Herman Joseph Alerding

Herman Joseph Alerding (April 13, 1845 – December 6, 1924) was a German-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne in Indiana from 1900 until his death in 1924.

Biography

Early life Herman Alerding was born on April 13, 1845, in Westphalia in the Kingdom of Prussia (now Germany). After his birth, the family immigrated to the United States, settling in Newport, Kentucky. He attended the parochial school of Corpus Christi Parish in Newport Alerding decided to become a priest, but Bishop George Carrell, the prelate for the local Diocese of Covington, refused to send him to seminary. Carrell did not want to pay Alerding's seminary tuition.

However, in 1858, Bishop Jacques-Maurice De Saint Palais of the nearby Diocese of Vincennes sponsored Alerding at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary near Vincennes, Indiana. When St. Charles closed in 1859, Alerding transferred to St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, Kentucky. He returned to Indiana in 1860 to enroll at St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana. After his ordination, Alerding served as a curate at St. Joseph Parish in Terre Haute, Indiana, while also attending several missions throughout Parke and Sullivan Counties in Indiana

Alerding was transferred to St. Joseph Parish in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1874, there overseeing the construction of a church, rectory, and parochial school.