Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/720

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WINNOC


658


WINONA


bered 2152, and in 1910 had increased to 2333, of whom 1063 were in Nebraska and 1270 in Wisconsin, whither nian>' returned from the reservation. The Winnebago lived in wigwams with rush-mat cover- ings; they were not advanced in agriculture, but hved chiefly on fish, wild rice, and game, and obtained sugar from the maple tree.

The reUgious belief of the Winnebago resembled those of the Dakota and central Algonquins, their chief deity being the Manuna or earth-maker. Their mythology is chiefly Siouan, and relates in particular to five individuals created by Manuna to free the world from evil spirits and giants. The Winnebago had a tradition of the Deluge; their paradise was in the skies, and the Milky Way they believed to be the path by which those who died journeyed to heaven. The tribe have two great ceremonies. The Ma7ikani or medicine dance, which takes place in summer and is performed by the members of the secret society, has for its object the prolongation of hfe and the inspiration of virtues. The latter is accomplished by the "shooting" ceremony, that is the pretended shooting of a shell in an otter-skin bag into the body of the candidate for initiation. The other feast, Wagigo, takes place in winter, and is intended to increase the martial spirit of the tribe by propitiating all their deities with offerings of food and deerskins. Little is known of various other minor dances, such as the Snake, Ghost, and Grizzly-Bear. The ^^'innebago had twelve clans, four in the Air division, eight in the Earth division. Generally an Air individual had to marry an Earth, and \'ice versa. The lodge of the Thunderbird, an Air clan, possessed the right of sanc- tuary; while that of the Bear, an Earth clan, was the war and punishment lodge.

RiDiN in Amer. Anlhrop., XII (Washington. 1910): Idem, Handbook of American Indians (Wa.'ihington, 1910); Encidopedai Hispano- Americana.

A. A. M.\cErlean.

Winnoc, Saint, Abbot or Prior of Wormhoult, d. 716 or 717. Three lives of this saint are extant: the best of these, the first life, was WTitten by a monk of St. Berlin in the middle of the ninth century, or perhaps a century earher. St. Winnoc is generally called a Breton, but the BoUandist de Smedt shows that he was more probably of British origin. He came to Flanders, to the Monastery of St. Sithiu, then ruled by St. Berlin, with three companions, and was soon afterwards sent to found at Worrn- hoult, a dependent ceU or priory (not an abbey, as it is generally called). It is not known what rule, Columbanian or Benedictine, was followed at this time in the two monasteries. When enfeebled by old age, St. Winnoc is said to have received super- natural assistance in the task of grinding corn for his brethren and the poor; a monk who, out of curios- ity, came to see how the old man did so much work, was struck blind, but healed by the saint's inter- cession. Many other miracles followed his death, which occurred 6 Nov., 716 or 717. We only know the year from fourteenth-century tradition. The popularity of St. Winnoc's cultus is attested by the frequeiit insertion of his name in hturgical docu- ments and the numerous translations of his remains, which have been preserved at Bergues-St-Winnoc to the present day. His feast is kept on 6 Nov., that of his tran.slation on 18 Sept.; a third, the Exaltation of St. Winnoc, was formerlv kept on 20 Feb.

Ada SS.. II Nov.. 253; Ada ^S. O.S.B.. III. i. 291; Ada SS. Belaii. VI, 383; Sdhius, Vita SS.. VI, 127; Bennett in Did. Christ. Biog., a. v. Winnocus; GniHiN, Pdits Bollandistes, XIII,

RxYMnxD Webster.

Winona, Diocese of (Winonensis), established in 1889, suffragan of St. Paul, comprises the following counties in southern Minnesota: Winona, Wabasha, Olmstead, Dodge, Steele, Waseca, Blue Earth, Wa-


tonwan, Cottonwood, Murray, Pipestone, Rock, Nobles, Jackson, Faribault, Martin, Freeborn, Mower, Fillmore, and Houston. The area of the dio- cese is 12,282 square miles.

The early Cathohc voyagers and missionaries visited many parts of Minnesota now under the juris- diction of the Bishop of Winona. In 1660 Groseil- liers and Radisson made a visit to the Prairie Sioux in southern or south-western Minnesota. There are, however, no definite records showing what route they took or how far they travelled; in all probabihty they followed the course of the Minnesota River. In 1680 Father Hennepin, accompanied by Antoine Augelle and Michael Accault, set out from Fort Creve-cceur to explore the Upper Mississippi. On the Minnesota shore, the territory which they passed on the journey from La Crescent to Lake City now belongs to the Diocese of Winona. In 1683 Nicholas Perrot estab- lished a trading-post at or near the site of the present city of Wabasha. With him was the Jesuit Father Joseph Jean Marest who laboured as a missionary among the Sioux Indians. More than a century and a half had elapsed when Bishop Loras, in 1839, jour- neyed from Dubuque to Mendota to minister to the few Cathohcs who had but recently settled in that vicinity. In 1S40 Father Galtier was sent to Men- dota. He was the first parish priest to exercise the sacred ministry in Minnesota. During his pastorate at Mendota, Father Galtier made many visits to Wa- basha. Here, in 1839, .\ugustine Rocque had erected a trading-post. At Mr. Rocque's home Father Gal- tier assembled the early settlers and offered for them the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In .April, 1843, Monsignor Ravoux, travelling from Mendota to Du- buque, visited, among other pLices, Wabasha and Winona. In his "Memoirs" he writes that Winona was then "a prairie without inhabitants". In fact, when Bishop Cretin came to St. Paul as its first bishop in 1851, no systematic attempt at settlement had been made in what is now the Diocese of Winona. On 2 February, 1855, at Mankato, Monsignor Ra- voux celebrated what was very probablj- the first ^Iass ever offered in south-western Minnesota. In June of the same year Bishop Cretin visited Mankato and organized the parish of St. Peter and St. Paul. Father Sommereisen became its first pastor on 16 ISIarch, 1856. Many of the missions in south-western Minnesota were established by the Jesuits, who took charge of the parish at Mankato on 27 January, 1874. In 1856 Bishop Cretin visited Winona and or- ganized a parish for the few Catholics whom he found there. In 1857 he placed the parish under the care of the Rev. Thomas Murray. Monsignor Oster, then a young priest on mission duty in Minnesota, made oc- casional visits to Winona. In July, 1858, the Rev. Michael Prendergast became the first resident pastor. Besides his duties in Winona, Father Prendergast had charge of the Cathohcs in Wabasha, Olmstead, Hous- ton, Fillmore, Steele, and Mower Counties. In 1S56 Bishop Cretin visited Brownsville, Caledonia, Rush- ford, Chat field, Buckley Settlement (now St. Brid- get's), and many other places in southern Minnesota. He was the pioneer bishop of St. Paul, and the founder of the pioneer parishes in the present Diocese of Winona.

With the advent of the railroads, southern Min- nesota developed rapidly. It is a rich agricultural district, well adapted to the needs of diversified farm- ing. So well did the Church flourish in this sect ion of the state that in 1889 southern Minnesota was made a diocese, with Winona as the episcopal city, and the Rev. Joseph B. Cotter its first bishop. Bishop Cotter was born at Liverpool, England, 19 November, 1844. He was ordained priest by Bi.shop Grace at St. Paul, 23 May, 1871. Shortly after his ordination he was sent to Winona as p.astor of the Church of St. Thomas. With Bishop McGoh-ick of Duluth and the late Bishop