In his absence Father Tissot of St. Anthony blessed the church. Father Venn of Henderson celebrated the Solemn High Mass, with Father Tissot as deacon, Father Murphy of Stillwater as subdeacon, and Father Ireland of St. Paul, master of ceremonies. Masters Byrne and Danehy again acted as acolytes.
The choir, under the direction of Owen J. McCartney, and assisted by a group of singers from the Cathedral, and Seibert's Orchestra, rendered Lambillotte's Paschal Mass in D., to the delight of a congregation that taxed the available capacity of the church.
In September, 1877, Father McGolrick left for an extended vacation in Europe, the objective point being his birth-place, Borrisokane, in County Tipperary, Ireland, where he was born on May 1, 1841. He was accompanied by four students whom he placed in the preparatory seminary at Meximieux in France to study the classics and test their vocation to the priesthood.
On their arrival at night-fall they were met by Reverend Joseph Guillot, a subdeacon, and a member of the teaching staff, who mistook the youthful-looking priest for a last-minute addition to the group of students for whom they had been asked to prepare. They were given the customary evening repast and then ushered into the dormitory for the night. The next morning when Joseph Guillot went to summon the boys for Mass, he found one of them sitting on a bed, saying the breviary! A frank apology was offered and accepted
Bishop Grace wanted him to take charge of Byrnesville (near the present Savage), but he asked to be sent to Minneapolis, and the Bishop granted his request. The announcement of Father McGolrick's appointment was received with unfeigned joy by the Catholics of Minneapolis. It meant the beginning of a new era in their religious life. As resident pastor his presence would give the Catholics a feeling of solidarity with the Universal Church, coordinate their spiritual efforts and direct them into normal channels. The result more than justified the hopes of the congregation. No better choice could have been made of a pastor to do the pioneering work and officially represent the Catholic Church in a non-CathoIic community. Youthful, energetic, learned and devoted,
Father McGolrick entered upon his new duties with unbounded enthusiasm . He soon established himself as a leader in the town and became the friend of all, regardless of class or creed. Naturally reserved and of a retiring disposition he, nevertheless, knew how to mingle with his fellowmen, to win their respect and confidence. It is needless to add that he soon foun a secure niche in the affections of his flock, and the passage of years served only to make more intimate and personal the bond between pastor and people.
On Christmas day, 1881, the Reverend Patrick J. Danehy, ordained in the Sulpician Seminary, Montreal, on December 16, celebrated his first Solemn High Mass in the church, with Fathers James McGolrick as deacon, John Hand as subdeacon and William McGolrick as master of ceremonies.
Father James McGolrick preached the sermon on the festive occasion, the first of the kind in the parish, for Father Danehy was "the first offering of Minneapolis to the Priesthood of the Diocese." The second "offering" was the Reverend James C. Byrne who, after ordination in the Eternal City on February 17, 1883, returned to his native parish in the following June and for a little more than a year was assistant to his former pastor and instructor.
Father Byrne was the first native-born Minnesotan to be ordained for priestly service in the Diocese of St. Paul and, with one exception-his classmate, the late Father Howard of Springfield, Illinois-the first ordained for any diocese.
Father
McGolrick remained in charge of the parish
until he was consecrated first Bishop of Duluth, December 27,
1889
, where he
resided until his death on January 23, 1918. He was succeeded as
pastor
by the
Reverend James C. Byrne, born in Byrnesville, Minnesota (now,
Savage), who had
spent his boyhood in the parish, attended the parochial school,
taken
his first lessons in Latin from
its
devoted
pastor and completed
his studies for the priesthood in Rome, where
he was ordained on February
17, 1883. On his return to the diocese, he spent about a year as assistant in the parish before his appointment as Secretary to Bishop Ireland who, in 1875, had been named Coadjutor to Bishop Grace whom he succeeded in July, 1884,and in May, 1888, was elevated to the archiepiscopal dignity.
Father Byrne's tenure of office as pastor was brief; but in the two years spent in the parish he accomplished a great deal for its temporal and spiritual wellbeing.
The Northwestern Chronicle of February 7, 1890, says, The joy of the people of Minnesota was great indeed when it became known that he was appointed to succeed Bishop McGolrick.
The grief felt at the departure of the Bishop is considerably lessened by the appointment of one so gentle and so learned as Father Byrne.
Theretofore there had been no members of the corporation toassist the pastor in this work.
Most
Rev. J.J.Keane Bishop
of Cheyenne here(1892-1902)
Father Keane, like his predecessor, was a scholarly priest, but stern, strict, masterful. He was a good administrator, devoted to his work, and upheld the traditions of the parish. Although naturally reserved he won the affection of his flock by daily devotion to duty, and especially by his solicitude for the poor and the wayward, and made many warm friends who remembered him with affectionate gratitude till the day of his death. He found the physical properties in good condition, developed the spiritual and educational ideals of his predecessors, and took a great interest in civic affairs. During his pastorate he frescoed the church, laid an inclined foor, removed the inner wall of the vestibule to provide additional seating room, installed new pews and a steam heating system, cleaned and burnished the stained glass windows, renovated and remodeled the school rooms, increasing their seating capacity, and made other improvements at a cost of about three thousand dollars.
The formal reopening of the church took place on the patronal feast, 1894. The right Reverend L. E. Caillet, V.G., Rector of St. Paul seminary, celebrated the Mass and Father Keane preached the sermon, in which he reviewed the history of the parish and emphasized the duties of Catholics to the church.
When
Father Keane entered the ranks of the episcopate his place was taken by
the Reverend Thomas E. Cullen, who was ordained in St. Paul Seminary on November 8, 1901, and who had served as assistant pastor of the parish since August of the following year. His pastorate was destined to be exceded in length only by that of
Father McGolrick and of Father Reardon. It was during his incumbency that the Basilica of St. Mary was planned, built and dedicated. His youthful enthusiasm enabled him to disregard or surmount difficulties which would have daunted his predecessors.
His energy, activity and zeal for God's glory ever sought new channels for expression.
Rev. T. E. Cullen (1902-1921)
He devoted himself to the spiritualities of the congregation with so much energy that the people caught his enthusiasm and responded to his appeals. He made the promotion of frequent communion the object of his pastoral solicitude and the number of daily communicants increased very rapidly.
He organized literary societies for the young men and women,provided recreational facilities for them, and won recognition as a preacher especially to the little ones of the flock.
The children's Mass became the most attractive of the Sunday services and crowds flocked to the church to hear him.
On August 7, 1907,
ground was broken for the foundation by Archbishop
Ireland, who turned the first sod in presence of the building committee
and invited guests; and so rapidly was the work carried on that all was
in readiness for the laying of the cornerstone on May 31, of the
following year. The event was one of the most notable in the history of Minneapolis.
It took place in presence of an imposing assembly of bishops and clergymen from all parts of the country and an immense
gathering of people, Catholic and non-Catholic.
More than twenty thousand men from every walk of life marched in the procession, bearing American flags, papal Most Rev . .I.lreland, D.D. colors and parish banners, while numerous bands lent variety, beauty and life to the impressive line.
Five hundred uniformed students of the College of St. Thomas took part in the parade. Twenty prelates in official robes of purple, more than three hundred priests and seminarians, and the Governor of the State,
The day chosen for it was Sunday, August 15, 1915, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the tutelary saint and patroness of the church.
The ceremony, at three o'clock in the afternoon, was attended by several prelates, about fifty priests and a large concourse of the faithful.
The Most Reverend Archbishop Ireland who officiated was assisted by Father Othmar Erren, O.S.B., and Father Wilbee with Father Ziskovsky
as master of ceremonies. He blessed the exterior of the building while the choir of priests who accompanied him around the church chanted the Miserere and the Litany of the Saints.
The interior was then sprinkled with holy water and sanctified by the solemn prayers prescribed by the ritual, after which the procession returned to the sanctuary.
The people were admitted and the Archbishop preached from the text: "Behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed" (Luke 1, 48).
He explained the significance of the ceremony just witnessed and dwelt on the honor and veneration due the Saints and especially the Queen of the heavenly host, the patroness of the parish, through whose intercession they had petitioned her Divine Son to extend His gracious protection over the building, that it might be separated from all profane uses and made the house of God, the gate of Heaven, the tabernacle of the Eternal.
The ceremony was brought to a close with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at which Father Cullen officiated, assisted by Fathers McRaith and Burns. Supper was then served to the visiting prelates and priests in the school cafeteria.
The church, it is true, was far from complete. The exterior alone was finished; the interior walls of sanctuary and nave were unadorned; a wooden altar and pews were the only furnishings; an undecorated ornamental plaster ceiling the sole embellishment. But the pastor and people took legitimate pride in what had been accomplished in a decade of years.
In August, 1921, Father Cullen, who had served the parish with distinction for nineteen years, was named President of the College of St. Thomas, and the Reverend James M. Reardon, pastor of the Church of St. Mary, St. Paul, and Editor-in-Chief of The Catholic Bulletin, was placed in charge by the Most Reverend Archbishop Dowling.
There was still much to be done before the Pro-Cathedral, as it was then called, crystallized the artist's ideal of a temple worthy of the Most High. It lacked the full vesture of architectural beauty and splendor to which it was born, and with which its sponsors vowed to enrich it. The stately grandeur of its imposing exterior postulated an interior loveliness unsurpassed by anything in the land.
"The beauty of the King's daughter is from within"; and beauteous, indeed, must be the adornment of sanctuary and nave to realize the ideal suggested by the entrancing sweep of granite wall and high-flung cross outlined against the sky to tell to
worshipping throngs the sublime purpose of its being. The church itself rises from the centre of a plat of ground, 300 by 400 feet in dimensions, fronts on the chief thorough:fare of the city and lifts wall and tower and dome high above its surroundings, so as to be seen from afar as one approaches or leaves the business district. Like a queen the noble edifice sits enthroned on the one one in Minneapolis carved out by nature, as it were, for a glorious tabernacle to enshrine the Savior of mankind-a city
49
Father Hennepin Memorial
The year 1930 was the 250th anniversary of the discovery of the Falls
of St. Anthony by Father Louis Hennepin, a Belgian missionary and
explorer.1930
was the 250th anniversary of the discovery of the Falls
of St. Anthony by Father Louis Hennepin
In commemoration of the event the Knights of Columbus of Minnesota dedicated a monument, consisting of a heroic copper statue of the discoverer holding aloft a crucifix and resting on a granite pedestal of artistic design.
This memorial, erected on a site donated by the Basilica Corporation, was unveiled on Sunday, October 12, "Columbus Day."
The ceremony began with Pontifical Mass in the Basilica at 10 o'clock. In the absence of Archbishop Dowling of St. Paul, who was ill- he died six weeks later
- the Most Reverend Francis C. Kelley, Bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, was the celebrant and the sermon was preached by Father Reardon.
The Most Reverend Archbishop Sinnott of Winnipeg, Monsignors Cleary of Minneapolis, Byrne of St. Paul, Peschges of Winona, and a score of priests were seated in the sanctuary.
62
Such, indeed, was the case. From the beginning of pastorate he devoted special attention to the boys who sho signs of a vocation to the priesthood. He selected them for service at the altar, gave them special lessons in Latin encouraged them to persevere in their laudable ambition serve God in the sanctuary. In the early days two of most promising boys-Patrick J. Danehy and James C. Byrne -entered the seminary and reached the goal of the priesthood, the former in 1881, the latter in 1883. These fruits of his ministry were followed by others, the most noteworthy being Timothy Corbett and James A. Duffy, both whom became members of the hierarchy. The former Bishop of Crookston, Minnesota (1910-1939), and the late Bishop of Grand Island, Nebraska, from 1913 until his retirement on account of ill health in 1931. Bishop Duffy also the first alumnus of the St. Paul Seminary to be eleva to the episcopal dignity.
The following is a list of the prelates and priests who the parish of the Immaculate Conception and its successor. the Basilica of St. Mary, may rightfully claim as spitual sons, together with the dates of ordination and of death the case of those who have passed away:
Rev. Patrick J. Danehy, Dec. 16, 1881 ........March 5, 1904
Right Rev. James C. Byrne, Feb. 17, 1883 .. June 11, 1942
Most Rev. Timothy Corbett, June 12, 1886 .. July 20, 1939
Rev. Thomas F. Gleeson, June 14, 1888 ...March 3, 1929
Rev. J. H. Prendergast, May 30,1896 .......Sept. 17, 1947
Most Rev. James A. Duffy, May 27, 1899
Rev. William A. Dobbin, May 27,1899 ........Jan. 6, 1929
Rev. Marshall J. Le Sage, C.M., July 9, 1899
Rev. Daniel J. Byrne, Aug. 31, 1900 ........March 25, 1903
Rev. James E. Doyle, June 13, 1904. ..........Dec. 27.1953
Right Rev. John J. Cullinan, June 7, 1912
Rev. Leo Gleason, June 10, 1913 ................Oct. 8, 1941
Rev. William G. Coughlin, June 12, 1917 ....Dec. 8. 1925
Rev. W. Joseph Gibbs, June 1, 1919
63
Rev. J. Harold Brennan, June 19, 1921
Rev. R. Emmet Cogwin, June 10, 1922
Rev. Thomas H. Diehl, June 9, 1930
Rev. William Nightingale, May 22, 1929 ......July 6, 1931
Rev. R. A. Cahill, S.J., June 25, 1933
Rev. Maurus F. Cook, O.S.B., Dec. 18, 1935
Rev. Leo J. White, Oct. 3, 1937
Rev. M. Clement Breen, O.P., June 16, 1938
Rev. John J. O'Hara, S.J., June 12, 1938
Rev. Alfred Longley, June 3, 1939
Rev. Raymond A. Gaspard, M.M., June 11, 1939
Rev. Joseph Kuncl, May 31, 1941
Rev. Paul Murray, June 6, 1942
Rev. Robert G. Dillon, Sept. 26, 1942
Rev. Eugene J. McCarthy, May 22, 1943
Rev. Leo R. Sovada, O.S.C., May 29, 1943
Rev. Fredrick Vickstrom, C.S.S.R., June 29, 1940
Rev. Jeremiah J. Rodell, June 3, 1947
Rev. Hermes Kreilkamp, O.F.M., Cap., June 3, 1949
Rev. W. J. Wiggins, S.J., June 14, 1949
Rev. James R. Deneen, April 4, 1954
All the diocesan priests named on this list, with five exceptions, were ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and labored, or are laboring, within it in one capacity or another. The Reverend Daniel Joseph Byrne, younger brother of the late Monsignor Byrne, V.G., was ordained for the Diocese of Fargo and ministered there until his untimely death in 1903; Father Nightingale passed his priestly life in the Diocese of Sioux Falls; Father McCarthy is stationed in the Diocese of Gallup; Father Rodell in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and Father Deneen in the Diocese of Evansville.
It would be interesting to have a roster of other members of the parish who embraced the religious life and, as Sisters or brothers.
64
The Most Reverend Archbishop was assisted at the throne by Father Reardon, as archpriest, and Fathers Cullen Dunphy, as deacons of honor. Fathers Jennings, Brand and Hauer of the Basilica staff, were deacon and subdeacon of Mass and master of ceremonies, respectively.
65
Father Reardon spoke as follows:
YOUR EXCELLENCY, It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the priests and people of the Basilica of St. Mary parish, to greet you with words of welcome and to thank you for the signal honor conferred on us by your presence in this sanctuary. A few days ago you were formally installed by apostolic mandate as Archbishop of this Diocese in the Cathedral of St. Paul; and today you come to enthrone yourself in the hearts of the faithful in Minneapolis. A week ago prayers and tears sped your departure from the East where you lived and labored up to the present; and a few days ago prayers and smiles greeted your advent to the West whither you have come to begin a new career fraught with weighty consequences for the Church in this diocese.
You come well recommended. We recognize in Your Excellency the official representative of the Supreme Pontiff, sent with the high commission of an apostle to carry on the work for religion so auspiciously begun in your new jurisdiction by Bishop Cretin in 1851, and so successfully promoted by Bishop Grace and Archbishops Ireland and Dowling. You come into a goodly inheritance - a diocese young in years, it is true, but old in noble traditions of outstanding service for Church and Country; a diocese well known throughout the world because of the fame of the great prelate whose name is so inseparably linked with the golden era of its prosperity and progress. Upon your shoulders has fallen the mantle of your apostolic predecessors who wrought so mightily for the welfare of religion; and in the discharge of the sacred duties entrusted to your care, you may rely with confidence on the support and prayers not only of the people of this
67
On June 22, 1942, he was officially notified that he had successfully passed the examination for Associate membership in the American Guild of Organists, a national organization of 5000 musicians, with Chapters in all the states of the Union.
69
The bronze plaque measures 3 feet 6 inches by 5 feet 9 inches, weights 268 pounds, and was designed by Fred A. Slifer, architect, of St. Paul.
It is an artistically executed panel with a decorated cresting bearing the words, "In Memoriam," and an ornamental scroll ending in finials, the whole surmounted by a freestanding cross on a globe.
It shows a life-like three-quarter face and bust of the Archbishop in bas-relief on a sunken panel garlanded with laurel leaves. The head is well poised; the features strong and expressive; the whole bearing suggestive of physical strength and intellectual vigor. The pectoral chain is modeled after the one worn by him on ceremonial occasions.
In the upper corner on the right is his coat-of-arms, the excutcheon displaying a figure of St. Paul, patron of tbe Diocese, with the left hand resting on the hilt of a naked sword, the right holding aloft a cross, and beneath it the mollo, "Omnibus Omnia Factus Sum" (I became all things to all men). The crook of the crozier above the shield is copied from the pastoral staff carried by the Archbishop in religious functions during his episcopal career.
75
Below the medallion are two flags with stafTs crossed-the Stars and Stripes and the Church Flag of the Army-the former a symbol of the Archbishop·s devotion to American ideals, the latter recalling his services in the Civil War as Chaplain of the 5th. Minnesota regiment.
The lower half of the memorial chronicles the chief events in his life: his birth in Ireland in 1838; his ordination to the priesthood in St. Paul in 1861; his consecration to the episcopate in 1875; his elevation to archiepiscopal rank in 1888; and his death on September 25,1918.
Then follows a succinct summary, in scriptural phraseology, of the dominating ideals of his long and crowded years of consecrated service: "A great prelate who in his days pleased God and wrought wonderful things ror the church."
The memorial is the gift of the Basilica of S1. Mary parish to perpetuate the name and achievements of its illustrious Founder and to commemorate the distinguished service to Church and Country of the first Archbishop of SI. Paul.
"A sower of infinite seed was he,
A woodman who hewed towards the light."
Father
Reardon Honored General
Chairman for the Ninth National Eucharistic Congress
On December 12, 1940 the Most Reverend Archbishop appointed Father
Reardon General Chairman for the Ninth National Eucharistic Congress to
be held in the Twin Cities during the week of June 22, 1941. In the
midst of the immediate preparation for it, on June 9, 1941, he was
notified by the Archbishop that he had been raised to the rank of
Protonotary Apostolic by His Holiness Pope Piux XII and appointed a
member of the official suite of His Eminence Cardinal Dougherty, Papal
Legate to the Congress. The Apostolic Brief was signed by Cardinal
Maglione, Secretary of State to His Holiness, on June 18 and reads as
follows in its English translation. Pius XII Pope and Bishop
Beloved Son, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
The Most Reverend Archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, has made known to
Us that you, a priest distinguished for piety, zeal for the salvation
of souls and a spirit of charity, are the efficient General Chairman of
arrangements for the Ninth National Eucharistic Congress of the United
States to be held in the Twin Cities. Beloved Son, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
Since, therefore, he has petitioned Us to bestow upon you a special ecclesiastical dignity as a suitable recognition of your labors and merits, and as a fitting public testimonial of Our good will, We, by these letters and Our own authority, choose, make and proclaim you a PROTONOTARY APOSTOLIC ad instar participantium, and We grant you, Beloved Son, all the rights, privileges, honors, prerogatives and induIts which otber prelates raised to this dignity use and enjoy by virtue especially of the Constitution of Our predecessor Pope Pius X of blessed memory "Concerning the College of Protonotaries", issued on the twenty-first day of the month of February, in the year 1905, a printed copy of which is herewith sent you.
Moreover, whilst We have decreed that a notice of this dignity conferred on you be officially recorded among the Acts of the College of Protonotaries Apostolic, We order that, before you make use of the benefits of the foregoing grant, you make a profession of faith, in the manner prescribed by the Apostolic See, in presence of your Archbishop who, in this instance, takes the place of the Dean of the College; that you understand the words of the oath of fidelity in the printed form which We order sent to you; and that you religiously observe whatever else is prescribed by the aforesaid Constitution. All things to the contrary notwithstanding.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, under the seal of the Fisherman, on the eighteenth day of the month of June, in the year 1941, being the third of Our Pontificate.
To Our Beloved Son
James Michael Reardon, Priest.
Luigi Cardinal Maglione Secretary of State.
Monsignor Reardon said his first Pontifical Mass on Sunday, June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, at 11 o'clock. The sermon was preached by the Most Reverend James Morrison, D.D., Bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, who preached at Father Reardon's first Mass in St. Dunstan's Cathedral, Charlottetown, P. E. Island, on June 12, 1898, and at his golden jubilee in the same church on June 13, 1948. Two bishops and a number of priests were present in the sanctuary. After Mass the celebrant thanked all who honored him with their presence on that occasion. The visiting prelates and clergy were guests at dinner in the Basilica residence.
Death
of Former Pastor September
30, 1940, the Very Reverend Thomas E. Cullen
On September 30, 1940, the Very Reverend Thomas E. Cullen, for nineteen
years prior to 1921, pastor of the Basilica
parish, died in St. Mary's Hospital after a brief illness. His funeral
took place from St. Stephen's Church of which he had been pastor for
thirteen years, on October 4. The Most Reverend Archbishop officiated
at the Pontifical Requiem and Father Reardon preached. Burial was in
St. Mary's cemetery. He was a native of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, ordained in St. Paul Seminary on November 8, 1901, and appointed assistant pastor of the Immaculate Conception Church, Minneapolis, in September, 1902. After the consecration of Bishop Keane the following month he was promoted to the pastorate. During his incumbency the new church, now known as the Basilica of St. Mary, was built and dedicated. In 1921 he was made President of the College of 5t. Thomas, a position he occupied for six years prior to his assignment to St. Stephen's Church in 1927. R.I.P.