The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-11
.CATHEDRALs or ST. PAUL
THE FIRST CATHEDRAL.

Il
of st. Paul, could celebrate Holy Mass
on his arrival in his Episcopal See,
July. 1851. was the log chapel erected
by Father Lucien Galtier ten years
before. 1T was, therefore, the first
cathedral of st. Paul. This primitive
chapel, one of the historic buildings
of the West, gave it's name to the
Capital City of the State of Mime
Sofa
In the month of April, 1910, Father
Lucien Galtier founded at Mendoza
(then called ST. Peter), the first
permanent Catholic parish in what is
now the ecclesiastical province of St.
| Paul.
In 1871, number of Father Gal
tiers parishioners removed from the
vicinity of the military reservation
| (Fort Snelling) and established them
selves in what is now the City of ST.
Paul. For their convenience he de-
cided to erect chapel somewhere in
| that locality. A site at Pigs Eye, be-
low Dayton's Bluff, and another sew
eral miles further up the river were
offered to him, but he thought them
too far removed from the steamboat
landing. He finally selected site
still farther westward, at the edge of
the bluff on the east of the river
where Benjamin Gervais and Vital
Guerin, two good, quiet farmers, own
gave part of his claim to Father
Galtier for church site, a garden
and a small graveyard Here, in
October, 1871, at the northwest cor
ner of what is now Minnesota and
Second Street (then called Bench
Street,, Father Galtier erected rude
cabin. IL by 16 feet in size, of oak
and tamarack logs. He placed a
wooden cross above the door at the
south end, facing the river, and trans
| formed the cabin into chapel-"a
poor church." he wrote, "that would
well remind one of the stable at
Bethlehem. One of his first parish
toner's, Isaac La Bissonniere, who
helped to lay the cornerstone" or
| foundation" logs and to erect the
superstructure, lived to assist at the
cornerstone laying of the new Cathe-
dral, June 2, 1907.
son November 1st," writes Father
Galtier, 81 blessed the new 'basilica.'
l had previously fixed my residence at
! st. Peter; and, as the name of St.
Paul is generally connected with that
of ST. Peter, and as the gentiles were
we'll represented by the Indians, dedi-
Gated the new chapel to st. Paul.
expressed the wish that the settle
| ment should be known by no other
name, and in this / succeeded"
| Yet with all his evident confidence
in the growth of the settlement, the
modest pastor could nevers AVE
dreamed that, within two generations,
his log chapel would give place to one
of the most superb cathedrals upon
the western continent.
In 1874, Father subsequently Mon
signor) Augustine Ravoux succeeded
Father Galtier; and three years later
he made an addition, also of logs, to
the north end of the original chapel.
But in 1849 the enlarged chapel was
again too small and, as Father Ra-
voux relate, many of the faithful had
to remain standing outside during the
divine service
| Late in the following year, Father
Ravoux, having learned that the Rev.
erend Joseph Cretin, of Dubuque, had
gone to his old home in France to be
consecrated first Bishop of st. Paul,
bought from Vital Guerin, twenty-one
lots in the block bounded by Sixth,
Seventh, Wabasha and st. Peter
streets, at a cost of $500. An addi-
tional lot in the same block, at the
northeast corner of Sixth and st.
Peter streets, was purchased for $500.
! When at length the new Bishop
reached his Diocese, on the Feast of
the Visitation, July 2, 1851, Father
Ravoux, as he records in his memoirs,
had the honor of accompanying him
and his companions to the Episcopal
palace, building one story and a
half high and about seventeen or
eighteen feet square. And the Cathe-
dral-the Chapel of st. Paul-was a
log building about As feet long and Is
i feet wide. This first Cathedral, "the
little chapel on the HILL" was not
torn down until 1858.
! The Second Cathedral.
i On one Of the lots bought by Father
Ravoux Bishop Cretin erected the
i second Cathedral of st. Paul. It stood
some distance north Of Sixth street
and parallel to it. The main entrance
faced the west side of Wabasha street
It was brick structure 81 by Al feet
three stories and half high, includ
ling the basement. The second story
: was used as a church. 1t accommo
: dated 500 worshippers. 1t was opened
for divine service early in 1852 The
: upper story was occupied as residence
! by the Bishop, his priests and his
seminarians. A few months later
: some of the basement rooms were
e..