The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-03
JUBILEE Of THE DIOCESE
Continued From First pnre.

Continued From First Page.
was made by Father Stariha, Of ST.
Francis de Sales parish.
Bishop OGorman, of Sioux Falls, S.
D., delivered an excellent sermon at the
laying of the cornerstone of the seminary
chapel. The chapel is to be built at
cost of $4,000, and will be completed in
September, 1902. 1t is to be 100 by l45 feet
in dimensions and will be called st.
Mary's chapel
The splendid sermon delivered by Arch
bishop Ireland follows In full:
Brief Is mans personal existence; few
the summer suns he counts. Hence, to
live with profit, he borroWs time Years
come, are made to be hiS-thOSe that are
past providing him with experience and
inspiration; those that are to come with
scope and purpose of action. The from
tiers of life are divided; encouragement
and power, that were otherwise beyond
his reach, are added unto his posses
sions.
The place for the individual man Is
walking side by side with his fellows.
counting as such not only the men OF
today, but those also Of yesterday. and
of tomorrow. His strength and signin-
canoe lie in tie ranks of great humani--
ty; the oftener, the more effectively he
projects himself along it's pathways, the
more grand is his position, the more
fruitful is his action.
In this spirit and to this end, in a de-
gree, do the Catholics of these North
western regions children of the diocese
OF st. Paul, as 1t was in territorial extent
fifty years ago, observe with solemn GER
emonial and In deep thoughtfuTness OF
soul, this second day of July of the year
Fifty years ago the first bishop of the
diocese of st. Paul arrived in st. Paul;
fifty years ago the diocese of st. Paul
was formally inaugurated and set out
to do it's appointed work.
TERRITORY OF MINNESOTA.
How rapidly the territory Of Minnesota
did grow in population and wealth. in
the arts and refinements of civil and So
cial culture, the majestic common
Wealths OF Minnesota and the two Da-
kotaS give In this year Of grace 1901,
ample and undisputed evidence. How
far the Catholic church within the olden
territory Of Minnesota, the olden do
cese of st. Paul, did In its own life keep
pace with that of the country within
which lay It's sphere of labor. and re-
4sponded in spiritual fruitage to the ex.
pectations begotten of its opportunities,
the ecclesiastical province of st. Paul
must today afford the answer.
Immediately following the civil organi-
cation of the territory of Minnesota, i'm
migration rapidly rushed northWard, and
q goodly part of it was Catholic BY the
time Of Bishop Cretin's arrival the pop
ulation of the territory had risen to 5000,
and that of the village of st. Paul to 1900.
the surrounding district is to be esti~
mated from the baptsmal records, which
give for 1850 lO1 baptisms, and for 1851 81.
Preparations, too, for the future ma
terial growth of the church had been
made with the most praiseworthy sagac-
ity by Father RavouX, and the bishop on
his arrival found awaiting him not only
DEEDS TO the property between Third and
Bench streets, which had as early az
1874 been claimed by Father Gaultier, but
also documents duly signed and sealed,
I'm ftA Wfer
rent prices two well-stuated blocks Of
ground, one of which is that now held
and known as the Cathedral block
At the death of Bishop Cretin In 1897
the statistics Of the diocese of St Paul
were: Twenty-Five churches, 35 stations
where religious services were held and
preparations made to build churches; 20
priests; converts of religious women:
monastery of Benedictine fathers; a house
of teaching brothers; a hospital several
schools and Catholic population of
nearly $1,000.
SPAN OF FIFTY YEARS
And now, in this jubilee year 1901, fifty
years from the day when Bishop Cretin
for the first time blessed his little flock
In his cabin-cathedral. there are in what
is barely more than the region then COW
cred by the diocese of st. Paul, six epIs-
copal sees, one Of them vested with met
ropoitan dignity, 600 priests a Catholic
population of 4C0OJO, and in fullest pro-
portion, churches and converts, colleges
and schools, asylums and hospitals COM
mlssloned and equipped to spread
through city, town and hamlet over the
whole land, the strength and sweetness
Of Christian faith and Of Christian char
U.s. we pray thee, this morning viewing
with us thy vast spiritual demesne
once an empty waste, now blossominG
bounteously beneath the wide-sp eadin2
soui-protecting branches of the mighty might,
tree the mustard seed of which thine
own apostolic hands did plant in Min
nesota's soil
Let Us now praise men Of renown. and
our fathers in their generation. The Lord
hath wrought great things from the be-
ginning"
IDEAL MISSIONARY BISHOP.
The ideal missionary bishop-such was
he, whom Providence called to found the
diocese Of st. Paul. In 1898, Joseph Gre
France, once the home Of Voltaire, and
for many years afterwards, because Of
the surviving social and doctrinal infiu-
ence of the philosopher" the seat II
mischievous and wideDspreadns unbeHeS
Mgr. Cretin Won it back to faith AMI
to piety and made it a model parish. An
educated and cultured gentleman, no less
than Jealous and sanity priest, blessed
with the esteem and love Of those whom
he served sure of highest honors, # he
but tarried yet little while in his ma
tive land-he was not happy in Ferney.
For years he had been consumed with a
burning desire to be missionary where
fields were whitening unto harvest and
reapers were few. China, where there
was, he once wrote, hope Of martyrdom
had long been before his mind as the
promised land. Bishop Loras, Of Du-
buque, his old-time college master, sud
denly comes upon the scene, and Mgr:
Cretin. at midnight hour, without word
to father or mother, to parishioners or
friends, who were likely to nterpose OBJ
stacles, departs from Ferney, in journey
to the distant Mississippi valley. Ten
years of labor in Iowa follow, where
among whites and aborlgines his name
was in benediction. The bishop of st.
Paul!-not a few remain who knew him;
they today tell his virtues tireless
worker he day and night the servant
Of his people, often the sole clergyman
in St. Paul. so rare then were priests
at other times the wearied traveller
through forests and over pralrIes in
search Of the lonely settler Disinter-
ested to supreme degree, nought coyet-