Durbin, Elisha John

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DURBIN, ELISHA JOHN

Missionary; b. near Boonesboro, Madison County, Ky., Feb. 1, 1800; d. Shelbyville, Ky., March 22, 1887. He was the son of John D. and Patience (Logsdon) Durbin. In 1816 he entered St. Thomas Seminary, Bardstown, Ky.; he was ordained Sept. 21, 1822, and then served at St. Joseph College and the cathedral parish, Bardstown. In 1824 he was given charge of the entire western and southwestern part of kentucky, an area of more than 10,000 square miles, or about one-third of the state. From headquarters at Morganfield, Ky., he also served the Catholics on the Indiana and Illinois borders and after 1832 those of Nashville, Tenn. In 1873 he was finally relieved of the vast pastorate of Union County and placed at Princeton, Ky., to minister to the people living along the railroad. Later he moved to Bardstown and then was given the chaplaincy of the Franciscan sisters at Shelbyville, where he died. In 60 years of missionary life Durbin rode more than 500,000 miles on horseback and earned the titles "Patriarch-Priest of Kentucky" and "Apostle of Western Kentucky." He was buried in St. Louis cemetery, Louisville.

Bibliography: b. j. webb, The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky (Louisville 1884).

[j. h. schauinger]