Theophile Meerschaert

Styles of Theophile Meerschaert
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	none

Theophile Meerschaert (24 August 1847 – 21 February 1924) was a Belgian-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Oklahoma City in the United States from 1891 until his death in 1924.

Early life and education

Théophile Meerschaert was born on 24 August 1847 in Russeignies, a farming village near Renaix, in the province of East Flanders in Belgium.^[1][2] He was the eighth of nine children ^[3] of the peddler from Renaix, Pierre François Meerschaert, and his wife from Russeignies, Marie Therèse Gabreau.^[2] After studying at the College of Renaix (1859–1864) and the College of Audenarde (1864–1868),^[1] he entered the American College of Louvain in 1868, having been moved by word of the needs and opportunities in the American missions.^[4]

Ordination and ministry

Meerschaert was ordained to the priesthood on 23 December 1871 in Mechelen, Belgium.^[3][5]

He left for the United States in September 1872, arriving at Natchez, Mississippi in the following October.^[1] For the next 19 years he labored among the difficult circumstances of the Southern Reconstruction. He was appointed to Hancock and Harrison Counties in November 1872, and transferred to Ocean Springs in August 1874.^[1] In October 1875, Meerschaert was felled by yellow fever and his case thought hopeless, but he eventually recovered.^[4] He worked in Bay St. Louis for a year before returning to Natchez in August 1880. He became vicar general of the Diocese of Natchez on 18 April 1887, and later apostolic administrator (1888–1889) after Bishop Francis Janssens was promoted to Archbishop of New Orleans in 1888.^[1] He also served as rector of St. Mary's Cathedral.^[3]

Vicar Apostolic in Oklahoma

On 2 June 1891, Meerschaert was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Indian Territory in Oklahoma and Titular Bishop of Sidyma by Pope Leo XIII.^[5] He received his episcopal consecration on the following 8 September from Archbishop Janssens, with Bishops Edward Fitzgerald and Thomas Heslin serving as co-consecrators, at St. Mary's Cathedral.^[5] En route to his new assignment, he celebrated the first Pontifical High Mass in Oklahoma Territory on 20 September 1891, at Guthrie.^[1]

At the time of his arrival, the vicariate had three diocesan priests, 23 Benedictine monks, 21 churches, seven day schools, five Indian boarding schools, one college, one monastery, six convents and about 5,000 Catholics.^[4] By the time of his death, the Church in Oklahoma had an elevenfold increase in Catholics, and churches and schools multiplied by some seven and five times respectively.^[4] Meerschaert also dedicated about 100 new churches and recruited around a dozen American-born clergy during his tenure.^[4]

Bishop of Oklahoma

Meerschaert was named the first Bishop of Oklahoma on 23 August 1905, when Pope Pius X raised the vicariate to the rank of a diocese.^[5]

For thirty-two years as the Bishop, Meerschaert kept a detailed diary about his life and career in Oklahoma. It was edited and published as a book seventy years after his death.^[3]

Meerschaert died on 21 February 1924 at St. Anthony's Hospital in Oklahoma City, aged 76.^[1] Originally buried at Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City, his remains were transferred to the Bishops' Vault at Resurrection Cemetery, also in Oklahoma City.^[3]

Writings

Theophile Meerschaert, author, and James D. White, editor, Diary of a frontier bishop: The journals of Theophile Meerschaert (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Sarto Press, 1994), ISBN 0964170205

See also

• Catholic Church hierarchy
• Catholic Church in the United States
• Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• List of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops

References

External links

• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
Ordinaries	Prefects of Indian Territory Isidore Robot Ignatius Jean Bishops Theophile Meerschaert Francis Kelley Eugene J. McGuinness Victor Joseph Reed Archbishops John R. Quinn Charles Salatka Eusebius J. Beltran Paul Stagg Coakley
Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parishes St. Joseph Old Cathedral, Oklahoma City Abbey St. Gregory's Abbey
Education	Higher Education St. Gregory's University High Schools Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School, Oklahoma City Mount St. Mary High School, Oklahoma City
Priests	Raised to the episcopate Stephen Aloysius Leven John Joseph Sullivan Anthony Taylor Edward Weisenburger Servant of God Stanley Rother
Miscellany	Sooner Catholic
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