Bishop Henry B. Whipple

Bishop Henry B. Whipple. . The Right Rev. Henry Benjamin Whipple was 37 years old when he was consecrated the first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota on October 13, 1859. He spent the next 42 years establishing Episcopal parishes and missions throughout Minnesota. He guided the founding of Shattuck School for boys, Seabury Divinity School for the theological education and training of clergy and with his wife, Cornelia, founded St. Mary's Hall for girls. In 1862 he laid the cornerstone for the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour, the first cathedral to be constructed in the American Episcopal Church. The Bishop and Cornelia raised six children in Faribault. Following Cornelia's death in 1890, the Bishop married Evangeline Marrs Simpson in 1896 who continued to support the Bishop's work before and after his death on September 16, 1901 at age 79. His funeral at the Cathedral (one block east of this location) drew more than a thousand people, among them a host of Native Americans and the first Native American to be ordained in the Episcopal Church. Throughout his life, he was an advocate for the rights of Native Americans and was known among them as "Straight Tongue." A tribute to the Bishop from the people of Minnesota is enshrined on the base of the Cathedral's bell tower:

This Tower is the Thanksgiving of many People for Henry Benjamin Whipple, first Bishop of Minnesota, and is the Symbol before [humanity] of the supreme Value of a Righteous Man.