Brossart was born on October 19, 1849, in the village Buechelberg, Rhenish Palatinate, in that time belonging to the German Kingdom of Bavaria.

Choosing to become a priest, Ferdinand Brossart studied at Mount Saint Mary Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the American College at Louvain, Belgium.

Father Brossart became popular when Lexington suffered a smallpox epidemic, sacrificing his health to administer to the sick and dying.

In that frame he pushed also back the different emigration languages in his diocese (including his own motherlanguage) and allowed only Latin and English as the official prayer-languages.

The prelate translated different German theological books into English, among them works of the famous monk Henry Denifle.