The first church in Ohio, the mother church of the state, was blessed by Fathers Fenwick and Young on December 6, 1818 at Somerset. Whilst this church was being built, Father Fenwick began the erection of a second log church in Ohio at Lancaster. The first church had been dedicated to St. Joseph; the second was placed under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary. About the same time a third chapel was begun in the state at Cincinnati, Bishop Flaget having visited this city in the spring of 1818 and having during his presence there daily urged the erection of a chapel as the surest means of obtaining a priest. He arrived at Cincinnati on May 19th and spent two days there. His memory of this visit was quite vivid and accurate as we may judge from the following extract form the memoir which he wrote in 1836 for the Cardinal-Prefect of the Propaganda, explaining the state of his diocese in 1810 and after: "In the beginning of the spring of 1818, I left for Cincinnati, the chief city of the State of Ohio, taking with me Messrs. Bertrand and Janvier, whom I had to place with Mr. Richard, the curé of Detroit and the only priest in all Michigan. The eagerness with which the small number of Catholics of the city of Cincinnati received my visit, persuaded me to remain there a few days in order to give them the aid of my ministry. They were so poor that they were unable to build a church, so that we held our meetings in one of their homes. My exhortations to them always concluded with the words that they build a church as a sure means of obtaining a missionary. They gave the most solemn promise that they would do so, and they kept their word; for a year later it was under roof." . . .

Father Edward Fenwick, O.P.,  first Bishop of Cincinnati

The successful termination of the efforts of the few Catholic families at Cincinnati in building a church had come, however, only after several attempts had met with failure. The first of these attempts was made as early as the year 1811, as the following advertisement, on December 11th, culled from the weekly Liberty Hall of Cincinnati, shows:

"As the Constitution of the United States allows liberty of conscience to all men, and the propagation of religious worship, it is earnestly requested by a number of the Roman Catholics of Cincinnati and its vicinity, that a meeting be held on the 25th of December, next, at the house of Jacob Fowble, at 12 o'clock A.M., when it is hoped all those in favor of establishing a congregation and giving encouragement will attend and give in their names, and at the same time appoint a committee of arrangements."

No evidence has come down to us as to how many persons attended the meeting or what occurred at it, and since Father Fenwick had not reached Cincinnati as early as 1811, we were at a loss to know the occasion of the advertisement, until we chanced upon an obituary notice in the same periodical of an earlier date, October 16, 1811:

Died-On Friday evening last, after an illness of about thirty hours, Mrs. Margaret Fowble, aged 36 years, consort of Mr. Jacob Fowble, of this place, a few years since from the city of Baltimore. For fifteen years past, she has been the meek and humble follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. She had a confidence of her acceptance with her God and has gone to take her seat with the blessed . . . A large concourse of friends and relatives attended her remains to the Methodist meeting house, where a solemn and impressive discourse was delivered by Bishop McKendree on the mournful occasion, to a very attentive congregation, whose countenances bespoke the share she held in their affections."

The sudden death of his dear wife, without the last rites of the Catholic religion, the necessity of her burial from the Methodist church, and the danger of a similar fate overtaking himself and his Catholic neighbors, aroused the energies of Jacob Fowble to consult with the other Catholics, few though they were, regarding the erection of a church.

A new impulse was given to the enterprise by Bishop Flaget in May, 1818, when he visited Cincinnati for a few days on his way north. It was as a result of his encouragement that a committee of Catholic men at Cincinnati, seeing themselves unable to procure among themselves the means necessary for the building of a church, sent out an appeal for help to the Catholics of the East, an appeal that was given consideration by the Mirror of Baltimore.

Sir: Permit us to address you on a subject which we deem important. We are authorized to acquaint you in behalf of ourselves and the Roman Catholics of this town, that considering ourselves like the lost sheep of the house of Israel, forlorn and forsaken, destitute of the means of of exercising the duties of our Holy Religion, without Guide, Church, or Pastor, while we behold all other members of the community enjoying these benefits; we are compelled, from the paucity of our numbers and consequent want of pecuniary resources, to call upon our brethren throughout the Union for their assistance towards the erection of a Catholic Church. . . Relying on your zeal and promptitude, we shall shortly expect to be favored with your reply directed to Mr. P. Reily, of the firm of Perrys and Reilly, Brewers, Cincinnati. We are, Sir, Respt, Your Ob't Servants.

This appeal shows these Irish Catholics of Cincinnati to have been sincere in their promise to Bishop Flaget to build a church. After they had perhaps heard from the East, they called another meeting to be held this time in the house of John White . . . in Columbia Street, near Broadway, on Sunday, March 7, 1819. We are not left long to conjecture what the meeting was about; it was none other than the organization of the congregation and building of the church, for which moneys were needed. . .

The site chosen for the church was on lots one and two in a tract of land adjoining the northern boundary of the city, which James Findlay had laid out into fifty-two lots and had denominated the Northern Liberties. Lots one and two are now occupied by the present St. Francis Church at the northwest corner of Vine and Liberty Streets. The reasons prompting the Catholics in the choice of that site were that it was a more central site for the county; secondly, the paucity of their numbers and their very limited means did not permit them to buy property within the city limits, as this property was high priced. On the other hand they obtained very easy terms from James Findlay, who had advertised that he would sell under "easy terms." As a matter of fact, the congregation agreed to purchase the lots from Mr. Findlay for $1,200; but on the day of the transfer of the property, they executed a mortgage to James Findlay for $750, a transaction which speaks for it self in reference to the poverty of the Catholics at Cincinnati. . . .

Taking advantage of an act for the incorporation of religious societies, passed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio on February 5, 1819, the Catholics of Cincinnati organized themselves into a congregation to be known as Christ Church with the following five trustees: Patrick Reily, John Sherlock, Thomas Dugan, Edward Lynch, and Michael Scott.

The actual work on the church did not occupy much time. Mr. Michael Scott, a house carpenter by profession, prepared the plans, which were given to Mr. William Reily of Alexandria, Kentucky. The church, a plain frame structure, measuring about 55 by 30 feet, was probably completed according to intention for Easter Sunday, 1819, and on that day Mass was said in it for the first time. . .

Towards the end of this year Bishop Flaget of Bardstown, Kentucky, in whose diocese lay the entire state of Ohio, wrote to the Cardinal-Prefect of the Propaganda, giving a short account of the Catholic prospects in Ohio and advising the erection of a bishopric in the state.

It was no doubt, as the result of Father Fenwick's report to him that Bishop Flaget wrote thus to the Propaganda. The two Fathers then in Ohio had, indeed, formed churches at Somerset, Lancaster, and Cincinnati, but as we learn from the baptismal register started by Father Fenwick in 1818, Father visited many other places in the state where he found Catholics. In 1820 Father Fenwick himself estimated the number of Catholics in Ohio at 3,000 persons, composed principally of Germans and Irish, the former exceeding the latter. The Propaganda Congregation was not long in giving ear to the advice of the American prelates relative to the erection of a see in Ohio, so that in June, 1821, the diocese of Cincinnati was erected with Right Reverend Edward Fenwick, O.P., as its first bishop.

© 1998-2008 by David J. Endres