Milwaukee, Archdiocese of

MILWAUKEE, ARCHDIOCESE of. — In the State of Wisconsin (from the Algonquian term “good land”; U.S.A.), of which it now comprises 10 counties. It was erected by Pope Gregory XVI by the apostolic letter Apostolatus officium of 28 November 1843. It then comprised the entire State of Wisconsin and the western part of Minnesota. On 12 February 1875 it was elevated to an archdiocese, and its suffragan dioceses are Green Bay, La Crosse, Madison, and Superior.

According to the 1950 census, the total population of the archdiocese is 1,435,345, of whom (1951) 434,345 are Catholics. There are 971 priests (of whom 344 belong to 22 different Congregations), exercising their ministry in 263 parishes and 37 chapels. There are also 2 seminaries, 11 scholasticates, 7 colleges and universities, 13 general hospitals, and 6 specialized hospitals and sanatoriums. There are 34 women’s Congregations.

The first to celebrate Mass in the territory of M. was the priest J. Bonduel, a missionary from Green Bay; the first bishop was Msgr. G. Martino Henni, originally from Switzerland. Under his leadership, the number of Catholics, mostly immigrants from Germany and Ireland, increased considerably. In 1856, the Rev. Giuseppe Salzmann founded the Seminary of St. Francis de Sales in M., and in 1871 opened the first Catholic normal school in the United States. The Jesuit fathers inaugurated their college in 1880, which later became the flourishing Marquette University.

(phot. Pont. Comm. Arch. Sacra)

MILZIADE, POPE, saint — Medallion from the series of the popes in the Basilica of St. Paul (9th century) — Rome.