Urban John Vehr

Urban John Vehr (born May 30, 1891 in Cincinnati , Ohio , † September 19, 1973 in Denver , Colorado ) was an American Roman Catholic clergyman and Archbishop of Denver .

Life

Urban John Vehr was born in a suburb of Cincinnati, the oldest of six children of Anthony and Catharine Vehr. He enjoyed his schooling at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He studied theology he completed at the Athenaeum of Ohio before it on May 29, 1915 one day before his 24th birthday, by Archbishop Henry K. Moeller for ordained priests was.

He began his pastoral work as a curate at Holy Trinity Church in Middletown before he became a chaplain in 1923 and was appointed professor at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati. At the Catholic University of America he received his Master of Arts in 1924 , which subsequently made him superintendent of all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati . In 1927 he was honored with the honorary title of Monsignor . From 1927 to 1930 Vehr was Rector of St. Gregory Minor Seminary , from 1930 to 1931 Rector of Mount St. Mary's Seminary . In 1928 he received his licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome .

Pope Pius XI appointed Vehr on April 17, 1931 fourth bishop of the Diocese of Denver. The episcopal ordination donated to him on June 10, 1931 Archbishop John Timothy McNicholas and the co-consecrators Archbishop Francis Beckman and Bishop Joseph H. Albers . In 1931, at 40, Vehr was the youngest bishop in the United States. On July 16, 1931, he came to Denver, where he was enthroned in the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception .

Vehr was considered a bishop who paid a personal visit to every congregation in his diocese. However, as a result of the Depression , the number fell from 111 parishes in 1930 to 87 in 1940. Vehr was therefore very committed to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal . He encouraged young priests to participate in the program of nearly two dozen Civilian Conservation Corps to help the unemployed.

When the Diocese of Denver was founded by Pope Pius XII. was raised to the archbishopric, Vehr was appointed first archbishop on November 15, 1941. The inauguration took place on January 6, 1942. One of the guests was the Papal Secretary of State in Vatican City , Giovanni Battista Montini , who later became Pope Paul VI. Due to the Second World War and the associated communication and transport problems, Vehr was only able to receive the pallium from Cardinal Samuel Stritch in April 1946 . In 1955 he was honored with the title of Papal Assistant to the Throne .

During Vehr's tenure, the number of Catholics tripled. Under the motto Every Catholic Child in a Catholic School , he launched a program in which $ 3.5 million in donations were invested in the education system. 43 new churches were planted; He also had the St. Thomas Seminary expanded, which, at the zenith of Vehr's success, trained 274 seminary students. Since his health was already in poor health, he was unable to attend the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965 and was therefore represented by his auxiliary bishop David Monas Maloney .

On February 18, 1967, after about 36 years as a bishop, Pope Paul VI allowed him to resigned and appointed him titular archbishop of Masuccaba . On December 31, 1970 he renounced his titular seat due to the changed allocation guidelines.

Urban John Vehr died in Denver in September 1973 at the age of 82. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Wheat Ridge .

Web links

• Entry on Urban John Vehr on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Vehr: The Flowering of Catholicism (1931-1967) ( Memento of February 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
John Henry Tihen	Archbishop of Denver 1931-1967	James Vincent Casey