Ep 2.64: The Passing of an Era and the Dawn of a New One

This episode brings Volume 2 to a close with the final chapter of Archbishop John Joseph Kain’s short and turbulent episcopacy. Monsignor and Teresa trace Archbishop Kain’s declining health, his desperate attempts to secure an auxiliary, and his final months spent seeking relief from the burdens of office—culminating in his death in October 1903 at just sixty‑two years old. The narrative highlights the smooth but poignant transition to Bishop John J. Glennon, appointed coadjutor by Pope Leo XIII only months before both men died, and destined to shape St. Louis for the next half‑century. As the nineteenth century gives way to the twentieth, the episode reflects on the extraordinary foundation laid by DuBourg, Rosati, Kenrick, and their successors, and sets the stage for Volume 3: a new century of challenges, triumphs, and the grand spectacle of the 1904 World’s Fair.