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 SAINT PAUL

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SAINT PAUL

Renville, Kandiyohi, Lyon, Lincoln, Yellow Medi- cine, Lac-Qui-Parle, Chippewa, Swift, Goodhue, Big Stone, and Brown, which stretch across the State of Minnesota from east to west, in about the centre of its southern half. During the Seventh Provincial Council of Baltimore (5-13 May, 1849) the fathers petitioned the Holy See to erect a bishop- ric in what was then the village of St. Paul. No action was taken on the matter in Rome for over a year, owing to revolutionary disturbances and the absence of Pope Pius IX (1846-78) in Gaeta conse- quent thereon. The See of St. Paul was actually es- tablished on 19 July, 1850. Its jurisdiction extended over an area of some 166,000 square miles, i.e. over what was then the Territory of Minnesota (estab- lished 3 March, 1849). The constituent parts were: a larger western part, to the west of the Mississippi, formerly part of the Diocese of Dubuque, and a smaller eastern part, between the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, formerly part of the Diocese of Milwaukee. The size remained the same even after the admission of the State of Minnesota into the Union (11 May, 1858), and up to the erection of the Vicariate Apostolic of Northern Minnesota (12 Feb., 1875), of the Vicariate Apostolic of Dakota (12 Aug., 1879), and of the Diocese of Winona (3 Oct., 1889), when it was reduced to its present area. At the time of its erection the Diocese of St. Paul was assigned to the province of St. Louis, afterwards (12 Feb., 1875) to that of Milwaukee. On 4 May, 1888, it became itself an archdiocese, and as such comprises at present the suffragan Sees of Duluth, Crookston, St. Cloud, and Winona, in Min- nesota; Fargo and Bismarck, in North Dakota; Sioux Falls and Lead, in South Dakota.

The diocese was named after the town of St. Paul, which had its origin late in the thirties of last century, along the left or eastern bank of the Missi.ssippi, near the military post of Fort Snelling. leather Lucien Galticr had built a log chapel there, and had opened it for services on 1 Nov., 1841. The rude oratory was placed under the invocation of St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, and the name was then attached to the settlement itself.

The earliest Catholic record of what became after- wards the Diocese of St. Paul is in the Rune Stone, discovered in 1898 near Kensington, Minnesota. A strange inscription on it tells us of a visit made in 1362 by thirty Norsemen to the above locality, where ten of them were slain by the natives, and the remainder addressed a salutation to the Blessed Virgin Mary and called upon her for protection. Although not all the Scandinavian scholars are agreed on the authenticity of this text, still the internal evidence seems to be all in its favour; and nothing has been found so far to contradict its con- tents. Minnesota is a classic land in the history of early Catholic voyageurs and missionaries. The first, as far as records go, were Groseilliers and Radis- son, who spent some time on Prairie Island (1654- 56) and in the neighbourhood of Knife lake, Kana- bec County (1659-60). In 1679-80 Du Lhut visited the countries around Lake Mille Lacs, the western extremity of Lake Superior, and the Mississippi. It was during these journeys that he met the Recollect Father Louis Hennepin and his two companions Michel Accault and Antoine Auguelle, and rescued them from their captivity among the Sioux Indians. During an excursion doum the Mississippi Hennepin behelcl and named the Falls of St. Anthony in what is now Minneapolis. Nicolas Perrot, in 1683, es- tabhshed a small trading post, Fort Perrot, near the site of the present town of Wabasha, Minnesota; and in 1689 he proclaimed the sovereignty of the French king over the regions of the upper Mississippi. In his company was the Jesuit Father Joseph-Jean Marest, who spent considerable time among the Sioux about the years 1689 and 1,702. A contemporary

of Perrot, Le Sueur, established in 1695 a trading post on Prairie Island, and in 1700 another, Fort L'Huillier, on the Blue Earth River, about three miles from its junction with the Minnesota. In 1727 a post. Fort Beauharnois, was established on the western shore of Lake Pepin, near the present town of Frontenac, Minnesota; the missionaries stationed there were the Jesuit Fathers Michel Guignas and Nicolas de Gonnor. Another, Fort St. Charles, was erected in 1732 on the southern shore of Northwest Angle Inlet, Lake of the Woods, by the explorer de Laverendrye. The missionaries of the post were the Jesuit Fathers Messaiger and Aulneau, the latter of whom met a cruel death at the hands of savage Sioux. Religious ministrations were, of course, the chief object of the missionaries. Even the lay voyageurs did what they could towards the religious betterment of the natives. Groseil- liers and Radisson instructed the older people in the elements of Christianity, and baptized a number of children whom they beUeved in danger of death.

No permanent settlements were made within the area of the Diocese of St. Paul until some time after the organization of the Government of the United States. In Sept., 1818, a mi-ssion was opened at Pembina, North Dakota, for the Cathohc settlers, who had gone there from Lord Selkirk's colony near St. Boniface, Manitoba. The first priest, Father Dumoulin, and his immediate successors were sent from St. Boniface, the nearest episcopal see. Within the years following upon 1826 many settlers of the Red River valley were compelled to depart, owing to floods, grasshoppers, and other afflictions; and a number of them, generally Canadian and Swiss French, came to the vicinity of what is now St. Paul. Bishop Loras of Dubuque, accompanied by Father Pclamourgues, visited the few Catholics in 1839; in 1840 he sent them a resident priest in Father Lucien Galtier, who in 1844 was replaced by Father Augustine Ravoux, for more than sixty years a priest in the Diocese of St. Paul. The first Bishop of St. Paul was Rt. Rev. Jo.seph Cretin (1851-57), Vicar- General of the Diocese of Dubuque, appointed 23 July, 1850. His consecration took place at Belley, France, 26 Jan., 1851; on 2 July of the same year, he took possession of his episcopal see; his death oc- curred on 22 Feb., 1857. The small log chapel built by Father Galtier was soon replaced by a large struc- ture of brick and stone, which contained accommoda- tions for church, school, and residential purposes. Another stone building was begun in 1855, but not finished until after the bishop's death; it is still used as the cathedral of St. Paul. The Catholic popula- tion, which consisted of several hundred, or perhaps a thousand, grew considerably in numbers, and counted about 50,000 at the end of the bishop's career. The increase was largely due to the bishop's own efforts, who invited Catholic settlers to the fertile plains of Minnesota. In addition to the French Canadians large contingents of Irish and German Catholics arrived, who located in St. Paul, in places along the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Minnesota Rivers. Wherever it was possible parishes or mis- sions were organized, and provided with resident priests, or at least visited occasionally by priests from other stations. At his arrival in St. Paul Bishop Cretin found only a couple of priests with small congregations at St. Paul, Mendota, and Pembina; at his death there were 29 churches and 35 stations with about 20 priests attending to the spiritual needs of the Catholic people. Great efforts were made for the education of the young and for the preparation of worthy candidates for the priesthood. In Pembina there were the Sisters of the Propagation of the Faith. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet came to St. Paul 3 Nov., 1851, and soon opened schools for both elementary. and higher education at St.