Religion / City history
Frederick Rese
1791–1871 · first Catholic Bishop of Detroit
German-born priest who became the first Catholic bishop of Detroit in 1833, taking Ste. Anne's as his cathedral and bringing religious orders to the frontier diocese.
- Born
Vienenburg, Electorate of Hanover (Germany)- Died
aged 80- Also known as
- Friedrich Rese · Frederic Résé
- Detroit years
- 1834–1840s
- Field
- Religion, City history
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Frederick Rese was born in Vienenburg, in the Electorate of Hanover, in 1791, became a priest and volunteered for the American missions. As vicar general of the Diocese of Cincinnati, which then included Michigan, he travelled to Europe to raise money and helped launch the Leopoldine Society in Vienna. On March 8, 1833, Pope Gregory XVI created the Diocese of Detroit, covering Michigan and the old Northwest, and named Rese its first bishop, the first German-born bishop in the United States. He made his formal entry into Detroit on January 7, 1834, taking possession of Ste. Anne's as his cathedral. He invited religious communities to the diocese, supported German settlers and worked to open schools. Ill health soon overwhelmed him; he left Detroit around 1840 and, following the custom of the time, remained its nominal bishop until his death in Germany in 1871, while coadjutor Peter Paul Lefevere ran the diocese.
Highlights
- Named first Bishop of Detroit on March 8, 1833
- Entered Detroit on January 7, 1834, with Ste. Anne's as his cathedral
- First German-born Catholic bishop in the United States
- Helped found the Leopoldine Society to fund American missions
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1834–1840
Ste. Anne de Détroit
The historic French parish he took as his cathedral when he entered Detroit on January 7, 1834; today's church dates from 1886–1887.