Early history 1670 to 1776 During the 17th century, present day Illinois was part of the French colony of
New France. The
Diocese of Quebec, which had jurisdiction over the colony, sent numerous French missionaries to the region. Catholicism in the Peoria area dates from the days of the French missionary
Jacques Marquette, who rested at the Native American village of Peoria on his voyage up the
Illinois River in 1673. Opposite present day Peoria, the French explorers
Robert de La Salle and
Henri de Tonti in 1680 built
Fort Crèvecoeur. Mass was celebrated there by three
Recollect Fathers: Gabriel Ribourdi,
Zenobius Membre, and
Louis Hennepin. With some breaks in the succession, the line of missionaries extends to within a short period of the founding of modern Peoria. After the British took control of New France in 1763, the
Archdiocese of Quebec retained jurisdiction in the Illinois area.
1776 to 1875 In 1776, the new United States claimed sovereignty over the area of Illinois. After the
American Revolution ended in 1783,
Pope Pius VI erected in 1784 the
Prefecture Apostolic of the United States, encompassing the entire territory of the new nation. In 1785, Bishop
John Carroll sent his first missionary to Illinois. In 1787, the area became part of the
Northwest Territory of the United States. Pius VI created the
Diocese of Baltimore, the first diocese in the United States, to replace the prefecture apostolic in 1789. With the creation of the
Diocese of Bardstown in Kentucky in 1810, supervision of the Illinois missions shifted there from the Diocese of Baltimore. In 1827, the
Diocese of St. Louis assumed jurisdiction over the western half of the new state of Illinois. In 1834, the Vatican erected the
Diocese of Vincennes, which included eastern Illinois. In 1839, Father Raho, an Italian priest, visited Peoria, remaining long enough to build the old stone church in
Kickapoo. In 1843, the Vatican erected the
Diocese of Chicago, taking the Illinois parishes from the Dioceses of St. Louis and Vincennes. St. Mary's, the first Catholic church in Peoria proper, was erected by John A. Drew in 1846. Among his successors as pastor of St. Mary's was the poet
Abram J. Ryan. Many of the early Irish immigrants in Illinois in the mid-1800s came to work on the
Illinois and Michigan Canal Owing to the failure of the contracting company, the workers received their pay in land scrip instead of cash, forcing them to settle on virgin farm land. These Irish farmers joined the existing German immigrants. They were followed by Poles, Slovaks,
Slovenians, Croats,
Lithuanians, and Italians who came to work in the coal mines. These groups were organized in ethnic parishes with priests of their own nationalities. In 1851, the first Catholic Church in
Rock Island, St. James, was opened.
Diocese of Peoria 1875 to 1930 Due to the rapid growth of the Catholic population in central Illinois in the late 19th century, Coadjutor Bishop
Thomas Foley of Chicago became concerned about his ability to govern that region along with Chicago. He requested that the Vatican divide the Diocese of Chicago in 1872, but the Vatican did not act on it. After another appeal to the Vatican in 1874,
Pope Pius IX on February 12, 1875, erected the new Diocese of Peoria, taking 23 counties from the Diocese of Chicago. The new diocese was bounded on the west by the
Mississippi River and on the east by the Indiana border. Peoria was chosen as the see city. Pius IX appointed
John Spalding of the
Diocese of Louisville as the first bishop of Peoria in 1876. That same year, six Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis arrived from
Iowa City, Iowa, to care for the sick. They served at the city hospital and made home visits to patients. Shortly after the nuns' arrival, Spalding visited the city hospital. Observing their difficult working conditions, he encouraged them to form a separate congregation with his support. The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Peoria was established in July 1877.
St. Francis Hospital opened in Peoria 1878. Stricken with paralysis in 1905, Spalding resigned as bishop in 1908.
Edmund Dunne was the second bishop of Peoria. During the early 1920s, the future Archbishop
Fulton Sheen, a popular Catholic personality in the post-war period, was a priest in the diocese. After Sheen spent time in pastoral and teaching jobs in the United Kingdom, Dunne ordered him to return to Peoria in 1925, despite Sheen's receiving job offers from
Columbia University and
Oxford University. After a year as a curate, Sheen was transferred to
Catholic University in Washington, DC.
1930 to 1990 After Dunn died in 1929,
Pope Pius XI replaced him in 1930 with
Joseph Schlarman. In 1951, he died after 20 years as bishop of Peoria. Auxiliary Bishop
William Cousins of Chicago was the next bishop of the diocese, named by
Pope Pius XII in 1952. During his tenure as bishop, Cousins established five new parishes and six new grade schools.
Pope John XXIII named Cousins as archbishop of the
Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 1958. To replace Cousins,
Pope John XXIII appointed Bishop
John Franz from the
Diocese of Dodge City in 1959. Franz created 17 new grade schools, two new high schools, one
Newman Center, four new parishes, four missions, and elevate eight missions to parish status. He retired in 1971 and
Pope Paul VI named
Edward O'Rourke to replace Franz. O'Rourke sold the episcopal residence on Glen Oak Avenue in Peoria and moved to a one-bedroom brick ranch house near St. Mary's Cathedral, donating the money to the diocesan fund for retired priests. He established the first diocesan pastoral council in 1974.
1990 to present When O'Rourke retired in 1990 after 19 years as bishop, Myers succeeded him. Myers issued an order forbidding Catholic hospitals in the diocese from providing
emergency contraception to rape victims, a restriction he later eased. He also fired a teacher at a Catholic high school for inviting a speaker to discuss the
ordination of women to the priesthood. In 2001, Myers was made archbishop of
Newark. Auxiliary Bishop
Daniel R. Jenky of the
Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend succeeded him as bishop of Peoria. As bishop, Jenky led the
canonization cause of Archbishop Sheen. However, in 2014, citing undocumented verbal agreements, Jenky announced that he would not permit the cause to progress until Sheen's remains were transferred to Peoria from
St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. After three years of litigation between the diocese and the
Archdiocese of New York regarding Sheen's wishes, the court ordered his remains to go to Peoria, where they arrived in June 2019. On May 11, 2020,
Pope Francis named
Louis Tylka of the Archdiocese of Chicago as coadjutor bishop of the diocese. When Jenky retired in 2022, Tylka became the current bishop of Peoria.
Sexual abuse In November 2018, the diocese removed three retired priests, George Hiland, Duane Leclercq, and John Onderko, from public ministry after determining that all three had credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors. In May 2023, Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul released an investigative report about sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in Illinois. For the Diocese of Peoria, Raoul reported 51 priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse by 142 accusers. The diocese said that none of these priests were still in ministry and all of them had been reported to authorities. ==Bishops==