SAINT LOUIS
361
SAINT LOUIS
This Rome agreed to and asked him to name his
choice; he thereupon proposed the name of the Very
Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick, vicar-general to the Rt.
Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick of Philadelphia; at the
same time he drew attention to the fact that only a
short time before he had petitioned Rome to appoint
as his coadjutor the Very Rev. John Timon, C.M.,
and that Father Timon had declined the honour.
Now, he argued, in order to prevent a recurrence of
the same nature it might be well to oblige Father Ken-
rick under obedience to accept the office. That
Rome acted on the suggestion is clear from a letter of
the Rt. Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick, dated Phila-
delphia, 4 June, 1841, addressed to Bishop Rosati in
which we read: "the positive wishes of His Holiness
have, I believe, secured my brother's full acquies-
cence". Before going to Hayti Bishop Rosati re-
turned to the United States, and on 30 Nov., 1841, at
the cathedral church at Philadelphia, he consecrated
the Rt. Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick titular Bishop of
Drasa and coadjutor of the Diocese of St. Louis.
Having arranged the affairs of his diocese, and in-
formed himself as well as po.ssible regarding matters
at Hayti, he set sail from New York, 15 Jan., 1842,
and landed at Port au Prince on the twenty-ninth day
of the same month, where he was received with every
mark of respect. Success crowned his efforts in so far
as he was able to convince the president of the advisa-
bility of signing a Concordat which should be sub-
mitted to the Holv See for approval.
He left Hayti 22 Februarys 1842, landed at Brest, France, on Easter Sunday, and from there proceeded to Rome to report the result of his endeavours to the pope. The remainder of the year he spent in Eu- rope. In the spring of 1843, the Concordat having been signed at Rome, he journeyed to Paris to arrange for his return trip to Hayti. It is of interest to note that on his trip to Paris he met and travelled with the papal nuncio to Brussels, the Most Rev. Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci; titular Archbishop of Damietta, afterwards the illustrious Leo XIII, and that the latter in 1881, in speaking of this meeting, said that never during his days had he met with a prelate so saintlv {nessuno si satilo) and so imbued with filial love and respect for the pope. When Bishop Rosati reached Paris his health, long before undermined by the privations and exposures of his missif)nar\- life in the Far West, gave way; he was stricken with an acute attack of lung trouble, which he had con- tracted during the previous month of February, and, acting on the advice of his physicians, he returned to Rome, where he died in the House of the Congrega- tion of the Fathers of the Mission on 25 Sept., 1843. Coming to Missouri in the primeval days of its settle- ment, when it had scarcely a vestige of Catholicity, he left the diocese in a flourishing and prosperous condi- tion. Preparatory to the first Diocesan Synod of St. Louis, convoked by him, and opened 21 April, 1839, he issued a call for a diocesan census, the result of which shows: a Catholic population of 31,503; 3 con- vents of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, with 42 sis- ters; 1 orphan asylum and hospital in charge of the Sisters of Charity (19 sisters); 4 convents of the Sis- ters of Loretto, with 30 sisters; 2 convents of the Sis- ters of St. Joseph, with 11 sisters; 1 convent of Visita- tion Nuns, with 19 sisters; 4 ecclesiastical seminaries, with 30 clerics; 3 colleges; 7 charitable institutions. In 1842 we find 39 churches with resident priests; 6 chapels; 36 churches without resident priests; 60 mis- sions; 2 bishops; 29 secular priests; 21 Lazarist Fathers; 28 Jesuits; a total of 80 priests. The Catho- lic population at this time is given as 100,000. Bishop Rosati died 25 Sept., 1843, and was succeeded by Peter Richard Kenrick.
First Archbishop, Peter Richard Kenrick (1841- 1895). — Some lives there are that mark an epoch — lives which by virtue of their striking power or unique
position, or both, stand apart and form landmarks in
history. Such was the life of Peter Richard Kenrick,
the second Bishop and the first Archbishop of the
Diocese of St. Louis; for an account of his life see
Kenrick, Francis Patrick and Peter Richard.
On 20 July, 1847, St. Louis was raised to the rank of an archdiocese and Bishop Kenrick became its first archbishop. No suffragans, however, were assigned to him as at the time other archiepiscoi)al sees were under contemplation in the territon,-. On 25 May, 1S50, he issued a call for the Second Diocesan Synod and on the twenty-fifth of the following August, 43 priests of the diocese assembled in council. This synod, which was the only one held during his life, passed regulations which obtained during his admin- istration. He also presided at the two Provincial Councils convoked by him, the first 7 Sept., 1855, the second, 5 Sept., 1858; a third was called for May, 1861, but was postponed because of the impending Civil War. On 3 May, 1857, Archbishop Kenrick consecrated the Rt. Rev. James Duggan his coadju- tor. One year later Bishop Duggan was transferred to the See of Chicago.
In the spring of 1872 Archbishop Kenrick secured the appointment of the Very Rev. Patrick J. Ryan as his second coadjutor. The consecration services were held in St. Louis and Father Ryan, on 14 February, 1872, was consecrated titular Bishop of Tricomia and coadjutor to the Archbishop of St. Louis with the right of succession. Bishop Ryan remained coadjutor until 8 June, 1884, when he was promoted to the Archi- episcopal See of Philadelphia. After the departure of Archbi.shop Ryan, Archbishop Kenrick resumed, unaided, the administration of his diocese. In 1893, because of age and infirmities incidental thereto, he found it impossible to continue alone the adminis- tration and Rome sent him as coadjutor with the right of succession, the Right Rev. John J. Kain, Bishop of Wheeling, W. Va. Three years later, on 3 March, 1896, Archbishop Kenrick died in the archiepiscopal residence at St. Louis. He was a man of great learn- ing, of modest, unassuming manner, never too re- served and never too familiar, in fact a spiritual man, a man of great soul, to whom littleness and meanness were unknown. He seldom came forward except in defence of Catholic truth and of Catholic interests that were attacked, and then rather in writing than in public meetings. His main work lay hidden from the public eye; this work was to organize, consolidate, and expand his diocese; to foster the ecclesiastical spirit among his priests; to counsel wisely and pru- dently his brother bishops, his clergy and people of every rank and condition. For such work it was that he became so well-known and so highly esteemed, and that his name ranks so high in the history of the Church in America.
During the life of Archbishop Kenrick the expan- sion of the Church in the Diocese of St. Louis was un- precedented. Prior to 1843 there were but three churches in the City of St. Louis: the cathedral, SS. Mary's and Joseph's, and the Church of St. Fran- cis Xavier, and only 39 throughout the entire dio- cese. At the time of his death we find 58 parish churches in the City of St. Louis and 108 outside the city, also 26 chapels and 97 mission churches, with a Catholic population of nearly 200,000. In 1849, he introduced the Christian Brothers; in 1862, the Fran- ciscan Fathers; in 1866, the Redemptorist Fathers; in 1869, the Ale.xian Brothers; in 1884, the Passionist leathers; in 1848, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd; in 1849, the Ursuline Nuns; in 1856, the Sisters of Mercv; in 1858, the Notre Dame Sisters; in 1863, the Dis- calced Carmelites; in 1869, the Little Sisters of the Poor; in 1872, the Sisters of St. Mary and the Sisters of St. Francis; in 1880, the Oblate Sisters of Provi- dence, and in 1882, the Sisters of the Precious Blood. In 1843 he founded a monthly Catholic magazine,
