John Henry Luers (September 29, 1819 – June 29, 1871) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the new
Diocese of Fort Wayne in Indiana from 1858 until his death in 1871.
Biography
Early life
Luers was born on September 29, 1819, near
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...
in the
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a kingdom in Germany, with a population of 2.6 million, that existed from 1807 to 1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the ...
(now part of Germany). His family emigrated to the United States in 1831, settling on a farm near
Piqua, Ohio
Piqua ( ) is a city in Miami County, southwest Ohio, United States, 27 miles north of Dayton. The population was 20,522 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
It was founded as the village of Washington in ...
. John Luers worked a store clerk in town. According to contemporary accounts, Luers, as a young man, was not religious and led a wild life.
His father severely admonished him for neglecting his prayers.
[Alerding, H. J., ''The Diocese of Fort Wayne, 1857-September 22, 1907, A Book of Historical Reference, 1669-1907'', Fort Wayne: The Archer Printing Co. 1907, p. 30]
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In 1835, Luers' outlook towards Catholicism and service to others changed after meeting Archbishop John Baptist Purcell
John Baptist Purcell (February 26, 1800 – July 4, 1883) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Cincinnati from 1833 to his death in 1883, and he was elevated to the rank of archbishop in 1850. He formed the b ...
. Luers soon decided to become a priest. Purcell sent him to St. Francis Xavier Seminary in Cincinnati.[
]
Priesthood
Luers was ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
a priest by Purcell for the Diocese of Cincinnati on November 11, 1846.
[Hammer, Bonaventure. "Fort Wayne." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 20 October 2022 After his ordination, Luers was appointed pastor of St. Joseph's parish in Cincinnati. While there, he finished construction of the church and constructed several schools while eliminating the parish's debts. It soon became one of the largest and most important German congregations in the city.[
]
Bishop of Fort Wayne
Pope Pius IX appointed Luers as the first bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
of the Diocese of Fort Wayne on September 22, 1857. He was consecrated in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...
on January 10, 1858,[ by Archbishop James Whitfield. "In the evening, at nearby St. Joseph Church, Luers’ parishioners hosted a reception for their longtime pastor. On this occasion, they presented him with a mitre, crosier, pectoral cross, bishop’s cassock, ambry with episcopal seal, three pairs of pontifical shoes, and $1,200."
In 1863, Luers held a synod of priests in the diocese at the ]University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
in which he established the laws and constitution for the diocese. Luers attended the Second Plenary Council in Baltimore in 1866.cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
.[ In 1868, due to the large German-speaking population in the diocese, he invited the ]Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ
The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ (PHJC) is a female congregation of the Catholic Church. It originated in Dernbach (Westerwald), where the generalate is still located. Their organization for ''associates'' (like Fiat Spiritus) is also open to m ...
(PHJC) of Dernbach / Westerwald, a German religious order, to come to the diocese. The sisters established St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne in 1869. In 1868, Luers established an orphanage in Rensselaer, Indiana for children who had lost their parent during the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
.
Death and legacy
In June 1871, during a vacancy of the See of Cleveland, Luers traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to ordain a seminarian. While returning to the Cleveland train station on June 29th, John Luers suffered a fatal stroke. He was age 51.orphan asylum
An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or a ...
, one college, 11 academies for girls, 40 parochial schools, and a Catholic population estimated at 50,000.[ The Franciscan Order founded Bishop Luers High School in 1958 in Fort Wayne.Bishop Luers High School]
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References
External links
Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luers, John Henry
19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States
1819 births
1871 deaths
German emigrants to the United States
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Roman Catholic bishops of Fort Wayne
Catholics from Indiana