The Catholic Church was the first to send missionaries among the Native people of North America.  Fathers Marcos de Niza (or Nizza) and Juan de Padilla accompanied Francisco Vasquez de Coronado on his expedition of 1540-41 in search of the fabled "Seven cities of Cibola" and the Province of Quivira.  Jesuit fathers were among the Native tribes inhabiting the country about the Great Lakes in the early years of the Seventeenth Century, and the names of Jacques Marquette, Louis Joliet, Louis Hennepin, Claude Allouez and Dablon, all Catholics, are inseparably connected with the early history of the Upper Mississippi Valley.

The first Catholics to come into what is now the State of Utah were reportedly Dominguez and Escalante.  In 1841, sixty-five years after Dominquez and Escalante, Father P. J. De Smet may have touched the northeastern part of the state while on his way to the country of the Flathead Indians as a missionary.  He spent several years among the Natives of the Northwest, traveling from tribe to tribe on foot or on horseback, and no doubt came in contact with some of the Indians of Utah, though there is no known record left to show that he tried to establish a mission among them.

By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, the territory now comprising Utah was ceded by Mexico to the United States and, so far as the Catholic Church was concerned, fell under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of St. Louis (Missouri).  No missionary was sent into the territory, however, until about fifteen years later.  In 1853, the Utah territory came under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.  Fort Douglas was established in the fall of 1862 by Col. (later Brig. General) Patrick E. Connor.  Among the soldiers at the fort were a number of Catholics.  In the summer of 1863 Rev. John B. Raverdy arrived at the fort from Denver and presented his letter of credentials to Colonel Connor.  Father Raverdy remained at the fort for some time and on May 11, 1864, at the requst of Colonel Connor, he blessed the cemetery where reposed the bodies of the solders killed in the battle of Bear River, January 29, 1863.   Not long after that he returned to Denver and died there in 1889.  So far as can be learned, Father Raverdy was the first priest to perform any of the rites of the church of Utah.

In June, 1866, Bishop O'Connell of Sacramento sent Rev. Edward Kelly to Salt Lake City, where there were a few Catholic families.  Father Kelly said mass in the old assembly hall of the Latter-day Saints.  During his stay he raised money and bought a lot for a church, but did not remain long enough to erect a building.  By 1866, the Utah area was within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Sacramento (California).

On February 8, 1868, Vicariate Apostolic was formed to encompass Colorado and Utah, and, on the 16th of the following August, Rev. Joseph P. Machebeuf was consecrated bishop.  He established his see in Denver (Colorado) and sent Rev. James P. Foley to Salt Lake City.  Father Foley repaired the old adobe building that stood on the lot purchased by Father Kelly a few years before and there ministered to the few Catholic families in the city.  On November 30, 1868, Bishop Machebeuf arrived in Salt Lake City for a brief visit and became the guest of Colonel Connor.  While in the city he said mass at the house of Judge Marshall, solemnized two marriages and baptized three children.

Utah was placed under the jurisdiction of San Francisco in 1870, when Father Foley returned to Denver and Rev. Patrick Walsh was sent to Salt Lake City.  The leading Catholics in the city at that time were:  Judge Barron, J. J. and T. B. O'Reilly, J. L. Burns, C. L. Dahier, Mrs. T. Marshall, Mrs. Simpkins and Mrs. Vernon H. Vaughan, whose husband was secretary of the territory.  These loyally seconded the efforts of Father Walsh, assisted him in raising funds, and on November 6, 1871, the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, located on the west side of Second East Street, between South Temple and First South streets, was consecrated by Archbishop Alemany of San Francisco.  This was the first Catholic Church in Utah.

Father Walsh remained in charge of St. Mary's until in July, 1873.  On August 14, 1873, Rev. Lawrence Scanlan came as Father Walsh's successor and in 1875 he was made missionary rector of Salt Lake City.  With prophetic vision he predicted a great future for the city and for the State of Utah.  During the next decade he established the Holy Cross Hospital and sevral educational institutions.
 
 

On April 7, 1886, another change was made. Utah and the Nevada counties of Eureka, Lander, Lincoln, White Pine, Nye, Elko and Clark, were erected into a Vicariate Apostolic and on June 29, 1886, Father Scanlan (see photo) was consecrated at San Francisco as Bishop of Larandum in charge of the new vicariate apostolic.  On January 27, 1891, the Vicariate Apostolic of Utah and Nevada became the Diocese of Salt Lake, and Bishop Scanlan was appointed it's first bishop.  The new diocese was one of the largest in the United States, containing 153,768 square miles.  On July 4, 1899, ground was broken for the Cathedral of the Madeline on the northeast corner of South Temple and B streets.  Said to be the finest ecclesiastical edifice west of the Missouri and cost, including the bishop's residence, $600,000.  Bishop Scanlan died on May 10, 1915.   On the 24th of the following August, Rt. Rev. Joseph S. Glass was consecrated as his successor.  Rt. Rev. Joseph S. Glass served as the second bishop of the diocese from 1915 until 1926 (see photo).

According to the report of the Utah Bureau of Immigration, Labor and Statistics for 1915, there were then sixty Catholic organizations in Utah with a total membership of 13,000.  The principal Catholic centers at that time being Salt Lake City, where there were five parishes, Bingham, Ogden, Eureka, and Park City; though permanent church organizations had already been established in many of the towns and missions opened in most of the mining camps of the state.

Bishop Glass was succeeded by Bishop John J. Mitty, who served as the 3rd bishop of the Salt Lake Diocese from 1926 until 1932 (see photo).  In 1931, the portion of the diocese which was in the state of Nevada became part of the newly formed Diocese of Reno (Nevada).  Thus, the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake then encompassed simply the entire State of Utah.

Sources:

The Azteca Web page contains information accumulated especially for Mexicans, Chicanos, and/or Mexican-Americans. However, everyone is welcome and encouraged to read this information...

COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez, September 25, 1998, "1847 MAP ENDS IMMIGRATION DEBATE" :   The 1847 Disturnell Map (housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.), the official map of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, has prompted debate over the possibility that "Antigua Residencia de los Aztecas," or Ancient Homeland of the Aztecs may be somewhere in the Four Corners region of the U.S. Southwest; not in northern Arizona, but in Utah...

Claude Allouez : born in France, 1620; died in 1689, near the St. John's river, in the present State of Indiana, U.S.A., he was one of the most famous of the early Jesuit missionaries and explorers of what is now the western part of the United States.

Père Louis Hennepin : born ca. 1640, at Ath, province of Hainaut, Belgium; died probably at Rome, soon after 1701, a entered the Récollet branch of the Franciscan Order, and became one of the most famous explorers in the wilds of North America during the seventeenth century.  Memorials of his expedition to the upper Mississippi exist in several place names, including the Minnesota county of Hennepin, where the Falls of St. Anthony and the City of Minneapolis are located.

Louis Joliet : born on 21 September 1645, at Quebec, Canada; died May 1700, in Canada; in an expedition, with Marquette, established beyond doubt the important fact that the great Mississippi river emptied into the Gulf of Mexico.

Jacques Marquette, S. J. : born in 1636, at Laon, in north central France; died 19 May 1675, near Ludington, Michigan, U.S.A., Marquette was a Jesuit missionary and, with Louis Joliet, discoverer of the Mississippi River.  "...Marquette drew a map of the country through which they passed and kept a diary of the voyage; this diary with its clear, concise style is one of the most important and interesting documents of American History (Jesuit Relations, LIX, 86, 164)..."

Return to:
+ Local Catholic Church & Family History & Genealogy GUIDE and Directory ++ for UTAH +

Please note:  Though the information on this web page is believed to be correct, the possibility of error remains.  Please notify the webmaster should an error be found, or if you find a problem with a link on this page.
Copyright 2001, by Ann Mensch.