Central Kentucky witnessed an influx of religions settling here after 1785.
The Presbyterians settled here in 1785 with Terah Templin being the first ordained minister in Kentucky. Located here is the Springfield Presbyterian Church, founded 1788. The early history of the Springfield Presbyterian Church is closely associated with the pioneer missionary work of Rev. Terah Templin. Templin cane to Kentucky before 1791 and obtained 600 acres of land about 5 miles north of Springfield in the area of Lincoln Homestead State Park. He later sold this property to Mordecai Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln's uncle.
The Methodists erected a log meeting house north of Springfield and were connected with Jesse Head who on June 12th, 1806 officiated the wedding of Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln, President Lincoln's parents. Baptists settled here in 1796 and worshipped in the Methodist Meeting House.
The Catholics had a significant influence in Kentucky. English-heritage Catholics settled here in 1785. Father Stephen Badin (first Roman Catholic priest ordained in America) and the French bishop Joseph Flaget, developed this area into a headquarters to serve America's growing Catholic population. Gethsemani Abbey, the Sisters of Loretto, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine were a result of this
Catholic migration.
St. Rose Church is located two miles from Springfield. Built in 1809, it is the first foundation of the Dominican Order in America and one of the oldest churches still in use. The first ordination of a priest in Kentucky took place here in 1811 when Bishop Flaget ordained Fr. Gary Chabrat. Edward Dominic Fenwick, first bishop of Cincinnati, was also consecrated here. It was at St. Rose that the first congregation of Dominican Sisters in America was founded.
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