ELDER, William Henry. - Third Bishop of Natchez (Mississippi) and second Archbishop of Cincinnati, b. in Baltimore on 22 March 1819, d. in Cincinnati on 31 Oct. 1904. He first studied at Emmitsburg (Maryland) and then at Rome in the Collegio di Propaganda Fide. Ordained priest on 29 March 1846, he taught theology at Emmitsburg for several years. In 1857 he was consecrated Bishop of Natchez; in 1880 he became titular Bishop of Avara and coadjutor to the Archbishop of Cincinnati, Purcell; he succeeded him on 4 July 1883. His name is associated with numerous religious institutions which received from him impetus and new life. During the Civil War, in 1864, he refused to recite public prayers for the President of the United States, rightly considering that the imposition would infringe upon religious liberty, and he suffered arrest.
ELDER, WILLIAM HENRY
Bibl.: J. G. Shea, History of the Cath. Church in U. S., New York 1890; R. C. M., s. V. in Dictionary of American Biography, VI, p. 69.