Catholic Church. Diocese of Bardstown (Ky.). Bishop (1810-1832 : Flaget)

Roman Catholic Bishop.

Flaget was born in Contournat, France, in 1763, and was orphaned at the age of two. He entered the Society of St. Suplice in 1783, and, five years later, was ordained a priest. After twenty years as a missionary and teacher in America, and on the recommendation of Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, in 1811 Flaget was named the first bishop of the diocese of Bardstown, in Kentucky. The see included all of Kentucky and Tennessee, and originally included the whole of the Northwest Territory as well. In 1817, Jean Baptist Mary David was named coadjutor-bishop to assist Flaget. David succeeded Flaget as bishop in 1832, but resigned a year later, at which time Flaget resumed the leadership of the diocese. The see was moved to Louisville in 1841. Bishop Flaget died in office in 1850.