Pioneer Bishops of New Jersey

This blog will discuss bishops that served in New Jersey up to 1900.  For more information about New Jersey, see my blog of May 20, 2017.

The first Catholics to settle in New Jersey came to Elizabeth and Woodbridge (both near New York City) in 1672 and the first Mass in New Jersey was celebrated in Woodbridge in that year.  Since New Jersey was an English colony, Catholics were often persecuted.  William Douglass was elected to the General Assembly in 1668 but was barred from attending the Assembly because he was Catholic.  Father John Ury, who ministered to Catholics in New Jersey, was arrested on false charges and executed in New York City in 1741.  With the establishment of St. Joseph’s Church in Philadelphia in 1733—at the time the only Catholic church in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York—Jesuit priests (such as Theodore Schneider and Ferdinand Farmer) began ministering to the few Catholics scattered throughout the colony.  More Catholics came to New Jersey to work at the glass factories in Salem (South Jersey) and iron furnaces in Ringwood (North Jersey) and Pleasant Mills (South Jersey), among other locations.

In 1808, northern New Jersey became part of the Diocese of New York and southern New Jersey part of the Diocese of Philadelphia.  The first parishes in New Jersey were at West Milford (1765) and Trenton (1814).  As more immigrants came to New Jersey, additional parishes were opened including those in Paterson (1820), Newark (1826), and Pleasant Mills (1830). 

Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Newark in 1853, which consisted of all of New Jersey.  At that time, there were about 40,000 Catholics in New Jersey, in 33 parishes, served by about 30 priests.  Pope Leo XIII created the Diocese of Trenton in 1881 to serve Catholics in central and southern New Jersey.  By this time, the number of Catholics in New Jersey had grown to 190,000.  Continued immigration of Catholics from Ireland, Italy, Germany, Poland, and elsewhere had increased the Catholic population to over one million and led Pope Pius XI in 1937 to create the Province of Newark, making Newark an archdiocese, and to establish the new Dioceses of Camden and Paterson.  Pope John Paul II established the Diocese of Metuchen in 1981.

James Roosevelt Bayley was born in New York City in 1814 and raised as an Episcopalian and became an Episcopal priest in 1839.  He was the nephew of St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton and a relative of two future presidents (Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt).  Influenced by the Oxford Movement and by reading the early church fathers, and by his acquaintance with Father John McCloskey (later Archbishop of New York and the first U.S. cardinal) Bayley converted to Catholicism in 1842 and was ordained a priest for the Catholic Diocese of New York in 1844.  His ordination resulted in his disinheriting a large fortune from his grandfather.  As a priest, he served as vice president and professor at St. John’s College and served as a pastor at a church on Long Island.

Bayley was appointed the first Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, in 1853.  The Diocese of Newark, which at that time consisted of the State of New Jersey, had about 30,000 Catholics—mostly poor Irish and Germans—served by 30 churches and 30 priests.  Bayley invited religious orders to work in the Diocese including the Benedictines, the Sisters of Charity, and the Jesuits.  He also established Seton Hall University and helped found the North American College in Rome.  He wrote several books on U.S. church history and stressed the importance of Catholic education—by 1872 there were 20,000 students in Catholic schools in New Jersey.  Bayley was named Archbishop of Baltimore in 1872.  Never in good health, Bayley died in 1877.

Michael A. Corrigan was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1839.  He was the fifth of nine children of Irish immigrant parents.  His father was a successful owner of a grocery and liquor business.   Corrigan received a good education and was a member of the first class at the North American College in Rome.  He was ordained to the priesthood in 1863 for the Diocese of Newark.  Corrigan served as a professor of theology and history at Seton Hall College and also served as a pastor.  He was named president of Seton Hall in 1869 and also became vicar general for the Diocese.

Corrigan was appointed Bishop of Newark in 1873, which at the time encompassed the State of New Jersey.  He was only 34, and the youngest bishop in the United States, at the time of his appointment.  He built many hospitals and charitable institutions, and he established Catholic reform schools because the State reform schools forced their Catholic inmates to attend Protestant services.  Corrigan also focused on the needs of Italian and German immigrants.  He also supported the Catholic Temperance Union and the Catholic Union—a lay group that defended Catholics against bigotry.  He was named coadjutor archbishop of New York in 1880 and became Archbishop of New York in 1885.  Corrigan died in 1902 of pneumonia.

Winand M. Wigger was born in New York City in 1841.  He was the second of four sons of parents born in Germany.  Sickly as a child, his parents returned to Germany in 1843 hoping the sea voyage would help young Winand.  They returned to New York in 1845 and his father became prosperous.  Wigger applied for seminary in New York but was rejected because of his health.  He was accepted at Newark’s seminary and later studied in Italy, before being ordained a priest for the Diocese of Newark in Italy in 1865.  On his return voyage in 1866, cholera broke out among the ship’s passengers and Wigger stayed on board for two weeks after the ship arrived in New York to care for the sick and dying.  Wigger served at several parishes in New Jersey and was noted for his financial abilities, as well as his generosity and concern for the poor and suffering.  He was appointed the third Bishop of Newark in 1881.

Bishop Wigger spoke English, German, French, and Italian.  He established German parishes and schools to allow German immigrants to better maintain their Faith, and also worked with Italian immigrants.  He was a strong supporter of Catholic schools and unsuccessfully sought state funding for them, but he opposed a plan to incorporate parochial schools into the public school system.  He also started construction for the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in 1889.  Bishop Wigger was concerned about alcohol abuse, which met with skepticism from German brewers and Irish saloon keepers.  Despite the creation of the Diocese of Trenton (southern New Jersey), the number of Catholics increased during his time as Bishop from 145,000 to 300,000, and the number of priests and parishes doubled as well.  Bishop Wigger died in 1901.

Michael J. O'Farrell was born in Ireland in 1832 and educated in Dublin and Paris.  He was ordained a priest in 1855, joined the Sulpicians, and served as a pastor of a parish in Montreal.  He eventually became a priest for the Diocese of New York and served in parishes there until 1881 when he was named the first bishop of Trenton.  Bishop O’Farrell took charge of a Diocese with 40,000 Catholics, about 70 churches, and 51 priests.  He built many new parishes and charitable institutions, including an orphanage and home for the aged, despite hostility by non-Catholics in South Jersey.  O’Farrell was noted for being an eloquent speaker and gifted writer.  He died in 1894.

James A. McFaul was born in Ireland in 1850 and came with his family as an infant, first to New York City and then to New Jersey.  His father was a farmer and McFaul became a store clerk at age 15.  He studied in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, initially intending to become an attorney before deciding on the priesthood.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Newark in 1877.  He served in Newark until being transferred to a parish in Trenton in 1879.  When Trenton became a Diocese in 1881, McFaul became a priest for the new Diocese.  He soon became private secretary to Bishop O’Farrell, then chancellor for the Diocese, and eventually vicar general.  He was named Bishop of Trenton in 1894.

Bishop McFaul was noted for his speaking and writing abilities.  He gave a speech in 1909 that accused some university professors of teaching their students information that was in conflict with accepted moral standards.  He was one of the founders of the American Federation of Catholic Societies.  The Catholic population of the Diocese had grown to almost three quarters of a million by the time of his death—due to immigration from Italy and Eastern Europe.  As a result, he built many new churches and schools—including a college in Plainfield—and established several Catholic service institutions while maintaining the Diocese’s solid financial standing.  He died in 1917.

Pioneer Bishops of New Hampshire

This blog will discuss bishops that served in New Hampshire up to 1900.  For more information about New Hampshire, see my blog of September 27, 2017.

Martin Pring, an English explorer, came to the mouth of the Piscataqua River in 1603, and likely was the first European to see New Hampshire.  The first settlement was near Rye in 1623.  Much of New Hampshire’s early history was one of conflict.  Many of the early settlements were by Anglicans, which drew the attention of the Massachusetts Puritans.  Massachusetts officials sought to control New Hampshire until England made New Hampshire a separate colony in 1679.  Border disputes with Massachusetts continued well into the 18th Century.  Both Protestant groups fought the Native Americans and both detested Catholics.  Colonial laws outlawed any practice of the Faith.  Some of these anti-Catholic laws were not repealed until well after the Revolution.  Catholics were not allowed to hold state office until 1877 and another anti-Catholic provision of the state constitution was not removed until 1968.  New Hampshire became the 9th State in 1788.

There was some Catholic presence in colonial New Hampshire.  Some Native Americans were converted by French missionaries, but most eventually moved to Canada.  The first Mass was celebrated by French Jesuits in 1694 near Durham during a French raid on settlements there.  But given the hostility toward Catholics, it is not surprising that few settled in New Hampshire.  The first parish, St. Mary’s, was established in Claremont in 1823, and the second, in Dover, in 1833—at which time there were fewer than 400 Catholics in the State.  French Canadians began coming to New Hampshire in the 1830s and Irish immigrants came in the 1840s.  Manchester had a few hundred Catholics when St. Anne’s Church—New Hampshire’s third—was established by Father William McDonald in 1848.

The new French and Irish Catholics brought about a need for more parishes and more than two dozen were opened between 1850 and 1884.  In that year, Pope Leo XIII created the Diocese of Manchester to serve New Hampshire’s 45,000 Catholics.  Manchester had become New Hampshire’s largest city in 1880. 

Denis M. Bradley was born in Ireland in 1846 and came to Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1854, with his siblings and widowed mother.  He graduated from Holy Cross College in Massachusetts in 1867 and attended seminary in Troy, New York.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Portland, Maine, in 1871.  He initially served at the cathedral in Portland and served as chancellor for the Diocese, but took a six-month sabbatical in Europe in 1879 to regain his health.  Still in poor health upon his return, the Bishop of Portland, whose Diocese then included New Hampshire, sent Bradley to the less demanding job of pastor of St. Joseph’s parish in Manchester.  Bradley was appointed the first Bishop of Manchester in 1884 and selected St. Joseph’s to be his cathedral.

The number of Catholics increased from 45,000 to 104,000 during his time as bishop, and he increased the number of priests from 37 to 107 to minister to the larger population.  He built many schools and charitable institutions and focused on the needs of rural Catholics.  He also encouraged the Benedictines to establish an abbey and St. Anselm College.  He died in 1903 of chronic gastritis.

Pioneer Bishops of Nevada

The hierarchy was not established in Nevada until 1931.  For more information about Nevada, see my blog of May 4, 2018.

A Franciscan priest, Francisco Graces, was the first European to see Nevada, when he traveled from Mexico to California in 1775 and celebrated the first Mass near what is now Laughlin.  Other Franciscans passed through the next year and were followed in subsequent years by fur trappers and later by gold miners going to California, but even as late as 1860, there were fewer than 7,000 residents.  Nevada became part of the United States in 1848 and most of Nevada became part of the Utah Territory in 1850.  Greater attention was focused on Nevada after the discovery of the Comstock Lode silver mine in 1859.  Nevada became a separate territory in 1861 and the 36th State in 1864.

For the rest of the 19th Century, Nevada’s population fluctuated greatly, depending on the economics of the mining industry.  By 1880, the population was 62,000.  The population dropped to 42,000 in 1900 before rebounding to 82,000 in 1910.  The first Catholic parish was established in Douglas County in 1858 and by 1875 there were more than half a dozen parishes in Nevada.  Nevada was for many years divided between the Dioceses of Sacramento and Salt Lake.

Pope Pius XI created the Diocese of Reno in 1931, which included all of the State of Nevada.  Reno was the largest city in Nevada at that time, with about 19,000 people.  There were about 8,500 Nevada Catholics then—about 9 percent of the total population.  Nevada was the 48th state to have its own diocese.  The name of the Diocese was changed in 1976 to the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas.  Pope John Paul II split Nevada into the Diocese of Reno and the newly created Diocese of Las Vegas in 1995. 

Basilicas in Switzerland

I blogged about the following basilicas on April 1, 2021.

• Territorial Abbey Cathedral and Basilica of St. Maurice, Saint-Maurice, Valais.
• Co-Cathedral and Basilica of Our Lady of Valor, Sion, Valais.

Madonna del Sasso Basilica, Locarno, Ticino

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XV in 1918.

A Franciscan brother had a vision of the Virgin Mary on this site in 1480 and the church was built seven years later.

Pictures are from Wikipedia.

Mariastein Basilica Abbey, Mariastein, Solothurn

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

Mariastein Abbey is a Benedictine monastery that was founded in 1648 on the site of a 14th Century miracle associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The abbey has closed at various times in history, but has been reopened since 1971.  The Basilica, which is the Abbey church, was built using Gothic, Baroque, and Classical styles.

The first two pictures are from Pinterest and the other two are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady, Fribourg, Fribourg

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1932.

The church was built in 1201 and is the oldest in Fribourg.  The church was renovated in the 18th Century using neo-classical and rococo styles.  Its 18th Century Neapolitan Nativity features 75 figurines.

Both pictures are from local sources.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Lugano, Ticino

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1952.

A chapel was built on this site in 1726 dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, and St. Nepomuk.  Pilgrims started coming to the chapel and the current neo-Romanesque church was built between 1922 and 1927.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady, Geneva, Geneva

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1954.

The neo-Gothic Basilica was built between 1852 and 1857.  The church was closed from 1875 to 1911 due to an anti-clerical government.  Pope Pius IX gave the basilica a white Carrara marble statue of the Immaculate Conception.  The basilica is noted for its stained glass.

The first picture is from the basilica website and the others are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Holy Trinity, Bern, Bern

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1956.

The church was built between 1896 and 1899 for the Catholics of Bern who were not allowed to worship for over 300 years.  The builders of the Lombard Romanesque church wanted to use sandstone but the local quarry owners refused to sell to Catholics.  So the builders used granite, gneiss, and Jurassic rock from other areas to construct the building.

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

Abbatial Basilica of St. Ulrich and St. Afra, Kreuzlingen, Thurgau

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1967.

Kreuzlingen Abbey was established in the early 12th Century and was dissolved in 1848.  The Basilica—the abbey church—was built in a Baroque style in the mid-17th Century.  The church was badly damaged by a fire in 1963 and was restored in 1967.  Much of the artwork survived the fire.

The first picture is from a local source and the others are from Wikipedia.

Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Miracles, Morbio Inferiore, Ticino

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1990.

Construction on the church began in 1595 in commemoration of a Marian apparition the previous year.  The baroque building was consecrated in 1613. 

The first two pictures are from Wikipedia and the last is from a local source.

Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, Lausanne, Vaud

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1992.

The first Catholic parish in Lausanne since the Reformation opened in 1814 and the congregation built the current Neo-classical church between 1832 and 1835.  The Basilica has a 125-foot bell tower and several works of art including a fresco of the Virgin Mary by Tuscan artist, Gino Severini.

Pictures are from TripAdvisor and Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, Neuchatel, Neuchatel

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.

The Neo-Gothic church was completed in 1906 and is made of red-tinted artificial stone.  The ceiling has almost ten thousand painted stars.

Pictures are from Flicriver, a local source, and Wikipedia.

Pioneer Bishops of Nebraska

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Nebraska up to 1900.  For more information about Nebraska, see my blog of November 9, 2016 (my first blog).

Spanish and French explorers and fur traders came to what is now Nebraska for two and a half centuries prior to the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 when the land became part of the United States.  Pioneers followed the Oregon Trail along the Platte River starting in 1841 and Mormons headed for Utah followed in 1847.  Gold seekers going to California and Colorado came after the Mormons.  Few stayed in Nebraska thinking that the land was unsuitable for agriculture.  Congress created the Nebraska Territory in 1854 and opened the land for settlement.  There were 29,000 people in the Territory in 1860 and Nebraska became the 37th State in 1867.  The Union Pacific and the Burlington Railroads were built in the late 1860s and Nebraska grew quickly, from 452,000 people in 1880 to slightly over a million in 1890.

Jesuit missionaries came to Nebraska in 1837 to bring the Faith to the Native Americans.  Catholicism was mainly brought to Nebraska by Irish and German settlers in the 1850s and Bohemians (who came to build the Burlington Railroad) in the 1860s.  By 1880, there were over 40 Catholic churches in the State, mostly in the eastern half, and many more would be built over the next 20 years as the population grew rapidly.  Omaha grew from 31,000 people to over 100,000 between 1880 and 1900, and Lincoln grew from 13,000 to over 40,000 during that time.

Nebraska became part of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains (a missionary diocese) in 1850, along with all or part of seven other future states.  Pope Pius IX created a separate Vicariate Apostolic of Nebraska in 1857, which included Nebraska and all or part of five future states.  Pope Leo XIII created the Diocese of Omaha in 1885 which included Nebraska and Wyoming.  Pope Leo separated southern Nebraska into the Diocese of Lincoln (and created the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming) in 1887.  Pope Pius X established western Nebraska as the Diocese of Kearney in 1912 and this became the Diocese of Grand Island in 1917.  Pope Pius XII made Nebraska a separate province in 1945 raising Omaha to the status of an Archdiocese. 

James M. O’Gorman was born in Ireland in 1804 and ordained a Cistercian (Trappist) priest in 1843 in Ireland.  He came to New Melleray Monastery in Iowa after the Potato Famine and eventually became the Monastery’s second prior.  He was appointed the first Vicar Apostolic of Nebraska in 1859.

Bishop O’Gorman governed a vicariate that included all of Nebraska and all or parts of what are now six other states.  The Catholic population consisted of a few thousand Native Americans, mostly in Montana, and a few hundred settlers.  There were only three other priests to assist O’Gorman in ministering to these few and widespread Catholics.  The Catholic population increased thanks to migration to the West and to the building of the transcontinental railroad.  O’Gorman brought in priests and nuns from religious orders to teach and administer parishes and by the time he died in 1874, the Catholic population had grown to 12,000, the number of priests to 19, and there were 20 parishes and 56 missions.  O’Gorman, along with the Sisters of Mercy, also opened a Catholic hospital.  

James O’Connor was born Ireland in 1823.  James and his older brother, Michael, came to the United States in 1834.  Michael was a priest who had been invited to teach at the seminary in Philadelphia.  James enrolled in the seminary and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1848.  By that time, his brother Michael had become Bishop of Pittsburgh.  He served as a priest in the Pittsburgh diocese until 1857 when he was named rector of the Pittsburgh seminary.  O’Connor was named rector of the Philadelphia seminary in 1862 and was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Nebraska in 1876 and the first Bishop of Omaha in 1885.

When the Diocese of Omaha was established in 1885, the Diocese consisted of Nebraska and Wyoming.  In 1887, the Diocese consisted of northern Nebraska.  Settlement in Nebraska increased greatly after the Union Pacific and the Burlington Railroads were constructed in the late 1860s and many of these settlers were European Catholics.  Bishop O’Connor invited several religious orders, including the Franciscans, the Benedictines, the Poor Clares, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for the Indians and Colored People (O’Connor served as a spiritual advisor for St. Katharine Drexel), and the Sisters of Providence, to help minister to the Catholics in Nebraska.  O’Connor established Creighton University before transferring it to the Jesuits.  He died in 1890. 

Richard Scannell was born in Ireland in 1845 and attended seminary in Dublin.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, in 1871.  While in Nashville, Scannell served at various times as cathedral rector, apostolic administrator of the Diocese, and vicar general of the Diocese.  He was appointed the first Bishop of Concordia, Kansas (now the Diocese of Salina) in 1887 and Bishop of Omaha in 1891.

In Omaha, Bishop Scannell built many parishes and schools and began construction of St. Cecilia’s Cathedral.  He also opened two hospitals and invited several religious orders to serve in the Diocese.  At the time his death, there were 80,000 Catholics in the Diocese, which by that time consisted of the current boundaries, with 95 parishes and 144 diocesan priests.  Bishop Scannell died in 1916.

Thomas Bonacum was born in Ireland in 1847 and came the following year with his family to St. Louis.  He attended seminary in Wisconsin and Missouri before be ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1870.  He served at several Missouri parishes and spent two years studying theology in Bavaria.  He was initially considered as a candidate for Bishop of Belleville, Illinois, but was named as first Bishop of Lincoln in 1887.

During Bonacum’s episcopacy, the number of priests, parishes, and schools, increased greatly to keep up with population growth.  He also invited several orders of religious sisters to teach in schools and other religious institutions.  Bonacum also had disputes that led to civil court actions, one against a donor which Bonacum won, and one against one of his own priests, which was also resolved in his favor.  Bonacum had a particularly nasty dispute with one of his priests which lasted from 1893 until 1911, when both died.  The dispute resulted in Pope Pius X banning priests and bishops from suing each other in secular courts.  Bonacum died of pneumonia and Bright’s disease.

Pioneer Bishops of Montana

This blog will discuss bishops that served in Montana up to 1900.  For more information about Montana, see my blog of July 8, 2017.

The first non-Native Americans to come to Montana were French Canadian fur traders, who came to Idaho and Montana throughout the last half of the 18th Century and first half of the 19th Century.  Eastern Montana became part of the United States as a result of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Lewis and Clark expedition explored Montana during 1805-1806.  U.S. control of western Montana was not firmly established until 1848.  Fur traders established scattered settlements during the first half of the 19th Century, but large numbers of American settlers would not come until the 1860s as a result of the discovery of gold at Bannack, Alder Gulch (Virginia City), Last Chance Gulch (Helena), and Confederate Gulch (Diamond City).  Parts of Montana belonged to several different territories until the Territory of Montana was established in 1864.  Montana’s population was 21,000 in 1870.  When Montana became the 41st State in 1889, its population had grown to over 132,000.

In the second decade of the 19th Century, a group of Catholic Iroquois settled among the Flathead tribe, and introduced the Faith to them.  After several petitions to Church officials in St. Louis for the services of a priest, Jesuit Father Peter De Smet arrived in Montana in 1840 and celebrated the first Mass near what is now Three Forks.  Other Jesuits, including Father Antonio Ravalli, soon followed and several missions were established among the Native American tribes, including St. Mary in 1841, St. Ignatius in 1854, and St. Peter in 1858.  Churches were soon established in the new towns, including Helena in 1866, Butte and Missoula in 1881, Frenchtown in 1884, Billings in 1887, and Great Falls in 1889.

Montana became part of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Indian Territory East of the Rock Mountains—along with all or parts of seven other future states—in 1850.  Later eastern Montana Catholics were served by the Vicariate Apostolic of Nebraska (1857), and western Montana Catholics by the Vicariate Apostolic of Idaho (1868).  Eastern Montana became the Vicariate Apostolic of Montana in 1868.  In 1883, Pope Leo XIII established Montana as a separate Vicariate Apostolic—a mission diocese.  The following year, Pope Leo established the Diocese of Helena for the whole Territory of Montana—Helena had been the Territorial capital since 1875.  Pope Pius X separated eastern Montana from the Diocese of Helena in 1904 creating the Diocese of Great Falls.  The name of this second diocese was changed to the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings in 1980.

John B. Brondel was born in Belgium in 1842 as one of seven children.  He entered seminary in 1852 intending to be a missionary in North America.  He was ordained a priest in 1864 and came to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1866.  He taught in Vancouver for a year before being sent to what is now the State of Washington.  He served at various churches there before being appointed Bishop of Vancouver Island (Canada) in 1879.  His diocese included Vancouver Island as well as Alaska.  In 1883, he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Montana and less than a year later he became the first Bishop of Helena, Montana.

Bishop Brondel increased the number of schools and hospitals in the Diocese and increased the number of churches by 50.  He also increased the number of Diocesan priests from 4 to 38 and he paid special attention to the religious and material needs of the Native Americans in the Diocese.  Brondel traveled throughout Montana ministering to Catholics throughout the state.  His concern with the size of his Diocese led him to successfully petition the Pope to create another diocese for Montana.  Bishop Brondel died in 1903.

Basilicas in Eastern Belgium

St. Martin’s Basilica, Liege, Liege

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII in 1886.

The 16th Century Gothic Basilica replaced a 10th Century Romanesque church.  It was in the original church in 1246 that the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated for the first time.  Felix Mendelssohn’s Lauda Sion was first performed in the church in 1846.

From the Basilica website and Wikipedia.

Basilica Abbey of St. Benedict of Maredsous, Anhee, Namur

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

Maredsous Abbey is a Benedictine monastery that was founded in 1872.  The Basilica, which is the Abbey church, is built in a Gothic Revival style.

The first picture is from a local source and the others from Wikipedia.

Abbey Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, Saint-Hubert, Luxembourg

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1927.

An abbey was on this site from 687 until 1797 (the French Revolution).  The current Gothic and Baroque church was built in the mid-16th Century to replace a 12th Century Romanesque church which was mostly destroyed by fire.  The current towers survived the fire.  French Huguenot soldiers burned the church in 1568, but it was repaired.  The current classical façade was added in 1702.  The church was largely abandoned from 1797 until 1841. 

The first picture is from a local source and the others are from Wikipedia.

Our Lady of Chevremont Basilica, Chaudfontaine, Liege

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1928.

A castle was established on this site in the 7th Century and around the same time, veneration began after the finding of a statue of Our Lady.  The castle was destroyed in 987 although veneration of Our Lady continued.  Jesuits, who had fled England, built a small chapel in 1688 which still stands.  Pilgrimages continued and the current Gothic basilica was built between 1877 and 1899.  The church was heavily damaged during the First World War, but was repaired.  Further damage was sustained in the Second World War, but restoration has been slow as most pilgrims now go to nearby Banneux, a Marian apparition site.  The Basilica’s future is uncertain since it was purchased in 2020 by a real estate developer. 

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of Our Lady, Tongeren, Limburg

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1930.

The Gothic Basilica was built beginning in the 13th Century and continuing for the next three centuries.  The Basilica was once the cathedral for the former Diocese of Tongeron and houses an image of Our Lady dating to 1475.

The top picture is from a local source and the others are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Assumption of Mary, Kortenbos, Limburg

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1936.

A woman placed a statue of the Virgin Mary in an oak tree at this site in 1636 to protect the few inhabitants of the area from robbers.  A chapel was built in 1639 and pilgrims started coming to venerate Mary.  The current brick Baroque church was built between 1641 and 1648 but was soon enlarged.  Thousands of pilgrims continue to come to the church every year.

 

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Abbatial Basilica of Our Lady d’Orval, Florenville, Luxembourg

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII I 1939.

An abbey was established by Benedictines in 1070, but they left after 40 years.  Cistercian monks arrived in 1132 and served there until driven out during the French Revolution at which time the abbey was completely destroyed.  A family acquired the property in 1887 and returned it to the Cistercians in 1926.  The Basilica—the abbey church—opened in 1948.  Today the monks brew beer and make cheese.

Pictures are from a local source and Wikipedia.

Abbatial Basilica Our Lady of Val-Dieu, Aubel, Liege

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1946.

Val-Dieu Abbey was established by the Cistercians in the 13th Century and remained despite wars until the French Revolution at which time the fourth abbey church was destroyed.  The abbey reopened in 1844 and remained open until 2001.  The abbey church—the Basilica—opened at some point during those years.  A small lay community now lives there and brews beer for income.

The first two pictures are from local sources and the last is from Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Maternus (also Basilica of Our Lady), Walcourt Namur

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

St. Maternus was a missionary to this area in the early 4th Century and a Romanesque church was built on this site in the 11th Century in his honor.  A statue of Our Lady was in this new church.  The wooden statue survived a 1228 fire that destroyed the rest of the church.  Pilgrims started coming to the site to pray to Our Blessed Mother and the current Gothic basilica was built from the 13th to the 16th Centuries.  The rood screen was likely donated by Emperor Charles V in 1531.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Virga Jesse Basilica, Hasselt, Limburg

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

The first church on this site was built in the 14th Century and was replaced with the current church in 1731.  The building was heavily damaged during the Second World War but has been repaired.

Pictures are from Flickr, Pinterest, and TripAdvisor

Basilica of the Virgin with a Heart of Gold, Beauraing, Namur

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

The Virgin Mary appeared to five children in Beauraing 30 times between November 1932 and January 1933.  These apparitions have been approved as real by the Vatican.  The neo-Romanesque Basilica was built in 1954 on the site of the apparitions.

The first picture is from Pinterest and the others are from Wikipedia.