Peter Richard Kenrick was an Irish Catholic priest who served as Bishop of St. Louis from 1843 to 1895. The see was made an archdiocese in 1847, when he was called as the first archbishop west of the Mississippi River. The archdiocese covered nearly all the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. He served in this position for nearly 50 years, until months before his death.

Patrick John Ryan was an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the second Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1884 until his death in 1911.