A cathedral is the home church for the bishop or archbishop of a Catholic diocese, and those appointed to these roles are often referred to as shepherds, for they are modeled after Jesus the Good Shepherd and the local faithful are entrusted to their care.

BISHOP EDWARD D. FENWICK, OP (1768-1832)

Edward D. Fenwick was born Aug. 19, 1768, on his family’s plantation in St. Mary’s County, MD. He entered the Dominican Order in 1788 and was ordained on Feb. 23, 1793, at St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium. Returning to the U.S. in 1804, he received Baltimore Bishop John Carroll’s approval to continue the Dominicans’ missionary work of evangelizing westward. Father Fenwick, OP, established a province in St. Rose, KY, which was considered a central location, and reached Ohio in 1808, where he primarily ministered to German and Irish families. Named the first bishop of the new Diocese of Cincinnati on Jan. 13, 1822, his ordination as a bishop was celebrated at St. Rose Priory in Kentucky because there was not yet a local cathedral.

Bishop Fenwick soon had the wooden structure known first as Christ Church then St. Patrick renamed to St. Peter Cathedral, and it continued serving local Catholics in the town’s center. Within a few years, construction of a larger cathedral was underway on the same spot and was dedicated on Dec. 17, 1826.

During his tenure, Bishop Fenwick also founded a seminary and, in 1831, The Catholic Telegraph, to support and educate his flock in their faith. He died on Sept. 26, 1832, after being stricken with cholera.

ARCHBISHOP JOHN B. PURCELL (1800-1883)

Born in Mallow of County Cork, Ireland, on Feb. 26, 1800, John Baptist Purcell studied for the priesthood at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD, and was ordained in Paris in 1826. Appointed Bishop of Cincinnati in 1833, Bishop Purcell found the city of approximately 30,000 people with only one Catholic church. He wasted no time providing for the growing Church’s needs there, building additional churches downtown and purchasing a site for his new cathedral where Plum Street, Eighth Street and Western Row (now Central Avenue) intersect. A magnificent structure of Dayton limestone with a spire of solid stone rising 225 feet high, St. Peter in Chains Cathedral was consecrated on Nov. 2, 1845.

When Cincinnati became an archdiocese in 1850, Bishop Purcell was named its archbishop, and St. Peter in Chains became a Metropolitan Cathedral. Archbishop Purcell participated in the First Vatican Council in 1869, welcomed numerous religious communities to the area and became known for his part in building a Catholic school system in the Midwest.

In April 1880, he relinquished all archdiocesan affairs to his coadjutor, Bishop William H. Elder, and died in Brown County on July 4, 1883.

ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM H. ELDER (1819-1904)

William H. Elder was born in Baltimore, MD, on March 22, 1819, attended seminary at Mount St. Mary in Emmitsburg and was ordained in Rome in 1846. In 1880, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Cincinnati and succeeded Archbishop Purcell on July 4, 1883. Because the diocese faced great financial challenges, Archbishop Elder systematically organized the archdiocese’s administration, instituting the office of chancellor and insisting on annual reports from clergy and parishes to bring the local Church out of debt. He died on Oct. 31, 1904. Ten thousand people gathered to witness his body’s transfer from Seton Hospital to the cathedral, and his funeral was one of the largest gatherings of clergy ever assembled in Cincinnati.

ARCHBISHOP HENRY K. MOELLER (1849-1925)

The first native son to lead the archdiocese, Henry K. Moeller was born in Cincinnati on Dec. 11, 1849, the oldest of seven children, and attended St. Joseph School in the West End, then St. Xavier High School. Ordained to the priesthood in Rome in 1876, Father Moeller taught at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati before serving as secretary to then Bishop Elder until 1900, when he was appointed as Bishop of Columbus. After three years, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Cincinnati and succeeded Archbishop Elder a year later. During his term, 12,000 men joined the first Holy Name Parade in November 1911, which culminated at a review stand in front of the cathedral. This became an annual event. In November 1920, the cathedral celebrated its 75th anniversary with a complete interior and exterior restoration. Archbishop Moeller died Jan. 5, 1925, at his residence in Norwood.

ARCHBISHOP JOHN T. MCNICHOLAS, OP (1877-1950)

Born Timothy McNicholas in Kiltimagh of County Mayo, Ireland, on Dec. 15, 1877, he became the second Dominican priest to head the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He entered the Dominican order at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, KY, was ordained to the priesthood at Somerset, OH, in 1901, was named assistant to the master general of the Dominicans in Rome in 1917, became Bishop of Duluth a year later and was appointed to lead Cincinnati in 1925. During his 25 years as archbishop, he served as president of the National Catholic Educational Association and chairman of education for the National Catholic Welfare Conference.

In 1926, WLW broadcast from the cathedral the 700th anniversary celebration of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, with Archbishop McNicholas as the preacher. The Great Depression brought Catholics and non-Catholics together at the cathedral on Wednesday evenings and Thursday mornings in Aug. 1931, to pray for the unemployed and relief of the suffering. When the 1937 flood devastated the area, the cathedral organized a Red Cross Unit to assist with relief efforts. In 1938, the cathedral status was transferred to St. Monica in Clifton Heights, and St. Peter in Chains became known as “The Old Cathedral.” Archbishop McNicholas died April 22, 1950, at his residence in College Hill.

This article appeared in the March 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here