Bishop Michael Portier (September 7, 1795, Montbrison, France – May 14, 1859, Mobile, Alabama) was a Roman Catholic bishop in the United States and the first Bishop of Mobile. He immigrated to the US in 1817, being ordained there. He later founded many parishes and Catholic institutions in Alabama and Florida, particularly in Mobile. Among them was Providence Hospital. He also recruited religious orders of men and women to teach and care for parishioners. Biography Michel Portier was born in Montbrison in the diocese of Lyon, France. He was a student at the seminary in Lyon when recruited by Bishop Dubourg Louis William Valentine Dubourg, for the American mission. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 22 in 1817 with the goal of becoming a priest. He sailed from Bordeaux with Bishop Dubourg and about thirty companions on the French ship of war Caravane and landed after sixty-five days at Annapolis, Maryland on 4 September 1817. Upon arrival, they stayed for nearly two months under the hospitality of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Vicar general After completing his studies at St. Mary's Seminary, in Baltimore, Maryland, where he also studied English, he was ordained deacon. From there he proceeded to St. Louis, where he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, by Bishop Dubourg, on May 16, 1818. Yellow fever outbreaks were not infrequent at the time, and he devoted himself to the sick and dying until he too fell ill. Upon his recovery, Bishop Dubourg called Portier to New Orleans, where he established a collegiate school in the former Ursuline convent in the French Quarter. During his time in New Orleans, Portier served as Vicar-General to Bishop Dubourg. Vicar apostolic Eight years later, on August 26, 1825, he was consecrated titular Bishop of Oleno by Bishop Joseph Rosati. He became the only Vicar Apostolic of the new Vicariate of Alabama and the Floridas, which included the Territory of Arkansas. At the time of his accession, Portier was the only clergyman in the vicariate and had practically three parishes with churches: Mobile, St. Augustine, and Pensacola. The first priest who came to his assistance was the Rev. Edward T. Mayne, a student of Mt. St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, sent by Bishop England of Charleston, to take charge of the deserted church of St. Augustine. His parishioners were Catholics who were