For the two or three of you that don't read (lots of) American Catholic blogs
The Pope's visit to the U.S. coincides with the 200th anniversary of the division of the one Diocese of the U.S., Baltimore, into five separate diocese. From Baltimore sprung Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bardstown.
Bardstown?
It is funny to think that 200 years ago, before the Falls of the Ohio were navigable, one of the most important and growing cities west of the Allegheny Mountains with a significant Catholic population was Bardstown, Kentucky. Today, the seat of Nelson county has a population of about 10,000. Its growth was stalled after the lock system was put into place that allowed river traffic to flow down the Ohio, through Louisville. In 1841, the Episcopal See was moved to Louisville, though the original cathedral, today referred to as the Basilica of St. Joseph or the Proto-Cathedral, remains in Bardstown, as well as some of its amazing treasures of artwork, some attributed to Van Eyck, Rubens, and Murillo, and one definitively recognized as a Preti.
At the White House this week, the Pope referred to the second four diocese as including Louisville. In subsequent appearances, he corrected that, calling it "Bardstown (now Louisville)." As someone who lived in Bardstown for one of the two years I spent in Kentucky, I breathed a small sigh of relief that the Bardstown chapter has not been forgotten by history (or the Holy Father). I have found this part of American history and specifically Catholic American history incredibly exciting and interesting. Heaven must be a Kentucky kind of place.
Bardstown?
It is funny to think that 200 years ago, before the Falls of the Ohio were navigable, one of the most important and growing cities west of the Allegheny Mountains with a significant Catholic population was Bardstown, Kentucky. Today, the seat of Nelson county has a population of about 10,000. Its growth was stalled after the lock system was put into place that allowed river traffic to flow down the Ohio, through Louisville. In 1841, the Episcopal See was moved to Louisville, though the original cathedral, today referred to as the Basilica of St. Joseph or the Proto-Cathedral, remains in Bardstown, as well as some of its amazing treasures of artwork, some attributed to Van Eyck, Rubens, and Murillo, and one definitively recognized as a Preti.
At the White House this week, the Pope referred to the second four diocese as including Louisville. In subsequent appearances, he corrected that, calling it "Bardstown (now Louisville)." As someone who lived in Bardstown for one of the two years I spent in Kentucky, I breathed a small sigh of relief that the Bardstown chapter has not been forgotten by history (or the Holy Father). I have found this part of American history and specifically Catholic American history incredibly exciting and interesting. Heaven must be a Kentucky kind of place.
Comments
How true :)