Pioneer Bishops of Kentucky

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Kentucky up to 1900.  For more information about Kentucky, see my blog of November 22, 2017.

Harrodsburg, established in 1774, was Kentucky’s first permanent settlement.  Among the first settlers was Dr. George Hart, a Catholic and one of the first physicians to settle in Kentucky, and William Coomes, whose wife, Jane, was the first white female settler and the first schoolteacher. Some members of Daniel Boone’s family were also Catholic.  In 1785, 25 families came to Kentucky from St. Mary’s County, Maryland, led by Basil Hayden.  They settled near the present site of Bardstown.  More Marylanders followed the following year.

Father Charles Whelan, Kentucky’s first resident priest, arrived in the Bardstown area in 1787.  He was followed by a French exile, Father Stephen Badin, the first priest ordained in the United States.  Badin, the “Apostle of Kentucky” arrived at his new post by walking from Baltimore to Pittsburgh and then by taking a flatboat down the Ohio River to what is now Maysville, Kentucky.  Kentucky became the 15th state in 1792 and by the mid-1790s there were over 300 Catholic families in Kentucky, primarily in what are now Nelson, Marion, and Washington Counties.  By the early 1800s, Catholicism was well established in Kentucky, with a Dominican priory (the first in the United States) in Washington County and an order of nuns—the Sisters of Loretto—established in Marion County.  The later had been established with the help of another pioneer priest—Father Charles Nerinckx from Belgium.

Pope Pius VI created the Diocese of Baltimore in 1789, which at the time consisted of the 13 original states of the United States.  Baltimore was raised to an archdiocese by Pope Pius VII in 1808 and four new dioceses were created—Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bardstown, Kentucky.  At the time of its founding, the Bardstown diocese covered the states of Kentucky and Tennessee.  However, the diocese’s first bishop, Benedict Flaget, was also give jurisdiction over what few Catholics lived in an area that now consists of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and portions of Arkansas and Minnesota.  He was relieved of this extra responsibility after the creation of the Diocese of Cincinnati in 1821 and the Diocese of Vincennes (now Indianapolis) in 1834.

Louisville was established as a town in 1780 and French priests, including the future bishop, Benedict Flaget, visited in the early 1790s.  The town attracted new residents, including native-born Americans, as well as French, Irish, and Germans.  Bishop Flaget moved his see to Louisville in 1841 due to its growing population, which in that year numbered about 21,000 people.  Among them were 4,000 Catholics in three parishes.  By this time, the diocese consisted only of the state of Kentucky.  Louisville became part of the Province of Cincinnati when it was established in 1850, at which time there were 35,000 Catholics in Kentucky.

Catholics in Eastern Kentucky tended to be Germans, who settled near Cincinnati, and Irish, who settled around Lexington and Frankfort.  Early churches included St. Mary (1834) and Mother of God (1842) in Covington, St. Francis de Sales (1790s) in White Sulphur near Lexington, and St. Peter (1818) in Lexington.  This growth in the number of Catholics in this region led Pope Pius IX to create the Diocese of Covington in 1853.  At the time, the Covington diocese consisted of the eastern third of Kentucky.  Pope John Paul II created the Diocese of Lexington in 1988.  Germans and Irish had also come to Western Kentucky, especially near towns along the Ohio River, and by 1860, there were almost 20 Catholic churches in the western third of the state.  Pope Pius XI created the Diocese of Owensboro in 1937 at the same time that he created the Province of Louisville and making Louisville an archdiocese.

Benedict J. Flaget was born in France in 1763 and ordained a Sulpician priest in 1788.  He came to the United States in 1792 and was soon sent by Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore to Fort Vincennes in the Indiana Territory to staff St. Francis Xavier Church.  He journeyed by wagon to what is now Pittsburgh and then took a flatboat to what is now Louisville before eventually reaching Vincennes.  He established a school and library at the church—the first educational institutions in Indiana.  He ministered to the settlers and Native Americans during a smallpox outbreak in 1793 and became ill himself.  He was recalled to Baltimore in 1795 and was sent to what is now Georgetown University where he taught for three years.  He was sent on a mission to Cuba in 1798 where he contracted malaria.  While there he befriended the future King of France, Louis Phillippe, who was visiting Cuba while in exile from France.  He returned to Georgetown in 1801 until he was named the first Bishop of Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1808.  Flaget served as Bishop of Bardstown until 1832, when he retired.  He once again was appointed Bishop of Bardstown in 1833 and served until 1841, when he moved the diocesan see to Louisville and served there until his death in 1850.

Flaget arrived in Kentucky in 1811 as the first Bishop of Bardstown and was accompanied by two priests and three seminarians (one of whom, Guy Chabret, became the first priest ordained west of the Alleghany Mountains).  His diocese consisted of Kentucky and Tennessee, but he had responsibility for a territory that now consists of the States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and northern Arkansas.  (This vast territory was reduced in 1821 with the creation of the Diocese of Cincinnati.)  Although the Diocese was large in size, it had few souls.  There were about 6,000 Catholics in Kentucky, and a few others scattered in settlements such as Detroit, Vincennes (Indiana), and Kaskaskia and Cahokia (both in Illinois).  Almost all of the churches were log chapels.  Flaget made frequent pastoral visits throughout this territory and built colleges and a seminary—the first such Catholic institutions in the American West.  (Many of the early leaders of the American Catholic church received their training in these institutions—eight of Flaget’s priests would later become bishops—and he was influential in the selection of U.S. bishops.)  He built St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Bardstown and welcomed many religious congregations to his diocese including the Dominicans, the Jesuits, and the Franciscans, as well as encouraging the establishment of the Sisters of Loretto and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.  Bishop Flaget oversaw continued growth in the Diocese and built new parishes—by 1837, the diocese, now only consisting of Kentucky, had 40 churches, 70 stations, 51 priests, and several schools.  Flaget established a weekly paper ("The Catholic Advocate") in 1836 and transferred his see to Louisville in 1841 after it became apparent that Louisville would become the principal city in Kentucky.  He began construction of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville and, in 1848, welcomed a group of French Trappist monks who built the now-famous Abbey of Gethsemane near Bardstown.  Flaget died in 1850.

John B. David was born in France in 1761 and was ordained a priest in 1785.  He joined the Sulpicians shortly after ordination and taught at a Sulpician seminary in France from 1786 to 1790 when he had to go into hiding because of the French Revolution.  He left France in 1792 with other Sulpicians, including Benedict Flaget, and came to Baltimore.  David spent the next few years as a pastor in southern Maryland, teaching a Georgetown College and at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.  He left Maryland with Flaget in 1811 and settled in Bardstown.  He was instrumental in establishing St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown and he founded the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and remained their Superior General almost until he died.  David was appointed coadjutor Bishop of Bardstown in 1817 but was not consecrated bishop until 1819 sue to his reluctance to become a bishop.  His consecration was the first west of the Appalachian Mountains.  David continued his work as missionary, seminary president, and cathedral rector until 1832 when Bishop Flaget retired.

Nearing 70, Bishop Flaget retired in favor of Guy Chabret, but the Vatican appointed Flaget’s coadjutor bishop, John David, as Bishop instead.  All were surprised and David immediately submitted his resignation to Rome.  David himself was over 70 and in ill health.  Pope Gregory XVI accepted David’s resignation five months later and reappointed Benedict Flaget as bishop.  Flaget had spent his temporary “retirement” tending to cholera victims.  After his retirement, David moved to the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity where he died in 1841.

Martin J. Spalding was born in Marion County, Kentucky, in 1810 and was ordained a priest (in Rome) for the then-Diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1834.  Spalding served as cathedral rector, editor of the diocesan newspaper, and seminary president and professor prior to being named vicar general of the diocese in 1844.  He was named coadjutor bishop of Louisville (the Diocese had moved from Bardstown to Louisville) in 1848 and became Bishop of Louisville in 1850.  Spalding, who led a Diocese of 30,000 Catholics (in 1850), created a parochial school system and invited religious orders, such as the Xavierian Brothers (who were from Belgium and established Louisville’s St. Xavier High School in 1864) and Ursuline Sisters (from Germany), to teach in the schools.  He also completed construction of the Cathedral of the Assumption in 1852.  Spalding tended to the needs of large numbers of Irish and German immigrants—the Catholic population of the Diocese more than doubled between 1848 and 1864 despite the creation of the Diocese of Covington in 1853.  The large number of immigrants resulted in a backlash.  Nativist mobs attacked the new immigrants on August 6, 1855 and over twenty people were killed and the homes of 20 Catholic families destroyed.  Bishop Spalding urged restraint and further violence was stopped.  Bishop Spalding remained neutral during the Civil War and supplied chaplains and nurses to both sides.  Spalding was appointed Archbishop of Baltimore in 1864 and he died in 1872.

Peter J. Lavialle was born in France in 1819 and began his seminary studies there.  He came to Kentucky in 1842, completed his seminary studies, and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Louisville in 1844.  As a priest, he served at the cathedral in Louisville, as theology professor at the seminary, and as a college president.  Pope Pius IX appointed Lavialle Archbishop of New Orleans in 1860, but Lavialle refused the appointment.  Pius IX appointed him Bishop of Louisville in 1865.  Bishop Lavialle built six churches and established a Catholic cemetery.  Lavialle attended the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in October 1866, but became ill and died a few months later in 1867, serving only two years as Bishop.  

William G. McCloskey was born the youngest of five sons in Brooklyn, New York, in 1823.  Two of his brothers became priests.  McCloskey attended Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New York in 1852.  He served briefly in New York before returning to Mount St. Mary’s as a professor.  He was appointed the first rector of the North American College in Rome in 1859 and was named Bishop of Louisville in 1868. 

McCloskey was Bishop during a time of growth and in response he built over 100 new churches.  He also invited religious orders to serve in the Diocese (including the Benedictines, the Sisters of Mercy, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the Franciscan Sisters) and established a seminary in Louisville.  He attended the First Vatican Council in 1870 and two plenary councils in Baltimore and he wrote a book about Mary Magdalen.  McCloskey was noted for his piety, but also for his authoritarian nature—he frequently feuded with his clergy, religious orders, and the laity.  At the time of his death in 1909, he was the oldest U.S. Catholic bishop.  

George A. Carrell was born in Philadelphia in 1803.  Carrell’s grandfather came from Ireland before the Revolutionary War and established a grocery business in Philadelphia.  Carrell and his seven siblings grew up in a mansion once owned by William Penn.  He was educated in Maryland and at what is now Georgetown University and later attended seminary in Maryland before being ordained a priest for the Diocese of Philadelphia in 1827.  He served at churches in Philadelphia and New Jersey before being assigned in Wilmington, Delaware, where he established a school for boys and one for girls.  Carrell spent two years in the early 1820s as a Jesuit novice and felt drawn to that order.  He received permission to join the Jesuits in 1835 in St. Louis.  As a Jesuit, he served as a professor at St. Louis University, as a pastor in St. Louis, and president of a preparatory boy’s school in Cincinnati.  Carrell was appointed first Bishop of the newly established Diocese of Covington in 1853.

When Carrell became Bishop, there were 7,000 Catholics, 10 churches, and 7 priests in the Diocese, which consisted of Eastern Kentucky.  Carrell spent much of his time organizing his new Diocese and building the churches (including a cathedral), schools, and other institutions needed to keep pace with a 200 percent growth in the number of Catholics in the Diocese during his time as bishop.  He invited several religious orders, including the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Visitation nuns, Ursuline nuns, and Benedictine priests and nuns, to work in the Diocese.  Carrell was greatly affected by the large numbers of people killed during the Civil War.  He suffered from various diseases and died 1868.

Augustus M. Toebbe was born in what is now Germany in 1829.  His father was a prominent innkeeper and he started school looking to go into business.  He pursued commercial interests until 1852 when he decided to go to America to be a priest.  Toebbe attended seminary in Cincinnati and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1854.  He served at parishes in or near Cincinnati until 1869 when he was appointed Bishop of Covington.  Like his predecessor, Bishop Toebbe built many new parishes to keep up with the growth in the number of Catholics.  Bishop Toebbe was responsible for bringing the Sisters of Notre Dame and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd to the Diocese.  He established an orphanage for boys, a hospital in Lexington, and a diocesan seminary.  Bishop Toebbe died in 1884.

Camillus P. Maes was born in Belgium in 1846 and was orphaned at the age of 16.  He entered seminary in Belgium in 1863 and was ordained a priest in 1868.  While still a seminarian, Maes had been recruited to serve in the Diocese of Detroit, so in 1869 he arrived in Michigan.  He served in parishes in Mount Clemens and Monroe and became chancellor for the Diocese in 1880.  Maes was a candidate for Bishop of the new Diocese of Grand Rapids in 1882 but was instead named Bishop of Covington in 1884.  He was the first priest from the Diocese of Detroit to be named a bishop.

Bishop Maes built the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and worked zealously to care for the people living in the mountainous areas of Eastern Kentucky, who were mostly poor and non-Catholic.  He established 3 diocesan newspapers, encouraged the establishment of The Catholic University in Washington—and served on its board—and Catholic historical groups.  He led several organizations that promoted the Eucharist and chaired the first Eucharistic Congress in the United States in 1895.  Maes died of complications from diabetes in 1915.  During his time as bishop, the number of Catholics in the Diocese rose from 38,000 to 60,000 and the number of priests from 38 to 85.