Urban John Vehr

The oldest of six children, Urban Vehr was born in the Price Hill section of Cincinnati, Ohio, to Anthony and Catharine (née Hamann) Vehr.[1] His father was a mechanical engineer.[2] After graduating from St. Xavier College in Cincinnati, Urban Vehr studied theology at Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West in the same city.[2]

Vehr was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati by Archbishop Henry K. Moeller on May 29, 1915.[3] After his ordination, Vehr was assigned as a curate at Holy Trinity Parish in Middletown, Ohio. He was transferred in 1923 to the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati to serve as its chaplain.[1]

In 1924, Vehr earned a Master of Education degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. After his return to Cincinnati, he was appointed superintendent of the Catholic schools in the archdiocese.[1] Vehr was appointed d as rector of St. Gregory Minor Seminary in Cincinnati in 1927 was raised to the rank of monsignor.[1]

Vehr was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, receiving a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1928.[1] After his return from Rome, he served from 1930 to 1931, as rector of Mount St. Mary's Seminary.[1]

On April 17, 1931, Vehr was appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Denver by Pope Pius XI.[3] He received his episcopal consecration on June 10, 1931, from Archbishop John T. McNicholas, with Archbishop Francis Beckman and Bishop Joseph H. Albers serving as co-consecrators.[3] At age 40, he was the youngest Catholic bishop in the United States.[2] He was installed at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on July 16, 1931.[3]

Vehr soon visited every parish in the diocese, wearing out the new Studebaker automobile given to him by his clergy.[2] The number of parishes fell from 111 in 1930 to 87 in 1940 due to the Great Depression.[2] Vehr cooperated with the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, asking priests to celebrate mass at the two dozen Civilian Conservation Corps camps established in Colorado.[2] He reorganized diocesan affairs and placed ownership of all parish properties in the name of the bishop.[2]

On November 15, 1941, Pope Pius XII raised the Diocese of Denver to the Archdiocese of Denver and appointed Vehr as its first Archbishop.[3][4] He was installed on January 6, 1942; one attendee was Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI), who stayed in Vehr's residence.[2] Due to World War II, Vehr did not receive his pallium, a vestment worn by metropolitan bishops, until April 1946, when he received it from Cardinal Samuel Stritch.[5]

Vehr was named as an assistant at the pontifical throne in 1955.[1] Under the slogan of "Every Catholic Child in a Catholic School," he began a fundraising campaign to raise $3.5 million to acquire school sites and make additions to existing ones.[2] In 1965, Vehr launched the Archdiocesan Development Program to accommodate Colorado's Catholic population, which had tripled in size since his arrival in 1931.[2] He also erected 43 new parishes and expanded St. Thomas Seminary, which reached its peak enrollment of 274 seminarians during Vehr's tenure.[2] Due to poor health, Vehr did not attend the Second Vatican Council sessions in Rome (1962-1965), but sent Auxiliary Bishop David Maloney instead.[2]

On February 18, 1967, Pope Paul VI accepted Vehr's resignation as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Denver and appointed him titular archbishop of Masuccaba.[3] He resigned his titular see on December 31, 1970.[3]

Urban Vehr died in Denver on September 19, 1973, at age 82.