Michel Portier was born in Montbrison in the diocese of Lyon, France. He was a student at the seminary in
Lyon when recruited by Bishop
Louis William Valentine Dubourg for the American mission. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 22 in 1817 with the goal of becoming a priest. He sailed from
Bordeaux with Dubourg and about thirty companions on the French ship of war
Caravane and landed after sixty-five days at
Annapolis, Maryland on 4 September 1817. Upon arrival, they stayed for nearly two months under the hospitality of
Charles Carroll of Carrollton.
Vicar general After completing his studies at
St. Mary's Seminary, in
Baltimore, Maryland, where he also studied
English, he was ordained deacon. From there he proceeded to
St. Louis, where he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, by Dubourg, on May 16, 1818.
Yellow fever outbreaks were not infrequent at the time, and he devoted himself to the sick and dying until he too fell ill. Upon his recovery, Dubourg called Portier to New Orleans, where he established a collegiate school in the former Ursuline convent in the French Quarter. During his time in New Orleans, Portier served as Vicar-General to Dubourg. which included the Territory of Arkansas. At the time of his accession, Portier was the only clergyman in the vicariate and had practically three
parishes with churches:
Mobile,
St. Augustine, and
Pensacola. The first priest who came to his assistance was Edward T. Mayne, a student of Mt. St. Mary's College,
Emmitsburg, Maryland, sent by
Bishop England of Charleston, to take charge of the deserted church of St. Augustine. Portier began his administration by riding through his vicariate, offering the
Eucharist, preaching, and administering the
Sacraments as he went.
Bishop of Mobile Portier sailed for Europe in 1829 to recruit assistants, and returned with a few seminarians and a priest,
Mathias Loras. On May 15, 1829, the vicariate was raised by
Pope Pius VIII to become the Diocese of Mobile, and Bishop Portier was made its first bishop. His cathedral was a small church twenty feet wide by fifty feet deep, his residence a still smaller two-roomed frame structure. A new cathedral was begun in 1837, and on December 8, 1850, Portier consecrated the
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Also in 1850, the eastern portion of Florida was detached from the Diocese of Mobile and annexed to the newly created
Diocese of Savannah, based in Georgia. In 1833 Portier secured from the
Georgetown Visitation Monastery,
Georgetown, Washington, D.C., a colony of nuns who established the
Convent and Academy of the Visitation in Mobile. He brought the
Brothers of the Sacred Heart from France about 1847, and the
Daughters of Charity from
Emmitsburg, Maryland, to manage orphan asylums for boys and girls, respectively. One of his last acts was founding a hospital at Mobile, presently known as
Providence Hospital, administered by the Daughters of Charity.
Death Portier died on May 14, 1859, aged 63. He is entombed in the crypt of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile. == References ==