Edward Fenwick
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Edward_Fenwick.jpg/220px-Edward_Fenwick.jpg)
by Ferdinand-Marie de Lobkowitz
by Benedict Joseph Flaget
Wooster, Ohio, United States
Edward Dominic Fenwick,
Early life
Edward Fenwick was born August 19, 1768, on the family plantation on the Patuxent River, in the
In 1788 Fenwick joined the
With the assistance of
Missionary work
In 1805, Fenwick traversed the entire
In 1806, Fenwick purchased a 500-acre plantation near Springfield, Kentucky. Construction of a priory and a church began almost immediately and was first inhabited in December 1806 but not completed until 1807. St. Rose Priory was named for the Dominican St. Rose of Lima, the first native of the Americas to be canonized. In February 1807 the new American Province of St. Joseph was approved. At Fenwick's request, Samuel Wilson was appointed prior.[4]
The church was dedicated December 25, 1809. St. Rose Priory was the first Catholic educational institution west of the Alleghenies. The first bishop of the new (in 1808)
The difficulties of life as an itinerant preacher were many, not the least being exposure to extremes of weather. While riding from place to place, he read his breviary on horseback. Fenwick was known to ride forty miles out of his way to visit an isolated family. He often fasted while travelling, in anticipation of celebrating Mass once he reached his destination. Often Fenwick had to swim his horse across swollen streams to reach a mission. Frequently he was obliged while travelling, to spend the night in the Kentucky backwoods, populated by bear and wolves. The missionaries who ministered to the scattered communities on the frontier generally worked alone, and the strain of loneliness and overwork could serve to undermine their health.[2]
In 1808, Fenwick reached Ohio, where he ministered to predominantly German and Irish families, many of whom knew little English.[6] In 1817 he was joined by his newly ordained nephew, Fr. Nicholas Dominic Young, OP. The first church in Ohio was built in Somerset and dedicated to St. Joseph on December 6, 1818. A second log church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, was soon erected in Lancaster. A third was begun in Cincinnati, at the suggestion of Bishop Flaget, who visited the city in the spring of 1818.[7]
Episcopacy
On January 13, 1822, Edward Dominic Fenwick was consecrated as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Cincinnati.[3]
The consecration was celebrated at Saint Rose Church as there was no cathedral in Cincinnati. He went to Europe in 1823 to raise funding for the new diocese and returned in 1826 with resources to begin the construction of the cathedral, parochial schools, and to found the convents of the Sisters of Charity and of the first community of Dominican women in the United States that became Dominicans of St. Catharine (now the Dominican Sisters of Peace).[4]
In 1829 Bishop Fenwick established the St. Francis Xavier Seminary. This was the third oldest Catholic seminary in the United States and the oldest Catholic seminary west of the
In her book Domestic Manners of the Americans, Fanny Trollope wrote of Fenwick:
I had the pleasure of being introduced to the Catholic bishop of Cincinnati, and have never known in any country a priest of a character and bearing more truly apostolic. He was an American, but I should never have discovered it from his pronunciation or manner. He received his education partly in England, and partly in France. His manners were highly polished; his piety active and sincere, and infinitely more mild and tolerant than that of the factious Sectarians who form the great majority of the American priesthood.[9]
In 1831 Bishop Fenwick initiated publication of The Catholic Telegraph diocesan newspaper.[10] The weekly newspaper was carried by stage and riverboat to areas within the diocese's government, as well as to cities in Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the District of Columbia. The Catholic Telegraph is still in existence today as the oldest continuously-published Catholic newspaper in the United States.[citation needed]
Also in 1831, Bishop Fenwick founded The Athenaeum,
After the college was established he returned to missionary work, visiting the Indian tribes in the Northwestern territory. Stricken by cholera, he died in Wooster, Ohio, on September 26, 1832, aged 64.[3] He is buried in a mausoleum in the new St. Joseph Cemetery, Delhi Township, Hamilton County, OH.
Legacy
Several schools are named in his honor:
- Bishop Fenwick High School, Franklin Township, Ohio
- Fenwick High School, Oak Park, Illinois
- Fenwick High School, Lancaster, Ohio (now the William V. Fisher Catholic High School)
- Bishop Fenwick Middle School, Zanesville, Ohio
Notes
- ^ a b c "The Apostle of Ohio: Bishop Edward Fenwick, O.P." www.patheos.com. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
- ^ a b c d e O'Daniel OP, S.T.M., V.F., The Right Reverend Edward Dominic Fenwick OP, 1929
- ^ a b c "Bishop Edward Dominic Fenwick O.P.", Catholic Hierarchy
- ^ a b "Petit OP, Loretta. "Friar in the Wilderness", Project OPUS, Chicago, 1994". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-10-06.
- ^ Ryckbost, Anne. "LibGuides: Fenwick History: Summary". libguides.xavier.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
- ^ Edward Dominic Fenwick Papers 1803—1832: Founding American Dominican Friar and Bishop, ed. Luke Tancrell, OP (New York: Dominican Publications, 2005), pp. 145–146.
- ^ Lamott, S.T.D., John H., History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, (1921)
- ^ "History", St. Mary's Seminary
- ^ Trollope, Fanny, Domestic Manners of the Americans, Ch. 11.
- ^ The Catholic Telegraph diocesan newspaper
References
- Lamott, S.T.D., John H., History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, (1921)
External links
- Bio of Edward Fenwick
- History of St Rose Priory
- History of the Athenaeum of Ohio
- Episcopal lineage of Bishop Edward Dominic Fenwick, O.P.
- Fenwick High School (Franklin, Ohio)
- Fenwick High School (Oak Park, Illinois)
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Preceded by None
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Bishop of Cincinnati 1822–1833 |
Succeeded by |