Peter Verdaguer y Prat

{{Infobox Christian leader

| image = Peter Verdaguer y Prat.jpg

| type = Bishop

| honorific_prefix = The Right Reverend

| name = Peter Verdaguer y Prat

| church = Catholic

| diocese = Brownsville

| appointed = 25 July 1890

| predecessor = Dominic Manucy

| successor = Paul Joseph Nussbaum

| ordination = 2 December 1862

| ordained_by = Thaddeus Amat y Brusi

| consecration = 9 November 1890

| consecrated_by = Jaime Catalá y Albosa

| birth_date = 10 December 1835

| birth_place = Sant Pere de Torelló, Catalonia, Spain

| death_date = 26 October 1911

| previous_post = Titular Bishop of Aulon

}}

Peter Verdaguer y Prat (Sant Pere de Torelló, December 10, 1835 – Texas, October 26, 1911) was a Catalan-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Vicar Apostolic of Brownsville from 1890 until his death in 1911.

Biography

Peter Verdaguer y Prat was born in Sant Pere de Torelló, county of Osona in the Province of Barcelona, to Francisco Verdaguer and Maria Prat Verdaguer.{{cite news|work=Handbook of Texas Online|title=VERDAGUER, PETER (1835-1911)|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fve07}} He attended the seminaries of Vic and Barcelona before coming to the United States, where he completed his theological studies at St. Vincent's Seminary in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Thaddeus Amat y Brusi, C.M., on December 12, 1862.{{cite news|work=Catholic-Hierarchy.org|title=Bishop Peter Verdaguer y Prat|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bverpr.html}} Wikipedia:SPS He then did pastoral work in the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles, California, serving as a missionary and pastor of San Bernardino and in Los Angeles.

On July 25, 1890, Verdaguer was appointed the Vicar Apostolic of Brownsville, Texas, and Titular Bishop of Aulon by Pope Leo XIII. He received his consecration on the following November 9 in Barcelona from Bishop Jaime Catalá y Albosa, the Bishop of Barcelona, with Bishops José Morgades y Gili and José Meseguer y Costa serving as co-consecrators.

Returning to the United States, Verdaguer arrived in his new vicariate the following spring. He then removed the episcopal see from Corpus Christi to Laredo.{{cite news|work=Roman Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi|title=Bishop Peter Verdaguer|url=http://www.diocesecc.org/about/bishops/display.asp?pid=179|access-date=2009-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505050225/http://www.diocesecc.org/about/bishops/display.asp?pid=179|archive-date=2010-05-05|url-status=dead}} He invited several religious institutes into the vicariate, including the Sisters of Mercy, Claretians, and Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. He opened two hospitals, several churches and parochial schools, and an orphanage. He increased the number of priests from 10 to 32 and saw Catholics increase by 40,000.