{"id":935,"date":"2009-09-13T07:21:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-13T07:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2009\/09\/gabriel-richard-first-priest-in-congress\/"},"modified":"2009-09-13T07:21:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-13T07:21:00","slug":"gabriel-richard-first-priest-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2009\/09\/gabriel-richard-first-priest-in-congress.html","title":{"rendered":"Gabriel Richard, First Priest in Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

Father Gabriel Richard (October 15, 1767 \u2013 September 13, 1832) was a French<\/a> Roman Catholic<\/a> priest<\/a> who became a Delegate<\/a> from Michigan Territory<\/a> to the U.S. House of Representatives<\/a>.
He was born in La Ville de Saintes<\/a>, France<\/a> and entered the seminary<\/a> in Angers<\/a> in 1784 and was ordained on October 15, 1790. In 1792, he emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland<\/a>. He taught mathematics at St. Mary\u2019s College<\/a>, in Maryland, until being assigned by Bishop Carroll to do missionary<\/a> work to the Indians in the Northwest Territory<\/a>. He was first stationed in what is now Kaskaskia, Illinois<\/a>, and later in Detroit. He came to Detroit<\/a> to be the assistant pastor at St. Anne\u2019s Church<\/a>. In 1804 he opened up a school in Detroit, but this was destroyed by the fire that leveled the city in 1805 . This is when Fr. Gabriel Richard wrote the city of Detroit\u2019s motto: Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus; In English: \u201cWe hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes\u201d. In 1807, he was invited by a Protestant<\/a> congregation to act as their clergyman. He did so successfully by concentrating on the elements of Christianity where they could agree. He had the first printing press in Detroit and published a periodical in the French language entitled Essais du Michigan as well as The Michigan Essay, or Impartial Observer, in 1809. He was strongly in favor of the War of 1812<\/a> and trading with China<\/a>. Father Richard ministered among the Indians of the area, and was generally admired by them. During the War of 1812, Richard was imprisoned by the British<\/a> for refusing to swear an oath of allegiance after their capture of Detroit, saying \u201cI have taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and I cannot take another. Do with me as you please.\u201d He was released when the Shawnee<\/a> chief Tecumseh<\/a>, in spite of his hatred for the Americans, refused to fight for the British while Richard was imprisoned. He was one of the co-founders of the Catholepistemiad of Michigania<\/a> (which would become the University of Michigan<\/a>), and served as its Vice-President from 1817 to 1821. Following the reorganization of the University in 1821, he was appointed to its Board of Trustees<\/a>, and served until his death. Father Richard was elected as a nonvoting delegate of the Michigan Territory<\/a> to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 18th Congress<\/a>, and was the first Catholic priest to be elected to that body, serving a single term, 1823-1825. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1824, being succeeded by Austin Eli Wing<\/a>, a member of the Whig Party<\/a>. In 1832, Gabriel Richard died of cholera<\/a> in Detroit and was buried in a crypt<\/a> in St. Anne\u2019s.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father Gabriel Richard (October 15, 1767 \u2013 September 13, 1832) was a French Roman Catholic priest who became a Delegate from Michigan Territory to the U.S. House of Representatives.He was born in La Ville de Saintes, France and entered the seminary in Angers in 1784 and was ordained on October 15, 1790. In 1792, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1042,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGabriel Richard, First Priest in Congress<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Father Gabriel Richard (October 15, 1767 \u2013 September 13, 1832) was a French Roman Catholic priest who became a Delegate from Michigan Territory to the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2009\/09\/gabriel-richard-first-priest-in-congress.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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