The Irish standard., 1915-09-01


concerning the history of Minnesota
or tor that matter the history of the
Northwest that is not concerned in
some way or other with the names of
missionaries and explorers represent
tative of the Catholic faith who have
left their traces indelibly upon the
territory now included in the Arch
diocese of St. Paul. The missionaries
and explorers of Catholic faith are
ever present in the names given to
divisions of territory, to cities and
towns, now within the confines of the
Archdiocese of St. Paul: The follow
ing article, dealing with the history
of the Diocese of St. Paul, is from
the pen of Rev. Francis J. Schaefer,
of St. Paul Seminary. The article was
first published in the history of the
Catholic church in the United States
of America, published by the Catholic
Publishing Co. of New York, and
more recently incorporated in the late
volume of Acta ct Dicta. The follow
ing partial account of the history of
the diocese of St. Paul by Father
Schaefer follows:
When the diocese of St. Paul was
created, the region under its jurisdic-
GOO square miles, l. e., all of the Ter
ritory of Minnesota, such as it was
established by act of Congress, March
3, l849. Said territory embraced not
only what is now the state of Mime
sofa, but also those parts of the two
Dakotas, which are to the east of the
Missouri and the White Earth rivers.
Thus constituted it consisted of two
parts: larger western, and smaller
eastern. The western part extended
to the west of the Mississippi river
and of an imaginary line drawn from
the source of the same river north
ward to the international boundary.
This section formerly was a part of
the territory of Iowa and originally
of what is known as the Louisiana
Purchase, acquired by the United
States from Napoleon l. in 1908. The
smaller eastern part was to the east
of the Mississippi and of the above
mentioned line as far as the present
state line in the northeastern corner
and along the St. Croix river. This
section was formerly a part of the
Wisconsin territory, and originally of
the Northwest territory created by
the ordinance of 1887. Such we're, at
the beginning, the boundaries of the
diocese of St. Paul, which was made
up of two sections, just like the Ter
ritory of Minnesota; the larger, west
ern, was detached from the jurisdic-
ton of the diocese of Dubuque, and
the smaller, eastern, from that of the
diocese of Milwaukee. In the course
of time the area was reduced, and
parts of it were assigned to other
jurisdictions. Thus by the creation of
the Vicariate Apostolic of Northern
Minnesota, February II, 1875, the en-
tire northern section was taken away;
by the creation of the Vicariate Apos-
tolic of Dakota, August II, 1879, all
that part lying west of the present
western state line of Minnesota was
cut off; and finally by the establish
ment of the diocese of Winona, Octo-
Der 3, 1889, the southern part of the
state of Minnesota was made under a
new ecclesiastical circumscription. At
present the territory under the juris-
diction of the archdiocese of St. Paul
covers an area of 1898 square miles,
which stretches across the state of
Minnesota from east to west, occupies
about the center of the southern half
of the state, and comprises the fol-
lowing counties: Ramsey, Hennepin,
Washington, Chisago, Anoka, Dakota,
Scott, Wright, Rice, LeSueur, Carver,
Nicollet, Sibley, Mcleod, Meeker,
Redwood, Kandiyohi, Lyon, Lincoln,
Yellow Medicine, Lac-Qui-Parle
Chippewa, Swift, Goodhue, Big Stone,
and Brown.
During the days from the 5th to the
18th of May, l849, the 9TH provincial
council was held in Baltimore, pre-
sided over by the metropolitan of
that see, the Most Reverend Samuel
Ecclleston. Several distinguished &C.
clesiastics from the western part of
the United States shared in it's de-