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Born October 9th, 1796 Tavaux, France Died January 7th, 1866
Collège Sainte-Marie in Canada Known for Seventh President of Fordham University | ||
Early Years
Rémi-Joseph Tellier was born on October 9, 1796 in Tavaux, France. He entered the Jesuit Order on October 11, 1818, and spent many years teaching at a variety of colleges. After his ordination in 1831, he held the position of rector of the Collège de Chambéry in Savoy from 1833 to 1837. He acquired the same position at the Collège d’Aoste in Italy until 1840, and two years later he was one of nine Jesuits to try to reestablish the Jesuits in Canada.
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Tellier was skeptical about the future success in Canada, but still attempted to help. He volunteered to assist the Irish victims of Typhus at Montreal Island in the fall of 1847. In 1849 he was sent to Bishop Rémi Gaulin of Kingston to act as director of Regiopolis College. From 1850 to 1852 he worked with Bishop de Charbonnel in Toronto, and attempted to create a college of the society.
St. John's College
Around 1853, Tellier became the first Prefect of Studies and Discipline at St. Francis Xavier College in New York. Two years later, in 1855, became the seventh rector at St John’s College in Fordham. During his time as rector, he witnessed the controversy that occurred during the 1856 commencement. The invited speaker that year was Orsetes Brownson, a philosopher and Catholic convert. Brownson often disagreed with the political views of John Hughes, the archbishop of New York and founder of St. John's. After Brownson's lecture, where he discussed his ideas of the role the Catholic Church should play in American society, Hughes voiced his objections and humiliated Brownson.
In 1856, Hughes continued to voice his displeasure of the manner in which the Jesuits were overseeing the college. At one point, "the president of St. John's board of trustees, Mr. Peter Hargous, told the Jesuit president Remigius I. Tellier...that the best thing for the Jesuits to do was to give the archbishop a year's notice and then get out of town." The growing tensions with Hughes, who also owned the property rights of the Seminary of St. Joseph, resulted in the withdrawal of the Jesuits from their service at St. Joseph's. Tellier needed to find accommodations for these Jesuit scholastics who left the seminary, and began an extensive remodeling of Rose Hill Manor.
The conflict with Hughes continued, and in 1857 he wrote a letter to Tellier expressing his dissatisfaction with the Jesuits: "I have understood that the Jesuits in my diocese have been making appeals to some of our lay-Catholics in the way of seeking redress or securing sympathy on account of real or imaginary grievances which your Society have had to suffer at my hands. This appeal to the laity is a new feature in our ecclesiastical discipline." Tellier acknowledged receiving the letter, and forwarded it to the Regional Superior. He wrote back to Hughes detailing his distress about the accusations, and claiming he did not know any foundations for them. The problems with Hughes continued to be a worry for Tellier until the end of his presidency.
Later Years
In 1859, he became the superior general of the New York–Canada mission. He spent the remainder of his life dedicated to building Le Gesù, a church in Collège Sainte-Marie at Montreal; however, he was too sick to attend the opening celebrations of the church in December 1865.