Category: Echoes of Catholic Minnesota

Stained-glass windows at Basilica of St. Mary help tell story of former Minneapolis church

by bcadmin | Nov 10, 2022 | Basilica of St. Mary, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Featured, Modern Catholic Pilgrim, News, Stained-glass windows | 0 |

In the winter of 2021, my friends at Modern Catholic Pilgrim invited me to participate in a journey from the Basilica of St. Mary to a vacant lot in north Minneapolis about a mile away. The walk was inspired by the stained-glass windows that hang in Teresa of Calcutta Hall in the lower level of the Basilica. They originally belonged to a mission church named St. Martin that once stood on the vacant lot we visited on the corner of Bryant and Fifth Avenue North.

Frogtown Farms in St. Paul was once House of the Good Shepherd

by bcadmin | Jul 13, 2022 | Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Featured, Lexington Park baseball stadium, Minneapolis Millers, News, St. Paul Saints | 0 |

At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, 1903, more than 4,000 fans gathered at the Lexington Park baseball stadium (at Fuller and Dunlap) to see the St. Paul Saints take on the Minneapolis Millers. Some said it was the largest crowd that had ever gathered for a baseball game in the Midwest, and they were particularly festive with St. Paul fans in white ribbons and Minneapolis fans in red. The game did not disappoint.

Differing political views part of parish development in Northeast Minneapolis

by bcadmin | May 2, 2022 | Byzantine Catholic Church, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Father Alexis Toth, Featured, Lviv, News, Northeast Minneapolis, Ruthenians, Slovakia, St. Constantine, Ukraine, Ukrainian Catholics, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church | 0 |

On August 17, 1913, Ukrainian Catholics gathered in northeast Minneapolis to celebrate. After two weeks of delays due to sick priests, Archbishop John Ireland had finally arrived to bless the cornerstone of St. Constantine Catholic Church at Sixth and University avenues. After the formal event, the priests retired to the rectory and the parishioners gathered at a local cultural hall for festivities.

Historic James J. Hill House boasts legacy of service to Catholic education

by bcadmin | Mar 7, 2022 | College of St. Catherine, Diocesan Teachers College, Dominicans, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Featured, Felicians, Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Germanic-American Institute, Hill House, James J. Hill House, Mary Meaghan Hill, Minnesota Historical Society, News, Notre Dame School, Oblate Sisters of Providence, Presentation Sisters, Servites, Sisters of Christian Charity, Sisters of Loretto, Sisters of Mercy and Sisters of St. Joseph, Sisters of St. Benedict, The School Sisters of Notre Dame | 0 |

James J. Hill’s wife, Mary Meaghan Hill, was the last member of the family to live in the Hill family’s opulent 36,000-square-foot mansion at 240 Summit Avenue. When she died in 1921, she had no will, and an equal share of her estate passed to each of her children.

Minnesota’s Catholic Supreme Court justice

by bcadmin | Jan 18, 2022 | Buck v. Bell, Carleton, Casti Connubii, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, John Hendren Bell, Minnesota’s Catholic Supreme Court justice, News, Pierce Butler, Ramsey County Attorney, State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded, U.S. Supreme Court, Warren G. Harding | 0 |

On May 2, 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its verdict in the case Buck v. Bell. The court ruled in favor of John Hendren Bell, superintendent of the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded*, upholding a Virginia statute that favored involuntary sterilization of individuals who were deemed mentally unfit. Only one justice dissented. He was Pierce Butler, a Catholic and native of Minnesota.

The making of St. Kate’s

by bcadmin | Dec 9, 2021 | College of St. Catherine, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, News, Sister Antonia McHugh, St. Kate's | 0 |

The year 1937 was pivotal for Sister Antonia McHugh and the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. Sister Antonia retired after 23 years as the leader of the college, first as its dean and then as the college’s first president. A few months later, she received word that St. Catherine’s would be the first Catholic college to be granted a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.

Cemetery visits prompt prayer, reflections on the past

by bcadmin | Nov 8, 2021 | Calvary Cemetery, Cemetery visits, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Featured, Hamm’s Brewing Company, News, Theodore Hamm | 0 |

When I lived a few blocks from Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul, I liked to go on walks there when the late evening sun and the faded monuments cast long shadows on warm summer evenings. The cemetery never felt like a frightening place to be. Instead, I contemplated the lives of the more than 100,000 people buried there. Calvary Cemetery is palpably filled with the presence of generations of Catholics laid to rest there since its founding in 1856.

Storied Catholic seminary building still stands

by bcadmin | Oct 11, 2021 | Archbishop Byrne, Arden Hills, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Nazareth Hall, News, Northwestern College, St. John Vianney Seminary at St. Thomas College, St. Michael, St. Paul Seminary | 0 |

Surrounded by a secluded wooded campus on the shores of Lake Johanna, the 300 young men at Nazareth Hall in Arden Hills arose at the sound of the 6:05 a.m. bell and readied themselves quickly. By 6:30 a.m. they were gathered on their knees in the chapel when the bell rang the Angelus, ready for Mass and Communion before breakfast.

NE Mpls house holds legacy of Catholic service

by bcadmin | Sep 13, 2021 | Catholic service, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Harry S. Truman, Legacy of Catholic service, NE Mpls, News | 0 |

When President Harry S. Truman visited Minneapolis in 1950, one of his stops was a muddy park in northeast Minneapolis called Yardville.

Ebb and flow of Catholic school buildings

by bcadmin | Aug 9, 2021 | Anwatin Middle School, Benilde High School for boys, Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr Elementary, Catholic school buildings, Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Featured, Laurel Avenue, mosaic, News, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Margaret of Scotland, Theodore Wirth Park | 0 |

Anwatin Middle School and Bryn Mawr Elementary sit at the western edge of Laurel Avenue in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis. Currently, they are part of the Minneapolis Public Schools. But a mosaic of St. Margaret of Scotland on the exterior of the building suggests a different history. In fact, the school building was opened in 1960 as St. Margaret’s Academy, a high school for girls run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.

Missionary priest in Minnesota Territory

by bcadmin | Jul 7, 2021 | Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Father Augustin Ravoux, Minnesota Territory, News | 0 |

On April 8, 1843, Father Augustin Ravoux finished his daily office and looked out at the Mississippi River. He later recalled, “I had under my eyes two beautiful rivers, a clear sky, a good fire, and nothing to disturb my mind. It is then that the voice of nature is easily heard and understood.”

How the Interstate Highway System changed churches

by bcadmin | Jun 8, 2021 | Echoes of Catholic Minnesota, Featured, German American immigrant community, Interstate Highway System, John Ireland, Minneapolis, News, St. Joseph church | 0 |

When John Ireland dedicated St. Joseph Church at North Fourth Street and Eleventh Avenue in Minneapolis on Sept. 15, 1889, it was not yet completed, but it was already beautiful. Its white brick and sandstone structure was like no other building in the city, with imposing towers on both front corners of the building. Inside, there was seating for 1,200.