The original ‘49ers’ chaplain

Joseph Alemany became the bishop of Monterey during the gold rush migration in the mid 1800s.

When the San Francisco 49ers take the field on Super Bowl Sunday, there will be plenty of Catholics among the fans cheering them on – and probably a few praying for a favorable outcome as well. 

But almost 200 years ago, another set of Catholics was praying for the original 49ers. 

Those Catholics were the priests who ministered to the miners flooding Cal…