Father Gabriel Richard, a native of France, came to the United States with five other Sulpician priests supposedly to teach in a seminary. Instead he devoted his life to missionary work in Detroit and the Territory of Michigan.

This most remarkable man worked against great obstacles during all of his apostolate—the enmity and opposition of parishoners, a lawsuit, the great fire of Detroit, the indifference and lack of cooperation of government authorities, lack of funds—yet he established schools, libraries, even a university; he established a printing press, published the first newspaper in that region, and sat in the Eighteenth Congress of the United States as the Representative of the Territory of Michigan. He also sat in jail for several weeks because of the lawsuit brought against him. This intellectual and spiritual priest feared no danger. In fire, in war, in plague he was foremost in organizing and helping his people.

From the dust jacket