Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli

The Venerable & Rev. Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P.
A young Mazzuchelli
Orders
Ordination	September 5, 1830 by Edward Fenwick
Personal details
Birth name	Carlo Gaetano Samuele Mazzuchelli
Born	(1806-11-04)November 4, 1806 Milan, French Kingdom of Italy
Died	February 23, 1864(1864-02-23) (aged 57) Benton, Wisconsin, United States
Buried	St. Patrick's Cemetery, Benton, Wisconsin, United States

Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, O.P. ( November 4, 1806 – February 23, 1864 ) was a pioneer Italian Dominican friar and Catholic missionary priest who helped bring the church to the Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin tri-state area. He founded a number of parishes in the area, and was the architect for a number of parish buildings. Additionally, Mazzuchelli founded a number of schools throughout the region, some of which have developed into local Catholic colleges. As part of this effort, he founded the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters.

He was born Carlo Gaetano Samuele Mazzuchelli on November 4, 1806, in Milan—then under French control, the 16th of 17 children of a prominent family. At the age of 17 he entered the Dominican Order, which was still recovering from the devastation wrought on institutions of the Catholic Church in Italy under the French Revolutionary Army. After his period of novitiate, when he changed his name to Friar Samuel, he went to Rome to prepare for ordination. He was ordained a subdeacon in 1827 in the Lateran Basilica, around which time he was recruited to serve in new Diocese of Cincinnati, still missionary territory for the Church.

After spending some time in France to perfect his French, in 1828 Mazzuchelli set out for the United States, where he arrived in Cincinnati, and was welcomed by the bishop, his fellow Dominican friar, Edward Fenwick.

After obtaining a dispensation from the Holy See due to his being underage, Mazzuchelli was ordained a priest by Fenwick on September 5, 1830. Shortly after that, he was sent to serve at Sainte Anne Church on Mackinac Island and later in northern Wisconsin, After about five years there, Mazzuchelli arrived in the Dubuque area. During his time, he faced a number of challenges, such as hostility from other Christian denominations.