Defining Moment

In January, Bishop Purcell publicly debates Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Disciples of Christ, at a Baptist church on Sycamore Street. This debate marks the first time an American bishop engages in a debate with a Protestant clergyman. The event brought great excitement to the city, and the Catholic and Protestant newspapers quoted the debates in full. Bishop Purcell showed that the Catholic faith was intellectually rigorous and secured himself a place as a leading defender of the faith.

At the invitation of Bishop Fenwick and several members of the laity, the Sisters of Charity from Emmitsburg, Maryland, arrive in Cincinnati to serve at St. Peter’s School and Orphanage for girls. This is the first religious community to arrive in the diocese, serving in schools, healthcare and other ministries even today.

Anti-Catholic sentiment and basic ignorance of the teachings of the Catholic Church prompted Bishop Fenwick to found The Catholic Telegraph, a weekly newspaper that offers a defense of the faith. It is now one of the oldest running Catholic publications in the United States.

Recognizing the need to educate future priests to serve his missionary diocese, Bishop Fenwick establishes the Athenaeum of Ohio, a seminary school of higher learning. Over the next 200 years, this will grow into St. Xavier High School, Xavier University and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School for Theology.

Pope Pius VII issues a Papal bull creating the Diocese of Cincinnati and names Father Fenwick as the first bishop. Originally, the diocese encompassed the entire state of Ohio, parts of Michigan and the Northwest Territory.

The first two parishes in Ohio — St. Joseph in Somerset and Christ Church in Cincinnati — are founded. Both parishes were started at the initiative of pioneer Catholics, Jacob Dittoe in Somerset and Michael Scott in Cincinnati. In the early years, traveling missionary priests, most notably Father Edward Fenwick, O.P., visited these congregations.