practiced medicine. Instead, after graduation, he entered the reopened seminary of Saint Sulpice in Paris in November 1803. Ordained a priest in 1808, Bruté refused the post of assistant chaplain to Napoleon I, but instead joined the Society of Saint-Sulpice, and taught theology in the diocesan seminary at Rennes from 1808 through 1810. Due to his long interest in missions, Bruté met Benedict Joseph Flaget, who had left Saint Sulpice when it was closed during the French Revolution and then served as a missionary in the United States. Flaget had returned to the motherhouse after attempting to refuse an appointment as bishop of the new diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky. Missionary In June 1810, Bruté sailed for Baltimore along with Flaget of Bardstown, Anthony Deydier, and others. He taught philosophy (while learning English) for two years at St. Mary's College, Baltimore. During vacations, he worked as a missionary. Bruté spent some time on the Eastern Shore. He was then sent to Mount St. Mary's College, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. In Emmitsburg, he acted both as a teacher and as pastor, as well as spiritual director to Elizabeth Ann Seton. He became known for his unselfishness, his austerity, and his spirituality, as well as for his immense erudition. In 1815, he returned to France to retrieve his library, which he donated to St. Mary's College. Upon his return that same year, he was appointed president of the college. Two years later, he returned to Emmitsburg, where he lectured on Sacred Scripture and taught Theology and Moral Philosophy at Mount St. Mary's College. In 1826, Mount St. Mary's College was no longer dependent upon the Fathers of Saint-Sulpice, its founders, so Bruté ceased to belong to that society. Bishop French missionaries sent from Quebec had served Native Americans and fur traders throughout the region and particularly at Vincennes (founded 1732), including assisting George Rogers Clark during the American Revolution. Afterwards, the area came under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Baltimore until the creation of the diocese of Bardstown. Missionaries such as Bruté and the more experienced Fr. Stephen Badin traveled by horse, foot, flatboat, and canoe between widely scattered settlements. The neighboring Indians, called Bruté chief of the black robes and man of the true prayer. American colonists had begun streaming over the Appalachian Mountains, joined by emigrants (including Catholic emigrants from France and Germany). Vincennes had been founded where the historic Buffalo