July 10: Escape from Revolution

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader Podcast. Today is July 10th, and our story is Escape from Revolution. The French Revolution, with its rabid anti-clericalism, brought untold suffering to the church in France. But to the church in the fledgling United States, it brought untold blessings in the form of Sulpician priests. In 1790, when Father John Carroll traveled to London for his Episcopal consecration, he met the Sulpician Superior General, Father Jacques-André Emery. Father Emery needed to find a new mission field for his French priests and seminarians before the guillotine found them.

The Papal Nuncio suggested he consider Baltimore. Carol, desperate for help in his vast diocese, seconded the suggestion, and Emery agreed to send four priests to America to found a seminary. Those four priests, along with five Sulpician seminarians, arrived in the United States on July 10, 1791.

Almost immediately, they purchased One Mile Tavern in Baltimore and opened the first seminary in the United States, St. Mary's. The following year, more Sulpicians and seminarians arrived. By 1795, the order comprised nearly a third of the 35 priests then serving in the United States and her territories.

The list of those first Sulpicians reads like a who's who in the church in early America, including luminaries such as Benedict Joseph Flagey, the first bishop of Bardstown. Gabriel Richard, missionary to Detroit, Stephen Baden, the first priest ordained in America, Louis William Duborg, Bishop of Louisiana and the two Floridas, and Ambrose Marachal, the third Archbishop of Baltimore. With such giants at the helm, it's not surprising that the Sulpicians became the fathers of seminary formation in America.

In addition to St. Mary's in Baltimore, the Sulpicians founded or administered nearly a dozen other seminaries, including St. John's Seminary in Boston, St. Joseph's Seminary in New York, St. Patrick's Seminary in San Francisco, St. Edward's Seminary in Washington, and the Theological College in Washington, D.C. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, those Sulpician-run seminaries formed thousands of faithful priests for parishes across the United States. That made the French Revolution, at least for the church in America, the gift that kept on giving.

The arrival of the Sulpician priests in America illustrates how God's providence can turn persecution into blessing. Challenges often hide opportunities to shape history positively, demonstrating that persistence, adaptability, and fidelity to mission can transform calamity into blessing. Today, consider how a current difficulty might hold hidden opportunities for you to serve or grow. Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Join us tomorrow, July 11th, for another story of faith and courage in America.