J anssens

JANSSENS, FRANCIS (Oct. 17, i843-June
10,1897), Catholic archbishop, the son of Corne-
lius and Josephine Anne (Dawes) Janssens, was
born in Tilburg, North Brabant. The youngest
son of a wealthy and prominent Catholic family,
he early resolved to devote his life to the service
of God. In this desire he was encouraged by his
parents. At the age of thirteen he entered the
preparatory seminary at Bois-le-Duc and was
ordained sub-deacon in 1866. Since his wish
was to become a missionary in America he was
sent to the American college attached to Louvain
University, where he was ordained as a priest
Dec. 21, 1867.

In September 1868 he landed at Richmond,
Va., where he served successively as pastor of
the cathedral, vicar general, and administrator
of the diocese. He was consecrated bishop of
Natchez in 1881. His administrative ability was
at once manifest New parishes were estab-
lished, schools and convents opened, and the
general interest of Catholics in religious mat-
ters awakened. Through his efforts the Choctaw
Indians living in the northern part of Missis-
sippi were Christianized. An extensive farm
was bought in 1884 and divided into tracts dis-
tributed among Indian families; a church and
a school were built. On the death of Mon-
seigneur Leray of New Orleans, Janssens was
appointed his successor (1888). The diocese
was in a very unsettled condition owing to the
large debt, and to the need of additional priests,
churches, and schools. One of his first acts as
archbishop was to call a meeting of the clergy
and the laity to consider plans for the gradual
liquidation of the debt. In order to provide
priests, a little seminary was opened at Pontcha-
toula. The lynching of a group of Italians who
had assassinated the city chief of police, im-
pressed Janssens with the especial need of mis-
sionary work in the Italian section, and in 1892
he brought to New Orleans the Missionary Sis-
ters of the Sacred Heart, who opened a mission,
a free school, and an asylum for Italian orphans.
Through the generous assistance of Thorny
Lafon [g.'z/.], a colored philanthropist, the Arch-
bishop was enabled to provide for the needs of
the aged colored. He also did much to further
the work of the colored sisters of the Holy Fam-
ily, whose convent and boarding school was in
the ancient quadroon-ball room of ante-bellum
days. In addition to the establishment of new
parishes, schools, and convents, the Louisiana
Lepers' Home was established and the Catholic
Winter School of America was organized. Jans-
sens was an indefatigable worker. After a cy-
clone which devastated the coast in 1892, he

Janvier

personally visited the island settlements to aid
and comfort the stricken people. His arduous
duties told upon his health, and in June 1897 he
planned to go to Europe to take a much-needed
rest and to arrange for the final liquidation of
the debt. He died on board the steamer Creole
on the way to New York, June 10, 1897. His
body was brought to New Orleans and buried in
the St. Louis Cathedral on June 15. Contempo-
rary accounts unite in his praise. "His uni-
versal kindliness of disposition, unostentatious
manners and unfailing courtesy to all men, ir-
respective of creed, race or condition in life/'
said the Daily Picayune (June 13, 1897), ". . .
made him universally dear to the people of New
Orleans."

[Alcee Fortier, Louisiana (1909), vol. I; Cath.
EWCK., vol. XI (1911) ; Daily Picayune, Sept. 17, 1888,
Apr. 23, 26, 1893, June 13, 1897; Daily States, June
12, 13, 16, 1897; Times~Democratt Sept. 17, 1888,
Apr. 23, 25, 1893, June 13, 1897; archives of the
Diocese of New Orleans; archives of the St. Louis
Cathedral.] 5^

JANVIER, CATHARINE ANN (May i,
i84i-July 19, 1922), painter, author, wife of
Thomas Allibone Janvier [#.#.], was born in
Philadelphia, Pa., the daughter of Susannah
Budd Shober and Sandwith Drinker, a sea cap-
tain engaged in the East India trade. At an
early age she was taken to Hong Kong where
her father established himself as a merchant.
There she was educated, excelling in mathe-
matics and languages, especially French. In
later years she was pleased to recall some of the
events of these years: her first offer of marriage
at the age of ten made by a Chinese merchant
in behalf of his son, and her long talks with
Townsend Harris [#.#.], with whom she long
corresponded. On the death and burial of Cap-
tain Drinker in Macao in 1857, the family sailed
from the Orient to Baltimore. During part of
the voyage on the Storm King, Catharine, trained
in navigation by her father, navigated the ship
when the captain became incapacitated with
drink and the mate proved incompetent. In
Baltimore Mrs. Drinker opened a girls' school
of which Catharine took charge on her mother's
death in 1858. At the same time she became the
sole support of the family comprising her broth-
er Henry Sturgis Drinker, a sister Elizabeth
Kearny Drinker, and her grandmother Shober.
She studied art at the Maryland Institute and
later under Van der Whelen and at the Pennsyl-
vania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia
where the family moved in 1865. At the Acad-
emy she won a prize with her painting "The
Guitar Player," now hanging in Peacedale, R. I.,
where another, "The Romp," may also be found

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