west virginia, wisconsin & wyoming

James was born near Steven's Point, WI and was the oldest of five kids in a Catholic farming family. He was taught by the Christian Brothers.  He attended a Christian Brothers high school in Glencoe, Missouri. He joined the novitiate and studied Spanish at the University of Minnesota in Winona. He taught at Cretin High School in St. Paul, MN and was the football coach. He took perpetual vows as a brother in 1969 and was soon sent to mission in Nicaragua to teach sixth grade. Six years later he was named the head of the school. He was recalled to Minnesota to teach again at Cretin H.S. He returned to the mission field in 1981 in Heuheutenango, Guatemala to work with the Mayans.  Brother James often went to rescue his students who were abducted by the military. He knew his life was in danger. On February 13, 1982, while on a ladder fixing the school building, three men shot him at point blank range. in 2018 he was declared a martyr. He was beatified in Guatemala on December 7, 2019. 

Read more about this priest who served in Milwaukee in the early 1900s.

Ready my blog post here about Adele. She had three apparitions of Our Lady of Champion in 1859. Her cause for canonization was opened by the Green Bay Diocese in 2026. The blog post has links to her website and to the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion.

 Samuel Mazzuchelli, was born in Milan, Italy,  on Nov. 4, 1806.  He entered the Dominican Order of Preachers at the age of 17,  against his father's wishes. At 22, he came to the American frontier in 1828. Once ordained,  he was assigned as a missionary priest of the whole of the Northwest Territory by Cincinnati Bishop Edward Fenwick. Father Mazzuchelli traveled this huge area from the Great Lakes to Mississippi  on horseback, in canoes, or by foot to serve. He served families of native tribes, immigrant settlers, miners, farmers, and Catholic and Protestant political leaders.

In 1847 he established a community of Dominican Sisters in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. He established more than 24 local parish communities that remain to this day. His final parish as pastor was St. Patrick in Benton, WI. He died from pneumonia in 1864 at the age of 57. Hi tomb is in Benton.

In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Father Mazzuchelli Venerable. Watch a movie about him from the Madison Diocese here.

 Read about his cause, opened in 2013 by the La Crosse Diocese here.

There are no canonization causes for West Virginia or Wyoming.