Browse Items (254 total)

"St. Patrick’s at Garryowen began with the coming of Irish immigrants a few years after the conclusion of the Blackhawk War and the opening of the Iowa Territory to settlement. Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, the Italian Dominican missionary, tells the…

"Most parishes have only one patron saint, but the Garner parish has four. Late in the last century Father John McMahon procured a church hall and succeeded in uniting the various nationalities by dedicating the building to Saints Boniface, Rose,…

"Saint Joseph Parish in Garnavillo began early in the history of the archdiocese. According to tradition, Father Joseph Cretin, who later became the first bishop of Saint Paul, came from Dubuque and celebrated Mass in the homes of John Barrett and…

"The parish of Saint John Nepomucene in Fort Atkinson, Winneshiek County, began in 1873 with plans for a church and their execution in 1874. But the parish stems from the “Old Indian Mission” among the Winnebago Indians living on the extensive…

"The history of the Forest City and Lake Mills parishes is intertwined and involves the Bristol parish, which never had a church of its own. From about the year 1870 Catholic settlements developed at Bristol, Forest City, and Lake Mills. According to…

"Our Lady of Seven Dolors Parish at Festina began as an Indian mission. In 1840 the federal government built Fort Atkinson and moved the Winnebagoes there from the Yellow River area north of McGregor for the Indians’ protection. When Bishop Loras…

"Saint Francis of Assisi Parish at Fayette began as a mission of Clermont in the 1870s. At that time Fayette County Catholics were visited by Father Eugene Sullivan, pastor of Clermont from 1876 to 1879. The Holy Name congregation at West Union was…

"In 1860 Father John J. Aylward, pastor of nearby Bankston, began a frame church at Farley Junction, about a mile from the present church site. In 1867 Father Charles McGauran, pastor of Bankston, saw to the building of a rock church, which was used…

Historical documents pertaining to the history of Immaculate Conception parish in Fairbank, Iowa.

"Three Catholic families of Epworth in western Dubuque County were formed into a parish by Father James Commerford in 1879. He had been ordained in Ireland in 1878 and appointed resident pastor of Placid (or Pleasant Grove) the following April. Soon…