Rupert Seidenbusch (October 13, 1830 – June 3, 1895) was a German prelate of the

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. A

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monk, he served as the first abbot of Saint John's Abbey (1866-1875) and the first Vicar Apostolic of Northern Minnesota (1875-1888).

Biography

Early life and ministry

Seidenbusch was born on October 13, 1830, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and received his early education there before entering the diocesan seminary in

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the Isar river in ...

, where he pursued classical and philosophical studies. Volunteering for missionary work in the United States, he traveled with fellow Bavarian Francis Xavier Krautbauer and arrived in October 1850. He then entered the

community at Saint Vincent Abbey in Latrobe,

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, making his solemn vows on January 6, 1852. He was director of

Saint Vincent College Saint Vincent College is a private Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine college in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 by Boniface Wimmer, a monk from Bavaria, it is operated by the Benedictine Monks of Saint Vincent Archabbey, the first Bene ...

during the 1852-53 school year while still a theological student. Seidenbusch was ordained a priest on June 22, 1853, by Bishop Michael O'Connor. He worked on missions around Westmoreland County until 1855, when he was appointed pastor at St. Marys in

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. In 1857 he was transferred to

St. Mary's Abbey Church St. Mary's Abbey Church is a historic Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Newark, located at 528 Martin Luther King Blvd (formerly High St.) and William St. in Newark, New Jersey. History The parish was established in 1842 to serve the need ...

in Newark,

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, which served local German Catholics and where Seidenbusch oversaw the completion of the church. Returning to Pennsylvania, he was elected

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of Saint Vincent Abbey in 1862.

Abbot

On December 12, 1866, Seidenbusch was elected the first

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of the Abbey of St. Louis on the Lake (later known as Saint John's Abbey) in Collegeville,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. The abbey had been established as a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

by his fellow monks from Saint Vincent Abbey in Pennsylvania at the behest of Bishop

Joseph Crétin Joseph Crétin (December 19, 1799 – February 22, 1857) was an American Catholic prelate who was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Cretin Avenue in St. Paul, Cretin-Derham Hall High School, and Cretin Hall at the Univer ...

to minister to the German immigrants in central Minnesota. His election was confirmed by

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

on March 15, 1867, and he was formally inducted into office on the following May 30 by Bishop George Aloysius Carrell. During his nine years at the abbey, Seidenbusch oversaw the construction of a chapel, saw and flour mills, barns for livestock, and a woodworking shop. He also traveled to Europe to solicit funds and recruit vocations. As abbot, he was the ''ex officio'' president of Saint John's College, which was authorized to grant degrees by the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decenn ...

in 1869. The college went from 28 students at the beginning of his tenure to 150 by his departure.

Bishop

Seidenbusch was appointed the first

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Northern Minnesota (later the Diocese of Saint Cloud) by Pope Pius IX on February 12, 1875. He was also given the

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

of ''

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'' and resigned as abbot on May 4. He received his episcopal consecration on May 30 from Bishop

Michael Heiss Michael Heiss (April 12, 1818 – March 26, 1890) was a Germany, German-born Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Archbishop of Milwaukee from 1881 to 1890. He prev ...

, with Bishops Joseph Dwenger and

Louis Mary Fink Louis Mary Fink, O.S.B., (July 12, 1834 – March 17, 1904) was a German-born Benedictine monk and prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop of Leavenworth (1877–1904). Biography He was born Michael Fink in the village of ...

serving as co-consecrators. After his consecration, Seidenbusch traveled across the vicariate by buggy, wagon, and rail and continued to solicit donations from Europe. He used Saint Mary's Church as his temporary cathedral, where he administered

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for the first time in June 1875. He performed his first priestly ordinations at Saint John's College the following August. In 1879 part of the vicariate was divided into the Vicariate Apostolic of Dakota (later the Diocese of Sioux Falls). He oversaw the completion of Holy Angels Cathedral in 1884, and attended the third Plenary Council of Baltimore that same year. Due to ill health, Seidenbusch submitted his resignation on October 19, 1888, and it was accepted by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

on November 15. By the end of his tenure, the vicariate had a Catholic population of more than 45,000 people, as well as 70 priests, 90 churches, 50 chapels, and 14 convents. He died at the Benedictine priory in

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, on June 3, 1895, at age 64. He was buried in the cemetery of Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville.

Notes

External links

Saint John's University Archives Presentation on the First Abbot, Rupert Seidenbusch
created by the University Archivist, Peggy Roske, 2012.
Mentions of Rupert Seidenbusch in the Saint John's University newspaper, The Record, which began in 1888
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seidenbusch, Rupert German emigrants to the United States Roman Catholic bishops of Saint Cloud 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States 1830 births 1895 deaths