Rev. S. J. McCawliff Biography


	This biography appears on page 488 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				REV. S. J. McCAWLIFF. 

	Rev. S. J. McCawliff is the pastor of St. Patricks Catholic 
church at Montrose, where he has been located for ten years. He was 
born in Canada, a native of Quebec, on the 9th of March, 1858, and is a 
son of Michael and Mary (Ryan) McCawliff. After mastering the branches 
of learning taught in the district schools near his home he became a 
student in St. Lawrence College of Montreal, afterward studied theology 
in Montreal Seminary and continued his study in Laval University, from 
the theological department of which he was graduated in 1903, thus 
qualifying for the priesthood. He was ordained to holy orders by the 
present Cardinal Begin on the 17th of May, 1903, and celebrated his 
first mass at St. Anne De Beaupre. He was assigned to the mission at 
Springfield, Bon Homme county, South Dakota, where he remained for a 
year and a half, and in September, 1904, he was transferred to 
Montrose. Since that time the parish has greatly increased in its 
numerical strength. There has been a great spiritual revival among the 
people and there are now one hundred families connected with the 
parish. He has built a magnificent church edifice, the corner stone of 
which was laid in 1906, while the building was completed at a cost of 
twenty-five thousand dollars and is one of the most beautiful churches 
of the state. The work of the church is well organized in all of its 
departments. The Altar Society, the Ladies, Sewing Circle and the Holy 
Name Society are all in a flourishing condition and the work of the 
church is being vigorously prosecuted. Father McCawliff holds 
membership with the Catholic Order of Foresters and with the Knights of 
Columbus, which draws its membership from those of the Catholic faith.