Bishop Augustus Marie Martin, First Bishop of Natchitoches, is buried in the nave of the church which was the Cathedral of his Diocese.
His tombstone reads as follows:
HIC JACET
AUGUSTUS MARIA ALOYSIUS MARTIN
Primus Natchitochensis Episcopus.
Ordormovit in Domino
die 29th Septembris A.D. 1875"
Which means:
Here Lies
AUGUSTUS MARIA ALOYSIUS MARTIN
First Bishop of Natchitoches
Asleep in the Lord
the 29th of September 1875."
Today (2014), the seat of the Diocese has moved from Natchitoches to Alexandria, and the Church of the Immaculate Comception has been designated a Minor Basilica.
Bishop Martin is an important historical figure in Louisiana and in the development of the Diocese of Natchitoches.
From the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia: (
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"Diocese of Natchitoches
Former title of the present Diocese of Alexandria (Alexandrinensis), which comprises all the northern part of Louisiana above 31° N. lat., with an area of 22,212 square miles. The Venerable Antonio Margil, whose canonization is in process, was the first priest to minister within the territory now forming the diocese. From the Ays Indians, west of the Sabine river, Father Margil heard of the Adayes Indians, and in March, 1717, he located them near Spanish Lake, in what is now Sabine county, La. He founded the mission of San Miguel de Linares and built there probably the first church in Louisiana, for, according to the historian Martin, when Pere Charlevoix reached New Orleans in 1721, he found there "about 100 cabins, two or three dwelling houses, and a miserable storehouse which had been at first occupied as a chapel, a shed being now used for that purpose".
Leaving Father Gusman in charge, Father Margil journeyed on foot to Natchitoches to minister to the French Catholics there, and then went back to Texas. In 1718, during the brief war with Spain, St. Denis, the French Cmnmandant at Natchitoches, invaded the Adayes mission, plundered it, and carried away the church vestments. Father Margil heard of it, and in 1721 came back, hunted up the Adayes who had taken refuge in the forests for fear of the French, rebuilt their church, which he dedicated to our Lady of the Pillar, the patroness of the expedition. For many years afterwards the Adayes mission was attended from San Antonio by the Franciscans, who attended also the missions of Nacogdoches and St. Augustine, Texas. In 1725 there were 50 Catholic families at Natchitoches. In 1728 Father Maximin, a Capuchin, was in charge.
There is no record to show how the eastern portion of the diocese was evangelized; the Catholic names, however, given to villages and lakes contiguous to the Mississippi, show that priests must have visited that country, probably the Jesuits, who in the eighteenth century had charge of the Indians along the Mississippi under the Bishop of Quebec. The records show that in 1829 Father Martin of Avoyelles attended the Catholics on the Red, Black, and Ouachita rivers; that, in 1840 and after, Father J. Timon, afterwards Bishop of Buffalo, made regular trips from Texas to attend the north Louisiana missions, and that Father O'Brien, a Dominican from Louisville, attended yearly the Catholics along the Mississippi. The Catholics located on the rivers of the state often drifted to New Orleans on barges to have their marriages blessed and their children baptized, and come back cordelling their boats.
In 1852 the Fathers of the First Council of Baltimore recommended to the Holy See the division of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the formation of the Diocese of Natchitoches and the appointment of Father Martin, parish priest at Natchitoches, as first bishop. Consecrated in 1853, he had four priests in the new diocese, three of whom returned to New Orleans, to which diocese they belonged, and one remained.
Bishop Augustus M. Martin (1802-1875), born in Brittany, inherited the deep faith of the Bretons. A protege of Abbe Jean-Marie de Lamennais, as a seminarian, he was employed at the great Almonry of France in Paris under Cardinal Prince de Troy and Vicar-General J.-M. de Lamennais. There he came in contact with Montalembert and other disciples of Felicite Lamennais, and acquired the polished manners that never left him. In 1839, while chaplain of the royal college in Rennes, he met Bishop de la Haylandiere of Vincennes, came to Indiana with him, and for six years was his vicar-general. His health failing, he came to Louisiana, and in 1852 was vicar-general of Mgr Blanc of New Orleans.
Bishop Martin left a collection of unpublished letters that tell interestingly the history of his diocese, his struggles with poverty, his many trips to France to recruit his clergy. A fluent writer, his letters to the Propagation of the Faith were inserted in the "Annals"; the bishops of the Second Council of Baltimore and those of the provincial Council of New Orleans delegated him to write letters of thanks to the directors of the Propagation of the Faith for their generous contributions. Both letters were reproduced in "Les Missions Catholiques". Bishop Martin left; an organized diocese with 20 priests, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart with one convent, at, Natchitoches, and the Daughters of the Cross with their mother-house and several convents in the diocese.
He was succeeded by Bishop F. X. Leray, also a Breton, the hero of several yellow fever epidemics, and the founder of the Sisters of Mercy in the Diocese of Natchez. He remained in Natchitoches only two years, being selected as coadjutor to the Archbishop of New Orleans. He died in 1887.
Bishop Anthony Durier succeeded him. Born near Lyons, France, he came to this country in 1855, was pastor in New Orleans for 26 years, and one of the theologians of the Second Council of Baltimore. Consecrated in 1885, he died in 1904, having finished the cathedral and built an episcopal residence at Natchitoches.
The present bishop is Right Rev. Cornelius Van De Ven, born at Oirschot, Holland, 16 June, 1865. He studied in the diocesan seminary of Bois-lc-Duc, was ordained 31 May, 1890, and came to America the same year. After filling important posts in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, he was consecrated Bishop of Natchitoches 30 Nov., 1904. The most important act of his administration has been the transferring of the see from the inaccessible town of Natchitoches to the progressive city of Alexandria, a railroad centre with a large Catholic population. He went to Rome in 1910 and requested Pius X for the removal of the see. In August 1910, he received from the Consistorial Congregation the decree suppressing the See of Natchitoches and creating the See of Alexandria. The new See of Alexandria numbers 26 diocesan priests, 10 regulars (Jesuits and Marists), the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of the Cross with mother-house at Shreveport, the Sisters of Divine Providence, and the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, with a Catholic population of about; 32,431."
A more general biography can be found on Wikipedia: (
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"Augustus Marie Martin (February 1, 1803—September 29, 1875) was a French-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop of Natchitoches, Louisiana (1853–1875).
Martin born in Saint-Malo, Brittany, and studied under Jean-Marie de Lamennais. As a seminarian, he was employed at the Grand Almonry of France in Paris under Cardinal Gustave Maximilien Juste de Croÿ-Solre. He was ordained to the priesthood in September, 1825. He served as pastor in Bleurais and Vern before being assigned as chaplain of the Royal College of Rennes where he served until 1839, when he accepted an invitation from Bishop Célestine Guynemer de la Hailandière to join the Diocese of Vincennes in Indiana.
After arriving in the United States, Martin served as pastor of St. Vincent's Church in Logansport and the Vincennes Cathedral (1839–1843) and as vicar general of the diocese (1843–1846), in addition to engaging in the missions of Indiana. During this time he became a confidant of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, who founded the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in the diocese in 1840. The two corresponded often, exchanging letters back and forth.
His health failing, he was then transferred to Louisiana, where he appointed to St. Martin's Church at Attakapas. In 1847 he became pastor of St. Joseph's in Baton Rouge, St. John's at the Plains, and St. Magdalen's in Manchac, and was transferred to St. Francis of Assisi Church in Natchitoches in 1849. He was made vicar forane of north Louisiana under Archbishop Blanc in 1850.
On July 29, 1853, Martin was appointed the first Bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Natchitoches by Pope Pius IX. He received his episcopal consecration on the following November 30 from Archbishop Antoine Blanc, with Bishops Michael Portier and James Oliver Van de Velde, S.J., serving as co-consecrators, at the St. Louis Cathedral. During his 22-year-long tenure, he recruited priests and religious from Europe for the diocese, established a seminary to train native clergy, founded numerous missions, and erected a cathedral. He guided the diocese during the Civil War (1861–1865), and attended the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866) and First Vatican Council (1869–1870).
Martin later died in Natchitoches, aged 72."