Stories from the First Cathedral 15: Bishop Whipple, Face of the Episcopal Church of Minnesota

"Henry Benjamin Whipple became synonymous with Faribault Cathedral and the Diocese of Minnesota. He moved graciously among Indians and Blacks [sic] and rural congregations, among sophisticated Easterners and tycoons in Minneapolis and St Paul, among bureaucrats and bishops, among professors at Oxford and Cambridge, even among Presidents and the dignitaries of Victoria's royal court" (from The First Cathedral by the Venerable Benjamin Scott and Robert Neslund).

Despite Bishop Whipple's fame his priority was being a family man. His relationship with his wife Cornelia and six children was kept at the forefront of his life. We forget that life in Faribault during that time was much different than our lives in 2020. There was a railroad, stage coach, and Bashaw (the large black horse) that provided transportation for the bishop. There was no television, radio, or computer technology to promote the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. 

I often have been asked why there are so many pictures of Bishop Whipple. These were called cabinet cards, which were photos produced on a hard card stock. These cabinet cards were also used in the 19th century as the first baseball cards to promote products such as candy and tobacco. When Bishop Whipple would travel around the Diocese or country he passed out images of himself on these cabinet cards. Some people today thought that these images were connected with a large ego, but they were passed out among people to promote the Episcopal church as a tool of evangelism. The photos of Bishop Whipple in the 19th century were his business cards, because he was the face of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota.