A different history of Utah might have been written if the Catholics who ventured into its valleys in 1776 had chosen to stay.
Francisco Atanazio Dominquez and Francisco Velez de Escalante, two Spanish Franciscan priests, were the first Europeans to document travels to what would become the state of Utah.They traveled from the area now known as Santa Fe, N.M., in search of a better route to Monterey, Calif. They never made it to California, but along their 2,000-mile journey, they traversed the Utah territory. The priests passed through Spanish Fork Canyon, which would be named after their historic visit, and into what they called "the valley of Nuestra Senora de la Merced of the Timpagonotzis" - Utah Valley.
In their journals, the priests wrote glowing reports of the Laguna Ute Indians, the wildlife and the land they found in the valley. They stayed four days and then continued on southward, bringing a message of Christianity to other Native Americans they encountered as they traveled along the Sevier and Virgin rivers.
On their return to New Mexico, the priests pushed Spain to open a mission in Utah Valley, where there was a "great deal of country and people so well disposed to be easily gathered into the Lord's vineyard and to the realms of his majesty." But the Spanish government wasn't interested.
The Catholic missionaries and explorers, such as Etienne Provost, came to what would eventually be known as Utah, lingered only briefly and moved on. Their most lasting contributions were the maps they made of the territory and the names they lent some of its landmarks.
The character and history of Utah would instead be largely written by the Mormon pioneers who came to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and saw a suitable land to claim as their home.
As the Western expansion pushed forward and the Utah territory took shape, the Roman Catholic Church took more interest in the land. In 1850, Pope Pius IX made the territory part of the Diocese of Monterey in California. Priests who passed through the area celebrated Masses at Camp Floyd and Camp Douglas in the 1850s and early 1860s, according to Utah historian and University of Utah professor Dean L. May.
They ministered to the Catholics who came to the territory to work on the railroads, in the mines and as soldiers.
In 1853, the Catholic Church put the territory under the wing of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Over the next seven years, responsibility for Utah shifted between several locales before finally settling once again with the Archdiocese of San Francisco, where it remains today.
In 1873, Archbishop Joseph S. Alemany of San Francisco assigned Father Lawrence J. Scanlan to the territory. Scanlan would later become Utah's first Roman Catholic bishop, serving Catholics in the state tirelessly for 42 years.
He built churches, schools and hospitals wherever he found Catholics - and that tended to be at the railroad junctures and mining camps: Salt Lake City and Ogden in 1875; Silver Reef in 1879; Frisco and Park City in 1881; and Eureka in 1885.
On Jan. 17, 1897 - a year to the month after Utah attained statehood - the Catholic Church established the Diocese of Salt Lake City, with Scanlan as its first bishop. There were 8,000 Catholics and 15 churches strung throughout the state. Fourteen priests and 60 sisters of the Holy Cross Order ministered to Utah's Catholic population.
Bishop Scanlan established The Intermountain Catholic in 1899; the weekly newspaper is still published today. He helped established Holy Cross Hospital in 1875, and founded All Hallows College for Men, which operated from 1885 to 1918; Kearns-St. Ann's Orphanage (1891-1953) and Judge Mercy Home and Hospital, which is now Judge Memorial Catholic High School.
Bishop Scanlan led the effort to build the Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene, now known as the Cathedral of the Madeleine. The cathedral was dedicated Aug. 15, 1909. Bishop Scanlan, one of the most beloved Catholic leaders in Utah, died May 10, 1915, and is buried in a crypt in the rear wall of the sanctuary in the cathedral he brought into existence.
Six men filled the span between Utah's first bishop and its newest:
Bishop Joseph Sarsfield Glass, 1915-1926, who belonged to the Vincentian order of priests, led the redecoration of the interior of the cathedral and later renamed it the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Bishop Glass founded parishes in Magna, Midvale, Murray, Salt Lake City, Price and Vernal. He also led construction of the building that housed St. Mary's Academy, later known as St. Mary of the Wasatch. He died Jan. 16, 1926.
Bishop John Joseph Mitty, 1926-1932, served as a chaplain with the U.S. 101st Infantry Regiment during World War I and later as chaplain for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After becoming Utah's third bishop, he brought the Franciscan Fathers to administer to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Provo. He left Utah to serve as the co-adjutor archbishop in San Francisco.
Bishop James Edward Kearney, 1932-1937, served as a parish priest and educator before being appointed Utah's fourth bishop. He opened St. Joseph Chapel in Monticello in 1935 and established Christ the King Parish in Cedar City in 1936. He succeeded in paying off an outstanding debt of $50,000 on the Cathedral of the Madeleine, which was then consecrated on Nov. 28, 1936. On July 31, 1937, Bishop Kearney was appointed Bishop of Rochester, New York, a position he held until his retirement in 1966.
Bishop Duane Garrison Hunt, 1937-1960, graduated from Cornell College and started his adult life as a public school teacher in Iowa. Religion soon took precedence in his life, however. Hunt, who was raised a Methodist, converted to Catholicism in 1913, and was ordained a priest in 1920. He served in Utah as a pastor, chancellor and vicar general before being named bishop of the diocese.
Bishop Hunt was well-known for his KSL radio broadcasts, which aired from 1927 to 1949. During his tenure, the Catholic Church founded St. Benedict's Hospital in Ogden, the Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity in Huntsville, and St. Joseph Villa in Salt Lake City. He also founded 14 parishes throughout the state. He died in 1960.
Bishop Joseph Lennox Federal, 1960-1980, came to Utah from Raleigh, N.C., to serve as auxiliary bishop for the diocese. In 1958 he became the first coadjutor bishop in Utah, and then on March 31, 1960, he was named bishop.
Bishop Federal attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Upon his return to Utah, Bishop Federal guided Utah Catholics through the changes approved by the council. During a celebration this past December honoring Bishop Federal's 60th anniversary as a priest, Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald praised the bishop's leadership following the Second Vatican Council.
"His ability to keep us together in difficult times, to gradually implement the decisions of the Second Vatican Council without the great dishevel seen elsewhere and his patience with our human limitation were his hallmarks and virtues that endeared him to us as an effective leader," Monsignor Fitzgerald said, according to the Intermountain Catholic.
Bishop Federal also instituted the Diocesan Development Drive, which helped make the Diocese financially independent. He retired in 1980 and now resides at the rectory of the Cathedral of the Madeleine.
Bishop William K. Weigand, 1980-1993, served as a teacher, prison chaplain and chancellor in the years immediately after being ordained a priest in 1963. In 1968, Father Weigand was assigned as pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Cali, Colombia.
His service in Cali gave the young priest a deep concern for the underprivileged and firsthand understanding of the Latin American culture. Upon his return to the United States, Weigand served at St. Humbert's Church in Homedale, Idaho. He was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City on Sept. 3, 1980.
During his tenure, Bishop Weigand founded three new parishes and established about a dozen chapels in outlying regions. He instigated construction of two new Catholic elementary schools and the establishment of the Marillac House for Homeless Women.
Perhaps the biggest task Bishop Weigand tackled was the multimillion-dollar renovation of the Cathedral of the Madeleine. He successfully raised $9 million to pay off the cost of restoring the Cathedral, drawing contributions from all quarters of the community.
Bishop Weigand was named the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento in November 1993. At a farewell banquet last January, Weigand was noted as a "giant of a man, a unifying pastor" who brought diverse groups of Utah Catholics into one camp and fostered better relations with the LDS Church.