First Mass

May 1840

Documentation

• Gilbert J. Garraghan, S.J., "Catholic First Things in the United States," Mid-America: An Historical Review, vol. 21 (1939)

Notes

Garraghan concludes the first Mass in South Dakota should be dated no later than 1840, most likely said by Fr. Christian Hoecken during his excursion into the two Dakotas that year -- with Fr. De Smet's visit to the Vermilion River area in 1839, and Fr. Belcourt at an undetermined earlier date, as softer possibilities Garraghan raises but does not fully endorse. Garraghan separately and more specifically documents, citing Hoecken's own autograph baptismal register (Archives of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with a cross-reference to Garraghan's own earlier book, Jesuits of the Middle United States, vol. 2, p. 473, n. 89), that Hoecken baptized two children at Vermilion on May 30, 1840. Given Hoecken's demonstrable presence at Vermilion performing sacraments that day, it is a reasonable inference -- though not a directly documented certainty -- that he also said Mass there around the same time. Wikipedia's article on Christian Hoecken confirms his identity, order, and activity in the upper Midwest in this period, but does not mention this specific visit.