January 14, 1940
Bishop John Henry Tihen
Bishop Tihen was born in Oldenburg, IN on July 14, 1861 but at the end of the Civil War the Tihen family moved to a farm near Jefferson City, MO. He attended St. Benedict’s College, Atchison, KS and St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, WI before being ordained by Bishop Kenrick for the Diocese of St. Louis on April 26, 1886. Bishop Hennessy requested that Father Tihen, his former assistant in St. Louis, come to Wichita where he became rector of the Pro-Cathedral, chancellor, in 1905 was named a monsignor, and in 1907 was made vicar general of the diocese. In 1911 he was named the bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska and was ordained a bishop in the Pro-Cathedral of Wichita. In 1917 he was made bishop of Denver where he completed the cathedral there and built St. Thomas Seminary. In 1931 Bishop Tihen retired as Bishop of Denver and returned to Wichita to live at St. Francis Hospital until his death on January 14, 1940. A Solemn Requiem was celebrated in St. Mary’s Cathedral before his body was transferred to Denver for a Pontifical Mass of Requiem. Bishop Tihen was buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Denver alongside his predecessors Bishops Machebeuf and Matz.