The Right Reverend Sylvester Horton Rosecrans, D.D.

Born February 5, 1827 in Homer, Ohio, Sylvester Rosecrans grew up in northern Licking County. Tradition has it that Sylvester was baptized by a Methodist minister. He studied at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. In 1845 he converted to Roman Catholicism at the urging of his brother William (later a general in the U.S. Army during the Civil War). Young and enthusiastic, he left Kenyon and enrolled at Fordham University, New York, from which he graduated with high honors.

Sylvester then expressed to Archbishop John Purcell his desire to be a priest (at that time the counties composing the Diocese of Columbus were part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati). Archbishop Purcell sent him to the College of the Propaganda in Rome, Italy, where he earned a doctorate in theology with honors. He was ordained a priest by Constantino Cardinal Patrizi, Bishop of Albano and Vicar to the Pope, on June 5, 1852, in Rome.

Father Rosecrans was assigned as pastor of St. Thomas Church in Cincinnati, then to St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, Cincinnati. He also taught at the diocesan seminary. In 1856 Archbishop Purcell appointed Fr. Rosecrans president of the newly opened college for Catholic youth in connection with the seminary.

On December 23, 1861, Fr. Rosecrans was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati and Titular Bishop of Pompeiopolis by the Holy See. He was consecrated on March 25, 1862, by Archbishop Purcell in St. Peter's Cathedral. In 1867, Bishop Rosecrans was appointed pastor of St. Patrick Church in Columbus as a preliminary step in the erection of the Diocese of Columbus. Pope Pius IX formally erected the Diocese of Columbus March 3, 1868, and named Bishop Rosecrans bishop of the new diocese.

Bishop Rosecrans established the many institutions required in the new diocese, including parishes, schools, and orphanages. In 1875 he established the first newspaper of the new diocese, the Catholic Columbian. During this time, he also oversaw construction of St. Joseph Cathedral, which he consecrated October 20, 1878. A day later, October 21, 1878, he died. He is entombed in the undercroft of St. Joseph Cathedral.