Outside the Cathedral of St. Raphael in Dubuque, Iowa, is a small park named Cathedral Square. At its center is a sculpture of several figures: a priest, a miner, a riverboat captain and a farming couple. According to the artist, each figure represents the progression of settlers who came to call this area of Iowa home more than 175 years ago.

First came the priest — and he was not just any priest. The foundation for this Catholic community was laid by a missionary Dominican friar whose cause is up for sainthood. Venerable Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli was an Italian Dominican who came to the U.S. as a deacon  in 1828.