Gabriel Richard

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

Gabriel Richard, a Sulpician priest who fled revolutionary France, arrived in Detroit on June 7, 1798, as assistant pastor of Sainte-Anne's and became its pastor in 1802. When fire leveled the town on June 11, 1805, he organized food relief from the surrounding ribbon farms and coined the words that still stand on the city seal: Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus, we hope for better things; it shall rise from the ashes. He opened schools for boys and girls and for Native children, brought the first printing press to Michigan and in 1809 published the Michigan Essay, the territory's first newspaper. With Judge Augustus Woodward he helped create the Catholepistemiad of 1817, forerunner of the University of Michigan, and served as its vice president. Imprisoned by the British in 1812 for refusing an oath of allegiance, he later became the first Catholic priest elected to Congress, as Michigan Territory's delegate from 1823 to 1825. He died in 1832 after caring for victims of a cholera epidemic and rests at Ste. Anne's.

Highlights

1. Wrote Detroit's motto after the great fire of June 11, 1805
2. Printed the Michigan Essay (1809), the territory's first newspaper
3. Co-founder and vice president of the Catholepistemiad (1817), forerunner of the University of Michigan
4. Territorial delegate to Congress, 1823–1825, the first Catholic priest in Congress