Claude Marie Dubuis (March 10, 1817 – May 22, 1895) was a French-born

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He served as the second bishop of the

Diocese of Galveston In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

in Texas. from 1862 until his death in 1892. He founded the

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word is the name of two Roman Catholic religious institutes based in the U.S. state of Texas. They use the abbreviation C.C.V.I. ( la, Congregatio Caritatis Verbi Incarnati). History Hous ...

Biography

Early life

Claude Dubuis was born on March 10, 1817 to François and Antoinette (Dubost) Dubuis, in

Coutouvre Coutouvre () is a commune in the Loire department in central France. It lies about northwest of Lyon. Population Personalities Coutouvre was the birthplace of: * Jeanne-Marie Chavoin (1786-1818), co-founder of the Marist Sisters * Claude ...

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

, where he was raised on his parents' farm. At age ten, he went live with his uncle, a member of a religious order, to prepare for seminary. In 1833, Dubius entered the seminary at Sainte-Foy-l'Argentière. However, his preparation was insufficient, particularly in Greek language, and Dubius dropped out after six months. After leaving the seminary, Dubius returned to his home in Teche to work as a day laborer. However, he decided to prepare again for seminary and went to a different tutor in a nearby village. After studying Latin, Greek, and French grammar for eight months, he entered the . He entered a minor seminary in Saint-Jodard, where he passed all of his courses. He then returned to the seminary at Sainte-Foy-l'Argentière. where he later graduated with honors. In 1840, Dubius entered the

major seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

of St. Irenaeus at Lyons.Foley, Patrick. "Dubuis, Claude Marie", ''Handbook of Texas Online''
/ref>

Priesthood

On June 1, 1844, Dubuis was ordained into the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Lyon by Cardinal Louis-Jacques-Maurice de Bonald in Lyon. In 1846, Dubuis met Bishop Jean Marie Odin, the apostolic vicar for Texas. Odin was in Lyon recruiting priests to work for the Apostolic Vicarate of Texas, which then incorporated all of the new

State of Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Dubius decided to immigrate to the United States. In late 1846, Dubuis sailed with several other recruited priests from

Le Harve Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very c ...

in France to New Orleans. After arriving in Louisiana in early 1847, he was sent to learn English at the St. Mary's of the Barrens seminary in

Perryville, Missouri Perryville is a city in Perry County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,555 at the 2020 United States census. Perryville is the county seat of Perry County. History Perryville was selected the county seat of Perry County by Robert ...

. Dubius returned later in 1847 to Texas, where he was assigned as pastor of a parish in Castroville. The parishioners were mainly German or Alsatian immigrants. They had a very small church and a crude hut for the priest to live in. Dubius started learning the Alsatian language, then began building a new residence for the clergy. He opened a new school and was teaching 80 students within the first year."Claude Marie Dubuis", Castroville Area Chamber of Commerce
/ref> Emory-San Antonio

Dubuis travelled through his parish on foot or on horseback. On one occasion, he spent a night in a tree to escape surging floodwaters. Dubuis often had to ride through Comanche territory and was detained four times by Native Americans. Some Native Americans would occasionally stop by the Castroville church to listen to the music. By 1850, Dubuis had constructed a second, larger church. In 1850, Bishop Odin sent Dubuis to France to recruit missionaries and visit his family. After returning to Texas in 1851, he was appointed pastor of San Fernando Parish in San Antonio, Texas, and

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop' ...

of the diocese. At San Fernando, announcements from the pulpit were made in English, French, German, and Spanish. At first, Dubuis was not sufficiently conversant in Spanish to administer the

last rites The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. They may be administered to those awaiting execution, mortall ...

, Odin stayed in San Antonio until a Spanish-speaking priest arrived to assist him. On February 15, 1861, Bishop Odin was appointed archbishop of the Diocese of New Orleans. Dubuis traveled to New Orleans in June 1861 as he was planning another recruiting trip to Europe. However, with the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

in April 1861, the

Union Navy The Union Navy was the United States Navy (USN) during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy (CSN). The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were un ...

started blockading the port of New Orleans. Bishop Odin, who was recommending Dubius as his replacement, left for Europe that year to get Vatican approval of austerity measures he wanted to enact on the archdiocese. Dubuis probably did not make it out of New Orleans until April 1862.

Bishop of Galveston

On October 21, 1862, Pope Pius IX appointed Dubuis as the second bishop of the Diocese of Galveston. He was consecrated by Bishop Odin on November 23, 1862, in Lyon. In May 1863, Dubuis traveled from France to Galveston. After the end of the war, Dubuis established additional parishes, hospitals and

schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

. In September 1865, the Sisters of St. Joseph in New Orleans requested that Archbishop Odin to send Dubuis to take confessions, as their usual

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.cholera broke out in the diocese. Unable to persuade an American religious congregations to come to Galveston, Dubuis persuaded the

Sisters of Divine Providence The Congregation of Divine Providence (or Sisters of Divine Providence) is the name of two Roman Catholic religious institutes of women which have developed from the work of the Blessed Jean-Martin Moye (1730-1793), a French Catholic priest ...

from Saint-Jean-de-Bassel in France to come instead. During his tenure as bishop, he brought almost seventy religious congregations into Texas. On one trip to Europe, he secured the services of the Congregation of the Resurrection to minister to the Polish community in Texas. Dubuis founded the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, a community that came to play a significant role in the provision of healthcare services in Texas. In 1873, at Dubuis' request, the

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Congregationis Sororum a Domina Nostra Namurcensi) are a Catholic institute of religious sisters, founded to provide education to the poor. The institute was founded in Amiens, France, in 1804, but the oppo ...

in Lockport, New York established the Academy of the Sacred Heart for girls in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

. Dubuis returned to Castroville as bishop to lay the cornerstone for the third Church of St. Louis. In 1866, Dubuis made his first episcopal visit to the Corpus Christi area, returning the following year. As early as 1870 Dubuis, began sending Father Vincent Perrier twice a year to visit

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

."History", St. Patrick's Cathedral, Fort Worth
/ref> Dubuis attended the First Vatican Council in Rome from 1869 to 1870. In 1874, the Diocese of Galveston was split when the western half of Texas was established as the Diocese of San Antonio.

Retirement and legacy

Suffering from poor health, Dubuis left Galveston in 1881 to permanently return to France, settling at Vernaison in the Metropolis of Lyon.Meehan, Thomas. "Galveston." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 21 November 2017He left the diocese under the supervision of coadjutor bishop for the next 12 years.

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

accepted his resignation as bishop of Galveston on December 16, 1892 and named Dubuis

titular archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of ''Arca in Armenia''. In retirement, Dubuis assisted Cardinal Pierre-Hector Coullié, the bishop of Lyons, in episcopal work. Claude Dubuis died in Vernaison on May 22, 1895.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston–HoustonBust of Bishop Dubuis

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubuis, Claude Marie 1817 births 1885 deaths French Roman Catholic priests French emigrants to the United States 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Roman Catholic bishops of Galveston–Houston People from Loire (department)