FARGO — In the wake of Pope Francis’s recent passing, Catholics worldwide have turned their thoughts to the enduring legacies of the clergy, from the grandeur of the Vatican to the quiet corners of local parishes.
Here in Fargo, one such legacy comes with an unexpected twist: the story of Bishop John Shanley, the city’s first bishop and namesake of Shanley High School, whose body was lost to history until a group of curious priests (with the help of some destructive seventh and eighth graders) cracked the case.
Bishop John Shanley was Fargo's first bishop serving from 1889 to 1909 upon his death. He is the namesake of Fargo Shanley High School.
Contributed
Shanley was one of the most respected figures in the city’s early history: a champion of the poor, a builder of schools and churches as well as a civic leader who helped Fargo recover from a devastating fire. Given his contributions, you might expect his final resting place to be a solemn grave under a grand headstone.
Instead, his body was found 46 years later in a locked vault beneath a church basement.
This account of the strange happenings following his death is based largely on the recollections of Father Leo Stelten, who was there when the mystery in the basement was finally solved, thanks to the Fargo Catholic Diocese for preserving this unusual chapter of Church history.
From whispers to discovery
For generations, curious kids sneaking through the halls of downtown Fargo’s St. Mary’s Cathedral and grade school — maybe skipping Mass or just killing time — would lean in, eyes wide, and whisper: “There’s a dead bishop over there,” pointing toward two massive, marble-covered columns in the basement.
It was the kind of rumor you’d expect with kids — just spooky enough to be believable, just sacred enough not to joke about.
However, in 1955, during a renovation project at St. Mary’s, those whispers proved to be true.
St. Mary's Cathedral in Fargo is pictured shortly after it was built in 1899. By 1955, the church was undergoing major renovations when two priests uncovered a mystery.
Contributed / “Glimpses of North Dakota,” 1901 from the North Dakota State Library
According to Father Leo Stelten’s writings, at the time, the church put preliminary demolition in the hands of seventh and eighth grade boys, an age group he said, “the Church, in its wisdom, had always recognized as being particularly well suited to the smashing of walls and the battering down of partitions.”
As much as the pre-teen boys loved the idea of swinging sledgehammers in a sacred old building, they had some trepidation because of the rumors they’d heard about a body under the columns in the basement. After all, their assignment was to tear down those columns. What would they find?
Cue the ominous music.
The first column turned out to be a dud — just a support pillar.
But the second? That’s where the legend cracked open. Behind its false wall were two large, locked steel vault doors — more Boris Karloff than basilica.
A young Father Stelten, with a Hardy Boys curiosity, urged the crew to see what lay behind them. Bishop Leo Dworschak reportedly muttered, “Well, I don’t know why we can’t just leave it the way it is.”
But that wasn't going to stop Stelten.
He called a locksmith to start drilling. Sparks flew. Hinges creaked. Inside was a nearly empty room with metal ledges and a long, sealed metal tank.
At first, it appeared to be a watering trough. Theories flew — shipping box? Construction scrap? Someone even mentioned the rumor of a bishop who had been buried there, but that was quickly dismissed. Everyone knew Fargo’s two deceased bishops were appropriately buried at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Father Leo Stelten died in 2018. He and another priest, Father Gerald Potter, opened the coffin in the vault of St. Mary's to discover Shanley's remains. He shared his recollections, which provide much of the basis of this story.
Contributed / Stelten obituary photo from Boulger Funeral Home
Right?
Not so fast.
Father Stelten couldn’t let it go. That night, flashlight in hand and pliers in pocket, he returned alone to the vault. After loosening a few wing nuts, he peeked inside the tank and found something that looked an awful lot like a coffin.
He called in backup, Father Gerald Potter, to assist him in opening the container. When they did, they discovered a glass-sealed coffin containing the fully vested remains of Bishop John Shanley. There he was, miter, gloves, pectoral cross and all — looking, according to Father Stelten, surprisingly good “for someone 40 years entombed.” Aside from a sunken nose and some darkened skin, the bishop seemed ready for Mass.
Who was Bishop Shanley?
John Shanley, a native of Albion, New York, moved with his family to Faribault, Minnesota, at the age of 5. Ordained a Catholic priest in 1874, he was appointed the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Jamestown in 1889, the same year North Dakota achieved statehood. The diocese would later be relocated to Fargo, where Shanley sought to build a cathedral.
Around 2,500 Native Americans from Fort Totten gathered at the St. Michael Mission for a Catholic Congress with Bishop Shanley and other clergy from July 11-15, 1909. Bishop Shanley died July 16, after returning to Fargo.
Contributed / NDSU Archives
Property was purchased downtown and work began, but only the basement had been completed when the Fargo Fire of 1893 tore through the city’s core. In a show of civic compassion, Bishop Shanley redirected much of the money he had raised for the cathedral’s construction to help Fargo rebuild. The decision to delay the church project helped the city recover more quickly.
In addition to helping the community, he was a proponent for rural education, the fair treatment of Native Americans and led the diocese through rapid growth. When he died in his sleep in 1909 at age 57, the number of churches in the diocese had grown from 60 to 225.
From cemetery to cathedral and back again
After his death in 1909, Shanley was laid to rest on July 20 in what The Forum called “the largest funeral ever held in North Dakota.” When doors to the cathedral opened 1,500 people reportedly stormed in for the standing room only service.
A story from The Forum on July 20, 1919 said the city of Fargo basically shut down during Bishop Shanley's funeral.
Forum archives
Days later he was buried in St. Mary’s small cemetery. However, he wouldn’t stay there for long.
According to a story in The Forum on Aug. 19, 1911, "The Catholic Bulletin" reported that Shanley’s remains had been moved from St. Mary’s cemetery to the vaults under the high altar of St. Mary’s Cathedral three months earlier.
The story doesn’t say exactly why he was moved, but it mentions that the construction of the cathedral was one of Bishop Shanley’s most notable accomplishments. So perhaps a suitable resting place for him?
The story also said that a brass memorial plate would be erected in the sanctuary, noting the site of his remains.
Bishop Shanley's remains were moved two years after his death from St. Mary's Cemetery to the basement of St. Mary's Cathedral.
Forum archives
It seems that never happened. And as generations of churchgoers came and went, fewer people were alive to confirm that Shanley was actually down there.
The rumors and whispers persisted, but confirmation only came that night in 1955, when Stelten and Potter discovered Shanley.
When Bishop Dworschak was told the news, his response was clear: “Well, get him out of there.”
He declined to view his predecessor himself, but word spread quickly. An unusual number of parishioners claimed to have “just happened” to be passing by the basement to pay their respects.
A funeral was held on June 1, 1955, when Bishop Shanley was laid to rest a second time — this time outdoors at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Fargo.
Bishop Shanley was reburied days after his body was found in the basement of St. Mary's in June of 1955. Two of the priests who found his body are pictured in the foreground of the photo. Father Gerald Potter is on the right. Father Leo Stelten is on the far left.
Forum archives
It was, as Father Stelten put it, “a fitting end for a remarkable man.”
Would Bishop Shanley be amused to know he became the stuff of schoolyard legend — the “Mysterious Bishop in the Basement”?
Maybe. But after 46 years entombed behind steel doors and Sunday whispers, he finally made it back above ground.
Back to sunlight and sacred soil. And, as the faithful might say, into the hands of a merciful God who just might have smiled and said, “Well, there you are.”
Bishop John Shanley’s grave is pictured on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Fargo.
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