Editing Mathias Loras (section)

==Bishop of Dubuque==
[[File:FRMazzuchelli.jpg|thumb|left|125px|[[Venerable]] Rev. [[Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli]], OP]]
In 1837, the [[Provincial Councils of Baltimore#Third Provincial Council|third Provincial Council of Baltimore]] recommended to the pope that new dioceses be created due to the expansion of the [[Catholic Church in the United States|United States]]. Pope [[Gregory XVI]] established the Diocese of Dubuque on July 28, 1837, and Loras was named its first bishop. He was [[consecrate]]d on December 10, 1837, by Portier in Mobile. The principal co-consecrator was the bishops [[Antoine Blanc]] of [[New Orleans]],<ref name=Clarke/> assisted by [[John Stephen Bazin]] of [[Vincennes]].

Loras knew little of his new diocese and wrote to [[Joseph Rosati]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis|St. Louis]] to inquire what he might find there. Rosati, whose diocese the territory was taken from, probably knew little as the territory was mostly wilderness.<ref name=dubuque/> The diocese probably had fewer than 3,000 people in its area that were [[Catholic]]. There were three parishes, an Indian [[Mission (Christianity)|mission]], and one priest, [[Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli]]. The diocesan territory consisted of present-day Iowa, most of [[Minnesota]], and [[North Dakota|North]] and [[South Dakota]] east of the [[Missouri River]]. On July 4, 1838, the area would become the [[Iowa Territory]]. Loras named Mazzuchelli vicar general and administrator of the diocese because Loras was not traveling to his new diocese just yet.<ref name=annals>[http://iagenweb.org/history/annals/1911-Apr.htm Kempker, John F. Catholic Missionaries in the Early and the Territorial Days of Iowa ''Annals of Iowa'' vol X, number 1. April 1911. 3rd Series]</ref>

[[File:OldDubuqueCathedral.jpg|thumb|left|205px|Old St. Raphael's Cathedral in Dubuque]]
Loras traveled to France to recruit [[missionaries]] and gather funds for his diocese. Upon returning, he spent the late winter and early spring in St. Louis waiting for more favorable conditions to travel to Dubuque. There he met notable explorer [[Joseph Nicolas Nicollet]] who gave Loras insights on his new diocese.<ref name=dubuque/> On April 19, 1839, Loras arrived in Dubuque for the first time. He brought with him [[Joseph Crétin]], who was consecrated first [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis|Bishop of St. Paul]] in 1851, [[Jean-Antoine-Marie Pelamourgues]], who would spend his career in the diocese based at [[St. Anthony's Catholic Church (Davenport, Iowa)|St. Anthony's Church]] in [[Davenport, Iowa|Davenport]], and seminarians [[Augustin Ravoux]] who would become a noted missionary among the Native Americans,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbumbib:@FIELD(AUTHOR+@band(+Ravoux,+Augustin,++bp.,++1815+1906.)) |title = Reminiscences, memoirs, and lectures of Monsignor A. Ravoux, V.G.|access-date = 9 January 2016}}</ref> [[Lucien Galtier]], Remigius Petiot, and James Causse who were pioneer priests in Minnesota.<ref name="annals"/><ref name=newadvent>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05179b.htm Dubuque ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1911)]</ref> Later that year, he consecrated [[Saint Raphael's Cathedral (Dubuque)|St. Raphael's Church]], Iowa's first church congregation of any denomination, as his [[cathedral]].{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

His connections and influence in Europe had enabled him to secure necessary financial assistance from the [[Society for the Propagation of the Faith]] of Lyons, France, the [[Leopoldine Society]] of [[Vienna]], [[Austria]], and the Foreign Mission Society of [[Munich]], [[Bavaria]]. In 1846 when Loras discovered [[Catholic Church in Germany|German Catholic]] immigrants thirty miles west of Dubuque, he convinced them to name their community [[New Vienna, Iowa|New Vienna]] in honor of the Austrian capital and home of one of his benefactors.<ref name="dubuque"/>

Over the next 19 years, Loras guided the Dubuque Diocese during its formative years. He established several missions among the Native American tribes. Loras also established several schools, as well as parishes in every populated area of the diocese. In 1839 he established St. Raphael's Seminary, a forerunner of [[Loras College]]. Mother [[Mary Frances Clarke]] and the [[Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary]] came to Dubuque in 1843.<ref name=ccusa>[https://books.google.com/books?id=x70YAAAAYAAJ&dq=Antoinette+Fage&pg=PA5 "Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary," ''The Catholic Church in the United States of America'', Catholic Editing Company, 1914, p. 88]{{PD-notice}}</ref> Loras visited [[Mount Melleray Abbey]] in Ireland in 1849 and expressed his desire to have the [[Trappists]] establish a monastery in his diocese. [[Clement Smyth]] and six monks came to Dubuque County that same year and established [[New Melleray Abbey]]. When they had completed the first buildings, another 16 monks arrived to join them.

Not satisfied with St. Raphael's Seminary in Dubuque, Loras moved the school south of Dubuque to an area known today as [[Key West, Iowa|Key West]]. The new school, renamed St. Bernard's College and Seminary, was plagued with financial problems but managed to survive until Loras' death.

Loras also encouraged immigrants to come to Iowa from the more crowded conditions in the eastern U.S. Soon, Dubuque had growing Irish and German populations. Even though he welcomed immigrants to the area, tensions between immigrant groups caused Loras some of his greatest difficulties.

The Germans felt that Loras had not done enough to give them clergy of German descent. The Irish felt slighted when Loras provided the Germans with their parish, Holy Trinity (now [[Saint Mary's Catholic Church (Dubuque)|Saint Mary's]]). Some immigrants threatened to withhold contributions to the church. Loras fled the city on two occasions and threatened to withdraw all the clergy from the city. However, tempers eventually cooled, and neither side followed through on their threats.<ref>[http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=LORAS%2C_Mathias Loras, Mathias ''Encyclopedia Dubuque'']</ref>

[[File:Mathias Loras timbre.jpg|thumb|right|Seal of Bishop Loras]]
On July 19, 1850, Pope [[Pius IX]] established the Diocese of Saint Paul. The Diocese of Dubuque had been reduced to the boundaries of the state of Iowa, which had been established in 1846.

In the 1850s, under the direction of Loras, the present cathedral church was begun. This was the third building for St.Raphael's parish, and it was over three times the size of the old cathedral. Loras did not live long enough to see this cathedral completed, but he could offer the first mass in this new structure at Christmas, 1857.

By the late 1850s, Loras found that his health was failing. He asked the [[Holy See]] to name a coadjutor bishop to assist him. On January 9, 1857, Clement Smyth, [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|prior]] at New Melleray, was appointed as coadjutor bishop.
As the Dubuque Diocese grew in size Loras wrote to Pope Pius IX in May 1857, and in the letter stated that he was considering asking for the Dubuque Diocese to be divided, with [[Keokuk, Iowa|Keokuk]] as the See city for the new diocese.<ref name="foundations">{{cite book |last = Loras |first = Mathias |editor = Klein, Robert F. |editor2 = Bras, Sister Benvenuta O.P. |title = Foundations: The Letters of Mathias Loras, D.D., Bishop of Dubuque |year = 2004 |publisher = [[Loras College|Loras College Press]] |location = [[Dubuque, Iowa]] |language = fr, en, la |isbn = 0-936875-10-0 |pages = 901–902, 937}}</ref> However this was not done in his lifetime.

Although he had been sick for some time, Loras' death still came suddenly on Friday, February 19, 1858, in Dubuque at 65. Before his death, Loras had been seriously ill but had seemed to be recovering well, even up to the evening of February 18. At about 8:30 on the 18th, he informed his staff that he was retiring for the evening. He ordered them not to disturb him unless necessary, as the [[Liturgy of the Hours|divine office]] he wanted to pray was long, and he wanted to make sure he finished. Around 11:00 PM, his housekeeper heard Loras moaning and informed Father McCabe, who proceeded to the Bishop's room and found him collapsed on the floor. During the night, his condition worsened steadily, and sometime between five and six in the morning on February 19, he died.<ref name="foundations"/>

A funeral Mass was held the following Sunday at 9:00 am. The body of Loras was taken from the old cathedral to the new cathedral for a full service led by Smyth. After the Mass, Loras was buried within the mortuary chapel of the cathedral.<ref name="foundations"/>

At the time of his death, the Diocese of Dubuque had grown to 54,000 Catholics, in 60 parishes, served by 48 priests in a territory that now only covered the state of Iowa.<ref name="newadvent"/>

[[File:BishopLorasMarker.JPG|thumbnail|280px|Final resting place of Bishop Loras in the mortuary chapel at St. Raphael's Cathedral]]