church in the United States to bear that title since the 1854 decree. In 1869, Hendricken persuaded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal to come to the parish, where they established Notre Dame Academy, a day and boarding school for girls. He also purchased land for St. Joseph's Cemetery. In 1868, he accompanied one of his parishioners to the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe in Quebec, where the sixteen-year-old Michael J. McGivney began his studies for the priesthood. In 1870, Hendricken became a naturalized citizen. Bishop of Providence On February 16, 1822, Hendricken was appointed the first bishop of the new Diocese of Rhode Island. He was consecrated by Cardinal John McCloskey in Providence on April 28, 1972. At that time, the diocese included all of Rhode Island, as well as the present Diocese of Fall River and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, all in Massachusetts. The new diocese had 125,000 parishioners, 43 churches, nine parish schools and one orphan asylum. Hendricken created 13 English and two French-speaking parishes for growing populations of French-Canadians and Irish. By 1873, the immigration into the diocese slowed and the post-war boom ended with many of his flock unemployed or on reduced wages. Hendricken again hired Keely, this time to design the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, although he died before its completion in 1878. Death and legacy Thomas Hendricken died at the episcopal residence in Providence on June 11, 1886 at age 59. His funeral was the first mass to be celebrated in the new cathedral, and he was entombed in a crypt beneath the high altar. Bishop Thomas Francis Hendricken High School in Warwick, Rhode Island is named after him. Hendricken was named to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall in 2006. During cathedral renovations in 2006, the basement crypt was removed, and the remains of the bishops were re-interred in a mausoleum at a nearby diocesan cemetery. Hendricken, however, was re-entombed on December 8, 2006 in a sarcophagus located on the cathedral's main floor, in the West Transept. Eight seniors from the high school that bears his name carried Hendricken's remains to a resting place facing the high altar. References External links Profile, catholic-hierarchy.org; accessed March 11, 2017. Episcopal succession 1827 births 1886 deaths Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) People from County Kilkenny 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Roman