Bishop Koudelka

Joseph Maria Koudelka *1852 Chilstova, Bohemia; Superior, Wisconsin 1921†.

Between the suppressed St. Procop Catholic Church and Interstate 90 there lays St. Mary's Cemetery. When entering from West 41st there is the Priests' Circle. A dozen, mostly German, priests are buried. One was a bishop. His monument has Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The sheep on the left stands on two legs, recently twisted wire was inserted in the stump of a third leg. A plaque has been absent for awhile, scrappers? and neglect.

Koudelka's family came to America (Wisconsin) in 1869. He entered the seminary in Milwaukee and transferred to Cleveland in 1874. Koudelka was ordained a deacon in February 1875 and was given charge of St. Procop. Procop's was the first Czech (Bohemian) parish on the west side of Cleveland, founded in 1872. In October of '75, Fr. Koudelka said his first Mass. In May 1882 Koudelka went to St. Louis, Missouri to edit a Catholic Czech publication. His parish refused any other priest, and was put under an inderdict (Bishop Gilmour suspended access to sacraments) from February '84 to July '85 when an acceptable priest was named pastor.

In 1883 a mission of German speaking St. Mary Cleveland was raised to a parish. The first pastor was Joseph Koudelka, he was called back from St. Louis. Koudelka was a polyglot, a writer, and an artist and well received by the Germans. His new St. Michael's was for years the most impressive church in the city, and is still a landmark from miles away in many directions.

In 1908 [February 25], he was ordained an auxiliary bishop for special pastoral care for the Slavonic peoples. The Catholic Church in Cleveland suffered ethnic rivalries. There was a division between "the English" and "the Germans". The "English" were Irish; and "the Germans" were those whose first language was not English. There were no real English, and inside the city most of the "Germans" were not German. Cleveland's bishop was Ignatius Horstmann, *1840 Philadelphia, 1908 [May 13]†. The Irish clergy boycotted the ordination of the first auxiliary, and none signed the book of witness. This was reflected nationally too, Irish bishops were not fond of the 'new migration' from Europe.

In 1911 Koudelka was auxiliary in Milwaukee. In 1913 he became bishop of Superior, Wisconsin. When he died, his requiem was held at St. Michael's, and he was buried at St. Mary's Cemetery Cleveland.

portrait on episcopal chair at Saint Michael Cleveland