WINONA, Diocese of. – Diocese and city of the ecclesiastical province of Saint Paul in the State of Minnesota (U.S.A.).
In 1952, within the territory of Winona, which covers 12,282 square miles, there were 464,708 inhabitants, of whom 79,331 were Catholics. There were 158 diocesan priests, 16 religious (Dominicans and Jesuits), 127 parishes, 15 chapels, 4 missions, 734 sisters (belonging to 6 different congregations), 40 seminarians, 2 colleges, 3 schools, and 5 hospitals.
Catholic travelers and missionaries visited the territory, and in 1660 Groselliers and Radisson penetrated the “Prairie Sioux” in the south and southwest of Minnesota. In 1680 Fr. Hennepin, departing from Fort Crève Coeur, explored the upper Mississippi. In 1683, Nicolas Perrot built a trading post at the site of present-day Wabaska, and the Jesuit Giuseppe Giovanni Morest, his companion, settled among the Sioux natives. Several priests and bishops visited the territory between 1839 and 1843, during which time Mgr. Ravoux celebrated the first Mass at Mankato in the southwest of Minnesota. In 1856, Mgr. Cretin established a parish at Winona. With the construction of the railroad, the town developed rapidly, and on 26 November 1889 Winona was elevated to a diocese for the southern part of Minnesota. Mgr. Cotter, the first bishop, found there 45 priests and 4 religious, 45 churches, 49 missions, and 15 stations; by the time of his death (1909), there were already 85 diocesan priests and 7 religious, 72 churches, 44 missions, and 8 stations.