Catholic archbishop, author, b. Misanenga, Canton of Grisons, Switzerland. He studied at St. Gall, Lucerne, and Rome. He migrated to the U.S. in 1828 and completed his studies at Bardstown, Ky. In 1829 he was ordained for the Cincinnati diocese and began teaching philosophy at the Atheneum (St. Xavier Univ.) in Cincinnati. He also rode the circuit and took a census of German Catholics in Ohio. In 1834 he became the diocesan vicar-general and pastor of the Germans in Cincinnati. Active in promoting educational programs to combat the cultural backwardness of the frontier and hostility toward immigrants, he founded the first German Catholic newspaper in the U.S., Der Wahrheitsfreund (1837). As editor (1837-1843), he emphasized history, citizenship, and the liberal arts, and opposed slavery and prohibition. In 1844 Henni was consecrated bishop of the newly formed (1843) diocese of Wisconsin, and moved to Milwaukee the same year. In this position he helped encourage German Catholic immigration to the state, and defended immigrants against knownothingism. He was active in recruiting teaching orders and stimulated the foundling of Marquette Univ. and St. Francis Seminary (1856). To provide German Catholics with their own newspapers, he established in Milwaukee Der Seebote (1852) and Die Columbia (1872). He also sponsored the Monroe CathoIic Vindicator (1870-1872) and the Milwaukee Star of Bethlehem (1869-1870), and arranged for their merger with the Milwaukee Catholic Citizen. He was the author of Ein Blick in's Thal des Ohio (Munich, 1836) and Facts against Assertions (1845). In 1875 Henni became archbishop. For many years the leading spirit in Wisconsin Catholicism, at his death Henni had built the Church in Wisconsin into three dioceses with a large membership and numerous churches, schools, and institutions. Dict. Amer. Biog.; P. L. Johnson, Crosier on the Frontier (Madison, 1959); Wis. Mag. Hist. 10, 23; WPA MS.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]