Thomas Francis Hendricken

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Catholic
DioceseDiocese of Providence
SuccessorMatthew Harkins
Orders
OrdinationApril 25, 1853
by Bernard O'Reilly
ConsecrationApril 28, 1872
by John McCloskey
Personal details
Born(1827-05-05)May 5, 1827
Kilkenny, Ireland
DiedJune 11, 1886(1886-06-11) (aged 59)
Providence, Rhode Island, US
EducationSt Kieran's College
SignatureThomas Francis Hendricken's signature

Thomas Francis Hendricken (May 5, 1827 – June 11, 1886) was an Irish-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island from 1872 until his death in 1886.

Biography

Early life

Thomas Hendricken was born on May 5, 1827, in Kilkenny, Ireland, the third child of John and Anne Meagher Hendricken's six children, three of whom died young. His father descended from a German officer who had fought for James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland. John Hendricken died in 1835.[1]

Hendricken studied in

Diocese of Hartford. At that time, the diocese consisted of the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island
.

Priesthood

Bishop O'Reilly ordained Hendricken to the priesthood on April 25, 1853, at All Hallows College in Dublin.[2][3] Onboard the steamer Columbia sailing to the United States, Hendricken disobeyed the captain by entering the steerage area to tend to a dying woman who had requested last rites. The captain, president of a Know Nothing lodge in Maine and fearing the spread of disease, beat Hendricken unconscious. He would have thrown him overboard, but a Protestant clergyman rallied his group of German immigrants to protest.[4] The Germans kept Hendricken safe for the remainder of the voyage.[1]

Upon arrival in Providence, Rhode Island, Hendricken was first assigned to the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence, Rhode Island. He was then transferred to a pastoral position at to St. Joseph's Parish in Providence. Hendricken's next assignments were to St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and St. Mary's Parish in Newport, Rhode Island. Architect Patrick Keely was hired to designs churches for St. Joseph's in 1848 and St. Mary's in 1851. In 1854, Hendricken was appointed pastor of St. Joseph's Parish in West Winsted, Connecticut,[2] before being assigned the following July to St. Peter's Parish in Waterbury, Connecticut.[5] His sister Catherine and brother William later joined him there.[1]

Hendricken hired Keely to design a new, larger church. Built of red brick, with a tall spire, it stood on East Main Street. When it was dedicated by Bishop Patrick McFarland, it was renamed in honor of the Immaculate Conception, the first church in the United States to bear that title since the 1854 decree.[6]

In 1869, Hendricken persuaded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal to come to the parish, where they established Notre Dame Academy, a day and boarding school for girls.[7] He also purchased land for St. Joseph's Cemetery. In 1868, he accompanied one of his parishioners to the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe in Quebec, where the sixteen-year-old Michael J. McGivney began his studies for the priesthood.[4] In 1870, Hendricken became a naturalized citizen.

Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, Providence 1886

Bishop of Providence

On February 16, 1872, Hendricken was appointed the first bishop of the new Diocese of Rhode Island. He was consecrated by Cardinal

Diocese of Fall River and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, all in Massachusetts. The new diocese had 125,000 parishioners, 43 churches, nine parish schools and one orphan asylum.[2]

Hendricken created 13 English and two French-speaking parishes for growing populations of French-Canadians and Irish. By 1873, the immigration into the diocese slowed and the post-war boom ended with many of his flock unemployed or on reduced wages.

Hendricken again hired Keely, this time to design the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, although he died before its completion in 1878.

Death and legacy

Thomas Hendricken died at the episcopal residence in Providence on June 11, 1886, at age 59.

high altar
.

Bishop Thomas Francis Hendricken High School in Warwick, Rhode Island is named after him. Hendricken was named to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall in 2006.[6]

During cathedral renovations in 2006, the basement crypt was removed, and the remains of the bishops were re-interred in a mausoleum at a nearby diocesan cemetery. Hendricken, however, was re-entombed on December 8, 2006, in a sarcophagus located on the cathedral's main floor, in the West Transept. Eight seniors from the high school that bears his name carried Hendricken's remains to a resting place facing the high altar.

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781625852663
  2. ^ a b c "Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Hendricken, D.D.", Roman Catholic diocese of Providence
  3. ^ a b "Bishop Thomas Francis Hendricken [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Tobin, Thomas J., "Bishop Thomas Francis Hendricken", Rhode Island Catholic, December 6, 2006
  5. ^ Shea, John Gilmary. "Rt. Rev. Thomas Hendricken", The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States, Office of Catholic Publications, 1886Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ a b c "Bishop Thomas F. Hendricken", Rhode Island Heritage Hall
  7. ISBN 9781467141482
  8. ^ "Bishop Hendricken Dead". The Burlington Free Press. Providence. June 12, 1886. p. 1. Retrieved April 20, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

  • Profile, catholic-hierarchy.org; accessed March 11, 2017.

Episcopal succession

Catholic Church titles
New diocese Bishop of Providence
1872–1886 		Succeeded by
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