The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-02-21

PREACHED THE GOSPEL IN WIS.,
coNslN, ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN
AND 1oWA-FoUNDED THE DO
MINIcAN sIsTERHooD WHOSE
MoTHERHoUsE Is AT sINsINA-
WA, WIs.-7oo SISTERS IN THE
CONGREGATION.
written for The Catholic BuIIetin.)
Next Monday, February %, will be
the fiftieth anniversary of the death
of the sanity Dominican pioneer mis-
sionary of Wisconsin, Illinois, Michi-
gan and Iowa, the Reverend Samuel
Charles Mazzuchelli. From our pres
ent day environment of material con-
veniences and even luxuries, it is not
easy to project ourselves seventy or
eighty years back and conjure up what
was then the face of the earth in this
territory. Dense forests were every
where. Indians were the lords of the
land A few white men, fur traders,
had penetrated this far west and built
the crudest and simplest trading posts,
cutting down trees and tilling little
patches of land about their rudely
built log cabins Transportation and
! travel were both difficult and danger
Gus. One had to blaze path through
the dense woods; follow the trail on
an immigrant wagon; skirt marshes
and swamps; make a canoe from a
| tree and trust ones self upon un-
known waterways, or walk upon the
ice, as the season and circumstances
| demanded
A Pioneer Missionary.
Into this primeval forest country at
Mackinac Island, in 1880, stepped the
newly ordained Father Mazzuchelli, in
! his twenty-fourth year, after travelling
from Cincinnati by circuitous routes
distance of eight hundred miles
Born of parents of noble lineage and
reared in Milan, the city of palaces
and churches and libraries, the young
missionary was by nature man OF
refined manners and elegant tastes
But his heritage of ardent faith and
a marvellous generosity and zeal
brought him courageously as another
Saint Paul through perils of all kinds
to preach the Gospel of Christ in this
/ border-land of civilization. Mackinac
Green Bay, Menominee Indian vii
lagos, Sault Sainte Marie, Saint Ig
mace, Prairie du Chen, Mineral Point
Dubuque, Galena, Davenport, Maquo
keta, Iowa City, Burlington, Bellevue
Sinsinawa, Shullsburg, Benton and
many other places now prosperous
cities we're the scenes of his labors
among the Indians and the early white
settlers More than twenty churche.
were built under his direction. He
was architect and supervisor of con
struction. Familiarity in his you'll
with the masterpieces of architecture
and training in scientific principles OF
symmetry, made his ideals and his
achievements in this line at least fifty
years in advance of his time.
Active in Civic Affairs.
Not only the spiritual welfare Of
the people was his solicitude; he was
a devoted citizen. Every civic i'm
provement had his support. Iowa is
still proud of the beauty Of her oil
State House at Iowa City, now the ad
ministration building Of her Univer
sity. It was planned by Father MAJ
zuchelli. When Wisconsin was organ
lied as a territory in 1888 and con
vened her first Legislature, Fathe
Mazzuchelli as chaplain opened the
session with prayer.
Founded Dominican Sisterhood.
Training for good citizenship, the
building of the characters of the sec
ond generation, logically follows pic
neer settlement activity. To the worl
of the Christian education of you'll
Father Mazzuchelli gave the late
years of his life. Sinsinawa Mound
by it's unique location, attracted him
; Here he built a college for boys AM
young men, and turned it over to thu
Dominican Fathers from Saint 10
seph's Province, Kentucky. Befor
the Civil War this college had near
ly a hundred pupils. Old student
still living tell Of fathers bring
ing their sons to the college from a.
far west as Omaha, and making tn
journey in wagons drawn by oxen. A
Sinsinawa, too, in 1916 to 184S, Fathe
Mazzuchelli established Communit.
of Dominican Sisters by clothing wit
the religious habit some four or fiv
young women, daughters of his parish
toner's, and training them himself TO
some years in the religious life. Late
he moved the Sisters to Benton an
founded the Saint Clara Female Acad
envy which had been first chartered a
the Sinsinawa Female Academy by tn
Legislature of Wisconsin in 1848. T.
this institution he gave the most zeal
Gus attention, training the Sisters il
the art and philosophy of education