Background
Styled the "Apostle of Philadelphia", Barbelin was born at Lunéville, (then in the Province of Meurthe, now Meurthe-et-Moselle), in the Alsatian region of France, and died in Philadelphia.
Styled the "Apostle of Philadelphia", Barbelin was born at Lunéville, (then in the Province of Meurthe, now Meurthe-et-Moselle), in the Alsatian region of France, and died in Philadelphia.
Subsequent to that, for some years he was stationed at Georgetown University, where he served as disciplinarian and professor of French. In 1836 he became assistant pastor of Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown section of Washington, District of Columbia, and in 1838 was transferred to Philadelphia. Foreign more than a quarter of a century he was pastor of Old Saint Joseph"s Church, Willing"s Alley, which became, mainly during his term of office, the centre from which radiated Catholic influences throughout the city and diocese.
He founded Saint Joseph"s Hospital in his adopted city, and was the first to establish sodalities for men and women and for the young.
In 1852 he was appointed the first President of Saint Joseph"s College, which is now known as Saint Joseph"s University. Barbelin Hall at that university is named in his honor.