Saint of the Week: William Worrall Mayo
3/5/2026
William Worrall Mayo (May 31, 1819 – March 6, 1911) was an English born medical doctor and chemist, best known for establishing the private medical practice that later evolved into the Mayo Clinic. Sons William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo joined their father’s private practice in Rochester, MN in the 1880s. Dr. Mayo was born in Eccles, Salford, Lancashire, England, studying science and medicine in Manchester, Glasgow, and London before leaving for the U.S. in 1845. He received his medical degree at Indiana Medical College in La Porte, Indiana in 1850. The training there would be considered poor by modern standards, but the school did have a microscope, an uncommon tool at the time. Knowledge of this instrument proved useful in Mayo's future practice. Mayo worked at numerous jobs before settling in LeSeur, MN, where his first children (including eldest son William James) were born. In 1863, he opened a medical practice in Rochester, also spending time as a city mayor, alderman, and member of the school board. The event where the Mayo Clinic story usually begins happened in 1883, when a tornado devastated Rochester. With the help of his sons, a few other doctors, and the Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, he organized treatment of the injured. Mother Alfred Moes of the Sisters of St. Francis convinced him to help her establish a new hospital under her direction, forming St. Mary's Hospital in 1889. Then, only three people were on the surgical staff: William W. Mayo as chief, and his two sons as the medical practitioners (their father was 70 by this time). No other doctors accepted invitations to join at the time, perhaps because St. Mary's was a Catholic Hospital. The alliance between Episcopalian Mayos and the Roman Catholic Franciscan religious order caused controversy at the time. In 1892, William W. Mayo asked Dr. Augustus Stinchfield to join the practice as a partner sharing in the profits. Once Stinchfield accepted, W. W. Mayo promptly retired at age 73. In 1919, the remaining partners created the Mayo Properties Association and established Mayo Clinic as a not-for-profit entity.
Divine Physician, we bless your Name for the work and witness of the Doctors Mayo and revolutionary developments they brought to the practice of medicine. As Jesus healed the sick as a sign the reign of God draws near, bless and guide others inspired to the work of healing by your Holy Spirit, that they may follow his example for the sake of your kingdom and the health of your people; through the same Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, forever. Amen.
