Paul Peter Rhode

Paul Peter Rhode (; September 18, 1871 – March 3, 1945) was a German-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay in Wisconsin from 1915 until his death in 1945.

Rhode was the first Pole and Kashubian to be elevated to an American bishopric.

Biography

Early life and education Paul Rhode was born in Neustadt in the Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire (now part of Poland) to Augustin and Krystyna Rhode. Augustin died in Prussia while Paul Rhode was a young boy. When he was age nine, his family immigrated to the United States in the Kashubian diaspora, settling in Chicago, Illinois.

Rhode was first educated at St. Mary's College in Hardin's Creek, Kentucky. He then attended St. Ignatius College in Chicago, where he completed his classical and philosophical studies. Rhode completed his theological studies at St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin. His first assignment was as a curate at St. Adalbert Parish in Chicago, where he remained for two years. He was named pastor of St. Michael Parish in South Chicago in 1897.

On May 22, 1908, Rhode was appointed auxiliary bishop of Chicago and titular bishop of Barca by Pope Pius X.

Paul Rhode died at Mercy Hospital in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on March 3, 1945, at age 73.