A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

Chapter 30Hymns of Praise - Some Later Churches in College HillOhio pioneers of the Catholic faith traveled here from Maryland, French Canada and Germany. Theirlife had little time for long ceremonies and they couldn’t afford to support a church or priest. Worshipwas in small groups praying together augmented by a yearly visit from a circuit riding priest, who wouldperform necessary sacraments when he came. Pioneers had limited contact with other groups of peopleand books were scarce. It wasn’t until Ohio became a state that a school and church in every communitybecame a priority.Even though Cincinnati by the 1800’s was a fast growing town, the Catholic population didn’t havetheir own school or church. The closest bishop was in Bardstown, Kentucky. The first Catholic churchwas Christ Church (1812), built at Liberty and Vine streets - beyond the Cincinnati limits - due to thehostility that faced Catholics. It wasn’t until 1820 that the first Catholic church was built inside ofCincinnati through Bishop Edward Fenwick, the first Bishop of the Diocese of Cincinnati. He had been acircuit riding priest throughout Ohio and knew this area well. 1The early churches were few and poor. To raise money for the North American missions, BishopFenwick went to Europe. The European Catholics contributed a penny a week per person for missionarywork. Within a century, those pennies amounted to eight million dollars for America.Irish immigrants, who were predominately Catholic, were coming into Ohio to dig the state-widecanal system. The canal system was a major transportation pathway until 1855, when railroads becamepredominant. By 1913 the canals were starting to be filled in and covered over.In 1822 Bishop Fenwick moved Christ Church to a site on Sycamore Street when St. Xavier Churchnow stands. The church was rededicated to St. Peter. By 1825 St. Peter’s was too small and was replacedby a Gothic style brick church built on the same site. This church was named ‘St. Peter in Chains’ inreference to a painting donated to Bishop Fenwick by Cardinal Fisch, who was an uncle of Napoleon. Thepainting had hung in the cathedral of Seville and was removed during Napoleon’s Spanish campaign. Thispainting remained on view until 1945, when it was moved to St. Gregory’s Seminary. 2St. Peter in Chains was outgrown in twenty years. Bishop John Purcell, who replaced BishopFenwick, planned a new cathedral. The architect was Henry Waters who was famous for his GreekRevival style architecture.The familiar Plum Street property was purchased by Bishop Purcell in December 1840 for $24,000.from Judge Jacob Burnet. The body of the church was finished in 1845, the spire in 1847 and the Daytonlimestone church was fully completed in 1855 at a total cost of $300,000. The stone work was done byHummel. Charles Cist wrote (1851) that was the ‘finest building in the West.’ It was nicknamed the‘White Angel’ by its parishioners.Catholism was growing in Cincinnati, partly because of the eastern European and Irish immigrantswho followed the faith of their native lands. In Cumminsville, the predominately Catholic laborers of theCincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad (chartered in 1846) settled there, leading to the formation of St.Aloysius parish in 1852 and St. Boniface in 1862. Those of German heritage built St. Boniface whilethose from Ireland remained at St. Aloysius. Prior to the founding of these churches, Northside Catholicshad to travel to St. James in White Oak.And as Catholism grew and was accepted, there were conversions to the faith. Reuben R. Springer 3“...was born in the century year (of) 1800, in the month of November. His father was Charles Springer, anative of West Virginia and his mother was Catherine Runyion of Princeton, New Jersey. After aneducation in the common schools, Reuben, at age 13, clerked under his father in the post office, but after1 The Catholic Journey Through Ohio, Albert Hamilton, 1976.2 Op. cit.3 History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, 1821-1921, Rev. John H. Lamott.196