Ferdinand Brossart

Ferdinand Brossart was a German American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served from 1915 to 1923 as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Covington in Kentucky.

Early life Ferdinand Brossart was born on October 19, 1849, in the village of Buechelberg, Rhenish Palatinate, in what was then the Kingdom of Bavaria. Today, it is a part of the city Woerth am Rhein in Germany. His parents, Ferdinand Brossart and Catharina née Diesel, were farmers.

The Brossart family immigrated to the United States when Ferdinand was two years old. They first settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, but moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, after an outbreak of yellow fever in New Orleans. In 1861, the family moved to Campbell County, Kentucky.

Choosing to become a priest, Brossart studied at St. Francis Seminary in Springfield Township, Ohio, Mount Saint Mary Seminary in Cincinnati, and the American College at Louvain in Leuven, Belgium.

Priesthood Brossart was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Covington by Bishop Augustus Toebbe on September 1, 1872, in Covington, Ohio. During a smallpox epidemic in Covington, Brossart attended the sick and dying at the cost of his own health. Bishop Camillus Maes named Brossart as his vicar general and rector of St. Mary's Cathedral in 1888. Brossart celebrated the 25th anniversary of this ordination while on a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France.

Bishop of Covington Brossart was appointed bishop of Covington by Pope Benedict XV on December 9, 1915. He was consecrated at St. Mary's Cathedral in Covington by Archbishop Henry Moeller of Cincinnati on January 25, 1916.