MILWAUKEE
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MILWAUKEE
(Oct., 1520) were without success. After a short stay
in Rome ho returned to Germany in 1522, where he
(lipil. He \v:is buried in the cathedr.al of Mainz.
StiiiKMAW. Karl von MiUiz, einc chronologisirhe Untcrsuchunn (DresaLU, ISH); Creutzbeug. Karl von M iltiz, nein Leben and seine geschichthc/ie Bedeuiang (Freiburg. 1907).
Patricius Schlager.
Milwaukee, Archdiocese op (Milwaukiensis), estalilislied as a diocese, 28 Nov., 1S43; became an ai'clil >i,-ihopric, 12 February, 1875, comprises seventeen counties of tlie State of Wisconsin: Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green, Green Lake, Jefferson, Kenosha, Marquette, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Rock, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, an area of 9321 square miles. The metropolitan city of Milwaukee is picturesquely situated on Milwaukee Bay, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Its name is derived from the Algonquin family of Indian di;;- lects and means Good Land. In the history of Catho- licism it is first mentioned in the " Catholic Almanac " of 1840: "Milvakie, Rev. Mr. Kelly who visits alter- nately Racine, Rochester, Burlington, Southpost (Kenosha), etc." The first Mass, however, was cele- brateil in Milwaukee as early as 1S37 by Rev. J. Bonduel, a missionary from Green Bay, in the liome of the " founder of Milwaukee", Solomon Juneau. In the same year Rev. Patrick Kelly came to the city and held services in the court-house till, in 1839, he erected the first Catholic church, dedicated to St. Peter, for several years the bishop's cathedral. It was after- wards removed to its present site near St. Peter and Paul's Church by Mgr. Leonard Batz, V. G. North- west territory, of which the present State of Wisconsin forms a part, belonged to the Diocese of Quebec and aftersvards to Bardstown, Ky., till it was affiliated to the newly created See of Cincinnati in 1821. In 1833, when Detroit was made a see, it became a dependency of that see. It was in 1S41 that the first bishop visited Milwaukee in the person of Rt. Rev. P. Lefevre of Detroit, accompanied by one of his zealous priests. Rev. Martin Kundig, later vicar-general, whose name is inspparal.ily linked with the early history and subse- quent growth of the diocese. In 1843, the Fathers of the Fifth Provincial Council of Baltimore petitioned the Holy See to make Milwaukee a see and to appoint the Rev. John Martin Henni as its first bishop.
Episcopal Succession. — John Martin Henni, first Bishop of Milwaukee, was born at Obersaxen, Switzer- land, 13 June, 1805. He studied philosophy and the- ology in Rome, where he met the Very Rev. Frederic R^s(^, Vicar-General of Cincinnati (later Bishop of Detroit), who had come there in quest of priests for the American missions. Together with lils_ fellow- student M. Kundig, he landed in New York, in 1828. Having been ordained priest at Cincinnati, 2 Feb., 1829, he laboured with the zeal and enthusiasm of an apostle for the scattered Catholics of Ohio, traversing the state in all directions, baptizing, preachint;,_and building churches. Later on he was appointed vicar- general of the diocese and pastor of the church of the Holy Trinity. He also was the founder of the Catholic weekly, " Der Wahrheitsfreund ", for some time the only German Catholic paper in the United States. On 19 March, ls44, Henni was consecrated Bishop of Mil- waukee by Bishop Purcell of Cincinnati, and soon after started for his new field of labour. He came accom- panied by the Rev. Michael Heiss, who for some time acted as his secretary. The prospects of the new dio- cese were far from encouraging. He found only four priests in the whole extent of his diocese, a few Catho- lics scattered over the territory, and a small frame church encumbered with a heavy debt. But un- daunted by these difficulties the youthful bishop set to work with apostolic zeal, and, thanks to his untiring efforts, the number of Catholics, mostly immigrants from (iermany and Ireland, increased from year to year, so that after three years the number of priests
had risea I'rom four to thirty. But a rich share of this
phenomenal progress is due to the arduous labours and
sacrificing spirit of his priests, the pioneers of the
North-west, men like Mazuchelli, the founder of Sin-
sinawa, Morrissey, C. Rehrl, Wisbauer, Beitter, Inama,
Gaertner, Gernbauer, Holzhauer, Conrad, and others.
In 1847 there arrived from Austria Dr. Joseph Salz- mann, founder of St. Francis Seminary (Salesianum). In the same year Henni laid the foundation of his new cathedral, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. To raise funds for the building, he made extensive jour- neys to Cuba and Mexico. The cathedral was conse- crated by Archbishop (afterwards Cardinal) Bedini, 31 July, 1853. Owing to the large influx of Germans at that time, St. Mary's church, for the spiritual wants of the German Catholics, was erected in 1846. In the same year the first hospital was opened under Catholic auspices in charge of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vin- cent de Paul. In 1856 the Seminary of St. Francis of Sales, destined to become the fertile nursery of priests for the North-west, was erected and in the course of years became one of the most flourishing institutions of the country. Its first rector was the Rev. Michael Heiss, while its founder, the Rev. Dr. Salzmann, acted as procurator. On the elevation of Father Heiss to the episcopal dignity, Salzmann was appointed his suc- cessor, a position which he held to the time of his death which occurred 17 January, 1874. Salzmann was also the founder of the first Catholic normal school in the United States and of the Pio Nono Col- lege. Both institutions were opened in 1871, and have to this day faithfully carried out the intentions of their founder. In 1866 two new dioceses were established in Wisconsin with episcopal sees in La Crosse and Green Bay. In 1875 Milwaukee was made an arch- episcopal see, with Mgr. Henni as first archbishop. During the last years of his administration his burden was considerably lightened by the appointment of Rt. Rev. M. Heiss as coadjutor, with the right of succes- sion, and titular Archbishop of Adrianople. Arch- bishop Henni who is rightly called the Patriarch of the North-west, was called to his reward 7 Sept., 1881.
Michael Heiss was born at Pfahldorf, Bavaria, 12 April, 1818. Having finished his theological studies at the famous University of Munich, he spent the first two years of his priesthood in his home diocese of Eichstatt, and then offered his services to the Amer- ican mission. He first had charge of St. Mary's church in Covington, Ky., where he remained till 1844, when he consented to accompany Bishop Henni of Milwau- kee to his new see. Having filled the office of secretary for some years, he was appointed pastor of St. Mary's church, Milv/aukee. In 1856 he was appointed first rector of St. Francis Seminary, an office which he held till his elevation to the episcopal dignity as first Bishop of La Crosse, in 1868. On the death of Archbishop Henni, in 1881, he succeeded him as archbishop. Archbishop Heiss was known and esteemed as one of the most learned theologians of the country, a reputa- tion which secured to him a place among the members of the dogmatic commission at the Vatican Council. His works "De Matrimonio" (Munich, 1861) and "The Four Gospels Examined and Vindicated" (Mil- waukee, 1863), hold a prominent place in theological literature. In 1S83 he was invited to Rome to take part in the deliberations preparatory to the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, which lie also attended in 1SS4. In 1SS6 he convoked the First Provincial Council of Milwaukee, which opened its sessions on 23 May, in St. John's cathedral. Bishops Flasch of La Crosse, Ireland of St. Paul. Seidenbuseh of St. Clou<l, Marty, Vicar Apostolic of Dakota, and Katzer, admin- istrator of Green Bay, took \y.irt in its deliberations.
During the last years of Archliishop Heiss's wise and peaceful administration, the ecclesiastical horizon was somewhat darkened by the plot of the American Pro- tective Association, a new phase of defunct Know-
