Peter Bourgade (October 17, 1845 – May 17, 1908) was a French-born American prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He served as Bishop of Tucson (1885–1899) and Archbishop of Santa Fe (1899–1908).

Biography

Early life and priesthood

Bourgade was born on October 17, 1845, in Vollore-Ville,

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285.Brothers of the Christian Schools The De La Salle Brothers, officially named the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (; ; ) abbreviated FSC, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (16 ...

and completed his classical studies at the

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college of

Billom Billom (; Auvergnat: ''Bilhom'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central France. Population Notable natives Billom was the birthplace of the philosopher Georges Bataille. It was also the birt ...

. He studied for the priesthood at Saint-Sulpice Seminary, receiving his

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during that time. In 1869, during his fifth year at Saint-Sulpice, Bourgade and five other seminarians were recruited by the newly consecrated Bishop Jean-Baptiste Salpointe for the missions in the

American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

. The group sailed from Brest in September 1869 and traveled by railroad and stagecoach to Las Cruces,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, where Salpointe ordained Bourgade to the priesthood on November 30, 1869. Following his ordination, Bourgade was named pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Yuma,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. However, in the summer of 1873, ill health forced him to return to France for two years. He returned to the United States in 1875 and was sent to

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Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, where he served as pastor for six years and distinguished himself by opening a parochial school under the

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in 1879. In 1881 he was transferred to St. Vincent de Paul Church in Silver City, New Mexico, where he built a convent, hospital, and academy for the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

Episcopal career

On February 7, 1885, Bourgade was appointed

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Arizona and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of '' Thaumacus'' by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

. He received his episcopal consecration on the following May 1 from Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy, with Archbishop Salpointe and Bishop Joseph Projectus Machebeuf serving as co-consecrators. The vicariate was elevated to the Diocese of Tucson on May 8, 1897, and Bourgade became its first bishop. He there established twelve schools and an orphanage and also rebuilt the Cathedral of Saint Augustine. Bourgade was named the fourth Archbishop of Santa Fe on January 7, 1899. He served as archbishop for nine years, and his last annual report to Rome showed the archdiocese contained a Catholic population of 167,000 people, 45 churches with resident priests, and 340 missions. He was in poor health for most of his tenure and received John Baptist Pitaval as an

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

in 1902. In May 1908, due to his failing health, Bourgade was sent to Mercy Hospital in

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and placed under the care of Dr. John Benjamin Murphy. He died there two weeks later on May 17, at age 62. He is buried in the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourgade, Peter 1845 births 1908 deaths French expatriates in the United States People from Puy-de-Dôme French Roman Catholic missionaries French Roman Catholic bishops in North America Catholic Church in Arizona Roman Catholic archbishops of Santa Fe Roman Catholic bishops of Tucson Roman Catholic missionaries in the United States Seminary of Saint-Sulpice (France) alumni