Browse Items (254 total)

“The first Catholics in Norway area were of Czech heritage, and the first priests came to minister to them in their own language. Father Anthony D. Urban visited them while pastor of Spillville and celebrated the first Mass in the area in 1865 in the…

"For Saint Michael’s first century we rely somewhat on an anonymous history brought up to date in 1987, but probably begun many years earlier. That history states that two Czechs, Albert Cobeen and Frank Yarick started to build a church. Lacking…

History of the St. Nicholas church and parish of Spruce Creek, Iowa

"Families of Irish railroad workers in the 1850s were the nucleus of Saint Patrick Parish in Anamosa, the county seat of Jones County. The present brick church near the center of the town, completed in 1929, was the third church for the parish. The…

"In 1877 a group of settlers went to Bode, south of Algona, so seven young people could receive first Holy Communion. That was in the time when children had to be 12, 13, or 14 to receive first Eucharist. In 1877 a Britt parishioner was taken to Bode…

"In the year of his ordination to the priesthood, Father Michael Carolan went to Mason City on October 25, 1877, and remained as pastor of Saint Joseph Parish until his death on December 30, 1917. Because he extended his missionary efforts throughout…

"Saint Patrick Parish in Cedar Falls traces its history to the first Mass in Cedar Falls, celebrated by Father Patrick McGinnis in the home of Andrew Mullarky in 1855. Father John Shiels began to minister to the Catholics of Cedar Falls in 1856 and…

"The parish began in 1885 with the appointment of Father Thomas F. Richardson to organize a parish on the west side of the Cedar River. The west-side Catholics had been members of Immaculate Conception Parish with its church east of the river. The…

"In the year 1900, only nine catholic families lived in or near Clear Lake, which had a population of 1,700. They had no church, but Father Garrett T. Nagle came from Garner once a month to celebrate Mass in what was known as Sprague Hall. The family…

“Bishop Mathias Loras purchased a site in 1854 for the first church in Colesburg in northeastern Delaware County. Before that time, visiting priests celebrated Mass in various homes for the Irish settlers, who came into the area as early as the…