The Diocese of Superior () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in northwest Wisconsin in the United States. Its episcopal see is Superior, and the Cathedral of Christ the King in Superior is its mother church. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
Territory
The Diocese of Superior encompasses . It covers the city of Superior and the following Wisconsin counties:
Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Lincoln, Oneida, Price, Polk, Rusk, Sawyer, St. Croix, Taylor, Vilas, and Washburn.
History
1600 to 1700
In the 16th and early 17th century, the Wisconsin area was part of the French colony of New France. The first catholic missionary in the Superior region was Reverend René Menard, a French Jesuit missionary who was fluent in the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Huron dialects. In Spring 1661, he explored to Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior.
In 1665, Reverend Claude Allouez started a Catholic mission near Chequamegon Bay, naming it the Mission of the Holy Ghost. Historians speculate that the mission was located at La Pointe, on Madeline Island. In 1669, Reverend Jacques Marquette arrived at the mission after Allouez moved to the Fox River Valley. Marquette baptized over 1,000 converts.In 1669, Allouez and Marquette established St. Joseph in La Pointe, but it was later abandoned.
During this time, the French bishops in Quebec, which became a diocese in 1674, had jurisdiction over Canada and North America east of the Mississippi River.
1700 to 1800
When the British took control of New France in 1763, the bishops in Quebec continued to have jurisdiction in the region. In 1791, soon after the conclusion of the American Revolution, Pope Pius VI erected the Diocese of Baltimore. It covered all the American states and the Northwest Territory, which included part of present-day Wisconsin. The rest of Wisconsin became part of the territory after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
1800 to 1900
In 1836, Reverend Frederic Baraga arrived at La Pointe and built a log church to re-established St. Joseph's Parish. His congregation of Native American converts and French fur traders grew rapidly. In 1838, Baraga built a larger church at La Pointe, on the location of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. St. Joseph's is the oldest continually operating church in Wisconsin.
In 1843, Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Milwaukee, which included all of present-day Wisconsin. Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848. Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Lacrosse and the Diocese of Green Bay in 1868, taking the northwest Wisconsin counties from the Diocese of Milwaukee.
1900 to 1920
The Diocese of Superior was erected on May 3, 1905, by Pope Pius X. It was created from the northern part of the Diocese of La Crosse and the northwestern part of the Diocese of Green Bay. The pope named Monsignor Augustine Schinner as the first bishop of Superior.
When the diocese was established, it had 39 diocesan priests, 17 religious order priests serving 38,861 Catholics in 43 parishes with resident pastors, and 50 missions and 33 stations. There was one Catholic high school, 16 elementary and two boarding schools, for a total enrollment of 9,016 students. Schinner immediately saw the need for an additional 10 priests. By the time Schinner resigned in 1913, the pool of priests had grown from 39 in 1905 to 62 priests.
In 1913, Pope Pius X appointed Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Koudelka of Milwaukee as the second bishop of Superior. Koudelka ordained Philip B. Gordon, the first Ojibwa priest and the second Native American Catholic priest in the country. Fluent in eight languages, Koudelka authored books in Czech, German and English. As bishop, he also learned to speak the Ojibwe language. He commissioned works of art for several church properties. Koudelka created the Catholic Charities Bureau in Superior. In 1917, he dedicated St. Joseph's Children's Home in Superior, an orphanage that housed up to 200 children. He conducted over 100 parish missions around the country and contributed donations to help finance the orphanage.
In 1918, during World War I, the US Department of Justice investigated Koudelka; some diocesan priests had accused him of being pro-German. Two investigators interviewed him in Superior. After speaking with Koudelka and viewing some of his writings that supported US involvement in the war, the investigators concluded that these accusations were groundless. Koudelka died in 1921.