Rt. Rev Cornelius Van De Ven Rapides Parish, Louisiana 
Submitted by Mike Miller   

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Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, 
Institutions, and Persons, 
Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), p. 444.  
Edited by Alc‚e Fortier, Lit.D.  
Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association. 

RT. REV. CORNELIUS VAN DE VEN  
Van De Ven, Rt. Rev. Cornelius, Roman Catholic bishop, See of Alexandria, 
La., was born at Oirschot, Holland, June 16, 1865. He studied in the diocesan 
seminary at Bar-le-Duc, was ordained priest May 31, 1890, and came to America 
the same year. After filling important posts in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, 
he was consecrated bishop of Natchitoches, Nov. 30, 1905. The most important 
act of his administration has been the transferring of the See from the town 
of Natchitoches to the progressive city of Alexandria, a railroad center with 
a large Catholic population. He went to Rome in 1910 and requested Pope Pius 
X to remove the See from Natchitoches to Alexandria, and in August of that 
year he received from the consistorial congregation the decree suppressing 
the See of Natchitoches and creating that of Alexandria. The diocese of 
Alexandria with a Catholic population of 35,000 has 26 secular priests and 
in its jurisdiction are many charitable and educational institutions under 
the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of the Cross, with mother 
house at Shreveport, the Sisters of Divine Providence, and the Sisters of 
Charity of the Incarnate Word. He brought the Franciscan Sisters from Calais, 
France, in 1911 to Monroe, La., where they built a beautiful hospital and 
sanatorium which they are now conducting. He was assistant pastor at New 
Iberia, 1890 and 1891; pastor at Jennings 1891 and 1892; pastor at Lake 
Charles 1892 and 1902; pastor at Baton Rouge 1902 to 1904. He was diocesan 
consultor under Archbishop Chapelle.