St. Peter's Church | |
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44°53′9″N93°10′7″W / 44.88583°N 93.16861°W | |
Location | Mendota Heights, Minnesota |
Country | United States |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Website | www.stpetersmendota.org |
History | |
Founded | 1840 |
Administration | |
Archdiocese | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis |
Clergy | |
Archbishop | Bernard Hebda |
Priest(s) | Steven Hoffman |
St. Peter's Catholic Church, in Mendota Heights, is the oldest church in the state of Minnesota. The parish was founded in 1840, and the original stone chapel was built in 1858. [1]
Holy Trinity Catholic Church is a Catholic church run by the Jesuit order that is located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Holy Trinity Parish was founded in 1787 and is the oldest Roman Catholic community and house of worship in continuous operation both in Georgetown and in the larger city of Washington, D.C. The original church building was completed in 1794. It is now called the Chapel of St. Ignatius, and is used for smaller ecclesiastical celebrations and as an auxiliary space for parish activities. A larger church building, necessitated by the growing community, was dedicated in 1851, and still serves as the parish church today.
Lucien Galtier was the first Roman Catholic priest who served in Minnesota. He was born in southern France in the town of Saint-Affrique, department of Aveyron. The year of his birth is somewhat uncertain, some sources claiming 1811 but his tomb at Prairie du Chien, WI, bearing the date December 17, 1812. In the 1830s, people were settling across the Minnesota River from Fort Snelling in the area of Mendota, Minnesota. Mathias Loras, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dubuque, Iowa learned of these settlers and journeyed up the Mississippi River to visit the settlers in the area. He wrote to his sister that "the Catholics of St. Peters amounted to one hundred and eighty five." The bishop saw a need to send a missionary to the area the next year. Galtier spoke little English when he arrived in 1840.