Joseph Bernard Cotter was the first Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona

Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona

The Diocese of Winona is the Roman Catholic diocese which ministers to the people of southern Minnesota. The diocese includes Blue Earth, Cottonwood, Dodge, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Houston, Jackson, Martin, Mower, Murray, Nobles, Olmsted, Pipestone, Rock, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca, Watonowan,...

, in Winona, Minnesota

Winona, Minnesota

Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the U.S. State of Minnesota. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf....

.

Born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Cotter was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on May 3, 1871. On November 15, 1889, Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...

 appointed Cotter the first bishop of the Winona Diocese. On December 27, 1889, he was ordained a bishop; he died while he was still bishop.http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcotter.html

Legacy

Cotter High School, in Winona, was named in his memory.