John Cunningham was born in Irremore, County Kerry, and received his early education in Listowel.

[1] After coming to the United States in 1860, he enrolled at St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas.

[2] He completed his theological studies at St. Francis' Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,[3] and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop John Baptiste Miège, S.J., on August 8, 1865.

[4] Cunningham carried out his priestly ministry in the Diocese of Leavenworth, where was charged by Bishop Louis Mary Fink, O.S.B., with securing funds to pay off the remaining debt on the cathedral and with helping Kansan settlers during the depressed economy of the period.

[3] He also dedicated the cathedral and laid the cornerstone for the Nazareth Motherhouse in 1902, and founded Hays Catholic College and St. Joseph's Orphanage in addition to several rectories and convents.