Breidenthal, 56, was elected November 11 at the diocese's annual convention. He is the former dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel at Princeton University.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was the chief consecrator during the service at the Mershon Auditorium on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus.

New Jersey retired Bishop G. P. Mellick Belshaw, Southern Ohio retired Bishop William G. Black, New Jersey Bishop George E. Councell, Southern Ohio Bishop Suffragan Kenneth L. Price Jr., and New York Bishop Mark S. Sisk were the chief consecrators.

Ohio Bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr. led the post-communion prayer.

Among those presenting Breidenthal with symbolic gifts during the liturgy was House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson who gave the new bishop the traditional gift of a Bible.

The auditorium's two-tiered stage was crowded with lush green plants, musicians, a piano, organ and altar, according to an article in the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. A 250-member procession marched in to the sounds of a choir, trumpet and a young percussionist beating an African drum.

Deacons each carried tubs of water from the different rivers in southern Ohio and poured them all into one baptismal font in front of the altar.

Bishop C. Christopher Epting, the Presiding Bishop's deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations for the Episcopal Church, preached. He told the more than 2,000-member assembly that two vows that Breidenthal takes as bishop might seem contradictory. One pledges to guard the faith, unity and discipline of the church, while the other promises to be merciful and compassionate to everyone, and to defend those who have no helpers.

"These perspectives of unity and justice are hard to hold together," Epting said. "It's a problem for bishops."

Breidenthal succeeds Bishop Herbert Thompson Jr., who was consecrated in 1988 and served the diocese for 17 years. Thompson retired at the end of 2005 and died unexpectedly August 16 while traveling in Italy. Price has served as the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese for the past 16 months.

Breidenthal will be installed at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati on May 12.

Breidenthal is married to Margaret Ann Garner Breidenthal, and they have two daughters, Magdalene, a college student studying in France, and Lucy, a high school senior.

The service was streamed live on the Internet on the day of the service.

The diocese includes 25,000 members in 40 counties of central and southern Ohio.

On April 29, Jefferts Schori presided at Eucharist at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Dayton, Ohio.