Ep 2.54: Rebuilding After the Chicago Fire

This episode continues the story of St. Louis as a cradle of bishops by following its clergy into the devastation left by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Monsignor and Teresa recount how Bishop Thomas Foley—followed by Archbishop Patrick Feehan, both ordained in St. Louis—led Chicago’s Catholic community through an extraordinary period of rebuilding and expansion. The discussion highlights the surge of new parishes, religious communities, schools, and hospitals that rose from the ashes, alongside the creation of new dioceses across the Midwest. The episode then turns westward to founding bishops from St. Louis in Green Bay, Kansas City, Wichita, and Lincoln, revealing how pastoral leadership, cultural tensions, and even temperance debates shaped Catholic life on the frontier.