Herman Joseph Alerding (April 13, 1845 – December 6, 1924) was a German-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.

[3] Alerding decided to become a priest, but Bishop George Carrell, the prelate for the local Diocese of Covington, refused to send him to seminary.

[2] While at Cambridge City, Alerding calmed a turbulent congregation which had been under interdict for several months, liquidated the parish debt, and purchased a site for a new church.

[4][6] Alerding was transferred to St. Joseph Parish in Indianapolis in 1874, there overseeing the construction of a church, rectory, and parochial school.

[5][1] He received his episcopal consecration on November 30, 1900, from Archbishop William Elder, with Bishops Denis O'Donaghue and Henry K. Moeller serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne.

[4] In a pastoral letter issued in December 1918, Alerding declared, "We deserved the infliction of this terrible war and its awful consequences.