Northeast was also the site of significant developments in the history of the Orthodox Church in the United States. It was here that St. Alexis Toth founded the first Orthodox seminary in the United States at St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral. St. Alexis had been an Eastern Rite (Ruthenian) Catholic priest, who after a confrontation with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Paul, John Ireland, converted to the Russian Orthodox Church. St. Alexis is responsible for the conversion of approximately 20,000 Eastern Rite Catholics to Orthodoxy. The Orthodox Church in America canonized St. Alexis in 1994. To date, the Vatican has made no similar move in Bishop Ireland's case. Presently, there are two Orthodox churches in Northeast: St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral (associated with St. Alexis) and St. Michael and St. George Ukrainian Orthodox Church.