John Ireland ( bishop ) John Ireland ( September 11 , 1838 – September 25 , 1918 ) was the third Roman Catholic bishop and first Roman Catholic archbishop of Saint Paul , Minnesota ( 1888 – 1918 ) . He became both a religious as well as civic leader in Saint Paul during the turn of the 20th century . Ireland was known for his progressive stance on education , immigration and relations between church and state as well as his opposition to saloons and political corruption . He promoted the Americanization of Catholicism , especially in the furtherance of progressive social ideals . He was a leader of the modernizing element in the Catholic Church during the Progressive Era . He created or helped to create many religious and educational institutions in Minnesota . He is also remembered for his acrimonious relations with Greek Catholics . History . John Ireland was born in Burnchurch , County Kilkenny , Ireland , and was baptized on September 11 , 1838 . His family immigrated to the United States in 1848 and eventually moved to Saint Paul , Minnesota , in 1852 . One year later Joseph Crétin , first bishop of Saint Paul , sent Ireland to the preparatory seminary of Meximieux in France . Ireland was consequently ordained in 1861 in Saint Paul . He served as a chaplain of the Fifth Minnesota Regiment in the Civil War until 1863 when he resigned . He was appointed pastor at Saint Paul ' s cathedral in 1867 , a position which he held until to 1875 . In 1875 he was made coadjutor bishop of St . Paul and in 1884 he became bishop ordinary . In 1888 he became archbishop with the elevation of his diocese and the erection of the ecclesiastical province of Saint Paul . Ireland retained this title for 30 years until his death in 1918 . Before Ireland died he burned all of his personal papers . John Ireland was personal friends with both Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt . At a time when most Irish Catholics were staunch Democrats , Ireland was known for being close to the Republican party . Ireland ' s funeral was attended by eight archbishops , thirty bishops , twelve monsignors , seven hundred priests and two hundred seminarians . He was awarded an honorary doctorate ( LL . D . ) by Yale University in October 1901 , during celebrations for the bicentenary of the university . Legacy . The influence of his personality made Archbishop Ireland a commanding figure in many important movements , especially those for total abstinence , for colonization in the Northwest , and modern education . Ireland became a leading civic and religious leader during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Saint Paul . He worked closely with non - Catholics and was recognized by them as a leader of the modernizing Catholics . Colonization . Disturbed by reports that Catholic immigrants in eastern cities were suffering from social and economic handicaps , Ireland and Bishop John Lancaster Spalding of the Diocese of Peoria , Illinois , founded the Irish Catholic Colonization Association . This organization bought land in rural areas to the west and south and helped resettle Irish Catholics from the urban slums . Ireland helped establish many Irish Catholic colonies in Minnesota . He served as director of the National Colonization Association . From 1876 to 1881 Ireland organized and directed the most successful rural colonization program ever sponsored by the Catholic Church in the U . S . Ireland worked with the western railroads and with the Minnesota state government , he brought more than 4 , 000 Catholic families from the slums of eastern urban areas and settled them on more than 400 , 000 acres ( 1 , 600 km² ) of farmland in rural Minnesota . His partner in Ireland was John Sweetman , a wealthy brewer who helped set up the Irish - American Colonisation Company there . In 1880 he also assisted several hundred people from Connemara in Ireland to emigrate to Minnesota . Unfortunately they arrived at the wrong time of the year and had to be assisted by local Freemasons , an organisation that Roman Catholicism disapproves of on many points . In the public debate that followed , the immigrants , being Gaelic speakers , could not voice their opinions of Bishop Ireland ' s criticism of their acceptance of the masons ' support during a harsh winter . De Graff and Clontarf in Swift County , Adrian in Nobles County , Avoca , Iona and Fulda in Murray County , Graceville in Big Stone County and Ghent in Lyon County were all colonies established by Ireland . Education . Ireland advocated state support and inspection of Catholic schools . After several parochial schools were in danger of closing Ireland sold them to the respective city ' s board of education . The schools continued to operate with nuns and priests teaching but no religious teaching was allowed . This plan , the Faribault - Stillwater Plan , or Poughkeepsie plan , created enough controversy that Ireland was forced to travel to the Vatican City to successfully defend it . He also opposed the use of foreign languages in American Catholic churches and parochial schools . The use of foreign languages was not uncommon at the time because of the recent large influx of immigrants to the U . S . from European countries . Ireland influenced American society by actively promoting the use of the English language by large numbers of German immigrants . He was the author of " The Church and Modern Society " ( 1897 ) . Relations with the Greek - Catholics . In 1891 , Ireland refused to accept the credential s of Greek - Catholic priest Alexis Toth , citing the decree that married priests of the Eastern Catholic Churches were not permitted to function in the Catholic Church in the United States , despite Toth being a widower . Ireland then forbade Toth to minister to his own parishioners , despite the fact that Toth had jurisdiction from his own Bishop , and did not depend on Ireland . Ireland was also involved in efforts to expel all Eastern Catholic clergy from the United States of America . Forced into an impasse , Toth went on to lead thousands of Greek - Catholics away from the Catholic Church to join the Russian Orthodox Church . Because of this , Archbishop Ireland is sometimes referred to , ironically , as " The Father of the Orthodox Church in America . " Marvin R . O ' Connell , author of a biography on Ireland , summarizes the situation by stating that " if Ireland ' s advocacy of the blacks displayed him at his best , his belligerence toward the Uniates [ Greek Catholics ] showed him at his bull - headed worst . " Establishments . At the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore the establishment of a Catholic university was decided . In 1885 Ireland was appointed to a committee , along with , Bishop John Lancaster Spalding , Cardinal James Gibbons and then bishop John Joseph Keane dedicated to developing and establishing the Catholic University of America in Washington , D . C . . Ireland retained an active interest in the University for the rest of his life . He founded Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary , progenitor of four institutions : University of Saint Thomas ( Minnesota ) , the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity , Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary , and Saint Thomas Academy . The Saint Paul Seminary was established with the help of Methodist James J . Hill , whose wife , Mary Mehegan , was a devout Catholic . Both institutions are located on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River . DeLaSalle High School located on Nicollet Island in Minneapolis was opened in October 1900 through a gift of $ 25 , 000 from Ireland . Fourteen years later Ireland purchased an adjacent property for the expanding Christian Brothers school . In 1904 Ireland secured the land for the building of the current Cathedral of Saint Paul located atop Summit Hill , the highest point in downtown Saint Paul . At the same time , on Christmas Day 1903 he also commissioned the construction of the almost equally large Church of Saint Mary , for the Immaculate Conception parish in the neighboring city of Minneapolis . It became the Pro - Cathedral of Minneapolis and was later became the Basilica of Saint Mary , the first basilica in the United States in 1926 . Both were designed and built under the direction of the French architect Emmanuel Louis Masqueray . John Ireland Boulevard , a Saint Paul street that runs from the Cathedral of Saint Paul northeast to the Minnesota State Capitol , is named in his honor . It was so named in 1961 at the encouragement of the Ancient Order of Hibernians .