Pilgrims to the northland

by Marvin Richard O'Connell

"This is the first narrative history of the Archdiocese of St. Paul, from 1840 to 1962. Historian Marvin R. O'Connell brings to life the extraordinary labors and accomplishments of the French priests who came to the upper midwest territory during the first half of the nineteenth century. Over the next fifty years a flood of settlers, primarily Irish and German Catholics, filled up the land. In 1850 Rome created a new diocese centered in the village of St. Paul, and in 1851 French priest Joseph Cretin was named its first bishop." "O'Connell's lively account stresses the social, economic, and political context in which the Catholic Church in Minnesota grew and evolved. He vividly illuminates the personalities of the bishops who followed Cretin, Thomas Grace (1859-84) and John Ireland (1884-1918). Ireland's successors, Austin Dowling (1919-30) and John Gregory Murray (1931-56), were not as colorful as Ireland, although Murray was immensely popular. William Brady is the final archbishop co