In the early months of 1886 the
Right Rev. John Ireland, bishop of St. Paul, gave proof of the zeal and
devotion
which had brought him to that high office in 1884, by calling in Rev.
Louis
Cornelis, pastor at Mendota, to look into the possibilities of
organizing an
English-speaking Catholic parish on Dayton’s Bluff.
Father Cornelis reported to the
bishop that the prospects were not encouraging, for most of the people
on the
Bluff were newcomers, poor, and trying to build homes of their own, but
that he
was, nevertheless, willing to attempt the task.
Undaunted by the magnitude of the
task before him, the new pastor at once canvassed the Bluff for funds,
and
collected over $1,100 of which $200 was contributed by the people of
the new
parish.
The Corporation of the Church of St.
John was organized under the laws of the State of Minnesota on August
4, 1886, with the Right Reverend Bishop Ireland, as president of the
corporation and
Rev. Louis
Cornelis as vice-president.
The next step in the raising of
funds,
always a problem confronting a new parish in a sparsely settled
district, was a
fair held at Knauft’s Hall, 350 East Seventh Street. No uncertain
indication of the love
of the
parishioners for their pastor is the fact that one of the articles
raffled off
was a crayon portrait of Father Cornelis.
St. John's, the twelfth Catholic
church in St. Paul, was dedicated on December 19,
1886. Solemn high mass was celebrated by
the pastor, Father Cornelis.
Father Cornelis had so spent himself
in the work of organizing the parish that he was forced to retire
because of ill
health in June 1887. In September of the following year he died at
Dearborn,
Michigan.
His remains, however, were brought to St. Paul, and now repose in the
priests’
lot at Calvary cemetery.
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