There is always a lot going on in the January Indiana Catholic History calendar. January 4th is the Feast of Elizabeth Ann Seton. You may have seen numerous posts about St. Elizabeth Ann and her connection to Indiana and in particular to Simon Brute.
January 8 – This day marks the establishment of the Diocese of Fort Wayne, now, Fort Wayne-South Bend. We posted on the anniversary a couple years ago, which included a clipping about Joseph Dwenger, who was later the Bishop of Fort Wayne, receiving minor orders.
January 10 – This day remembers the death, in 1992, of Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara. This was posted on the same page as the Fort Wayne piece, above. We included the New York Times obituary of the Archbishop who was known all over the Catholic world.
January 14 – This day celebrated two bishops. The first, was the fourth Bishop of Vincennes, Maurice de St. Palais who was consecrated on January 14, 1849. He oversaw a huge expansion of the Church in Indiana and saw it through the era of the Civil War and large numbers of immigrants. He was also one of the 1836 group brought from France by Bishop Brute. The second bishop was Christopher Coyne the auxilary bishop of Indianapolis who came in 2011 to assist an ailing Archbishop Beuchlein. He stayed only four short years and went on to become Bishop of Burlington Vermont and then Archbishop of Hartford Connecticut, which was probably a better fit for a New Englander.
