Religion
Peter Paul Lefevere
1804–1869 · Catholic bishop
Belgian-born bishop who led the Catholic Diocese of Detroit for 28 years, built Saints Peter and Paul Church as its cathedral and brought teaching and nursing orders to the city.
- Born
Roulers (Roeselare), Belgium- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 64- Also known as
- Peter Paul Lefebre
- Detroit years
- 1841–1869
- Field
- Religion
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Lefevere came from Flanders and worked as a missionary priest in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa before Pope Gregory XVI named him coadjutor bishop of Detroit in 1841. Because Bishop Frederick Rese had withdrawn to Europe, Lefevere ran the diocese in practice, though he never held the title of Bishop of Detroit. When he arrived, the diocese stretched across Michigan and much of the upper Midwest; during his tenure the city's parishes grew to eleven and the diocese to about 160 as Irish, German, Belgian and Polish immigrants poured in. He built Saints Peter and Paul Church on Jefferson Avenue, which became his cathedral in 1848 and is now the oldest church building in Detroit, and he invited the Daughters of Charity, the first teaching sisters in the city. He won a dispute with lay trustees over church property. He died in Detroit in 1869; his remains now rest at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
Highlights
- Coadjutor bishop and administrator of Detroit, 1841–1869
- Built Saints Peter and Paul, cathedral from 1848
- Parishes in Detroit grew to eleven during his tenure
- Brought the Daughters of Charity to Detroit
- Reburied at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
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.
Founded · 1844–1869
Saints Peter and Paul Church (Detroit)
Lefevere's cathedral from 1848 and his first burial place; the oldest surviving church building in Detroit, now a Jesuit church.
Buried here · reinterred later
Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Catholic cemetery in Southfield where Detroit's bishops are buried; Lefevere's remains were moved here.