WINONA, DIOCESE of. - Diocese and city of the ecclesiastical province of S. Paolo and in the State of Minnesota (U. S. A.).
In 1952, within the territory of W., which covers 12,282 miles, there were 464,708 inhabitants, of whom 79,331 were Catholics. There are 158 diocesan priests, 16 religious (Dominicans and Jesuits), 127 parishes, 15 chapels, 4 missions, 734 nuns (belonging to 6 different Congregations), 40 seminarians, 2 colleges, 3 scholasticates, and 5 hospitals.
Catholic travellers and missionaries visited the territory, and in 1660 Groseillers and Radisson penetrated the “Prairie Sioux” in southern and south-western Minnesota. In 1680 Fr. Hennepin, setting out from Fort Crève Coeur, explored the upper Mississippi. In 1683 Nicola Perrot established a trading post at present-day Wabaska, and the Jesuit Gius. Giov. Morest, his companion, settled among the Sioux natives. Several priests and bishops visited the territory between 1839 and 1843, when Mons. Ravoux celebrated the first Mass at Mankato in south-western Minnesota. In 1856 Mons. Cretin established a parish at W. With the construction of the railway, the town developed rapidly, and on 26 Nov. 1889 W. was raised to a diocese for the southern part of Minnesota. Mons. Cotter, its 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.