Presidents of the College of the Holy Cross:
Rev. Peter J. Blenkinsop, S.J.
Fifth President of Holy Cross 1854 - 1857
Peter Blenkinsop was born in Dublin, Ireland on April 19, 1818. He came to the United States with his family in 1826 and in 1830 he enrolled in the Preparatory Division St. Mary's College, Baltimore, MD. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1834.
He was sent to Georgetown College in 1838 to study philosophy and theology and to teach ethics. After completion of theological studies, he was ordained a priest in 1846.
He was treasurer at Holy Cross from 1847 until his appointment as the fifth College president in 1854. Leaving Holy Cross in 1857, Father Blenkinsop spent many years in pastoral work in Jesuit churches in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
He died on November 5, 1896 at the Church of the Gesu in Philadelphia.