parent - student handbook - Fenwick High School

EDWARD DOMINIC FENWICK, OP (1768-1832)Edward Fenwick was born on August 19, 1768 on the family plantation in St. Mary’s County,Maryland. At the age of sixteen he left his family to attend the College of the Holy Cross inBornhem, Belgium. Upon completion of his studies, and inspired by his Dominican uncle, heentered the Order of Preachers, joining the English Dominican province on December 4, 1788 asa novice where he was given the religious name ADominic@. He was solemnly professed in 1790and ordained a priest in 1796 at the Cathedral of Saint Baron, in Ghent.FENWICK HIGH SCHOOL505 WASHINGTON BOULEVARDOAK PARK, IL 60302www.fenwickfriars.comFollowing nine years of ministry in the English province, Fenwick returned to his homeland tofulfill his lifetime dream to found a Dominican Province in the United States. Unable to receivepermission from Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore to found a college in Maryland, heresponded to the need for priests on the frontier of Kentucky. Fenwick, in 1806 joined with fourfriars in founding the first Dominican community in the United States, under the patronage of thefirst Dominican saint of the Americas, Rose of Lima, in Washington County, Kentucky.On June 13, 1821 he was appointed the first bishop of Cincinnati and ordained a bishop onJanuary 13, 1822. His diocese included the entire state of Ohio, and the vast Michigan Territory,comprising the states of Michigan and Wisconsin.Dedicated to education, Fenwick invited several women=s religious communities to foundschools in his diocese. He established a seminary in Ohio in 1829 and in 1831 a college, knownas the Athenaeum.Fenwick died of cholera on September 26, 1832 while returning from a trip to Mackinaw Island,preaching the Word of God and caring for the many settlers and Native Americans in his vastdiocese.Fenwick High School is named after this pioneering Dominican friar and bishop who dedicatedhis life to the of education of young men and women.Recognized for excellence in education by the United States Department ofEducation as part of the Nation's exemplary private school recognition project andas one of America’s outstanding high schools by U.S. News & World Report.