Peter Joseph Verhaegen

Background

Peter Joseph Verhaegen was born on June 21, 1800, at Haecht in Flanders of a family of some prominence.

Career

In 1821, Verhaegen came to Philadelphia with a number of Belgian youths, all of whom were inclined to the priesthood, and in October entered the novitiate of the Jesuits at Whitemarsh, Maryland. Two years later, he accompanied the band of Jesuits led by Charles Van Quickenborne to Florissant in Missouri. Early in 1825, he was raised to the priesthood at the Seminary of the Barrens, in Perry County, Missouri.

After the Jesuits had taken over the academy opened by Bishop Louis G. du Bourg in St. Louis and had erected new buildings, Van Quickenborne, in 1829, named Verhaegen rector. Within a short time, the institution had 150 students. The faculty came to include Pierre De Smet, J. A. Elet, James Oliver Van de Velde, and other enthusiastic Belgian priests and scholars, and the prestige of the college increased rapidly.

In 1832, Verhaegen obtained an act incorporating it as St. Louis University. Four years later he became superior of the Indian missions, which he described in a significant article, "The Indian Missions of the United States under the Care of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus"; this article did much to stimulate interest in western missions in the East and in Europe.

In 1844, Father Verhaegen became provincial of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. When the Jesuits assumed control of St. Joseph's College at Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1847, Verhaegen became its president, inspiring new life into what had been a declining institution. Three years later, he became pastor at St. Charles, Missouri, where he served until his death except for occasional intervals when he served as professor of moral and dogmatic theology at St. Louis University or was absent on lecture and missionary tours.

Achievements

• Verhaegen was considered one of the best-educated Jesuits in the whole province.

Personality

Verhaegen was an able linguist, a sound philosopher, an inspiring teacher, and a preacher whose learned discourses evidenced wide reading.

A man of dynamic energy, he proved a capable organizer and administrator of men, schools, and missions. There were few in his day who better understood the management of Indians and the spirit of the pioneer West.