Bishop Benedict Fenwick, S.J. (1782-1846)

Today marks the death of Bishop Benedict Fenwick, second Bishop of Boston and founder of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Born in Maryland, he graduated from Georgetown University and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1808. In the succeeding years he was pastor in New York, director of its first Catholic Collegiate school, administrator and vicar-general of the diocese, missionary in South Carolina, and twice president of Georgetown College. In 1825, he was named Bishop of Boston. Over the next 21 years he founded 37 parishes. In 1829 he began The Pilot, the diocesan paper, which is still in existence. Early in his episcopate Fenwick tried to start a Catholic college in Boston, but for a variety of reasons (including anti-Catholic opposition) it never got off the ground. In 1843, decided to start a college in Worcester with a Jesuit faculty, named Holy Cross for the diocesan cathedral.