Background
Joseph Cretin was born on December 19, 1799 at Montluel, Ain, near Lyons, France. He was the son of a prosperous bourgeois baker, Joseph Crétin, and his wife, Jane Mary Mery.
Joseph Cretin was born on December 19, 1799 at Montluel, Ain, near Lyons, France. He was the son of a prosperous bourgeois baker, Joseph Crétin, and his wife, Jane Mary Mery.
His early education was received amid the reverberations of the Napoleonic wars, and, while studying at Meximieux, he saw the seminary occupied by Austrian troops after the “Hundred Days’ Campaign” in 1815.
He attended the colleges at L’Argentière and Alix, and entered the famous seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris in 1820.
Ordained at Belley by Bishop Devie on December 20, 1823, he was immediately appointed vicar at Ferney, for many years the home of Voltaire, with the special object of overcoming the rationalistic influences surviving this philosopher. He opened a preparatory college and later became pastor of the parish.
The July Revolution of 1830 found him more than sympathetic with the fallen monarchy, and his refusal to offer public prayers for the new king, Louis Philippe, brought him under sharp displeasure at Paris for a time. He had long cherished the desire to enter foreign missions, and in 1838 after meeting Mathias Loras, the first bishop of Dubuque in the Iowa territory and formerly his professor at Meximieux, Crétin slipped quietly away to Havre and left for America.
Arriving in Dubuque in April 1839, he was made vicar-general of the huge pioneer diocese containing over 30, 000 Indians, and among these, the Winnebagoes particularly, he labored for a number of years. Strongly recommended by the federal agent and by many others to be principal of the government Indian school on the Turkey River, he was ignored by Gov. Chambers, and in 1845 even forbidden to erect a mission school in the neighborhood, although he was allowed to remain as a missionary.
He pushed vigorously his missionary activities among the Indians and was in Washington in 1852 discussing government Indian schools with President Millard Fillmore.
He encouraged the colonization of his state and made heroic efforts to reach the scattered members of his faith throughout his diocese. A strong advocate of the temperance movement and a bitter foe of the frontier saloon, he ordered the cathedral bell to be rung in approval when the Minnesota legislature enacted a "liquor law. "
Ever active in educational work and parochial organization, he also commenced building a stone cathedral in 1854 but arduous tasks and a prolonged illness brought death upon him before its completion.
He encouraged the colonization of his state and made heroic efforts to reach the scattered members of his faith throughout his diocese. A strong advocate of the temperance movement and a bitter foe of the frontier saloon, he ordered the cathedral bell to be rung in approval when the Minnesota legislature enacted a “liquor law. ”