Auguste Marie Martin

Augustus Marie Martin (February 1, 1803 – September 29, 1875) was a French-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Natchitoches in Louisiana from 1853 until 1875.

Biography

Early life Martin was born February 1, 1803, in Saint-Malo, Brittany, in France. he studied under Reverend Jean-Marie de Lamennais at his school in Saint-Malo. As a seminarian, he was employed at the Grand Almonry of France, a office in Paris that was in charge of royal charities, Martin served under Cardinal Gustave Maximilien Juste de Croÿ-Solre.

Priesthood Martin was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Rennes in France on May 31, 1828, by Bishop Claude-Louis de Lesquen.

After arriving in Indiana in 1839, the diocese appointed Martin as pastor of St. Vincent's Parish in Logansport, Indiana. He was later named pastor of the cathedral parish in Vincennes, Indiana. In 1843, Hailandière named Martin as his vicar general and put him in charge of the mission churches in Indiana.

In 1846, Martin transferred from the Diocese of Vincennes to the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which then had jurisdiction over the entire State of Louisiana. The reason given was that Martin needed a milder climate for health reasons. However, the real reason was that Martin had grown tired of Hailandière 's micromanagement.

After arriving in Louisiana, the archdiocese appointed Martin as pastor at St. Martin's Parish at Attakapas. In 1847, he was transferred to St. Joseph's Parish in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He later went to St. John's Parish at Plains, Louisiana, and St. Magdalen's Parish in Manchac, Louisiana, He received his episcopal consecration on November 30, 1853, from Blanc, with Bishops Michael Portier and James Oliver Van de Velde serving as co-consecrators, at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. He attended the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland in 1866 and the First Vatican Council in Rome in 1869. Five of the priests who came to Natchitoches with Martin from Brittany in 1853 died of yellow fever during a 1873 epidemic in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Death Augustus Martin died in Natchitoches on September 29, 1875, at age 72. He is buried at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.