St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-05
" CATH = = School,

long since disappeared. Bishop
Cretin at once set to work.
Things had already been prepared. This
present block of ground had been Sc
cured, and stone carried upon it in an
ticipatiOn of the new Catholic church.
At one time the old log church was the
home of the Catholic priest, and the old
log shanty. the Episcopal residence;
but only few weeks were allowed to
pass when the plans had been drawn,
and men began to erect
THE BRICK BUILDING,
which was to serve for many noble pur-
poseS-to be the school house, church
and Episcopal residence-and as Story
was lifted above story, the people of St.
Paul would pass by and lock up with
good cheer, for it seemed to them, be-
yond doubt, that the city was now going
to grow. And when strangers arrived
they would be brought to Wabasha and
Sixth streets to see the wonderful prog
ress of our city. AT the same time
ground was broken for the new capitol,
and church and state began slmulta-
neously their onward march. Before the
winter of 81 opened, the Catholics of
st. Paul were worshiping in the sec
ond story of the old building, and the
anu DllCSVa llou opdt ln.CtllS
the third story. At one end of the first
floor were the kitchen and store rooms,
while the other was reserved for the
parochial school. l, myself, saw the
old building first in may, 1852, and | be-
lieve the first announcement from the
pulpit was that those who had failed to
pay their dues for plastering were in
Vited to fulfill their promises. All the
Catholics of st. Paul worShiped in this
church. We had, at the high mass,
sermons in English and French, and
the surroundings of the church, the
open prairie in the early summer COW
cred with the wild rose and daisy,
proved SO attractive to the people that
it was difficult to enforce punctuality in
attendance. When the French sermon
was going on, the English speaking
people would seek the prairie, and
when the English sermon commenced,
the French portion of the congregation
would HE themselves to the fields l
remember very well inside the door
were tWO large picture frames sur
rounding paper beautifully engraved,
and containing lists of the English and
French speaking total abStainers. So
you see total abstinence is plant that
struck early roots in the soil Of st. Paul.
LII mas We2Cnereu many storm since
then, so that to-day there is no fear of
the possible decline of the immortal
tree.
There was a great deal of piety. SIM
pie and outspoken, but strong in these
early worShipers, and one beautiful
feature of the service was the congre-
gatiOnal singing. The first bishop of
st. Paul was musician, and he taught
his congregation to sing in English and
French.
The whole population was about 1000
when the bishop came. The kitchen
was the general rendezvous for the
Catholics, and the bishops and good
priests would come down there and give
them a little good advice now and then.
The rest of the block on which the old
building stands was garden, and the
spot on which the present cathedral is
erected was good-sized melon patch.
In those days the Indians would send
delegations to the bishop, and they
we're entertained in the Old church. I
remember one evening the good man in
charge of the kitchen decided he would
not cook for the Indians, SO the bishop
and the altar boy had to come down and