On July 25, the sacred exhumation of the casket containing the body of Msgr. Joseph Buh was carried out at Calvary Cemetery. “This is a necessary step for his cause for sainthood,” said Bishop Daniel Felton in a message to clergy and Pastoral Center staff. “All of this was done with significant respect and reverence.”
Msgr. Buh, considered the patriarch of the Diocese of Duluth, was born in 1833 in Slovenia and came to the United States in 1864 as a missionary. He served both Native Americans in the region and immigrants, especially Slovenian immigrants, and when the Diocese of Duluth was formed, he became its vicar general. He is said to have helped incorporate 57 parishes in the diocese.
According to a biograph of Msgr. Buh, called “Masinaigans: The Little Book,” written by Benedictine Sisters Bernard Coleman and Verona LaBud, Bishop Timothy McNicholas, the second bishop of Duluth, wrote in a letter to the priest: “This diocese with its priests and sisters and people can never express to you an adequate appreciation of all that you have done for religion. The whole church of America is indebted to you. This is a very deep conviction with me.”
When Msgr. Buh died on Feb. 1, 1922, and was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Bishop McNicholas instructed the funeral director to make the casket metal-lined. “His reason: he considered his vicar general ‘a saint,’ and he set the stage, therefore, for an exhumation at some later date,” the biography, published in 1972, states.
In legal documents relating to the exhumation, the diocese noted that the late Bishop Paul Sirba had regularly discussed the idea of initiating a formal beatification process for Msgr. Buh, and in 2023, Bishop Felton had started the exploration of Msgr. Buh’s potential cause for canonization. One of the steps of such a cause is bringing remains to a suitable place conducive to prayer and making possible the collection of relics.
Joining Bishop Felton as witnesses at the exhumation were members of the Presbyteral Council, the diocesan chancellor, the diocesan archivist, and the diocesan communications director. It was carried out by Calvary Cemetery staff and Dougherty Funeral Home. After a careful and lengthy dig, the casket and body of Msgr. Buh with natural decay were found. Exhumed were a fair share of his skull, skeleton bones, and pieces of his casket, as well as fragments of his cassock, his clerical collar, and a plaque attached to his casket reading “Rest in Peace.”
The remains of Msgr. Buh have been moved to a secure and temperature-controlled place. This will allow some time for the preparation of his final resting place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary.