Pioneer Bishops of Illinois

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Illinois up to 1900.  For more information about Illinois, see my blog of July 1, 2017.

The first Europeans to come to Illinois were Frenchmen led by the explorer Louis Joliet and the Jesuit priest, Jacques Marquette.  In 1673, they came down the Mississippi River past present-day Illinois and returned to Canada by way of the Illinois River and the Great Lakes.  French missionaries established missions among the Native Americans throughout the rest of the 17th Century.  The French eventually established forts and settlements along the Mississippi River, including at Cahokia in 1699—Holy Family Church was established the same year—and Kaskaskia in 1703—Immaculate Conception Church was established as a mission in 1675.  Illinois was included as part of the Northwest Territories in 1787 and eventually attracted settlers from Eastern states.  The Illinois Territory was established in 1809 and Illinois became the 21st State in 1818.

At the time of Statehood, there were only a few hundred Catholics, most of French or Irish ancestry and living near St. Louis.  Chicago had only about 150 Catholics out of a total population of 350 when it was incorporated in 1833.  Irish immigrants came to Illinois, especially Chicago, in the next two decades to build railroads and the Illinois and Michigan Canal.  Catholics in Illinois were organized into their own diocese in 1843 when Pope Gregory XVI established the Diocese of Chicago.  By 1850, Illinois’ population had increased to 851,000 and three years later, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Quincy (which became the Diocese of Alton in 1857 and the Diocese of Springfield in 1923) to serve Catholics in southern Illinois.

Immigrants from Europe, especially from Ireland and Germany, continued to come to Illinois during the last half of the 19th Century.  A portion of the Chicago diocese became the Diocese of Peoria in 1877 and the southern part of the Diocese of Alton became the Diocese of Belleville in 1887.  Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIII created the Province of Chicago in 1880 raising the Diocese of Chicago to the status of an archdiocese.  In 1908, with a statewide Catholic population of about one and a half million, Pope Pius X separated a portion of the Archdiocese of Chicago to create the Diocese of Rockford.  The Diocese of Joliet was separated from the Archdiocese in 1948.

William Quarter was born in Ireland in 1806 and was about to enter the seminary when he met a priest serving in the United States.  Moved by the priest’s accounts of the poor condition of the Church in the States, Quarter sailed initially to Canada in 1822.  He was not admitted to seminary in Canada due to his age, but was able to enroll at Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of New York in 1829.  He served at parishes in Manhattan until 1843 when he was appointed the first Bishop of Chicago.

Bishop Quarter found fewer than 20 priests in his new Diocese when he became Bishop, but was able to increase that number to almost 50 four years later.  He built 30 churches and completed and paid off the debt of St. Mary’s in Chicago—his cathedral and the only Catholic church in Chicago at the time of his arrival.  He established a college (now the University of St. Mary of the Lake) in 1844 to train young men and brought in the Sisters of Mercy from Pittsburgh to establish St. Xavier’s Academy for young women in 1846.  He convened a diocesan synod and provided support to Chicago’s Irish immigrants.  He also convened what may have been the first theological conference in the United States in 1847.  Quarter convinced the Illinois legislature to grant the Bishop of Chicago with power to “hold real and other property in trust for religious purposes.”  Bishop Quarter died in 1848.

James O. Van de Velde was born in 1795 in what is now Belgium.  He entered the seminary in Belgium in 1815 after teaching French and Flemish for two years.  He was recruited by Father Charles Nerinckx in 1817 to come to Kentucky, but Van de Velde became ill during the voyage and stayed in Baltimore.  He attended seminary at what is now Georgetown University and entered the Jesuit order.  He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1827.  Van de Velde developed two major skills.  He was Georgetown’s librarian from 1818 to 1831 and grew the book collection from 200 to 20,000.  He also was fluent in English, Flemish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin.  After his ordination he was assigned as chaplain of Georgetown Visitation school and as pastor of two churches in Montgomery County, Maryland.  He was sent in 1831 to what is now St. Louis University in Missouri, first as a professor, and after 1840, as president.  He was named Jesuit vice-provincial in 1843 and Western Provincial in 1846.  He was appointed the second Bishop of Chicago in 1848.

The new bishop found a Diocese—consisting of the State of Illinois—that had 56 churches.  Van de Velde traveled throughout the state, using all means of transportation, to visit Catholics, some of whom had not seen a priest in years—this despite the fact that he did not enjoy good health.  He established 70 new churches, a hospital (which eventually became Rush Medical Center), orphanages, and 10 schools.  He angered some Irish because of his views on temperance and he disputed Bishop Quarters’ will with officials at St. Mary’s college.  Bishop Van de Velde was granted permission by the Vatican in 1853 to become Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi, in an attempt to regain his health.  Unfortunately, Van de Velde broke his leg three months after his arrival in Natchez.  Shortly thereafter, he contracted yellow fever and he died in 1855.

Anthony O’Regan was born in Ireland in 1809 and ordained a priest there in 1834.  He later became president of a university in Ireland and he came to St. Louis in 1849 to be a seminary rector.  He was appointed the third Bishop of Chicago in 1854.  Bishop O’Regan never sought to be bishop and thought himself unworthy—an opinion shared by many of his priests, especially those who were not Irish.  He did bring the Jesuits and Redemptorists to the Diocese and established several parishes and Calvary Cemetery.  Disputes with a French-Canadian priest and with the faculty at St. Mary’s college (which resulted in its closure), led O’Regan, after being Bishop for only two and a half years, to travel to Rome to ask permission to resign.  The Vatican granted permission in 1858 and O’Regan moved to London, never returning to the United States.  He died in 1866.  

James Duggan was born in Ireland in 1825.  Duggan came to the United States in 1842 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of St. Louis in 1847.  He was appointed to succeed O’Regan in Chicago in 1859, thus becoming the fourth Bishop of Chicago in 15 years.  Bishop Duggan brought needed stability to the Diocese.  He brought several religious orders into the Diocese to help with the educational and charitable needs of the people.  He also established the parochial school system for the Diocese.  Unfortunately, while attending the Second Plenary Council in Baltimore in 1866, he showed signs of mental illness.  He sought a cure in New Mexico, but it was to no avail and in 1869, he was committed to an asylum where he remained for the rest of his life.  He officially remained Bishop until 1880 and he died in 1899.

Bishops were usually appointed for life in those days, but since Duggan was in an asylum, Thomas Foley was named apostolic administrator and coadjutor bishop of Chicago in 1869.  Bishop Foley was born in Baltimore in 1822 and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1846.  He had barely arrived in Chicago when the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 devastated the city and destroyed several Catholic churches and many other Catholic buildings.  Bishop Foley was able to rebuild these buildings and build many more—he oversaw the construction of more than two dozen new churches in the Diocese.  Like Bishop Duggan, Foley brought in religious orders like the Franciscans to administer parishes, schools, and other institutions.  Bishop Foley was expected to become the fifth Bishop of Chicago but died in 1879 before he could receive that honor.  (Duggan was still the official Bishop of Chicago until 1880.)

Patrick A. Feehan was born in Ireland in 1829.  His father, a successful farmer, insured that Feehan received a good education.  Feehan was a student and a teacher at Maynooth College in Ireland when he met Archbishop Peter Kenrick of St. Louis.  Kenrick invited Feehan to come to St. Louis and teach in the seminary there.  Feehan came to the United States in 1852—his family had emigrated there two years before.  He was ordained a priest later that year.  Feehan served as pastor of several St. Louis churches and taught in the seminary, eventually becoming president.  He was one of the founders of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the United States.  After the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, boatloads of wounded were brought to the docks in St. Louis and Feehan attended to the spiritual needs of the wounded and dying.

Feehan was appointed Bishop of Nashville in 1865 and was named the first Archbishop of Chicago in 1880.  Archbishop Feehan saw the Catholic population of the Archdiocese increase from 230,000 when he became archbishop to 800,000 at the time of his death.  Most of this growth came from immigrants from Poland, France, Italy, and Eastern Europe. To try to keep pace with this growth, Feehan increased the number of parishes from 194 to 298, more than half of which served a particular ethnic group.  New facilities were also necessary as a result of the 1871 Chicago Fire.  Feehan was a strong advocate of Catholic education and chaired the schools committee at the Third Plenary Council (a meeting of all U.S. bishops) in 1884.  He also participated in religious activities associated with Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and was noted for his preaching abilities.  He convened the first Archdiocesan synod in 1887 and established an archdiocesan newspaper in 1892.  Feehan also invited the Vincentians to establish DePaul University.  He did face some conflict.  Feehan and Polish Catholics at one parish clashed over the selection of a pastor resulting in a few thousand Poles leaving the Church and one priest being excommunicated.  Another priest was excommunicated when he refused to accept Feehan’s choice for an auxiliary bishop.  Feehan, along with other religious leaders, successfully fought to repeal a state law that gave local school boards some control over parochial schools.  He died in 1902 from a stroke.

Henry D. Juncker was born in France in 1809.  He attended seminary in France before coming to Cincinnati.  He completed his studies and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Cincinnati in 1834.  He served at parishes in Columbus, Cincinnati, Canton, and Dayton until he was named the first Bishop of Alton in 1857.  (The Diocese was established at Quincy in 1853 and Joseph Melcher was appointed Bishop, but Melcher refused the appointment.  The see moved to Alton in 1857 and to Springfield in 1923.  Melcher became the first Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1868.) 

Bishop Juncker traveled to Europe and brought back seven priests and 12 seminarians to serve in his new Diocese—the number of priests increased from 28 to more than 80 while he served as Bishop.  He built new parishes, schools, hospitals, and other Catholic institutions to serve the large increase in the number of Catholics in the Diocese—numbering 85,000 at the time of his death.  He also invited the Recollect Franciscans from Germany who served at several parishes and established a monastery, seminary, and college.  Religious orders of women were invited to serve as teachers and nurses.  After the Civil War began in 1861, Juncker established a medical camp in Cairo to care for wounded soldiers.  Bishop Juncker died in 1868.

Peter J. Baltes was born in Bavaria in 1827 and came with his family to Upstate New York in 1833.  He father was a carpenter and tinsmith.  He attended seminary in Chicago and Montreal before being ordained a priest for the Diocese of Chicago in 1853.  He was assigned to a parish in southern Illinois which soon became part of the new Diocese of Quincy.  He then served in Belleville until 1866 when he was named vicar general for the Diocese, which now was called Alton.  He was named Bishop of Alton in 1870.

Bishop Baltes was the first Bishop consecrated in Illinois.  Baltes issued pastoral instructions that mandated parishes to build schools, to avoid large debt, and to build with bricks to prevent fires.  He even gave instructions on the use of church bells.  He also persuaded the State of Illinois to allow Catholic institutions to incorporate and he forbad Catholics from reading newspapers or journals that were critical of the Church (although he rescinded this a few years later).  The Diocese continued to grow under Bishop Baltes and he responded to this growth with the construction of more churches, schools, and other institutions.  He brought in women religious to staff schools and hospitals.  At the time of his death in 1886, the Diocese had 177 priests and 420 nuns serving 220 churches and missions, 13 hospitals, and other institutions.  He died from liver disease after suffering for two years.

James Ryan was born in Ireland in 1848 and moved at age 7 with his family to Kentucky.  After attending seminary in Kentucky, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Louisville in 1871.  Ryan transferred to the new Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, in 1877.  He served a parishes in Illinois until 1888 when he was named Bishop of Alton.

Bishop Ryan presided over a smaller Diocese of Alton after the Diocese of Belleville was created in 1887.  Nevertheless, the need for additional churches and schools continued to be a major concern of the bishop—he built 40 churches and 7 schools.  He also built new hospitals and an orphanage.  He convened the Diocese’s first synod in 1889 to bring the Diocese into compliance with the decrees of the three national Plenary Councils of Baltimore.  He also sought to better serve the large number of immigrants by giving them priests who spoke their language.  The Diocese had 87,000 Catholics at the time of his death in 1923.  

John L. Spalding was born in Kentucky in 1840 and attended seminaries in Maryland, Ohio, and Belgium before being ordained a priest for the Diocese of Louisville in 1863.  He was related to both Martin Spalding, who served as Bishop of Louisville and later as Archbishop of Baltimore, and Catherine Spalding, the founder of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.  As a young priest, he served at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville and served as a theologian at the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866.  In 1872, he went to New York to write a biography of his recently deceased uncle, Martin Spalding, and served as an assistant pastor of a church there.

Spalding was only 36 when he became the first Bishop of Peoria in 1876.  As bishop for more than 30 years, he saw an increase in the number of parishes from 40 to 200 and the number of schools from 12 to 70.  He was a noted author and poet and an experienced horseman.  He was one of the U.S. bishops most responsible for the founding of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.  He was offered, but declined, the position of the first rector of the University.  He also encouraged the founding of Trinity College in Washington to educate Catholic women.  He was one of several U.S. bishops who favored an “Americanist” view of the Church—separation of Church and State was good for the Church—a view not held by many Church leaders in Europe.  He was one of the primary authors of the Baltimore Catechism, which was first published in 1885.  Spalding was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to mediate a 1902 miners’ strike.  He was successful in ending the strike which increased the miners’ pay and decreased their hours of work.  Spalding became paralyzed from a stroke in 1905 and resigned as bishop in 1908 and was given the personal title of Archbishop.  He died in 1916. 

John Janssen was born in Germany in 1835 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Alton in 1858.  He initially served at a German-speaking parish in Springfield before becoming the Bishop’s secretary and Diocesan chancellor in 1863.  He became vicar general for the Diocese in 1870 while also serving a parish in Quincy for a time.  The Diocese of Belleville was created in 1888 and Janssen was named its first Bishop the following year.  Midway through Janssen’s time as Bishop, the Diocese contained 104 churches, 94 priests, 64 schools, and 50,000 Catholics.  Janssen invited the Poor Handmaids of Christ to establish a hospital in East St. Louis that was open to all regardless of race or religion.  Bishop Janssen died in 1913.