Crawford County WI Archives Church Records.....St. Gabriel's Parish ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 27, 2007, 9:29 pm ST. GABRIEL'S PARISH—DIOCESE OF LACROSSE Bishop Heiss It was during the pastorate of the Rev. Louis Lux, who succeeded Father Galtier in 1866, that the new diocese for the western part of Wisconsin Territory was erected. Rt. Rev. Michael Heiss, the bishop-elect, took possession of his episcopal See of LaCrosse, July 29, 1868. Bishop Heiss, the future archbishop of Milwaukee, began at once to give evidence of his powers as an administrator that were later to distinquish [sic] him among the hierarchy. That his position at LaCrosse was a difficult one, we gather from the details of one of his letters, written soon after his installation as bishop. In the entire diocese, he informs us, there were only eighteen priests and but two parishes of any importance: the one at LaCrosse, and the other at Prairie du Chien. An allusion to St. Gabriel's parish, in that letter, is made pointedly, and for that reason we choose to quote the bishop's words directly: "A parish in Prairie du Chien, in existence for thirty years, was up till now without a Catholic school." The implied indictment of the former pastors and people of St. Gabriel's parish would seem to require some qualification. However, it must be admitted here, that the Bishop had put his finger on the one thing needed to further and insure the hard work already accomplished. Thus, on his part, he made it his immediate concern to provide Sisters for his diocese, and to that end he established at LaCrosse in 1869, the Congregation of St. Francis. That there were 'Catholic' schools in Prairie du Chien long before the Sisters, sent by the Bishop of LaCrosse, opened their parochial school in 1869, we have abundant evidence. The Catholic Almanac assures us that there was a young ladies' seminary at Prairie du Chien conducted by Sisters in 1840. Again, we know that in 1857 Dominican Sisters of Benton, Wisconsin, founded by Father Mazzuchelli, opened a convent at St. Gabriel's. An old frame building, that formerly had served as priest's house, provided a home for the Sisters and class-rooms for undoubtedly the 'first parochial school in Prairie du Chien.' Mr. John Lawler, a pioneer Catholic layman of the parish, was a staunch supporter, morally and financially, of these modest beginnings of Catholic education. He was later to show himself equally staunch in his support of a more advanced stage of Catholic education in Prairie du Chien. Attracted by the Sisters, a young woman of the parish, Hannah Maher, entered the Dominican order at Benton; and thereby became the first of a long list of forty, who subsequently joined religious sisterhoods from St. Gabriel's congregation. It is to be noted that these early efforts to establish a Catholic school at Prairie du Chien were made before the diocese of LaCrosse had been erected. Then, in 1869, seven years after the Dominican Sisters were withdrawn, a school was opened on Blackhawk Avenue by the Franciscan Sisters of LaCrosse. Of the three Sisters who came to Prairie du Chien on that occasion, only one survives, Sister Mary Bonaventura, who today is stationed at St. Rose Convent, LaCrosse, and who, despite her advanced age, well remembers the auspicious event. Such is the record of the beginnings of Catholic primary education in the parish of St. Gabriel. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Centennial History of St. Gabriel's Parish PRAIRIE DU CHIEN WISCONSIN 1836 1936 DR. P. L. SCANLAN, M. D. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/crawford/churches/stgabrie22gbb.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb