and Michigan Canal; owing to the failure of the contracting company, they received their pay in land scrip instead of cash, and were thus forced to settle upon hitherto untilled farm-land. These Irish farmers, with the Germans, were followed by Poles, Slovaks, Slovenians, Croats, Lithuanians, and Italians who came to work in the coal mines. They were first organized in parishes looked after by priests of their own nationality. Diocese of Peoria 1875 to 1930 Due to the rapid growth of the church in central Illinois, Coadjutor Bishop Thomas Foley of Chicago became concerned about his ability to govern that region along with Chicago. He requested a division of his diocese in 1872, but the Vatican did not act on it. After another appeal in 1874, Pope Pius IX on February 12, 1875, erected the new Diocese of Peoria. It included 23 counties in Illinois from the Mississippi River to the Indiana border. Peoria was chosen as the see city. Pius IX appointed Reverend John Spalding of the Diocese of Louisville as the first bishop of Peoria in 1876. That same year, six Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis arrived from Iowa City, Iowa, to care for the sick. They served at the city hospital and made home visits to patients. Shortly after the nuns' arrival, Spalding visited the city hospital. Observing their difficult working conditions, he encouraged them to form a separate congregation with his support. As the mother superior had no objections, the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Peoria was established in July 1877. St. Francis Hospital opened in Peoria 1878.Suffering from paralysis in 1905, Spalding resigned as bishop in 1908. Pope Pius X named Reverend Edmund Dunne of the Archdiocese of Chicago as the second bishop of Peoria. During the early 1920s, the future Archbishop Fulton Sheen, a popular television host in the 1950's, was a priest in the diocese. After Sheen spent time in pastoral and teaching jobs in the United Kingdom, Dunne ordered him to return to Peoria in 1925. Both Columbia University in New York City and Oxford University in England offered Sheen teaching positions. However, instead of allowing Sheen to take one of these prestigious positions, Dunne assigned him as a curate to St. Patrick's, a poor parish in Peoria. Sheen took the assignment without any complaints and enjoyed his time there. Nine months later, Dunne summoned