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At the beginning of the 19th
century, the area which in 1803 would become the State of Ohio, was under the spiritual
jurisdiction of the Diocese of Bardstown, KY. Catholic settlers to the region north of the
Ohio River depended on the occasional visits of priests from Kentucky to fulfill their
spiritual needs.
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One of these missionary's
efforts on behalf of the growing number of German and Irish Catholic immigrants paved the
way for the creation of the Diocese of Cincinnati in 1821. That missionary and its first
bishop was Dominican Father Edward Fenwick. |
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Initially, the
See included all of Ohio, Michigan, and the area known as the Northwest Territories.
Eventually, separate dioceses were established for each state and by the middle of the
19th century the Cincinnati diocese was subdivided to allow for the creation of the
dioceses of Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Steubenville, and Youngstown. Cincinnati was
elevated to the rank of archdiocese in 1850. |
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Today the archdiocese of
Cincinnati includes 19 counties in the South western quarter of the state and oversees the
spiritual welfare of nearly 550,000 Catholics in the region. |
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Back in 1831 Bishop Fenwick
initiated publication of The Catholic Telegraph diocesan newspaper. The weekly newspaper
was carried by stage and riverboat to areas within in 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. Of course, now it is available, via the internet,
to a slightly larger audience than in 1831. |
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