CRÉTIN, JOSEPH. - First bishop of St. Paul (Minnesota), b. at Montluel (Ain) on 19 Dec. 1799, d. at St. Paul on 22 Feb. 1857. In 1820 he entered the seminary of S. Sulpizio in Paris. After the July Revolution of 1830, being unable to adapt himself to the new regime, he asked to depart as a missionary, but only in 1838 was he able to be accepted by Bishop Loras of Dubuque. On 26 Jan. 1851 he was appointed first bishop of St. Paul, erected as a diocese in 1850. Besides his other, ever zealous, care for his flock, he took particular steps to improve the life and education of the Indians, opening schools for them with the approval of President Fillmore. In 1854 he began construction of the Cathedral, which was completed after his death.
BIBL.: F. J. Schaefer, s. V. in Cath. Enc., IV, pp. 487-88; J. D. G. Shea, in The hierarchy of the Cath. Church in the U. S. A., New York 1886, pp. 377-78; M. M. H., s. V. in Dict. of american biography, III, p. 542.