Jean-Marie Odin’s birthplace in Ambierle
Jean-Marie Odin was born on February 25, 1800 in Ambierle, in the hamlet of Hauteville in the diocese of Lyon. He was the son of Jean Odin and Claudine Seyrol, both farmers and landowners. He was the seventh of ten children.
In 1816, Jean-Marie met Father Antoine Blanc, a young priest appointed curate in Ambierle. Answering the call of bishop Dubourg, bishop of Louisiana and the two Floridas, Antoine Blanc left for America as a missionary.
In 1817. Antoine’s brother Jean-Baptiste Blanc was a seminary classmate of Jean-Marie Odin.
Several years later,
In 1835, Antoine Blanc became bishop of New Orleans, and in 1850 the city’s first archbishop.
In 1822, the bishop of Louisiana and the two Floridas, bishop Dubourg, came to Europe on a tour to recruit missionaries and funds. He visited the Saint Irénée seminary in Lyon to meet with seminarians including Jean-Marie Odin and Jean-Baptiste Blanc.
On May 8, 1822, he boarded the Highlander bound for New Orleans. The crossing lasted two months, a difficult one due to stormy weather. On July 11, 1822, the Highlander docked in Louisiana. Jean-Marie Odin had arrived in America, and 48 years of missionary life in the United States followed.
When he arrived in Louisiana, one of the first things he noticed was the slavery of the Blacks. He was deeply shocked, and expressed this in several letters in 1822: « There is a spectacle worthy of pity, and that is that of the Negroes who are to be found in great numbers in this country. They are almost all slaves. They are treated as one would treat a beast of burden in France. » « The greatest subject of sadness is the slavery of negroes. »
On October 10, 1822, Jean-Marie Odin is ordained a deacon in the chapel of the Barrens seminary.
On November 8, 1822, he joined the Congrégation de la Mission. He became a Lazarist. On May 4, 1823, Jean-Marie was ordained priest in Saint Louis (Missouri) by Bishop Dubourg.
Jean-Marie Odin Young priest
In 1836, Texas won its independence from Mexico after the battles of Fort Alamo, San Jacinto and the war waged by the American colonists.
In 1840, the Pope erected Texas as an Apostolic Prefecture, headed by two Lazarist priests from the Barrens seminary: John Timon (Prefect) and Jean-Marie Odin (Vice Prefect). Timon made very few visits to Texas, but Odin did.
A year later, in 1841, Jean-Marie Odin was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Texas with the rank of bishop.
On March 6, 1842, Bishop Odin was consecrated bishop at New Orleans Cathedral. He is Vicar Apostolic of Texas and has the title of Bishop of Claudiopolis.
In 1847, the Pope elevated Texas to the rank of diocese, with Galveston as its capital. He thus became the first bishop of the first diocese of Texas.
Until his departure in 1861, he built up the Church in Texas. He recruited a large number of missionary priests from France, notably from the diocese of Lyon. He also set up many religious communities: Marianists, Ursulines, Sisters of the Incarnate Word, Franciscan Recollects and others. He founded schools, the University of Saint Mary of San Antonio and many works of charity, education and evangelization.
In 1861, Bishop Jean-Marie Odin was appointed Archbishop of New Orleans. He was succeeded by Bishop Claude-Marie Dubuis, also from the Diocese of Lyon. In the year of his departure, the Galveston diocese had forty priests, mostly French from the Loire and Rhône regions.
Bishop Antoine Blanc died on June 20, 1860. Because of his strong personality, appreciated by all, and his work in Texas, Bishop Odin was appointed Archbishop of New Orleans by Pope Pius IX. He was enthroned on May 26, 1861. At the same time, Bishop Claude-Marie Dubuis was consecrated bishop of Galveston.
Bishop Odin arrived in New Orleans in the midst of the war: on April 12, 1861, the American Civil War began with the Battle of Fort Sumter.
On October 18, 1862, Pope Pius IX, deeply concerned by the situation, sent a letter to Bishop Odin, the principal bishop of the South, and to Archbishop Hughes of New York, the principal bishop of the North.
In 1869, Bishop Odin went to Rome to attend the Vatican I Council convened by Pope Pius IX. While in Rome, he fell ill and his friend and successor in Galveston, Bishop Dubuis, suggested that he return to his family in Ambierle to rest. Pius IX authorized him to leave, accompanied by Bishop Dubuis.
Jean-Marie Odin died on May 25, 1870, in Ambierle, on the eve of Ascension Day.
At the time of his death, there were many French missionaries in America. Bishop Claude-Marie Dubuis, a Frenchman from the diocese of Lyon, succeeded him in Galveston in 1861. Dubuis was to be succeeded by another Frenchman, Bishop Pierre Dufal (originally from Puy de Dôme), but after a year as coadjutor bishop, he resigned for health reasons. An American, Mgr Gallagher, became Bishop of Galveston. In 1874, the Pope created the Diocese of San Antonio from half of the Diocese of Galveston. Its first bishop, Bishop Pellicer, was American, but his two successors, Bishop Jean Neraz and Bishop Jean Forest, were French, coming from the diocese of Lyon, as were Bishop Odin and Bishop Dubuis. In all, seventy priests from the Lyon diocese were missionaries in Texas. They were there right up to the eve of the First World War. Thereafter, the Church in Texas became fully autonomous.
Mentions légales
Association des amis de monseigneur Odin : MAIRIE D’AMBIERLE PRIEURE 42820 AMBIERLE
