Gabriel Richard

Gabriel Richard ( ; October 15, 1767 – September 13, 1832) was a French Catholic priest and a professed member of the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice. He ministered to the French Catholics in the parish of Sainte-Anne-de-Détroit, as well as Protestants and Native Americans living in Southeast Michigan. The calls for him to be named as a saint began in 2020.

Richard was born in La Ville de Saintes, France, in 1767 and studied at the Seminary of Angers. He was ordained as a Sulpician priest in 1790. During the French Revolution, he refused to swear the oath to the secular French Republic and fled to the United States, transitorily settling in Baltimore. Later, Bishop John Carroll assigned him to do missionary work in the Northwest Territory.

Richard arrived in Detroit in 1798 as an assistant pastor at Sainte Anne's Church, where he quickly became known for converting the hearts of the Native Americans when he went about preaching. He was a strong proponent of perpetual adoration of the Eucharist. In 1802, he became the rector of Sainte Anne's Church. During his tenure, he not only oversaw the seminary and French Christian schools in the region but also commenced new schools for both boys and girls and built a library for the church.

Following the Great Fire of 1805, Richard helped create a new layout for Detroit and, since 1806, proposed the establishment of the Catholepistemiad, known today as the University of Michigan, on several occasions. He became the founding vice president of the university in 1817 and later served on its board of trustees. In 1823, he became the first Roman Catholic priest to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a delegate from the Michigan Territory for the 18th Congress. He died in 1832 during the second cholera pandemic while caring for patients.

Though Richard lived in the late 18th century through the early 19th century, well after the actual founding of Detroit, he was often celebrated as one of the four honorary founders of the city, alongside Antoine Cadillac, Jacques Marquette and the Sieur de La Salle. The motto Richard wrote in the aftermath of the fire of 1805, Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus ("We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes") is inscribed on the seal of the city.

Early life

Born in La Ville de Saintes on October 15, 1767,

Seminary of Angers and the Sulpicians

Richard enrolled in the Seminary of Angers in 1784.

He emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland. He taught mathematics at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, until being assigned by Bishop Carroll to do missionary work to the Indians in the Northwest Territory. He was first stationed in what is now Kaskaskia, Illinois, and later in Detroit, Michigan.

Missionary

The Catholepistemiad's schoolhouse (center) on an 1818 map of Detroit. The schoolhouse fronts Bates Street, directly across from Ste. Anne's "Stone Church" (middle of the lower right).

Richard arrived in Detroit on the Feast of Corpus Christi, which was on June 7, 1798,

In 1801, Bishop Pierre Denaut arrived in Detroit from Quebec. He administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to 536 parishioners, of those all but 10 were of French heritage.

Richard became the pastor of the church in 1802. With his assistant pastor, Father Jean Dilhet, he ran separate schools for girls and boys beginning in 1804 and established a library for the church. In English: "We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes." The Americans won the war in 1815. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1824 to the Nineteenth Congress.

Death The tomb of Father Gabriel Richard resides now in the Basilica's Fr. Gabriel Richard Chapel On September 13, 1832, after caring patients during an cholera epidemic, Gabriel Richard died in Detroit. He was buried in a crypt in the chapel of Sainte Anne's His library was among the collection of the Sacred Heart Seminary beginning in 1925 and were presented to the University of Michigan in 1951. A statue of Richard resides on the Detroit City Hall's exterior. It was made by Julius Melchers. A statue of Richard is located at Mullen Park at Wayne State University. A statue of Richard is located at Gabriel Richard Park at East Jefferson and East Grand Boulevard. The motto that he first penned, Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus, continues to be the official motto of the City of Detroit. The Fr. Gabriel Richard Guild was formed on September 20, 2020, as one of the first steps towards canonization of Richard. Coinciding with the announcement, Detroit's Archbishop Allen Vigneron released a statement, saying "Fr. Richard was a zealous pastor whose missionary heart guided all that he did. At a time when we in the Archdiocese are coming to a renewed awareness of our missionary vocation, I am grateful that we are able to raise up Fr. Richard as a model and inspiration for our mission today." The purpose of the guild is to determine if there is sufficient "heroic virtue or holiness worth promoting" by the church's archbishop and other bishops in Michigan.