Samuel Mazzuchelli

Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, OP (birth name Carlo Gaetano Samuele Mazzuchelli) (November 4, 1806 – February 23, 1864) was a pioneer Italian Dominican friar and Catholic missionary priest who helped bring Catholicism to the Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin tri-state area.

Mazzuchelli founded over 30 parishes in the region and was the architect for several parish buildings. Additionally, Mazzuchelli established several schools, some of which have developed into local Catholic colleges. As part of this effort, he founded the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters.

Life

Early life

Samuel Mazzuchelli was born on November 4, 1806, in Milan in the Kingdom of Italy, a puppet state of France. He was the 16th of 17 children of a prominent family. After the mother died, Mazzuchelli's father sent him to a boarding school in Switzerland. When the teenage boy told his father that he wanted to become a priest, his father was doubtful. Milan and much of Europe was under the rule of the anti-clerical Napoleonic Empire of France. However, he did not oppose his son's wishes. After his period of novitiate, when he changed his name to Friar Samuel, he went to Rome to prepare for ordination. The Dominicans ordained Mazzuchelli as a subdeacon in 1827 in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. Around that time, while still a seminarian, he decided to serve in the new Diocese of Cincinnati in the United States. Since his father was unsure if he would see his son again, he asked him to sit for a portrait.

Mazzuchelli eventually arrived in Cincinnati, where was warmly welcomed by Bishop Edward Fenwick, a fellow Dominican. At that time, the Diocese of Cincinnati included all of Ohio, along with frontier territories covering present-day Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and parts of the Dakotas. Fenwick sent Mazzuchelli to the St. Rose Priory near Springfield, Kentucky, to finish his seminary studies. By 1830, he had graduated from seminary, but at age 24 he was too young for ordination. Fenwick was forced to request a dispensation from the Vatican. Mazzuchelli was ordained a priest by Fenwick on September 5, 1830. He arrived in Mackinac Island in the Michigan Territory to become the resident priest at Sainte Anne Church. At that time, the territory included most of present-day Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. The Presbyterian pastor on Mackinac Island, William Ferry, was not happy to see Mazzuchelli's arrival. The priest established a Catholic school, which competed with Ferry's school.

Ferry frequently denounced Catholicism in his Sunday sermons. Mazzuchelli started attending the services, making notes on the attacks on Catholicism. In his sermons, Mazzuchelli would rebut the charges, emphasizing love and positivity. At one point, he and Ferry engaged in a public debate on points of theology. During his short time on Mackinac Island, Mazzuchelli converted a number of Protestants to Catholicism.

In 1833, the new commandant of Fort Mackinac, a US Army post on Mackinac Island, decreed that all his soldiers must attend Sunday service at the Calvinist chapel, including the Catholics. Mazzuchelli protested this decree until it was reversed later that summer.

Dubuque

In early 1835, Mazzuchelli decided to take a trip back to Cincinnati by boat, going down the Mississippi River, then up the Ohio River to Cincinnati. He stopped along the way at the small settlement of Dubuque in present-day Iowa. A lead mining town, Dubuque had no priest or church for its Catholic families. Galena, Illinois, another mining town across the Mississippi, had St. Michael's Parish, but no priest or church.

When Mazzuchelli continued his journey, the Catholics in Dubuque and Galena petitioned Bishop John Baptist Purcell in Cincinnati to assign him to their area. Purcell approved Mazzuchelli's new assignment and he quickly returned to Dubuque and Galena. As to his earlier missions to Native Americans, he was now working with European settlers and their descendents. He started building churches in both communities in July 1835, commuting across the river to supervise the two projects. Mazzuchelli named the parish in Dubuque as Saint Raphael, the first parish in present-day Iowa.

During the 1830s, waves of German and Irish Catholic immigrants started arriving in the Upper Mississippi Valley to start farms and later work on the railroads. In 1836, Mazzuchelli arrived in the new village of Davenport to establish St. Anthony's parish for the 25 Catholic families. He left them with architectural plans he had created for its first church. Today, St. Anthony's is the oldest congregation of any denomination in Davenport. When Loras returned to Dubuque in 1838 with some prospective missionaries, he and Mazzuchelli toured the parishes in the diocese.

While in Italy, Mazzuchelli continued to work. He recruited missionaries, raised funds, and wrote Memoires, a book about his missionary work in the United States (without mentioning his name in the book). While recounting his actions as a missionary, Mazzuchelli tried to explain to his Italian readers the concept of the separation of church and state in the United States and how a Catholic could practice their religion there. In 1848, he founded St. Clara Female Academy at Sinsinawa Mound, a school for young women run by the Sisters. Today it is Dominican University.

Benton Mazzuchelli established St. Patrick's Parish in 1852 in Benton, Wisconsin, and built its church. The St. Clara Academy moved to Benton around this time. Mazzuchelli spent the rest of his life serving as pastor at St. Patrick's. The Irish he ministered to called Mazzuchelli "Father Matthew Kelly." In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Mazzuchelli to be venerable.

Legacy

Institutions The Mazzuchelli archives are located at the Sisters of Sinsinawa motherhouse in Sinsinawa. The Mazzuchelli Rectory Museum is on the grounds of St. Patrick's Church in Benton. Mazzuchelli Hall at Dominican University Mazzuchelli Institute of Mission and Leadership, formed by Diocese of Madison to encourage evangelism

Parishes founded by Mazzuchelli This list is incomplete. You can help by adding to it.

Parish Location Year Ecclesiastical territory Photo St. John the Evangelist Parish (Current church dedicated in 1915) Green Bay, Wisconsin 1831 Diocese of Madison St. Raphael's Cathedral Parish (Cathedral dedicated in 1861) Dubuque, Iowa 1833, 1835 Archdiocese of Dubuque St. Thomas ParishPotosi, Wisconsin1836 Diocese of Madison St. Anthony's Parish (Church dedicated in 1839) Davenport, Iowa 1837 Diocese of Davenport St. Paul's Church (Current church dedicated in 1895) Burlington, Iowa 1839 Diocese of Davenport St. Patrick's Church (Current church dedicated in 1875) Garryowen, Iowa 1840 Archdiocese of Dubuque St. Mary's Church (Current church dedicated in 1869) Iowa City, Iowa 1840 Diocese of Davenport St. Mathias Church Muscatine, Iowa The church was built in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, then floated down the Mississippi River to Muscatine. 1842 Diocese of Davenport center (Church dedicated in 1844) New Diggings, Wisconsin 1844 Diocese of Madison St. Rose of Lima (Church dedicated in 1852) Benton, Wisconsin 1852 Diocese of Madison