about through the cooperative efforts of many people and through the unprecedented opening of many doors. It is my hope the presence of his remains in our midst will connect us to his spirit and will be a source of grace and renewal for the people of Natchez.”
Mary Eidt, a member of the St. Mary Archives committee, explained the first steps “in the return of our first bishop came from the research of the archive committee established two years ago by Father O’Connor. In our study of archival material, James Guercio, chairman of the committee, discovered it was the wish of Bishop Chanche to be buried in his beloved Natchez.”
During the spring of 2007, at the request of Bishop Latino, Cardinal Keeler in Baltimore approved the exhumation and transfer of the remains of Bishop Chanche.
Bishop Latino invites all priests, religious, and laity to participate in the Jan. 19, re-interment Mass. “This is a unique and historic event for our diocese and for the church in Mississippi. Through much hard work on the part of the people of Natchez, our first bishop and shepherd will now rest peacefully beside the church he built as his cathedral so many years ago,” said Bishop Latino.
“Bishop Chanche paved the way for the Catholic faith to grow in Mississippi. All of us in the dioceses of Jackson and Biloxi should be grateful for his unselfish act of coming here to Mississippi and building a new diocese,” Bishop Latino added.
A reception will be held at the Market Place immediately after the re-interment.
