Missionary Bishop: Jean-Marie Odin in Galveston and New Orleans

1. From France He Came

1 n From France he came t he nineteenth century dawned over France recoiling from the recent upheavals associated with the French Revolution that had devastated the country and the 1799 coup d’état of Napoleon Bonaparte. Among the regions of the land known for having remained faithful to the realm’s centuries -old Roman Catholic heritage during those difficult years was the ancient Archdiocese of Lyon. The historical narrative of this metropolitan see had its origins dating back to the early days of Christianity, to even before the inspiring episcopacy of Saint Irenaeus spanning the years a.d. 177–202. Over the course of its long history, the Archdiocese of Lyon had emerged as one of the Catholic Church’s most important ecclesiastical strongholds. A few weeks into the 1800s, the tiny hamlet of Hauteville, situated in the far western reaches of the archdiocese, celebrated the birth of a baby boy who was destined to go down in history as a renowned Catholic missionary on the American continent. His name was Jean-Marie Odin. The story of that Frenchman’s life serves as a testimony to the faith that numerous churchmen and women brought to the Americas as they labored to build a Catholic presence in their adopted lands. Hauteville existed as a rustic rural community nestled into a wooded area amidst surrounding farmlands, lying a few miles west of the city of Roanne. At the time of Jean-Marie’s birth the historic priory church of St. Martin d’Ambierle served as the Catholic community of that locale, a church that could trace its origins back to the waning days of Roman Gaul.1 Prominent among the residences of Hauteville stood the sturdy but unpretentious home of Jean Odin and his wife, Claudine-Marie (Serol). Typical of the region, the Odin house was a squared multifloored building erected on a family-owned plot of land set in close to a clump of trees for shade. Abundantly planted in crops of the season for that particular region of France, the Odin property blended in well with the verdant, tilled, low-rolling hills and flatland acreage that dominated the area’s landscape. Neighbors held the Odins in high regard, | 2 | c h a p t e r 1 viewing them as one of the locale’s best-liked and most-respected Catholic clans. That proved to be significant for a family living in an archdiocese where the church had been targeted for attack from revolutionaries from the very outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.2 In that house about noontime on a cold twenty-fifth day of February in the year 1800, Jean and Claudine-Marie welcomed into their family their seventh child, a son. As often occurred throughout much of Catholic Europe in those days, this newest addition to the Odin family received the sacrament of baptism within just a few hours following his birth. He was given the Christian name Jean-Marie. The devout Jean and Claudine-Marie elected not to have their newborn baptized in the local church, because the cure of St. Martin d’Ambierle at the time, Pere (Father) Francois Loche, pastor in residence there since 1785, had earlier pledged fealty to the infamous 1790 Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which the revolutionaries had forced upon Catholic France. Instead of Pere Loche, a nonjuring priest—that is, one who had refused to swear by the despised document—Pere Didier from the nearby town of Boisset , administered the sacrament. However, Jean-Marie’s baptism was recorded in the sacramental records of St. Martin d’Ambierle. Just exactly where the baptism occurred remains shrouded in uncertainty. Likely, though, Pere Didier officiated at the sacrament in the Odin home, given that it was the place of birth. According to Jean-Marie’s baptismal certificate, an aunt on ClaudineMarie ’s side of the family, Virginia Serol, served as the baby’s godmother (marraine ). A cousin, Jean-Perrichon, acted as godfather (parrain).3 Ultimately Jean and Claudine-Marie were blessed with three more children, bringing the total number of Odin offspring to ten. Young Jean-Marie grew into his adolescence in a home atmosphere that early on nurtured his natural inclination toward a life of Catholic piety. His attraction to religious matters unquestionably received encouragement from such a strongly Catholic household environment. A circle of immediate family, relatives, and friends who were themselves devoted Roman Catholics surrounded Jean-Marie throughout his youth. As a result, the future missionary’s...