Bishop Mathias Loras

Bishop Mathias Loras (August 30, 1792 - February 20, 1858) was a French priest who later became the first Bishop of the Dubuque Diocese in what would become the state of Iowa. Bishop Loras would guide the new diocese during its formative years.

History

Pierre-Jean-Mathias Loras was born in Lyon, France on August 30, 1792. The Loras family was of noble descent. During the Reign of Terror in France, both Loras' father and older brother were put to death.

As a young man, he studied for the priesthood, and on November 12, 1815 he was ordained as a priest. During the 1830's, he helped Bishop Michael Portier of Mobile, Alabama in his search for priests to staff Portier's diocese. From 1830-1832 he served as the first president of Spring Hill College.

In the mid 1830's, a church council recommended to the Pope that new dioceses be created due to the expansion of the United States. One of these dioceses was at Dubuque, Iowa. On July 28, 1837, the Dubuque Diocese was formed, and Father Loras was then named its first Bishop. On December 10th, he was formally ordained as the Bishop.

Bishop Loras traveled to France to recruit missionaries and gather funds for his diocese. In April of 1839, Bishop Loras arrived in Dubuque for the first time. Later that year, he consecrated St. Raphael's parish as the Cathedral church.

Over the next 19 years, Bishop Loras guided the Dubuque Diocese during its first formative years. He established a number of missions among the Native American tribes. Bishop Loras also established a number of schools, as well as parishes in every populated area of the diocese.

Bishop Loras also encouraged immigrants to come to the area from the crowded conditions back east. Soon Dubuque had growing Irish and German populations. Even though he welcomed immigrants to the area, tensions between immigrant groups caused Loras some of his greatest difficulties.

The Germans felt that Bishop Loras had not done enough to give them clergy of German descent. The Irish felt slighted when Loras provided the Germans with their own Holy Trinity (now Saint Mary's) parish. Some immigrants threatend to withhold contributions. As a result, Bishop Loras threatend to withdraw all clergy from the city. However neither side followed through on their threats, and the situation soon cooled down.

In the 1850's, it was under the direction of Bishop Loras that the present Cathedral building was errected. This was the third building for the Cathedral parish, and was over three times the size of the old Cathedral. Bishop Loras would not live long enough to see this Cathedral completed, but he was able to offer the first mass in this new structure at Christmas, 1857.

By the late 1850's, Bishop Loras found that his health was failing. He then asked Rome to provide him with a coadjutor Bishop. In January of 1857, Father Clement Smyth, OCSO, of New Melleray Abbey was appointed as Coadjutor Bishop. In May of 1857, Father Smyth was ordained a Bishop.

Bishop Loras died suddenly on February 20, 1858 in Dubuque. When he died, Bishop Smyth became the next Bishop of Dubuque. The body of Bishop Loras was interred in the mortuary chapel of the Cathedral. Loras did have relatives who remained in France, and to this day their descendants still live in the Lyon, France area.

Legacy

Bishop Loras is still remembered as one of the pioneers of the Catholic church in Iowa. Loras College, which he founded in 1839 as St. Raphael Seminary, had undergone several name changes. In 1939, the present name of Loras College was adopted in his memory. Loras Blvd. in Dubuque was also named in his memory. A number of parents have named their children Loras as well.