History of Cathedral Parish A true Catholic presence in the area was not established until the first German and Irish settlers arrived in the early 1850's. In 1856, Bishop Cretin, the first Bishop of Minnesota and the Dakotas, journeyed to Winona to celebrate the first recorded Mass in the city and to help  organize Winona's first Catholic parish. Rev. Thomas Murray was appointed to the newly formed mission church in 1857. He established a church on two lots on Dacota Street, between Mark and  Belleview, dedicated to Saint Thomas the Apostle. St. Thomas Church As Winona grew, the new parish grew with it. In 1858, Winona's first resident  priest, the Rev. Michael Pendergast, was appointed. He served the infant parish until 1864. In 1864, the church was moved to a site on Wabasha Street, near Center Street. Four years later, the foundation of a new church was laid. The church  would be completed three years later, and it would be this structure that would  serve as the Pro-Cathedral for the Diocese of Winona for the 63 years between its establishment in 1889 and the dedication of the Cathedral of the Sacred  Heart in 1952.   St. Joseph Church As more and more German Catholics arrived in the city, the desire among them to have a church and priest who would minister to them in their own language grew stronger. In 1858, a committee was organized to secure a site for a church  building. The group negotiated the purchase of a lot at the corner of Fifth and Walnut Streets for $400. It took the immigrant community three years to raise the money to purchase the land, but by November 1862, the building was completed and the Rev. Theodore Venn was appointed pastor. In the spring of 1882, the cornerstone of a new church was laid that would serve the people of St. Joseph's until the creation of Cathedral parish. Cathedral of the Sacred Heart As the years passed, the inadequacy of St. Thomas Pro-Cathedral to meet the  needs of the growing Diocese of Winona became more and more apparent. In 1944, a fund drive was begun to raise money for the construction of a new cathedral for the diocese. As the fund drive neared completion, discussion began for the merger of St.  Thomas and St. Joseph parishes to form the Cathedral parish. On June 15, 1950, the Vatican granted a petition to unite the parishes, only four blocks apart,  but long separated by language and nationality. On October 25, 1952, Bishop Edward Fitzgerald consecrated the altar and  celebrated the first Mass in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Liturgical updating was completed in 1982. This included acoustical improvements, installation of the new Gress-Miles pipe organ,  remodeling of the sanctuary, moving the Cathedra (Chair of the Bishop) and the  Shrines of Mary and St. Joseph, and reducing the main altar in size and moving it forward.