{{Short description|Slovenian-born American prelate}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = | honorific_prefix = His Excellency, The Right Reverend | name = John Vertin | title = Bishop of Sault Sainte Marie and Marquette | image = Bishop John Vertin.jpg | church = Catholic Church | see = Diocese of Sault Sainte Marie and Marquette | appointed = May 16, 1879 | term_end = February 26, 1899 (his death) | predecessor = Ignatius Mrak | successor = Frederick Eis | ordination = August 31, 1866 | ordained_by = Frederic Baraga | consecration = September 14, 1879 | consecrated_by = Michael Heiss | birth_date = {{Birth date|1844|07|14}} | birth_place = Dobliče, Duchy of Carniola, Austrian Empire | death_date = {{Death date and age|1899|02|26|1844|07|14}} | death_place = Marquette, Michigan, US | nationality = Slovenian | education = Saint Francis de Sales Seminary | birth_name = Johann Vertin | motto = ''Unum est necessarium''<br>(There is need of only one thing) }} '''John Vertin''' (July 17, 1844 – February 26, 1899) was a Slovenian-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Sault Sainte Marie and Marquette in Michigan from 1879 until his death in 1899.
==Life== ===Early life=== John Vertin (sometimes spelled ''Wertin'') was born on July 17, 1844, in Dobliče in the Duchy of Carniola in the Austrian Empire (present-day Črnomelj, Slovenia)<ref name=rezek>{{cite book|last=Rezek|first=Antoine Ivan|date=1906|title=History of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wd--j79HxxUC|location=Chicago|publisher=M. A. Donohue & Co}}</ref> and baptized Johann Vertin.<ref>{{cite book |title=Taufbuch |date=1837–1855 |location=Črnomelj |page=83 |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/sl/slovenia/ljubljana/crnomelj/02996/?pg=84 |access-date=June 26, 2022}}</ref> He was the second of four children of Joseph and Mary (née Deržaj) Vertin.<ref name=history>{{cite book|date=1883|title=History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: Containing a Full Account of Its Early Settlement, Its Growth, Development, and Resources, an Extended Description of Its Iron and Copper Mines|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgEIJ5fE640C|location=Chicago|publisher=The Western Historical Company|page=298}}</ref> Vertin received his early education at the gymnasium in Novo Mesto in Lower Carniola.
Joseph Vertin was a merchant who came to the United States in 1852 . He settled in Michigan and opened general stores in Hancock and Calumet (now known as Vertin Gallery).<ref name="vertin">{{cite web |date=17 July 2018 |title=VERTIN GALLERY (VERTIN BROTHERS DEPARTMENT STORE) |url=https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-HO17.4 |website=SAH Archipedia}}</ref> Joseph Vertin returned to Carniola in 1857.<ref name="rezek" />At age 18, John Vertin arrived in New York City with his family in July 1863 and then departed for Michigan.<ref name="shea">{{cite book|last=Shea|first=John Gilmary|date=1886|title=The hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States|location=New York|publisher=The Office of Catholic Publications}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=July 8, 1863|title=John Wertin in the New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957|url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7488/|url-access=subscription|website=Ancestry.com}}</ref> Deciding to become a priest, Vertin entered Saint Francis de Sales Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin, in 1864 to study for the priesthood.<ref name="shea" />
===Priesthood=== Vertin was ordained a priest in Marquette, Michigan, for the Diocese of Sault Sainte Marie and Marquette on August 31, 1866, by Bishop Frederic Baraga.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Bishop John Vertin [Catholic-Hierarchy] |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bvertin.html |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org}}</ref> It was the first ordination performed in Marquette.<ref name=shea/>
After his ordination, the diocese assigned Vertin as pastor of Saint Ignatius Loyola Parish in Houghton, Michigan, where he served until 1871.<ref name=history/> He was then transferred to Saint Paul's Parish in Negaunee, Michigan, remaining there for eight years. Both were difficult assignments, with congregations who spoke many different languages. Saint Paul's was also was burdened with significant debt.<ref name=rezek/>
===Bishop of Sault Sainte Marie and Marquette=== thumb|322x322px|The current St. Peter's Cathedral, Marquette, Michigan (2009) On May 16, 1879, Vertin was appointed the third bishop of Sault Sainte Marie and Marquette by Pope Leo XIII.<ref name=":0" /> He succeeded Bishop Ignatius Mrak and was the third Slovenian bishop of the diocese. He received his episcopal consecration on September 14, 1879, from Bishop Michael Heiss, with Bishops Caspar Borgess and John Spalding serving as co-consecrators, at Saint Paul's Church in Negaunee.<ref name=":0" />At age 34, Vertin became the youngest Catholic bishop in the country.<ref name="rezek" />
Just under a month after his consecration, the original St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette was destroyed by fire. This was allegedly an act of arson by some angry parishioners over the removal of the cathedral's pastor, Reverend John Kenny.<ref name="cathedral">{{cite web|url=https://stpetercathedral.org/about/history/|title=History|website=St. Peter Cathedral}}</ref> Vertin rebuilt the cathedral, laying the cornerstone in June 1881. He consecrated the new and consecrating the St. Peter's Cathedral in July 1890. The main altar was a gift from Vertin's father and a side altar was donated by Vertin's brother-in-law.<ref name="cathedral" />
From October to November 1884, Vertin attended the third Plenary Council of Baltimore, a meeting of bishops of the United States in Baltimore, Maryland. He sat on the council's committee for Christian doctrine and brought Reverend Francis Weninger with him as his theologian.<ref name="rezek" /> In 1889, Vertin convoked a conference with the diocese's priests, which created an fund for sick priests and required all Catholic children to attend Catholic school.<ref name="rezek" /> Over the course of his 20 years as bishop, Vertin oversaw an increase in the diocese's Catholic population from 20,000 to 60,000, the number of churches from 27 to 56, and the number of priests from 20 to 62.<ref name="encyc">{{cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09689a.htm|title=Diocese of Marquette|last=Rezek|first=Antoine Ivan|date=1910|website=The Catholic Encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=Robert Appleton Company}}</ref>
=== Death and legacy === John Vertin died in Marquette on February 26, 1899, at age 54.<ref name=":0" /> He was buried in the crypt of St. Peter Cathedral.
==References== <references />
==External links== {{wikiquote}} {{commons category}}
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette |state=collapsed}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vertin, John}} Category:1844 births Category:1899 deaths Category:People from the Municipality of Črnomelj Category:Emigrants from the Austrian Empire to the United States Category:19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Marquette Category:Burials at St. Peter Cathedral (Marquette, Michigan)