The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-01-02
SUDDEN DEATH OF PIONEER PRIEST

MGR. RIoRDAN FOUND DEAD IN
BED-A MISSIONARY IN MINNIE
sofa FOR OVER FORTY YEARS
WAS PASTOR OF THE ROCKIES
TER PARISH FOR 81 YEARs-AN
ORIENTAL scHoLAR-THEL LAST
YEARS F HIS LIFE SPENT AS
| CHAPLAIN OF ST. JosEPH's NO.
VITIATE.
The Right Reverend Mgr. William
Riordan, Chaplain at st. Josephs Novi-
tiate, st. Paul. died in the early morn
ing of December "a, in the seventy
seventh year of his age. The candles
were lighted and the altar prepared
for the six o'clock Mass in the convent
chapel and when the Chaplain failed to
put in an appearance at the usual time,
messenger was sent to his apart
ments where he was found dead in
bed, having passed away short time
previously. He had another morn
than ours" About year ago he suf-
ferred stroke of paralysis from which
he apparently recovered. 1t is not
unlikely that recurrence of the
stroke was the immediate cause of
his death. He had been in his usual
health, except for a slight cold con-
tracted week previously during a
brief visit to his old home in Roches-
70, 1x-1a I,a Lo 1f
one of his former parishioners. Be
fore retiring he had complained of a
slight congestion in the chest, but
there was nothing to foreshadow the
sudden close of his life.
The body was walked at the Noviti-
ate until last Monday morning when it
was removed to st. Josephs Church,
st. Paul, a number of his former par
ishioners from Rochester acting as
pallbearers. The Office for the Dead
began at nine o'clock and at its con-
clusion a Pontifcal Mass of Requiem
was celebrated by the Right Reverend
Bishop LaWler, assisted by the Rev.
A. Ogulin as archpriest, Rev. J.. +.
Ryan as deacon, Rev. w. A. DAILY as
subdeacon, and Father Ziskovsky as
master of ceremonies. At the con.
clusion of the Mass the Most Reverend
Archbishop preached the funeral SER
mon and gave the absolution. The
other prelates in attendance were
Mgr. Gufllot of Minneapolis, the
Right Reverend Bishop Heffron of
Winona, and the Most Reverend Arch
bishop Keane of Dubuque.
The funeral services were attended
by large number of priests and Sis
ters and many friends of the deceased.
The Diocese of Winona, in which Mgr.
Riordan labored for many years, was
represented by Bishop Heffron, several
priests, a number of the Sisters Of St.
Francis, and large delegation OF the
laity from Rochester who came to
pay the last tribute of respect and rev.
erence to him who had been their
honored pastor for more than thirty
years. The remains were inferred in
Calvary cemetery.
Mgr. RiOrdan was born in March,
1888, at Templeglentine, County LINER
ick, Ireland. He completed his studies
for the priesthood at All Hallows Col
lege, Dublin, where he was ordained
on June %, 1869, for the Diocese Of
st. Paul In the following September
he arrived in st. Paul and was ap-
pointed by the Right Reverend Bishop
Grace, assistant pastor of the Cathe-
dral where he remained until May,
1870, when he was assigned to mis-
sionary work in Fillmore County in
Southern Minnesota. The little un-
finished church at Chatfeld was the
only one in the county at the time.
During the following ten years he
built churches at Fillmore, Fountain,
Carimona, and Spring Valley. in the
district Wtef6 ne. gabored' single-hAhd-
ed there are: now six .wel elestablished
parishes. with resident priests and
::niapx :fd9rishing .'Catholie' ..conahunii-
ties. : '''' -
In April, 1881, Father Riordan was
called to the pastorate of st. Johns
Church, Rochester, in succession to
| Father Bruton who, few years pre-
viously, had replaced Father, now
Bishop, O'Gorman who had been as
signed to another field of duty. When
the Diocese of Winona was erected
into a separate jurisdiction in 1889,
Father ,Riordan became affiliated with
it. During his residence in Rochester
he enlarged and remodeled the Church
of st. John.
On May 81, 1911, he was invested
with the purple robes of a Domestic
Prelate of the Papal Household By
the Right Reverend Bishop Heffron OF
| Winona, the sermon on that occasion
being preached by the Right Reverend
Bishop O'Gorman Of Sioux Falls. In
the summer of the following year he
relinquished the pastorate of st. Johns
Church and made trip to Rome and
the Holy Land On his return he was
appointed Chaplain at st. Joseph's No
vitiate, st. Paul, the newly-erected
training school of the Sisters of st
Joseph.
Mgr Riordan was splendid type
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