MAIN  PAGE

Belgians in the Civil War

Emigrants arrival

links

Sources

BELGIANS IN AMERICA:    Biographies of Belgian settlers  

Henry Gabriels was born at Wannegem-Lede, in the diocese of Ghent, Belgium, in 1838, and was educated in the colleges of Audenarde and St. Nicholas. He made his theological studies in the seminary of Ghent and the University of Louvain. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1861, and was one of the four Belgian priests, who, with two American priest, founded St. Joseph's Provincial Seminary in Troy, N.Y., in 1864. In that year he received the degree of Licentiate in theology from the University of Louvain with Bishop Spalding, of Peoria. From 1864 to 1871 he was professor of dogmatic theology in the seminary, and since 1871 was president of that institution and professor of church history and Hebrew. In 1882 he received from the University of Louvain the honorary degree of Doctor of Theology. He was one of the secretaries of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884. He was also one of the vicars-general of the Dioceses of Ogdensburg and Burlington, diocesan examiner for the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Albany, and one of the dioecesan consultors of the Diocese of Albany. For nearly thirty years Bishop Gabriels lived in Troy, doing in a very quiet and unobtrusive manner a work that has made him celebrated throughout the Catholic World. So modest has he been in his bearing, so retiring in his methods, that a great many people will be surprised to learn that in the highest and most scholastic circles of his church Bishop Gabriels is regarded as a profound theologian and an authority on intricate ecclesiastical law problems. In general knowledge his attainments are wide and varied. Master of several languages, a writer with the simplicity of erudition, acquainted with many branches of science and still eager to learn, he is regarded by those who are privileged to know him as a marvel of knowledge. Living in retirement from the ambitions of the world, seeking no promotions, Bishop Gabriels believed that his life work was at St. Joseph s Seminary. Neither his own acts nor ambitions, but the work that he has done in preparing young men for the priesthood, not only as an instructor, but as examplar in simple living and lofty faith, brought about his elevation to the episcopate as a successor to the late lamented first bishop of Ogdensburg.
On the 5th of May, 1892, Bishop Gabriels was consecrated in the cathedral at Albany by Archbishop Corrigan, of New York, in presence of twenty-four archbishops and bishops of the United States and Canada, and about six hundred clergyman and seminarians.
He was solemnly installed in his cathedral at Ogdensburg, May 11, 1892, in presence of all the priests of the diocese and a large concourse of the laity.
He held his first diocesan synod, October 26, 1892, at which were present about seventy priests of the diocese.
He made his first visit ad limina to Rome in November, 1893, on which occasion he had several audiences with Lon XIII, who inquired carefully into the state of religion in Northern New York.
The elevation of Bishop Gabriels to the Diocese of Ogdensburg has proved to be a wise step for the church- The diocese is composed of two different races-English speaking and French speaking. By birth and education Bishop Gabriels is in sympathy with the latter, while having become thoroughly American in ideas and adherence to our national institutions, he is respected and reverenced by the former.

Source : (collective work) : Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York; Syracuse, N.Y.: D. Mason, 1894, 1218 pgs.