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Rebel Bishop
Augustin Verot,
Florida's Civil War Prelate
by Michael Gannon
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this Book now
First published in 1964, Rebel Bishop, by award-winning
historian Michael Gannon, is the biography of a passionately
outspoken and controversial figure—a man who found himself
at the intersection of three fascinating histories: that of a
nation torn by Civil War, that of the Catholic Church during the
First Vatican Council, and that of Florida in the mid-1800s.
Augustin Verot was the Church’s enfant terrible, a
man as contradictory as he was controversial. As the
Church’s first prelate in Florida (1858-1876), he preached
vehemently against the abuse of individual slaves and on behalf
of slave rights but was nevertheless determined to use Church
teachings and his pulpit to defend slavery as an institution. A
vocal champion of the Rebels’ cause against the Yankees, he
nevertheless took his priests, in the winter of 1863, to the
notorious prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia, to treat the
tens of thousands of Union soldiers held there.
In this lively biography, Gannon also explores Verot’s
memorable participation in debates of the First Vatican Council,
where he was known for his trenchant interventions. Singularly,
Verot argued in vain for the vindication of Galileo (who was
condemned by the Church in the 17th century) and for more liberal
attitudes toward scientific progress generally. He was, moreover,
staunchly opposed to the newly proposed doctrine of papal
infallibility, and urged ecumenical reconciliations with
Protestant Christians.
Now available for the first time in paperback, Rebel Bishop
is the clear-eyed and compelling story of Augustin Verot and his
impact at a critical juncture of the histories of Florida, the
Catholic Church, and the Civil War.
Michael Gannon is Distinguished Service Professor of History at
the University of Florida. He is author of The Cross in the
Sand: The Early Catholic Church in Florida, 1513-1870 (UPF,
1965, 1983), Operation Drumbeat (1990), the novel Secret
Missions (1994), and the best-selling Florida: A Short
History (UPF, 1993) and The New History of Florida
(UPF, 1996).
1997. 277 pp. 6 X 9.
13 illustrations,
notes, index.
ISBN 0-8130-1522-7
Paper, $19.95
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"Thorough and well documented. . . . it provides a detailed study of both the bishop and his faith in the mid-1800s, as the author considers Verot's place within the wider scope of American Catholicism. The chapter on Verot's wartime work and especially the section on his missionaries who braved the horrors of Andersonville is riveting."
-- Civil War History
"Definitive, sprightly,
well-written, and scholarly. . . . The author has succeeded in
bringing the most famous Catholic cleric of the Confederacy to
life."—Florida Historical Quarterly
"Here is a vibrant and unconventional bishop with arresting
things to say on issues that are still alive in the American
Church. . . . He has had the good fortune to have as his
biographer a man who is at the same time a careful scholar and a
writer with a keen sensitivity for the English
language."— Commonweal
"Rebel Bishop is a welcome contribution to the
history of Catholicism in the South."— Journal of
Southern History
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