Peter Richard Kenrick

Peter Richard Kenrick ( born August 17, 1806 Dublin, Ireland; † March 4, 1896 in St. Louis, Missouri) was the first Archbishop of St. Louis.

Life

On March 6, 1832, he was consecrated Archbishop Daniel Murray of Dublin priest. He then traveled with his brother Francis Patrick Kenrick, who later became Archbishop of Philadelphia, in the United States. In his early years in Philadelphia, he wrote several works on Catholic theology and church history. In 1841 he published his work " The validity of Anglican ordinations examined ". In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he held several positions until April 30, 1841 by Pope Gregory XVI he. was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of St. Louis and Titular Bishop of Drasus.

On November 30, 1841 he donated Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, the episcopal ordination. Co-consecrators were his brother Francis Patrick Kenrick, Coadjutor of Philadelphia, and the coadjutor of Detroit, Peter Paul Lefevere. Two years later, after the death of Rosati, he was born on September 25, 1843 Bishop of St. Louis. Pope Pius IX. appointed him on July 12, 1847 Archbishop of St. Louis and raised on 20 July, the diocese to the rank of archbishopric. During his tenure, he visited several parts of the State of Missouri and actively carry out the construction of Catholicism and the religious institutions in his archdiocese. He founded a Catholic newspaper, opened a seminar in Carondelet, Missouri and took a religious congregations for the work in the archdiocese.

He participated in the second Synod in Baltimore, where all U.S. bishops took part, under the chairmanship of the Archbishop of Baltimore. He demanded that the affairs of the Catholic Church in the U.S. is not central, but processed locally should. In taking this position he earned numerous criticisms of his opponents. During the First Vatican Council, he campaigned against the centralization of ecclesiastical authority in Rome and rejected the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope. Before the Pope and the Bishops present, he explained his rejection. As the dogma was defined, he took the dogma despite personal rejection. He spoke and never wrote about this subject matter. Because of this behavior at the council he was particularly sharp criticism of the Curia.

1893 his preferred candidate was not appointed to the post of Coadjutor, but his compatriot John Joseph Cain. His conflicts and the bad relationship with Cain hurt his standing up to his death. On 21 May 1895, he resigned as Archbishop and was appointed Titular Archbishop of Marcianopolis. He died on March 4, 1896 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, a cemetery, the establishment of which he himself had initiated.