WE'VE BEEN HERE A LONG TIME! ENJOY THESE HIGHLIGHTS!

For more than two hundred years prior to the founding of Holy Spirit (Ghost) Church in 1888, the Catholic faith was ministered in this area by missionaries who accompanied the French explorers and traders. By 1798 Grand Portage was well-established as headquarters for the abundant fur trade that opened Minnesota's North Shore.

With the arrival of Fr. Frederic Baraga in 1835, when the North Shore was still part of the Michigan Territory, the work of former missionaries continued. Fr. Baraga's scholarly study of the Ojibwa language, his coundless energy and the zeal with which he pursued his mission work resulted in numerous settlements being evangelized.

Fr. Baraga continued what was a nomadic ministry, devoting particular attention to his mission at Fond du Lac. Eleven years into his ministry, in 1846, he was caught by a storm while crossing Lake Superior from LaPointe to Grand Portage in a canoe. The shrine of "Baraga's Traverse" at the mouth of the Cross River (near Schroeder) commemorates his safe passage and gives that river its name.

It was of course the famous Father Joseph Francis Buh, a follower of Baraga, who continued the missionary lineage of his predecessors, Fathers Allouez, Marquette, Baraga and Pierz.

By 1883, a number of Catholic families were firmly established in Two Harbors. Since a large number of them were French speaking, they were served by priests from St. Jean Baptiste Church in Duluth.

With strong support from 30 pioneering families, the mission at Two Harbors was formally organized in 1888. By this time, the railroad for which the city was first developed, stretched from Two Harbors to Tower and on into the brand new townsite of Ely. The span from Duluth to Two Harbors had also been completed in 1887.

Arriving regularly the first Sunday of each month, Fr. Buh would offer Mass and greet his flock, first in the home of E. LaViolette and later in the old courthouse, a wooden structure on the same site as the present courthouse.

Bernard Griffin and Leandre Belland were the first trustees. In addition to the usual business of parish administration, Griffin and Belland also assumed the fund-raising for the building of the first church, on the southwest corner of Third Avenue and Fifth Street.

The Church of the Holy Ghost was dedicated August 3, 1890 by Bishop James McGolrick.

Parish records show the first recorded baptism in the parish to be that of Catherine Edna Swindeman on October 1, 1888 by Fr. Buh. Bartholomaeus Jospeh Hayes was the first baptism recorded in the new building on August 17, 1890. The first marriage performed in the new church united Napoleon Lassonde and Jula Gervais on November 29, 1890.

Founding families included names like Archdeacon, Babin, Belland, Leandre, Carrell, Cotter, Croke, Delaney, Dwan, Gervais, Griffin, Hayes, Holden, Houle, Jones, Lassonde, Shea, Sullivan, and Therrien. Perhaps these are among your forebears!

Eventually, because of parish growth a new Church was built on the corner of Third Avenue and Spruce (now Third) Street. The cornerstone was laid in February 1921 by Father E. J. Walsh, then pastor at St Michael's Church in Duluth. Fr. Timothy Culligan was the resident pastor.

First Mass celebrated at midnight Christmas Eve of 1921. The Church was built at a cost of $40,000.

Fr. Zarilli arrived as the new pastor on October 26, 1923, shortly after the transfer of Fr. Culligan who could not continue because of ill-health due to the challenge of building the new Church.

The interior was completed in 1930 with the addition also of a Church hall and kitchen. The following year saw the addition of a bell tower, a gift of Mrs. John Dwan. Also that year, a Hook and Hastings pipe organ was donated by Mr. Martin Muth, a parishioner.

These highlights of a history do not of course identify the tremendous generosity of the parishioners in terms of their time, talent, and hard-earned resources, especially during the Depression years.

That part of the history of the parish has continued by God's grace ever since and has been expressed in additional ventures over the years in for example, the addition of a Catechetical Center on the site of the old rectory and of course the addition of a new Rectory by Fr. Edward O'Reilly (1946-1966).

Including Fr. Buh down to the current Pastor (Fr. Michael Lyons) a total of seventeen priests have served the parish of Two Harbors and its mission at Knife River and later at Beaver Bay over its long and illustrious history.

The parish also owes a debt of gratitude to the Sisters of St. Benedict who assisted the Priests with the religious education programs each summer.

Ad Multos Annos!
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(Source: In Faith and Love: The Centennial History of the Holy Spirit Parish Two Harbors, Minnesota 1888-1988)

Fr. Michael Lyons
December 8, 2011