His father, John Vincent Marie Lefebvre de Cheverus, was the general civil judge and lieutenant of police in Mayenne.

His mother, Ann Lemarchand des Noyers, provided John Cheverus with his early education and inspired his devotion to the Catholic Church.

As a result of the French Revolution, the revolutionary authorities in Mayenne demanded in 1792 that Cheverus pledge allegiance to the new regime.

Offered financial aid on his arrival, Cheverus asked that it be given to clergy in greater need, saying:[2] "The little I have will suffice until I learn something of the language.

Now residing in the new United States, Matignon was the administrator for the Archdiocese of Baltimore of all the Catholic parishes and missions in New England.

Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore asked Cheverus to become pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Philadelphia, but his congregants in Boston demanded that he remain there.

In 1797, Cheverus made his first trip to visit missions for the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy peoples in what is today the State of Maine, spending several months there.

[4][2] After the epidemic was over, Cheverus was an honored guest at a dinner held in Boston for US President John Adams.

On June 5, 1806, Cheverus traveled to Northampton, Massachusetts, to minister to James Halligan and Dominic Daley.

As was the custom, Cheverus preached a final sermon for the men, with them in attendance, at a local church before their hanging.

[6] His sermon included the following excerpt:"I am ashamed of the (audience) before me ... Are there men to whom, the death of their fellow beings is a spectacle of pleasure, an object of curiosity?

"[7]Many of the local residents, impressed by Cheverus's speaking skills, asked him to stay in Northampton after the execution.

[6] On April 8, 1808, Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Boston, taking its territory from what became the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

He was consecrated on November 1, 1810, in Baltimore, Maryland, at St. Peter's Pro-Cathedral by Archbishop John Carroll, with Bishops Leonard Neale and Michael Francis Egan serving as co-consecrators.

[1] In 1820, Cheverus oversaw the opening of an Ursuline convent in the rectory of Holy Cross Cathedral with a girls school for poor children.

In 1823, a request from King Louis XVIII of France persuaded Cheverus to return to his native country.

He was elevated to cardinal by Pope Gregory XVI on February 1, 1836, in accordance with the wish of French King Louis Philippe I.

[1] According to author John Murray, Cheverus and a companion were approached by a panhandler one day in 1836 while walking on a street in Bordeaux.

It reads:Near this site stood THE CATHEDRAL OF THE HOLY CROSS, established 1803 by Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus, First Catholic Bishop of Boston; Missionary to the Penobscot Indians; Friend of President John Adams; Advisor to our State Legislature; One of America’s noblest priests.