LORAS, Mathias

Mathias Loras

LORAS, Mathias. (Lyon, France, Aug. 30, 1792--Dubuque, IA, Feb. 19, 1858). John Mathias Pierre Loras was born the tenth of eleven children of a wealthy French family. The country when he was born was entering the most violent period of the French Revolution and his father, one of the governing council of monarchists in Lyon, was beheaded. As a student, he began a life-long friendship with Jean-Baptiste Vianney, later the sainted Cure' d'Ars. As a seminarian, Loras was a student of Ambrose Mare'chal and a fellow student of Englishman James Whitfield, future archbishops of Baltimore. In 1815 Loras was ordained a priest by Cardinal Joseph Fesch, archbishop of Lyons and uncle of the exiled Napoleon I.

In 1828 Loras was invited by Bishop Michael Portier to return with him to Mobile, Alabama. It was there that Loras was involved with the founding of Spring Hill College and served as vicar-general.

Reverend Loras was appointed Bishop of Dubuque by the Pope on July 28, 1837. He immediately left the United States for Europe in search of priests, seminarians and money. When he returned in 1839, Loras was accompanied by Joseph Cretin who became a vicar-general and in 1851 the first bishop of St. Paul and Anthony Pelamourges, first pastor of St. Anthony's Church in Davenport.

Loras reached Dubuque on April 21, 1839. Since his diocese covered the entire states of Iowa and Minnesota and the Dakotas east of the Missouri River, he started traveling by steamboat up to St. Anthony's Falls and back by canoe, down the MISSISSIPPI RIVER and back up the Missouri to Council Bluffs and then back to Dubuque overland. His first ten years in Dubuque were spent organizing the faithful. All parts of the diocese saw the establishment of missions and churches. It has been estimated that upon his arrival there were no more than two thousand Catholics in the diocese.

In 1839 he organized St. Raphael's Seminary. In 1843, through the efforts of Bishop Loras, five SISTERS OF CHARITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (BVM) came to Dubuque. They opened St. Mary's Academy and were soon joined by others of their order.

In 849-1850, Bishop Loras Europe again in search of clergy and money. He received support in his home town as well as from Vienna and Munich. He visited Mount Melleray, Ireland, in 1849 and expressed his desire to establish a group of Trappist Monks in his diocese. In response to his offer of a tract of land southwest of Dubuque, twenty-two monks came to Dubuque County and established the priory (later abbey) of New Melleray.

Loras had a long history of encouraging Irish immigrants to move to Dubuque. In 1841 a committee of laymen appointed by him corresponded with the Irish Emigrant Society of New York that described Iowa in the most generous terms. Iowa representatives were sent to the 1856 convention of Irish Emigration held in Buffalo, New York. The CATHOLIC SETTLEMENT SOCIETY OF IOWA was another of his activities.

Given his interest in encouraging Irish settlement in Dubuque, it is ironic that many of the most troubling problems Loras faced concerned his dealings with Irish settlers. Generally poor people, the Irish were often more interested in sending money back to Ireland than contributing to the church. They were also angered when more new churches tended to be constructed for German settlers.

In 1844 feelings of frustration with his Irish parishioners surged when they refused to pay pew rent because the clergy of ST. RAPHAEL'S CATHEDRAL were not Irish. Loras left Dubuque and moved to Burlington only to return when the pastor in Dubuque became the leader of the Irish protestors. Loras fled Dubuque again in 1854 and threatened to remove all clergy from the city when Irish parishioners again threatened not to contribute to the church. He returned after the issues involved had been settled through the help of several influential Irish leaders in the community.

Not satisfied with Saint Raphael's Seminary in Dubuque, Loras moved the school south of Dubuque to a region known today as Key West. The new school, named Saint Bernard's College and Seminary, faced financial problems but managed to survive until Loras' death.

One of the distinctive landmarks of Dubuque is this statue of Loras on the grounds of Loras College.

In 1857 the cornerstone of St. Raphael's Cathedral was laid by Rev. Bishop Clement SMYTH, the coadjutor Loras had requested in 1856. Loras offered the first Mass in it on Christmas Day, 1857. He died two months later.

Loras found a diocese with three churches, several hundred Catholics and four priests when he came to Iowa. Stretching his limited funds to the maximum, Loras directed the development of the diocese with thirty-seven priests, fifty-two churches, forty-seven missions, and forty-nine thousand Catholics. His vast contribution to Dubuque and America was remembered in the naming of LORAS COLLEGE.

---

Source:

Hudson, David; Bergman, Marvin; Horton, Loren. The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008