St. Francis Solanus

The history of the Diocese of Superior dates back to the 17th century. Our Journey Through Faith offers a glimpse into the historic events that played a role in the growth of Catholicism in Northern Wisconsin. Diocese of Superior - Statistics

Our Journey through Faith: A History of the Diocese of Superior,

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The beginning of the Catholic Faith on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation is attributed to the French Catholic layman, John Baptiste Corbine (1767-1866), the first white settler in northwest Wisconsin. The parish baptismal record states that “John Corbine, by his Christian and pious life, made a great impression upon the Indians, who began to show most favorable feelings toward the religion of the white man.” Corbine married Kakakashi, and Ojibway woman. Priests from Bayfield began visiting the area in the 1860s to administer the sacraments to the Indian converts. Fr. John Chebul first visited the mission in 1865. Thirteen years later, Fr. Chrysostom Verwyst also celebrated Mass there. In 1881, the U.S. government granted a petition for a 10-acre tract of land at this site for the purpose of erecting a church and school to serve the spiritual needs of the growing congregation. A small log church and school were completed in 1885. Bishop Kilian Flasch of La Crosse blessed and dedicated the new church in honor of St. Francis Solanus, a Franciscan missionary who served the Peruvian Indians of South America from 1589-1609. Lightning in 1921 destroyed the original log church. A new church was completed in 1924, using native pipestone that was quarried and hauled by parishioners from Pipestone Creek, located on the reservation. Today the St. Francis Solanus church and school continues to serve the spiritual needs of Catholics on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation.

REFERENCE: Our Journey through Faith: A History of the Diocese of Superior,
by Sam Lucero, 2005.