Eighth Providence bishop presides as first bishop's remains relocated

Published: 2006-12-14

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) -- With hundreds of worshippers looking on, the eighth ordinary of Providence presided at a Mass and offered prayers Dec. 8 as students carried the remains of the founding bishop of Providence to a new sarcophagus in the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. Six students from Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick carried on their shoulders a sturdy, green-velvet-covered casing containing Bishop Thomas F. Hendricken's original casket. "This occasion is an opportunity to recall the noble history of the Providence Diocese and to remember and thank all those who have gone before us in faith," said Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, the current bishop of Providence. Born in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1827, Thomas Hendricken came to the United States in 1854 with Bishop William O'Reilly of Hartford, Conn., who had gone to Ireland to recruit priests for his diocese. After his ordination, then-Father Hendricken served for 17 years at a parish in Waterbury, Conn. During his first six years as bishop, he established 13 parishes and built a rectory near the old Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. He also built the current cathedral, for which the cornerstone was laid in 1878.

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