Timeline for Father Stephen T. Badin
Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church,
Silver Creek Township, Cass County, Michigan
Created April 2011 – H. Poole
- 1768 Father Badin born in Orleans, France (1768). (B - pg 26, D - pg 4)
- 1792 Seminarian Badin seeks refuge in America from new Revolutionary
French Government who distrust many Catholics Religious Orders
(January, 1792). (D - pg 6)
- 1792 Seminarian Badin continues study for priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary in
Baltimore, MN along with three native Americans (1792). (D - pg 7)
- 1792 Father Badin is first priest ordained in America (Proto priest) on
March 29,1792, Baltimore, Maryland by Bishop John Carroll.
(B - pg xix, 26, E- pg 309)
-1792 1819 Father Badin assigned to work in the West Territory along the Ohio River
(northern Kentucky and southern Indiana) where he establishes several
churches, but spends most of his time as a travelling frontier priest.
(D – Pgs 50-100)
- 1819 Father Badin returns to France after his early missionary work in
Kentucky and southern Indiana (1819). (B - pg xix, D - pg xiii)
- 1826 Father Badin returns to America and visits his brother, also a priest, in
Detroit (1826). (B - pg xiii, D - pg xiii, 215, E - pg 365)
- 1829 Father Badin visit Father Berniere for three weeks in the South Bend, IN
area (Fall 1829) while on tour of the upper midwest. (D - pg 231)
- 1830 Chief Pokagon travels to Detroit to appeal to Father Richards (who is
acting as a Bishop) for a priest for his Potawatomi Band (1830). Father
Badin who is in residence in Detroit meets Pokagon and is impressed by
his knowledge and practice of the Catholic Faith. (I - pg 38)
- 1830 Fathers Rese and Badin depart Detroit via stagecoach (July 14th, 1830) for
Pokagon Potawatomi band living near abandoned St. Joseph Mission on
St. Joseph River. (D - pg 217, 222, E - pg 369)
- 1830 Father Rese, along with Father Badin, baptize Leopold Pokagon and his
wife Elizabeth and united them in a Catholic marriage (sometime between
July 20 and July 31, 1830).(E - pg 369, D - pg 223)
- 1830 Chief Pokagon returns to Detroit for a second time to appeal to Father
Richards for a priest for his Potawatomi Band (July 1830).
(D - pg 223, E - pg 604, J - pg 55)
- 1830 Father Badin and Miss. Angelique (Liquette) Campeau (onetime school
teacher to Father Richards) take a stagecoach back to the St. Joseph
Mission area (Aug 17,1830). (D - pg 224, E - pg 604, 369, I - pg 40)
-1830 1832 Father Badin purchases land near South Bend from the Indiana State Road
Commission that is later to become Notre Dame University (1830, 1831,
and Nov. 1832). (B - pg 26, D - pg 215, E - pg 422, I - pg 40)
- 1830 Father Badin buys land near Pokagon's village in southern Berrien County
near Niles and has built a simple cabin and chapel (22 by 19 ft.) which he
blesses on November 21, 1830. (D - pg 228, E - pg 422, 605)
- 1830 Chief Pokagon and wife Elizabeth assist Father Badin and Miss. Campeau
with religious education of Pokagon Potawatomi at Pokagon's village
southwest of Niles, MI location where three hundred are baptized (1830).
(D - pg 224, I - pg 40)
- 1831 Father Badin returns to southwest Michigan from Kentucky to bless his
new mission house and chapel built by Potawatomi at Pokagon's village.
(Nov 21, 1831). (D - pg 224)
- 1831 1832 Seminarian Boheme assists Father Badin with Potawatomi Mission during
his training to become a priest (1831-32). He was ordained in Kentucky in
1832 after leaving Father Badin in southwest Michigan. (D - pg 243)
- 1832 Father DeSeille, Flemish priest, comes to assist Badin with his work
among the Potawatomi at Pokagon's village near Niles, MI (1832).
(B - pg 27, D - pg 243, E - pg 422, 608, I - pg 40-42, J - pg 55)
- 1832 Father Badin and Miss. Campeau along with Chief Pokagon help settle
death of Indian youth (Nanaukpy) caused by Chief Topinabee at Carey
Mission near Niles, MI (1832). (D - pg 232)
- 1832 Father Badin makes several appeals to Governor of Indiana (Jonathan
Jennings) and Federal Indian Commissioners that Potawatomi should
be provided funds for their support given their Catholic history (1832).
(D - pg 239-240)
- 1833 Father Badin constructs double log chapel (20 x 40 feet) which is to
become Indiana's first orphan asylum on land that will later become Notre
Dame University (1833). (B - pg 26, D - pg 241-242, E - pg 605, I - pg 40)
- 1833 Two Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky (Sisters Magdalen (Anne
Jackson) and Lucina (Mary Whittaker) join Fathers Badin and DeSeille in
teaching the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi near Bertrand, MI (1833).
(D - pg 242, E - pg 607-8)
- 1834 A cabin and chapel were built at Pokagon's village (south Berrien County)
where two religious sisters stayed the winter (1834). (E - pg 607)
- 1835 1840 Fathers Petit and Louis DeSeille arrive in area from southern Indiana
following Badin's departure (1835) and assume duties with Potawatomi at
Pokagon's village near Niles, MI. (E - pg 608, I - pg 42-44, J - pg 55)
- 1836 Father Badin leaves northern Indiana and transfers land which is to
become Notre Dame University to Bishop Brute in southern Indiana
(1836). (B - pg xix, 26, D - pg 243, E - pg 422, I - pg 40-42)
- 1845 Father Badin returns to Notre Dame and was Father Sorin's guest at
commencement exercises and provides a gift of land in Louisville, KY in
support of growing Notre Dame school and also for support for Badin's
future retirement (1845). (D - pg 279, I - pg 41, 108)
- 1846 Sisters of the Holy Cross move Father Badin's log chapel at Pokagon's
Village southwest of Niles, MI to their motherhouse (Our Lady of the
Seven Dolors) at Bertrand, MI (1846). (B - pg 52-53, J - pg 36-37)
- 1853 Father Badin dies in home of Archbishop Purcell in Kentucky on
April 21, 1853. (D - pg 283, E - pg 422, I - pg 38, 41)
- 1906 Father Badin's remains are relocated from Kentucky to the Log Chapel on
Notre Dame Campus next to Father Petit and Father DeSeille (1906).
(I - pg 41)