Pioneer Bishops of Kansas

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Kansas up to 1900.  For more information about Kansas, see my blog of October 21, 2017.

Spanish and French explorers visited what is now Kansas as early as 1535.  A party led by Francisco de Coronado came in 1541, accompanied by Franciscan Juan de Padilla.  Father de Padilla offered the first mass in what is now the continental United States.  Father de Padilla was later martyred while attempting to preach the Word of God to the Native Americans.  After it became part of the United States in 1803, the Army came to Kansas, establishing Fort Leavenworth in 1827, Fort Scott in 1842, Fort Riley in 1853, and Fort Dodge in 1865.  These forts served to protect settlers crossing Kansas on the Santa Fe and Chisholm trials to places further west.  Other Catholic missionaries had followed Father Padilla over the years and by the late 1830s, the Jesuits had established the St. Francis Xavier mission to the Pottawatomies at Kickapoo.  In 1841, the Sacred Heart sisters, under the leadership of Mother Rose Philippine Duchesne (who was canonized in 1988), opened a school for the Pottawatomies. This was followed by the Pottawatomie mission at St. Mary’s and the mission to the Osage Indians on the Neosho River in the late1840s.  As a result of these mission efforts, many of the Native Americans became Catholics.    

Pope Pius IX established the Vicarate Apostolic of the Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains in 1850.  This vast area consisted of all or part of the current states of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and the two Dakotas.  The Holy Father appointed John Miege, a Jesuit priest and professor at St. Louis University as the first vicar apostolic.  The vicariate apostolic had a total Catholic population of about 5,000, most of whom were Native Americans.  In 1854, the Kansas Territory was created, and violent confrontations between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces followed.  Despite this, the population of Kansas was 107,000 in 1860, the year before Kansas became the 34th State.  The Homestead Law of 1862 encouraged the building of railroads, and this led to the influx of large numbers of European immigrants, many of whom were Catholic.  By 1880, Kansas had almost one million people, and by 1890, the population had increased to 1,427,000.

To serve the large number of Catholics, Pope Pius IX created the Vicariate Apostolic of Kansas in 1857, which became the Diocese of Leavenworth in 1877.  Pope Leo XIII created the Dioceses of Concordia and Wichita in 1887.  (Leavenworth was the largest city in Kansas in 1880 with 17,000 people—slightly larger than Atchison and Topeka.  By 1890, Leavenworth was only the fourth largest city—behind Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita.)  The Diocese of Concordia became the Diocese of Salina in 1944, the Diocese of Leavenworth became the Diocese of Kansas City in 1947, and the Diocese of Dodge City was established in 1951.  In 1952, Pope Pius XII created the new Province of Kansas City and the Diocese of Kansas City became the Archdiocese of Kansas City.

John B. Miege was born in the Duchy of Savoy, now part of France, in 1815.  He was the youngest son of a wealthy and religious family.  Miege entered the Jesuit novitiate in Milan in 1836 and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1847.  He was sent to serve the Native American missions in 1849 and became pastor in St. Charles, Missouri, and a professor at St. Louis University.  In 1850, he was named Vicar Apostolic of the Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains.  (A vicar apostolic is bishop of a missionary territory.)  Miege’s apostolic vicariate covered most of the United States between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains and consisted of most of what are now the states of Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming.  There were five churches, eight priests, and 5,000 Catholics.  Miege’s initial vast Vicariate became somewhat smaller in 1857 with the creation of the Vicariate Apostolic of Kansas, which consisted of what is now Kansas and Oklahoma.

Bishop Miege traveled extensively over the Vicariate on wagon and horseback visiting towns, Army posts, and Indian villages.  He built the first Cathedral for the Diocese in Leavenworth (now the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas) and helped establish St. Benedict’s College in Atchison.  He also invited religious orders to run parishes and schools and he attended the First Vatican Council in 1869-70.  He resigned as Vicar Apostolic in 1874 at which time the Vicariate had had 71 churches served by 48 priests.  After his resignation, he became the spiritual director of the Jesuit Seminary in Woodstock, Maryland.   Miege was sent to Detroit in 1877 where he established the University of Detroit and served as the first president.  He returned to Woodstock in 1880 and died there in 1884.

Louis M. Fink was born in Bavaria as Michael Fink in 1834.  He came to the United States in 1852 and entered St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the same year.  In 1854, he became a Benedictine monk under the name Louis Mary.  He was ordained a priest in 1857.  Father Fink served congregations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Chicago, until he was named prior of St. Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, in 1868.  He was able to reopen Benedictine College in Atchison, which had closed due to financial difficulties.  Fink was appointed coadjutor apostolic vicar of Kansas and the Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains in 1871, under John Miege.  When Miege resigned in 1874, Fink succeeded him.  In 1877, the Diocese of Leavenworth was created (now the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas) and Fink became its first bishop.

In 1877, Bishop Fink’s new Diocese had 45,000 Catholics, 60 priests, 80 churches, as well as Catholic colleges, schools, and one hospital.  Bishop Fink fostered the sodalities of the Blessed Virgin Mary and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  He bought property throughout the State of Kansas to establish settlements for Catholic immigrants.  Bishop Fink focused on the needs of rural settlers and later, as needs changed, on urban laborers.  He also increased the number of priests and parishes in the Diocese.  Fink established the first church for African Americans west of St. Louis in Leavenworth.  He attended the third plenary council of Baltimore in 1884, which begot the Baltimore Catechism, encouraged Catholic schools in each parish, established the Catholic University of America, and set six days as Holy Days of Obligation.  Bishop Fink died in 1904.

John J. Hennessy was born in Ireland in 1847 and moved with his family to St. Louis in 1850.  After seminary studies in Wisconsin and Missouri, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1869.  Only 22 at the time of his ordination, Hennessy received a dispensation from the Pope due to his age.  Hennessy was a busy priest.  He served as pastor for a large section of southern Missouri, established a Catholic railroaders union, an Ursuline convent, and an abstinence society.  He later became a pastor in St. Louis, became editor of a youth magazine, secretary of the Orphan Board, treasurer of the diocesan clergy fund, and spiritual director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. 

Pope Leo XIII named James O’Reilly to be the first Bishop of Wichita, but O’Reilly died in 1887 prior to being consecrated.  The following year, Pope Leo appointed John Hennessy to be Bishop.  There were about 8,000 Catholics in the Diocese at that time.  In 1891, Bishop Hennessy was named apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Concordia (now Salina) and for the next seven years led both dioceses.  The people in both dioceses faced difficult economic times and Bishop Hennessy often sought financial support from Catholics on the East Coast.  When economic conditions improved, Hennessy built the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita.  Bishop Hennessy was also influential in the establishment of the Catholic Church Extension Society.  He died of a stroke in 1920.

Richard Scannell was born in Ireland in 1845 and attended seminary in Dublin.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, in 1871.  While in Nashville, Scannell served at various times as cathedral rector, apostolic administrator of the Diocese, and vicar general of the Diocese.  He was appointed the first Bishop of Concordia, Kansas (now the Diocese of Salina) in 1887.  Bishop Scannell had only five priests to serve the Diocese.  He started to build a seminary, but difficult economic times thwarted his plans.  Nevertheless, when he was named Bishop of Omaha, Nebraska, in 1891, there were 22 priests serving 76 churches and missions.  There were also 10 parish schools.  Scannell also invited the Sisters of St. Joseph to serve the Diocese.  Scannell died in 1916.

John F. Cunningham was born in Ireland in 1842 and came to the United States in 1860.  After seminary studies in Kansas and Wisconsin, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Leavenworth in 1865.  After ordination, he was charged with securing funds to pay off the debt on the Cathedral and to help people suffering as a result of the bad economic conditions.  He later became rector for the cathedral in Leavenworth and vicar general for the Diocese.  He was named the second Bishop of Concordia in 1898.

With improved economic conditions, Bishop Cunningham was able to build 54 churches, including the new Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Concordia (dedicated in 1902), 17 elementary schools, five high schools, and three hospitals.  He also established the Knights of Columbus in the Diocese and founded Hays Catholic College.  The Catholic population doubled to 34,000 during his time as bishop and the number of priests increased from 25 to 63.  Bishop Cunningham died in 1919.