Days gone by

75 years ago — July 1948 

According to the 1948 Official Catholic Directory, the Diocese of Duluth had a Catholic population of 87,950, which was slightly more than 25 percent of the population of the diocese. There were 112 priests on active duty and 459 sisters of five religious orders. In weekend services in July, the Order of St. Benedict admitted 11 young women into the novitiate, six novices pronounced their triennial vows, and five sisters made their perpetual vows before Bishop Thomas A. Welch. Plans were also announced for the annual diocesan women’s retreats to be held in August at the College of St. Scholastica. 

25 years ago – July 1998 

The diocese continued the celebration of the ordination of two new priests to the diocese, Father Richard Kunst, who was assigned to serve as parochial vicar at St. Francis in Brainerd, and Father Stephen White, assigned to serve as parochial vicar at the Cathedral. The diocese also mourned the loss of Benedictine Father Julius Muggli and Benedictine Sister Emmanual Hanley. Father Muggli was the last Benedictine pastor of St. Clement’s Church, Duluth, before the consolidation of the West End Catholic parishes. He died of leukemia at the age of 77. Sister Hanley was a native of Chisholm who entered the Duluth Benedictine community in 1922 and professed monastic vows in 1924. 

10 years ago — July 2013 

Details for a diocesan pilgrimage, “Tracing the Steps of Venerable Frederic Baraga,” planned for Sept. 14-15 were announced. Pilgrims for the Diocese of Duluth would be visiting sites on Madeline Island, Wisconsin, and Michigan, including St. Joseph Church, one of Bishop Baraga’s posts; a shrine of Bishop Baraga in L’Anse, Mich.; and Bishop Baraga’s crypt at St. Peter’s Cathedral. The Northern Cross also reported on the June ordinations of five new clergy. Fathers Timothy Lange and Blake Rozier were ordained transitional deacons and Fathers Michael Garry, Elias Gieske, and Nicholas Nelson were ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Paul Sirba in back-to-back ordinations June 20-21.