Most Reverend John Baptist Franz, D.D.
Fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, 1959-1970
The Most Reverend John Baptist Franz, D.D. was born October 29, 1896, in Springfield, IL, the youngest of seven children.
He recalled that his parents "provided us an atmosphere that made us conscious we were Catholic and that we belonged to the Church. I never wanted to be anything but a priest.” His studies took him to St. Francis Solanus High School in Quincy, then to its Franciscan College Department and to Kenrick Seminary, where he completed his work and was ordained by Archbishop John J. Glennon on June 13, 1920 in Kenrick Chapel.
He became a member of the Springfield Diocese Mission Band, traveling through Illinois and Missouri giving missions and retreats until 1926, when he was appointed to lead a campaign fund for a cathedral complex in Springfield. The drive was a smashing success, and Father Franz himself was appointed rector of the Cathedral.
Consecrated Bishop of Dodge City
On the Feast of Beheading of John the Baptist, his patron Saint, August 29, 1951, Msgr. Franz was consecrated a bishop of the new see of Dodge City, Kansas. Bishop Schlarman of Peoria preached the sermon.
Just eight years later, he was appointed to the Diocese of Peoria where he was installed November 4, 1959. His tenure was to bridge the tumultuous years before, during, and after the Second Vatican Council. He stated that participation at the Council was the high point of his life. He studied every draft document and knew the contents of each thoroughly. Proud of his diocese, he wrote in his letter from Rome, “one cannot but be impressed by the vigorous lay apostolate that is developing in our diocese, a development that conforms admirably to the proposed schema on De Laicis.”
Similarly, reporting the events of Vatican II in 1964, The Register noted, “Peoria can take great pride in the fact that the actions of our third bishop in 1934 are now being ‘widely imitated’ by the universal Church, actions which the fifth bishop of the diocese, John Baptist Franz, ‘A MUST’ for the Diocese of Peoria.”
Returning back to the Diocese, he promptly implemented the council decisions with all the background information that the Holy See provided for each directive, such as extending the use of the vernacular, introduction of concelebrated Masses, new rites for marriages and funerals. With a steady hand and enormous common sense, he kept the Diocese of Peoria from experiencing many of the unnecessary upheavals that other dioceses experienced during the Post-Conciliar days.
His years were to see the construction of seventeen new grade schools, two new high schools, one Newman center, four new parishes, four missions and the raising of eight missions to parish status. He also presided over the Fifth Synod of the Diocese, modernizing and codifying regulations and rights of the diocese.
Bishop Franz died at the age of 95 on July 3, 1992, at St. Joseph Home in West Peoria and was buried in St. Mary Cemetery.
