Elisha John Durbin (February 1, 1800) – March 22, 1887) was an American Roman Catholic priest, known as the "patriarch-priest of Kentucky".
In 1816, he was sent to the preparatory seminary of St. Thomas, in Nelson County, where he spent about four years of manual labour and study under missionaries including John Baptist Mary David, Benedict Joseph Flaget, Felix de Andreis, and Joseph Rosati.
Early in 1824, Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown, entrusted to him the pastoral care of western and southwestern Kentucky, about 30 counties, with an area of over 11,000 square miles (28,000 km2), nearly one-third of the state.
From it he journeyed on horseback over his vast territory, erected churches, established stations, formed congregations, and visited isolated families.
In the beginning, duty called him beyond his mission proper into Indiana, and once a year to Nashville, Tennessee.