Bishop Koudelka (1913-1921)

Differences in nationalities
breeds distrust among diocesan clergy
toward their bishop during World War I

• Introduction
• Early life and ordination to priesthood
  • Ordination
  • Auxiliary bishop of Cleveland
  • Auxiliary bishop of Milwaukee
• Appointment as bishop of Superior
  • Omnibus Omnia
  • Pastoral visitations to distant parishes
  • Ordination of First Native American priest
• Important projects
  • Promotion of "colonization work"
  • Catholic Charities Bureau
  • St. Joseph Children's Home
• World War I
• Clashes with Priests
  • Priestly appointments
  • Minor skirmishes with priests
• Subject of department of justice investigation
  • Some priests claimed the bishop was unpatriotic or pro-German
  • Internment of the bishop suggested
• Investigators Travel to Superior
• Arrival of more religious communities of men
  • The Benedictine monks from St. Procopius abbey
  • The Society of the Precious Blood
• New community of religious women established
  • Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis of Rice Lake
  • Servants of Mary of Ladysmith
• Born to eternal life

Bishop Koudelka was a gifted linguist and author of books in Bohemian, German and English. Already fluent in eight languages, the bishop added the Ojibwe dialect to his vocabulary after moving to Superior. He was a student of the arts, which was evident in the works of art he had commissioned for several church properties.

Like his predecessor, Bishop Joseph Maria Koudelka was serving in the Milwaukee Archdiocese when he was assigned to the Superior Diocese.

Bishop Koudelka was born in Chlistova, Bohemia, on December 8, 1852, and came to America with his parents, Markus and Anna Jonoushek Koudelka, when he was 14 years old. He attended St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee.

Ordination

He was ordained for the Diocese of Cleveland on October 8, 1875, by Tobias Mullen, bishop of Erie, PE. under a special dispensation, because of the urgent need for a priest at St. Procop Bohemian parish in Cleveland. In 1882 he moved to St. Louis to become editor of Klas (The Voice), a Catholic weekly Bohemian newspaper. One year later, Bishop Koudelka returned to Cleveland to become the founding pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish.

Auxiliary bishop of Cleveland

On November 29, 1907, he was named auxiliary bishop of Cleveland, with a special ministry of serving the diocese's Slavic community.

Auxiliary bishop of Milwaukee

Four years later, on September 4, 1911, he became the first auxiliary bishop of Milwaukee.

Bishop Koudelka was appointed bishop of Superior on August 6, 1913, and installed at the pro-cathedral of Sacred Heart on November 5, 1913, by Archbishop Sebastian Messmer of Milwaukee.

Omnibus Omnia

He asked for the hearty cooperation of everyone and told them that his motto was, "Omnibus Omnia," meaning "for all my heart is open to all without distinction to Catholics or non-Catholics." In his address he said,

"I come to you with my whole heart to sacrifice my whole life for you, my children. May the spirit of love and friendship and filial devotion between the bishop and his flock never be broken, but always on the incrase, and the promises that I make I will faithfully keep forever." (Duluth News-Tribune, November 5, 1913)

Pastoral visitations to distant parishes

Almost immediately Bishop Koudelka began pastoral visitations to distant parishes. One of his first visits was to Rice Lake, where he dedicated an addition to St. Joseph School on November 25, 1913. Two days later he visited Amery to dedicate a new church.

Ordination of first Native American priest

On December 8, 1913 Bishop Koudelka ordained Fr. Philip B. Gordon, the first Chippewa (Ojibwa-Bad River) to be ordained a priest and the second Native American priest in the country. His Ojibwa name was Ti-bish-ko-ge-zick ("looking into the sky.") Father Gordon said his first mass at the Odanah Indian school on January 6. Father Gordon was assigned to the mission churches on a number of north Wisconsin reservations. Father Gordon ministered to some 2,500 Catholics from the Court d'Oreilles band, the Lac du Flambeau band, and the St. Croix band of Chippewa.

In 1943, Fr. Gordon became the first ordained American Indian priest to offer the invocation at the convening of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Promotion of "colonization work"

During his visitations he was dismayed when he found many fertile acres idle. According to the Duluth News-Tribune (November 7, 1913), the new bishop let all landowners in norther Wisconsin that he was willing to work with them to bring people to the farms which wait tilling. "The opportunities for colonization work in northern Wisconsin are unlimted," said Bishop Koudelka, "and promoting it in my diocese is to be my chief aim." Bishop Koudelka worked closely with the Catholic Colinizaiton company of Chicago to direct settlers to the diocese.

Catholic Charities Bureau

His greatest contribution to the local church in northern Wisconsin, arguably, was in building the foundation for a successful social service agency known today as Catholic Charities Bureau.

St. Joseph Children's Home

The most visible project was the establishment of St. Joseph Children's Home, an orphanage in Superior that housed up to 200 children. Using his own money to help build the orphanage, it was dedicated on September 12, 1917 for $190,000. He reportedly used donations from over 100 parish missions that he conducted around the country to help finance the orphanage. In 1920, with a debt of $90,000 still unpaid, priests of the diocese agreed to have parishes assume the remaining costs.

In the photo at right, children hold baskets of potatoes outside of St. Joseph Children's Home, circa 1918.

After building St. Joseph Children's Home, Bishop Koudelka invited the Sisters of Notre Dame of Cleveland to provide care for the orphans. The sisters served at the orphanage until 1943, when they were called back to Cleveland because of a teacher shortage.

While war was raging in Europe, Bishop Koudelka made a voyage to Europe to meet with Pius X. The ship on which the bishop as to have returned to the U.S. was delayed as its sister ship was captured by French and English battle ships. The bishop's ship was stopped several times while in the English channel. "When I saw the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, I greeted it with joy," said the bishop.

After safely arriving back in Superior, he gave a detailed account of his voyage at a reception in which he described the war as "a scourge in the hands of God for the purpose of punishing Europe for her failture to observe the laws of the Almighty in the past," but also noted that "the punishment is already showing results." Where formerly people paid no attention to religion, prayer is now the rule. The bishop claimed that he had offered confession to more than 2,000 wounded soldiers and officers in hospitals. (Duluth News Tribune, October 10, 1914).

Priestly appointments

Bishop Koudelka was an authority figure to his priests, never shy in reminding them of that authority. In an undated letter written to priests of the diocese before the orphanage’s completion, the bishop outlined his rules for making priestly appointments. The letter was apparently prompted by the actions of some looking to assume desirable parish assignments in the diocese.

“I should also wish to see the unseemly practice of storming the bishop with applications, when a vacancy has occurred, to cease,” he wrote. “When threats are united with demands, as it has been done, then, self-respect would prevent me from yielding. When a desirable place is vacant, every available priest will receive consideration.”

Minor skirmishes with priests

Outspoken and unafraid to defend his convictions, Bishop Koudelka found himself in minor skirmishes with more than one of his priests. One example was described in the Catholic Herald on June 28, 1980. “During his tenure… plans were made to build a new residence for the bishop. Bishop Koudelka also made plans to build a new cathedral. Both projects received violent opposition, instigated by the rector of the pro-cathedral Fr. (Peter) Rice. In one of his letters, the bishop referred to Fr. Rice as

the prime instigator of all my troubles… his behavior crass and laughing stock of non-Catholics.”

When Bishop Koudelka called for a meeting of the Superior parishioners to discuss the future site of the cathedral, he wrote,

“… he (Fr. Rice) instructed the men, before the meeting, they should oppose me as I have foreign ideas.”

Such a charge may sound hollow today, but at the time, with World War I in progress, it was slanderous.

Patriotic groups, such as the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, were on the prowl for citizens they believed were not behind America’s war effort. William H. Thomas, a doctoral candidate in the University of Iowa’s history department, wrote in his 2002 dissertation, “The United States Department of Justice and Dissent During the First World War,” that Bishop Koudelka was the subject of a justice department investigation on charges of subversive activities.

Some priests claimed the bishop was unpatriotic or pro-German

The justice department interviewed numerous priests as well as Bishop Koudelka. Some of the priests claimed that the bishop was unpatriotic or pro-German.

“Fr. Peter Rice stated that Koudelka had more or less brought Rice’s campaign of patriotic lectures to a halt,” Thomas stated in his dissertation.

“Rev. Walter Kalandyk suggested that the bishop was subtly undermining the war effort.”

Internment of the bishop suggested

One justice department attorney suggested to his supervisors that interment of Bishop Koudelka was necessary.

“In case he is an alien enemy I am inclined to think he should be interned, unless he is removed from his present position.”

According to Thomas, whose dissertation was based on Federal Bureau of Investigation records found in the National Archives, ethnic antagonisms seemed to foster the tensions between Bishop Koudelka and some of the priests. "But it also appears that this ethnic rivalry may have helped save the bishop from more severe actions by the justice department," stated Thomas.

Justice department investigators met with Bishop Koudelka in Superior in July and September of 1918. They questioned him about his allegiance to the United States and the concerns raised by some priests. In response, Bishop Koudelka defended his patriotism and presented materials he wrote in support of the war.

Bishop Koudelka's articulate defense of his character won the confidence of the two investigators. Agent W.N. Parker wrote that

"Bishop Koudelka is not guilty of disloyalty. ... It hardly seems probable that a man of his intelligence and wisdom would put himself in a position of disloyalty to this country."

Instead, Parker suggested the squabble between bishop and priests

"should be attributed to differences of opinion founded upon nationality rather than upon a question of patriotism. It would therefore seem that this department should not in any way whatsoever mix in the fight involved between the nationalities of the priests of the Diocese of Superior."

He recommended the investigation be closed.

Arrival of more religious communities of men

The Benedictine monks from St. Procopius abbey

The Benedictine monks from St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, IL founded King of Martyrs Benedictine Priory, located southeast of Fifield, in 1914. The priory was established at the invitation of Bishop Koudelka, who hoped Czech settlers would populate the area. As a good faith gesture, Bishop Koudelka entrusted the parish in Phillips to the Benedictines. Over the next 90 years, Benedictine monks would staff at various times 14 parishes in the Superior Diocese. The monks from St. Procopius closed King Priory in 2001.

The Society of the Precious Blood

On October 18, 1920, Bishop Joseph M. Koudelka entered into an agreement with the Society of the Precious Blood that would "transfer and entrust in perpetuity" to the order parishes and missions in Ashland, Bayfield and Sawyer counties. In exchange, the Precious Blood Fathers agreed to return back to diocesan priests Sacred Heart Pro-Cathedral in Superior, which the order took over in 1916 following the departure of Fr. Peter Rice. Between 1921 and 1999, when the society abandoned its pastoral duties in the diocese due to dwindling membership in the order, every parish along Highway 13 - from Marengo in Ashland County to Medford in Taylor County - was under the direction of Precious Blood Fathers at one time. They also served at parishes in Amery, Georgetown, Hammond, Minocqua, Rhinelander and Wilson, and hospitals in Merrill, New Richmond, Rice Lake and Tomahawk.

New communities of religious women Established

Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis of Rice Lake

In 1917, three Sisters of St. Francis of St. Clare took over a small hospital in Rice Lake and renamed it St. Joseph Hospital. They formed a new community known as the Third Order of St. Francis of Rice Lake. The hospital grew to 6 beds in 1950, plus 23 beds for aged men and women. By 1969, the hospital was sold and converted into a nursing home.

In 1943, the sisters established their motherhouse on Heart Island in Rice Lake and began teaching religious education classes in the area. They later expanded service to several parishes and missions around Amery. In 1960, they engaged in baking and marketing altar breads. In 1967, the 32 Rice Lake Franciscan Sisters merged with the 1,300 Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis of Stevens Point. The motherhouse at Heart Island has since housed a variety of community service programs.

Servants of Mary of Laydsmith

In the summer of 1912, five members of the Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange, IL, left that community at the request of Servite Fr. Andrew Bauman to minister at St. Mary School in Ladysmith. Sisters Mary Alphonse Bradley, Mary Rose Smith, Mary Evangelist Corcoran, Mary Irene Drummand, and Mary Charles Kolmesh arrived in Ladysmith in September 1912, ready to begin teaching that fall in the newly built school. These five women, along with Sr. Mary Boniface Hayes, who joined the group some months later, are the congregation's founders. They chose to join the Servite Order, under the direction of the Mantellate Sisters from Pistoia, Italy. On Deceber 8, 1919, the Ladysmith community became an independent diocesan congregation known as the Servants of Mary.

Bishop Joseph M. Koudelka appointed Sr. Mary Alphonse Bradley the first Mother General of the new community. The congregation was formally affiliated with the worldwide Servite Order on November 16, 1921. The sisters' initial ministry was education and care of the sick. In collaboration with community leaders, they built a hospital that opened in time for a flu epidemic in 1918. The Servites also founded Mount Senario College in 1962. The college was turned over to a lay board of directors in 1972 and it closed in 2002.

Bishop Koudelka died on June 24, 1921, at his residence. The Catholic Citizen on July 2 reported that all priests of the city, as well as his nephew, Fr. Charles Koudelka of Cleveland, and several Duluth priests, were at his bedside. He was reported to whisper a farewell message to the priests:

"Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints. My blessing to all the people of Superior and the entire diocese. I am going home, goodbye fathers."

Before his death, the bishop asked Fr. Ladislaus Nowacki to oversee the erection of a burial place for priests and bishops of the Superior Diocese at Calvary Cemetery. Bishop Koudelka died before the priests' burial section was completed.

His body lay in state at the chapel of St. Joseph Children's Home, where his nephew celebrated a funeral Mass. The following day a solemn burial liturgy was held at Sacred Heart pro-cathedral. Bishop Koudelka's body was transported by train to Cleveland for final services at St. Michael Church, where he once served as pastor. He was buried at St. Mary Cemetery alongside his parents in Cleveland.


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Source: Our Journey through Faith: A History of the Diocese of Superior, by Sam Lucero, 2005.