# Charles John Seghers

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{{Short description|Catholic missionary and bishop (1839-1886)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type             = Bishop
| honorific_prefix = [The Most Reverend](/source/The_Most_Reverend)
| name             = Charles John Seghers
| title            = [Bishop of Vancouver Island](/source/Diocese_of_Victoria_in_Canada)
| image            = Archbishop Charles John Seghers.jpg
| church           = [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church)
| diocese          = [Vancouver Island](/source/Diocese_of_Victoria_in_Canada)
| appointed       = 6 March 1884
| term_end        = 28 November 1886
| predecessor      = [Jean-Baptiste Brondel](/source/Jean-Baptiste_Brondel)
| successor        = [Jean-Nicolas Lemmens](/source/Jean-Nicolas_Lemmens)
| previous_post    = [Archbishop of Oregon City](/source/Archdiocese_of_Portland_in_Oregon) (1880–1884)<br/>[Coadjutor Archbishop](/source/Coadjutor_bishop) of Oregon City (1878–1880)<br/>Bishop of Vancouver Island (1873–1878)
<!---------- Orders ---------->
| ordination       = 31 May 1863
| ordained_by      = [Engelbert Sterckx](/source/Engelbert_Sterckx)
| consecration     = 29 June 1873
| consecrated_by   = [François Norbert Blanchet](/source/Fran%C3%A7ois_Norbert_Blanchet)
<!---------- Personal details ---------->
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1839|12|26}}
| birth_place      = [Ghent](/source/Ghent), Belgium
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1886|11|28|1839|12|26}}
| death_place      = Near [Nulato](/source/Nulato%2C_Alaska), [District of Alaska](/source/District_of_Alaska), U.S.
| death_cause       = Murder by gunshot
| motto            = {{langnf|la|Victoria fides|Victory of faith|break=yes}}
}}
'''Charles John Seghers''' (26 December 1839{{snd}}28 November 1886) was a [Belgian](/source/Belgium) prelate of the [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church). He was the second and fourth [Bishop of Vancouver Island](/source/Diocese_of_Victoria_in_Canada), serving from 1873 to 1878 and from 1884 until his murder in 1886. He also served as [Archbishop of Oregon City](/source/Archdiocese_of_Portland_in_Oregon) from 1880 to 1884.

Born in [Ghent](/source/Ghent), Seghers spent most of his career as a missionary in [British Columbia](/source/British_Columbia) and [Alaska](/source/Alaska). On 28 November 1886, while on an expedition near [Nulato](/source/Nulato%2C_Alaska), he was shot and killed by Francis Fuller, one of his companions.

==Early life and education==
Charles John Seghers was born on 26 December 1839 in Ghent.<ref name=Morice>{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Charles John Seghers|author-link=Adrien-Gabriel Morice|first =Adrien-Gabriel|last=Morice}}</ref> He was the youngest son of Charles Francis and Pauline Seghers.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=67}}</ref> He was orphaned by the age of eighteen, losing his parents and siblings to [tuberculosis](/source/tuberculosis).<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1986|page=15}}</ref>

Seghers received his early education at [Sint-Barbaracollege](/source/Sint-Barbaracollege), a [Jesuit](/source/Jesuits) school in Ghent.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=67}}</ref> In 1858, he entered the [Major Seminary of Ghent](/source/Major_Seminary%2C_Ghent) to study for the priesthood.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1986|page=15}}</ref> On 9 August 1862, the same day that he was ordained a [deacon](/source/deacon), he entered the [American College](/source/American_College_(Leuven)) in [Leuven](/source/Leuven) to train as a missionary for North America.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=68}}</ref> Answering an appeal from Bishop [Modeste Demers](/source/Modeste_Demers), Seghers attached himself to the [Diocese of Vancouver Island](/source/Diocese_of_Victoria_in_Canada).<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1986|pages=17-19}}</ref>

==Priesthood==
Seghers was ordained a priest on 31 May 1863 by Cardinal [Engelbert Sterckx](/source/Engelbert_Sterckx) at [St. Rumbold's Cathedral](/source/St._Rumbold's_Cathedral) in [Mechelen](/source/Mechelen).<ref name=hierarchy>{{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bseghers|Archbishop Charles-Jean Seghers}}</ref> He sailed from Belgium on the following 14 September,<ref name=Morice/> and arrived at [Victoria](/source/Victoria%2C_British_Columbia), [British Columbia](/source/British_Columbia), on 17 November.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1986|page=20}}</ref>

In Victoria, Bishop Demers appointed Seghers to serve as rector of [St. Andrew's Cathedral](/source/St._Andrew's_Cathedral_(Victoria%2C_British_Columbia)) and chaplain to the [Sisters of Saint Anne](/source/Sisters_of_Saint_Anne).<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|pages=70-71}}</ref> He also engaged in missionary work among [Indigenous people](/source/Indigenous_peoples_in_Canada) and white settlers, making visits to remote communities in [Chemainus](/source/Chemainus) and [Nanaimo](/source/Nanaimo).<ref name=Morice/><ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=74}}</ref>

Seghers began to have health problems, suffering his first of many [pulmonary hemorrhage](/source/pulmonary_hemorrhage)s in December 1867.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=82}}</ref> His illness became so severe that he feared he would die, writing in May 1868, "I am ready to go if it is God's Holy Will..."<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=83}}</ref> He briefly stayed with his friend, Father [Jean-Baptiste Brondel](/source/Jean-Baptiste_Brondel), in [Steilacoom](/source/Steilacoom%2C_Washington), [Washington](/source/Washington_(state)), where his health began to recover.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=83}}</ref>

From 1869 to 1870, Seghers served as a ''[peritus](/source/peritus)'' to Bishop Demers at the [First Vatican Council](/source/First_Vatican_Council) in [Rome](/source/Rome).<ref name=clarke>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=Richard H.|date=1888|title=Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States|volume=III|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lives_of_the_Deceased_Bishops_of_the_Cat/Ndw-AAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1}}</ref> Demers and Seghers had a private audience with [Pope Pius IX](/source/Pope_Pius_IX) in April 1870.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1986|page=57}}</ref> During the audience, the pope compared the blood from Seghers' hemorrhages to the red worn by [cardinals](/source/Cardinal_(Catholic_Church)), jokingly saying, "You must not encroach upon my privilege of making cardinals."<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=92}}</ref>

Shortly after returning from the council, both Demers and Seghers' health began to decline; the bishop suffered a stroke in December 1870, while the priest's hemorrhages recurred.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|pages=93-94}}</ref> Demers sent a letter to the pope, asking for his prayers for Seghers' health. After receiving a reply from Cardinal [Alessandro Barnabò](/source/Alessandro_Barnab%C3%B2), in which he relayed the pope's [apostolic blessing](/source/apostolic_blessing), Seghers allegedly never had another hemorrhage.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=95}}</ref> However, Demers himself died in July 1871.<ref name=demers>{{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bdemers|Bishop Modeste Demers}}</ref>

==Episcopal career==
===Bishop of Vancouver Island===
On 11 March 1873, Seghers was appointed by Pius IX to succeed Demers as the second Bishop of Vancouver Island.<ref name=hierarchy/> He received his episcopal consecration on the following 29 June from Archbishop [François Norbert Blanchet](/source/Fran%C3%A7ois_Norbert_Blanchet) at St. Andrew's Cathedral, with Bishops [Augustin-Magloire Blanchet](/source/Augustin-Magloire_Blanchet) and [Louis-Joseph d'Herbomez](/source/Louis-Joseph_d'Herbomez) serving as co-consecrators.<ref name=hierarchy/> At the age of 33, he was the youngest Catholic bishop in North America.<ref name=clarke/>

In July 1873, shortly after his consecration, Seghers made his first trip to [Alaska](/source/Department_of_Alaska)—traveling from [Sitka](/source/Sitka%2C_Alaska) to [Kodiak](/source/Kodiak%2C_Alaska) and [Unalaska](/source/Unalaska%2C_Alaska) over the course of two months.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=101}}</ref> In April 1874, he visited the west coast of [Vancouver Island](/source/Vancouver_Island), baptizing nearly a thousand children.<ref name=clarke/> In July 1877, he returned to Alaska for a 14-month missionary tour along the [Yukon River](/source/Yukon_River), traveling from [St. Michael](/source/St._Michael%2C_Alaska) to [Nulato](/source/Nulato%2C_Alaska).<ref name=Morice/>

===Archbishop of Oregon City===
When Seghers returned from Alaska in September 1878, he learned that [Pope Leo XIII](/source/Pope_Leo_XIII) had appointed him on 23 July as [coadjutor archbishop](/source/Coadjutor_bishop) with the right of succession to Archbishop Blanchet (who had consecrated Seghers as a bishop) of the [Archdiocese of Oregon City](/source/Archdiocese_of_Portland_in_Oregon).<ref name=hierarchy/> The pope also gave him the honorary position of [titular archbishop](/source/Titular_bishop) of [Hemesa](/source/Homs).<ref name=hierarchy/>

After organizing his affairs on Vancouver Island, Seghers arrived in [Portland](/source/Portland%2C_Oregon) in July 1879.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=159}}</ref> He immediately began a 16-month tour of the archdiocese, traveling 5,000 miles and administering [confirmation](/source/Confirmation_in_the_Catholic_Church) to 800 people.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=174}}</ref> When the [Holy See](/source/Holy_See) accepted Archbishop Blanchet's retirement on December 12, 1880, Seghers automatically succeeded him as the second Archbishop of Oregon City.<ref name=hierarchy/>

===Return to Vancouver Island===
As Archbishop of Oregon City, Seghers traveled to Rome in the fall of 1883 with other American bishops to secure the pope's approval to hold the third [Plenary Council of Baltimore](/source/Plenary_Councils_of_Baltimore).<ref name=clarke/> Meanwhile, Bishop [Jean-Baptiste Brondel](/source/Jean-Baptiste_Brondel), Seghers' successor in Vancouver Island, had been transferred to the [Diocese of Helena](/source/Diocese_of_Helena) and there was difficulty finding a replacement.<ref name=Morice/> While in Rome, Seghers therefore had an audience with Leo XIII and volunteered to resign his post in Oregon and return to his old diocese.<ref>{{harvnb|de Baets|1894|page=198}}</ref> This proposal was accepted, and on 6 March 1884, the pope reappointed him to Vancouver Island with the personal title of archbishop.<ref name=hierarchy/>

Seghers attended the third Plenary Council of Baltimore from November to December 1884.<ref name=clarke/> At the council, he delivered an address on "Indian Missions," in which he recounted his missionary work and appealed for his fellow bishops to support such efforts.<ref name=council>{{cite book|date=1885|title=Memorial Volume of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore|publisher=The Baltimore Publishing Company|pages=114-119|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Memorial_Volume_a_History_of_the_Thi/zYkbRwgGn2EC?hl=en&gbpv=1}}</ref> The council then established the [Commission for the Catholic Missions among the Colored People and the Indians](/source/Commission_for_the_Catholic_Missions_among_the_Colored_People_and_the_Indians) to raise funds for missionary work.<ref name=commission>{{cite web|title=COMMISSION FOR CATHOLIC MISSIONS AMONG COLORED PEOPLE AND INDIANS|url=https://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/BCIM/BCIM-SC2.php|website=Marquette University}}</ref>

==Death==
{{listen
| filename = The Official Account of the Death of Archbishop Seghers - read by Phil Schempf for LibriVox's Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 051 (2017).ogg 
| title = {{center|"The Official Account of the Death of Archbishop Seghers"<br>1893<br><small>Read by Phil Schempf for LibriVox</small>}}
| description = {{center|1=Audio 00:08:57 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=gqcMAQAAMAAJ full text])}}
| pos = right
| type = speech
| image = 70px
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On 13 July 1886,<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|pages=191-192}}</ref> Seghers began a journey to establish a [Catholic mission](/source/Catholic_missions) in [Interior Alaska](/source/Interior_Alaska)—accompanied by two Jesuits, Fathers [Pascal Tosi](/source/Pascal_Tosi) and Aloysius Robaut, and one layman, Francis Fuller.<ref name=Crimont>{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Alaska|author-link=Joseph Raphael John Crimont|first=Joseph|last=Crimont}}</ref> When the party arrived in [Juneau](/source/Juneau%2C_Alaska), they hired a [French Canadian](/source/French_Canadians) guide named Antoine Provost.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=192}}</ref> Fuller began to show signs of mental instability, but Seghers rejected Tosi's attempt to fire him.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=192}}</ref> On 27 July, as the party was traveling toward the Yukon River through the [Chilkoot Pass](/source/Chilkoot_Pass), Provost disappeared and the others were unable to find him.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=192}}</ref>

On 7 September, the party reached the [Stewart River](/source/Stewart_River_(Yukon)).<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=193}}</ref> While there, they learned from trader [Arthur Harper](/source/Arthur_Harper_(trader)) that Rev. Octavius Parker, an [Episcopalian](/source/Episcopal_Church_(United_States)) missionary, was planning to start a school at [Nulato](/source/Nulato%2C_Alaska).<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=195}}</ref> The party then split, with the two Jesuits remaining at Stewart River while Seghers and Fuller left for Nulato, accompanied by two Indigenous guides.<ref name=Crimont/> On 4 October, the party reached [Noochuloghoyet](/source/Noochuloghoyet), where they had to remain for six weeks, waiting for the waterways to freeze solid enough to bear the weight of a [dog sled](/source/dog_sled).<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=195}}</ref> During this time, Seghers recorded in his diary: "Peculiar conversation with [Fuller] in which for the third time he gives evidence of his insanity."<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=195}}</ref>

On 19 November, the party resumed their journey.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=196}}</ref> During this time, Seghers wrote that Fuller had accused him of "[encouraging] the Indians to make fun of him" and had predicted Seghers "would give him a bad name."<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=196}}</ref> On 27 November, the party encamped at a site approximately 30 miles from Nulato.<ref name=clarke/> Early the next morning, as the party prepared for the final leg of their journey, Fuller fired a single shot that killed Seghers instantly.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=197}}</ref> When asked for his motive, Fuller simply replied, "Oh, I did; that's all. I have taken the Bishop's life, and mine will be short now."<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=197}}</ref> In December 1887, he was convicted of [manslaughter](/source/manslaughter) and sentenced by Judge [Lafayette Dawson](/source/Lafayette_Dawson) to ten years of hard labor.<ref>{{harvnb|Steckler|1968|page=199}}</ref>

Seghers was initially buried at [St. Michael](/source/St._Michael%2C_Alaska).<ref name=Crimont/> In 1888, his remains were transported by the [USS Thetis](/source/USS_Thetis_(1881)) to Victoria.<ref name=naval>{{cite web|last=Harmon|first=Lloyd M.|date=1960|title=USS Thetis at San Diego, October 1887|url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1960/july/uss-thetis-san-diego-october-1887|website=[United States Naval Institute](/source/United_States_Naval_Institute)}}</ref> There, his body was interred in the crypt of St. Andrew's Cathedral.<ref name=Crimont/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last=Steckler|first=Gerard G.|date=1986|title=Charles John Seghers: Priest and Bishop in the Pacific Northwest, 1839-1886|publisher=Ye Galleon Press}}
* {{cite book|last=de Baets|first=Maurice|date=1894|title=Vie de Monseigneur Seghers|language=English|trans-title=The Apostle of Alaska: Life of the Most Reverend Charles John Seghers|translator-last1=Sister Mary Mildred, SSA|publisher=St. Anthony Guild Press|location=Patterson, NJ|url=https://archive.org/details/apostleofalaskav0000sist/mode/2up}}
* {{cite journal|last=Steckler|first=Gerard G.|date=1968|title=The Case of Frank Fuller: The Killer of Alaska Missionary Charles Seghers|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40488544?seq=1|journal=The Pacific Northwest Quarterly|volume=59}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}

{{Portal|Biography}}
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5825 Biography at ''the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Charles John Seghers}}
* {{Find a Grave|18734}}
* [https://www.uvic.ca/library/locations/spcoll/book/seghers.php Seghers Collection] at University of Victoria, Special Collections

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{succession box |
    title=[Archbishop of Oregon City](/source/Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Portland_in_Oregon) |
    before=[François Norbert Blanchet](/source/Fran%C3%A7ois_Norbert_Blanchet) |
    after= [William Hickley Gross](/source/William_Hickley_Gross) |
    years=1880&ndash;1884 }}
{{s-end}}

{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seghers, Charles John}}
Category:1839 births
Category:1886 deaths
Category:Clergy from Ghent
Category:Belgian expatriates in Canada
Category:Belgian expatriates in the United States
Category:19th-century Belgian Roman Catholic priests
Category:19th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests
Category:Flemish priests
Category:History of Catholicism in the United States
Category:Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni
Category:American College of the Immaculate Conception alumni
Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Oregon City
Category:19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States
Category:Belgian emigrants to Canada
Category:Clergy from Oregon
Category:People from Juneau, Alaska
Category:People from Sitka, Alaska
Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Victoria in Canada

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Charles John Seghers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_John_Seghers) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_John_Seghers?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.