Samuel Mazzuchelli

Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, OP (November 4, 1806 – February 23, 1864) was a pioneer Italian Dominican friar and Catholic missionary priest who helped bring the Church to the Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin tri-state area. He founded several parishes in the area and was the architect for several parish buildings. Additionally, Mazzuchelli established several schools throughout the region, some of which have developed into local Catholic colleges. As part of this effort, he founded the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters.

Early life


He was born Carlo Gaetano Samuele Mazzuchelli on November 4, 1806, in Milan—then under French control, the 16th of 17 children of a prominent family. At the age of 17, he entered the Dominican Order, which was still recovering from the devastation wrought on the Catholic Church institutions in Italy under the French Revolutionary Army. After his period of novitiate, when he changed his name to Friar Samuel, he went to Rome to prepare for ordination. He was ordained a subdeacon in 1827 in the Lateran Basilica, around which time he was recruited to serve in new Diocese of Cincinnati, still missionary territory for the Church.

After spending some time in France to perfect his French, in 1828, Mazzuchelli set out for the United States, where he arrived in Cincinnati and was welcomed by the bishop, fellow Dominican friar, Edward Fenwick.

Missionary priest
After obtaining a dispensation from the Holy See due to his being underage, Mazzuchelli was ordained a priest by Fenwick on September 5, 1830. Shortly after that, he was sent to serve at Sainte Anne Church on Mackinac Island and later in northern Wisconsin, After about five years there, Mazzuchelli arrived in the Dubuque area. During his time, he faced a number of challenges, such as hostility from other Christian denominations.

While in what would later become Dubuque, Iowa, he reorganized the parish and named it Saint Raphael, which later became the Cathedral parish when the Dubuque Diocese was formed in 1837. He assisted Bishop Mathias Loras during the first few years after the founding of the diocese. He worked extensively in what would eventually become the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin. There he founded over 30 parishes and designed and built over 20 church buildings and several civic buildings. Three of those parishes were named after the three Archangels: Saint Raphael's in Dubuque, St. Michael's in Galena, Illinois, and Saint Gabriel's in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. In 1846, he founded Sinsinawa Mound College.

In May 1843 Mazzuchelli accompanied Bishop Loras to the Provincial Council of Bishops in Baltimore. After the sessions ended, he was advised to return to Italy to restore his weakened health. He sailed to Europe, going home to Milan and his welcoming family after an absence of 22 years. While there he recruited missionaries, raised funds, and wrote a memoir full of details of frontier life.

Upon his return, he founded the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters in 1847. In 1848, he founded St. Clara Female Academy (now Dominican University), a frontier school for young women, which he entrusted to the Dominican Sisters.

Many remembered Mazzuchelli as a kind and gentlemanly priest. He was able to break down the cultural barriers that existed and appeal to many different ethnic groups. The Irish he ministered to called him "Father Matthew Kelly." He died of a severe case of pneumonia, on February 23, 1864, after attending a sick call. Mazzuchelli was buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Benton.

Veneration


The cause for elevating him to Sainthood started in 1964 when William Patrick O'Connor, the first Bishop of Madison, established a Diocesan Historical Commission to determine if documents available were sufficient for the Church to proceed with initial steps required in the process of beatification. The process progressed and was accepted by the Holy See for further investigation. In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Mazzuchelli Venerable.

In August 2008, an official inquiry into a presumed miracle performed through the intercession of Mazzuchelli was completed in the Diocese of Madison. Robert Uselmann, a resident of Monona, Wisconsin, had gone to Sinsinawa Mound with his family in 2001 to pray for Mazzuchelli's intercession in curing him of cancer. While there, he prayed with the Sisters, using Mazzuchelli's penance chain. Uselmann later discovered that a cancerous tumor had disappeared from his lung.

Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of the Diocese of Madison, opened a diocesan tribunal at the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters' request, which concluded its investigation and sent the results to Rome.

Legacy
In 2006 a new middle school built by the Holy Family Catholic School System in Dubuque was named after Mazzuchelli. The school opened for the 2006–2007 academic year.

Parishes founded by Fr. Mazzuchelli
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