Allison Spies joined “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley for an episode airing May 14 about “the forgotten bishop of the Diocese of St. Paul,” Thomas Grace. Spies is archives program manager for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
There’s not a lot of documentation from the 19th-century bishop’s career, but various descriptions called him brilliant, cultivated, noble, prudent, charming, pious, a uniquely talented speaker, humble, the foremost gentleman and most beloved citizen of his town, Spies said.
Allison Spies
He was very concerned with propriety, she said. When Immaculate Conception (now the Basilica of St. Mary) in Minneapolis was about to be dedicated, the pastor was so excited that he placed posters around the city advertising the dedication event with Bishop Grace.
Bishop Grace found this to be very off-putting and refused to attend, Spies said. “He also was instrumental in putting in place rules that forbid dancing, picnics, alcohol, young housekeepers — and no priests in saloons.”
But Bishop Grace was well known for being an extremely virtuous and wonderful man, Spies said.
Bishop Grace joined the Dominican order in his early teens, Spies said, and he was the first South Carolina native to be ordained to the priesthood.
Pope Pius IX appointed Bishop Grace the second bishop of the Diocese of St. Paul in 1859 and he served a quarter century, until 1884, when he was succeeded by Bishop — later Archbishop — John Ireland. Bishop Grace succeeded Bishop Joseph Cretin, a native of France whom the pope appointed to lead the diocese when it was established in 1850. Bishop Cretin died in 1857.
But, when Bishop Grace was asked to become the diocese’s second bishop, he actually declined the position, Spies said, as did the priest who was asked before him. But the Vatican wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer twice.
“They insisted and he came,” she said.
Spies said Bishop Grace was instrumental in forming the Diocese of St. Paul (which wouldn’t become an archdiocese until 1888 or add “Minneapolis” to its name until 1966). He personally visited most of the diocese’s large territory, which then encompassed all of Minnesota and most of the Dakotas.
“He endured grueling traveling conditions to make a point of visiting those communities and providing sermons in English, sometimes for the first time,” Spies said.
Bishop Grace spent a lot of energy trying to get the voices of the Native American people heard and honored, Spies said. “And even though he was ultimately unsuccessful, it’s really a testament to his compassionate character that that was a subject very dear to his heart. And he was actually famous for that, for advocating for them.”
Overall, Bishop Grace worked in the background, and his dreams were realized through others, Spies said. He paved the way for his successors to be successful, leading the diocese as it transitioned from a frontier village, through an exploding population in a critical formative period, into a cosmopolitan center of Catholicism, she said.
He also intervened in a decision that would dramatically affect the course of the diocese. When the pope selected Father John Ireland, a young priest of the diocese mentored since boyhood by Bishop Grace, to lead the Church in Omaha, Nebraska, Bishop Grace immediately sailed to Rome, met in person with the pope, and begged him not to move Father Ireland out of Minnesota.
Father Ireland mailed back the appointment letter, but it was carried on a steamship that sank off the coast of England. To hear the end of that story and the full interview about the life and service of Bishop Grace, tune in to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show. It airs at 9 p.m. May 14, 1 p.m. May 15 and 2 p.m. May 16 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who discusses his first five years with the archdiocese, and Jeremy Stanbary, executive artistic director at Open Window Theatre, who describes current and future offerings.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired:
soundcloud.com/practicingcatholic
Practicing Catholic on Spotify
Recent Comments