CHEVERUS, JEAN-LOUIS-MADELEINE LEFEBVRE de. — Cardinal, b. 28 Jan. 1768 at Mayenne, d. 19 July 1836 at Bordeaux. Ordained priest in Dec. 1790, he refused to take the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and left his parish and France.
Invited by Abbot Matignon in Oct. 1796, he went to America, to Boston. There he carried out a fervent and active work of apostolate, not only among the white population but also among the Indians. On 8 Apr. 1808 he was named Bishop of Boston, a diocese then erected by Pius VII; he administered it until 1823, when he yielded to the entreaties of Louis XVIII who wished him to be Bishop of Montauban and returned to his homeland to the great regret of the people of Boston. On 30 July 1826 he was named by the same sovereign Archbishop of Bordeaux and Peer of France. On 1 Feb. 1836 Gregory XVI created him cardinal. He was esteemed one of the most able and zealous French bishops of his age.