SAN PAOLO DI MINNESOTA (SAINT PAUL M.), ARCIDIOCESI of. — City and archdiocese in the State of Minnesota, U.S.A. In 1849 the northern territories
of Iowa became the territories of Minnesota. A similar ecclesiastical division took place after the Seventh Provincial Council of Baltimore (5–13 May 1849), when the Holy See was asked to establish a diocese in the village of S. P.
Today the diocese covers an area of 16,050 sq. mi. (compared with 166,000 in 1850), with a total population of 1,587,568 inhabitants, of whom 345,700 are Catholics. There are 565 priests (82 religious from 8 different congregations), 290 parishes, 129 chapels, 21 missions, 33 women’s congregations, 2 seminaries, 2 colleges, 4 orphanages and asylums, and 6 hospitals. The ecclesiastical province of S. P. di M. comprises the following dioceses: Bismarck, N. Dak.; Crookston, Minnesota; Duluth, Minn.; Fargo, N. Dak.; Rapid City, S. Dak.; St. Cloud, Minn.; Sioux Falls, S. Dak.; Winona, Minn.
The diocese resulted from the dismemberment of Dubuque and Milwaukee, which took place on 19 July 1850. S. P. was divided on 12 February 1875 to form the apostolic vicariate of northern Minnesota, on 12 August 1879 for the establishment of the apostolic vicariate of Dakota, and on 3 October 1889 for the formation of the diocese of Winona. S. P. was then suffragan to St. Louis and subsequently became suffragan to Milwaukee until 4 May 1888, when it was elevated to an archdiocese. The province of S. P. had only the apostolic vicariate of northern Minnesota as a suffragan, but the following year the apostolic vicariate of Minnesota was suppressed and the new dioceses of S. Clodoaldo, Duluth, Winona, and Jamestown (today Fargo, since 1807) were erected.
The city of S. P. was founded around 1830. Fr. Luciano Galtier built a chapel there, opened on 11 November 1841 under the patronage of St. Paul. The first bishop of S. P. was Mgr. Giuseppe Cretin, vicar general of Dubuque, appointed on 23 July 1850. At the time of his death (1857), the diocese had 50,000 Catholics, 29 churches, 35 stations, and 20 priests.