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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > V > Theodore J. Van den Broek

THEODORE J. VAN DEN BROEK

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Priest and missionary, b. at Amsterdam, Holland, 5 Nov., 1783; d. at Little
Chute, Wisconsin, 5 Nov., 1851. He made his studies in Holland, was ordained in
Germany in 1809, and was received into the Dominican Order in 1817. In 1819 he
as appointed to Alkmaar, where he published "Sermons for all Sundays and
Holidays". On 15 Aug., 1832, with seven other missionaries, he arrived in
Baltimore, and thence went to Cincinnati. The missionaries were sent to
different places, and Father Van den Broek eventually went to the convent of St.
Rose in Kentucky. After a short stay at St. Rose he was removed to Somerset,
Ohio. Hearing of the sad condition of the Indians in Michigan (now Wisconsin),
he obtained permission from Bishop Purcell of Cincinnati to go to them, and
arrived at Green Bay, 4 July, 1834. He found there only ten Catholic families,
but laboured zealously among the whites and Indians. He completed the church and
priest's house begun by Father Mazzuchelli, and devoted himself to the Indians
during an epidemic of cholera, aided by two self-sacrificing religious, Sisters
Clara and Theresa Bourdalou. In 1836, at the request of the Indians of Little
Chute, he took up his residence with them. He taught his Indian neophytes the
alphabet, and they could soon read Bishop Baraga's prayer-books and catechisms.
The following year he built a log church thirty by twenty-two feet and in 1839
he built an addition thereto of twenty feet. As the mission at Green Bay was for
some time without a resident priest, Father Van den Broek frequently said Mass
on Sundays at each place, walking the intervening distance of twenty- two miles
even in the severest weather. He made arduous and dangerous journeys of two
hundred miles, to minister to his Menominee and Winnebago Indians.

He had no income outside of his own resources; he built his first church
himself, with the aid of his Indians. He was both priest and physician to the
Indians at Buttes des Morts, Fort Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Prairie du Chien, Lake
Poygan, Calumet, and even the Indian village on the Milwaukee River. He
civilized the Indians, worked with them, showed them the use of tools, how to
cultivate the land, and with their help he built a church seventy feet long,
which he dedicated to St. John Nepomueene. Between 1836 and 1844 he converted
and baptized over eight hundred Indians. In 1847 having obtained a priest to
temporarily replace him, he sailed for Holland, arriving at Amsterdam, 13
August, 1847. In 1848 he returned with three shiploads of Dutch immigrants,
whose descendants now form the population of north-eastern Wisconsin, and are
distinguished by their zealous faith, industry, thrift, and good order. The
influence of their missionary work has extended into Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan,
Nebraska, South Dakota, Noth Dakota, Oregon, and other states.

ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Wigman, J. (1912). Theodore J. Van den Broek. In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15269a.htm

MLA citation. Wigman, John. "Theodore J. Van den Broek." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15269a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T.
Barrett. Dedicated to the memory of Peggy Reilly.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address
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