Venerable Samuel Mazzuchelli

Life story

He was born on 4 November 1806 in Milan, then part of the Kingdom of Italy, a French client state. He entered the Dominican Order at seventeen and was ordained a priest by Edward Fenwick on 5 September 1830. In late 1830 he became resident priest at Sainte Anne Church on Mackinac Island in the Michigan Territory.

In the Wisconsin and Iowa region he founded many parishes: St. John the Evangelist in Green Bay (1831), St. Matthew's in Shullsburg (1833), St. Raphael in Dubuque (1835), St. Anthony's in Davenport (1836) and St. Mary of the Assumption in Iowa City (1841). He is credited with founding more than thirty parishes in the region (the Sinsinawa Dominicans count more than 35 communities).

In the 1840s he bought Sinsinawa Mound, and in 1847 he established the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa there. In 1852 he founded St. Patrick's Parish at Benton, Wisconsin, and served as its pastor for the rest of his life. He died at Benton on 23 February 1864 of pneumonia, aged 57 or 58 depending on the source. Pope John Paul II declared him Venerable on 6 July 1993.

Works and witness

• Ordained a priest on 5 September 1830
• Resident priest on Mackinac Island from late 1830
• Founded many parishes in Wisconsin and Iowa, over thirty by one count
• Established the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters in 1847
• Pastor of St. Patrick's, Benton, Wisconsin, from 1852 until his death

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Sinsinawa Dominicans, "Father Mazzuchelli" (sinsinawa.org/about-us/father-mazzuchelli)
• Samuel Mazzuchelli, Memoirs Historical and Edifying of a Missionary Apostolic (1844)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.