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"Czech families of the 1850s and 1860s were served by missionaries who knew their language. Father Anthony D. Urban was certainly one of them, but his extensive missionary travels make it difficult to determine where he took up residence at any…

"At first the parish was a “station” cared for by Father Jean Perrodin, the first resident pastor of St. Patrick’s at Garryowen. On Sept. 6, 1841, Bishop Loras purchased a lot for a church and a larger lot for cemetary purposes. The first church,…

“When many Waterloo Catholics located in the northern part of the city in the early 1900s, they found it difficult to reach the church and school downtown. As Archbishop James J. Keane became aware of their difficulty, he directed the Franciscan…

Historical documents pertaining to the history of Saint John XXIII parish in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“The Catholics of Independence built a frame church in 1856 in the block where the present Buchanan County courthouse stands, dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus. Their spiritual needs have been served by priests traveling from Dubuque. After the…

"In 1874 Bishop John Hennessy granted the Vernon and Center Township Catholics permission to build a church and appointed Peter Erschens and Nicholas Mayer to organize the people. During the construction Father Bernard W. Coyle of Saint Anthony’s in…

The card shows a man with brown hair and a halo seated on the floor. He has a red cloak and animal fur draped half over him, although his chest is bare. He holds a bowl in his right hand and a white object in his left. A cross made of branches is in…

"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 Church of Saint John is eight miles northeast of Cascade and four miles south of Epworth. The two-acre church plot was given by a Protestant neighbor named Hooper. Father John Hawe directed the building of the first church in 1874 and cared for…

“Father William Emmonds, the pastor of Saint Mary’s in Iowa City, first offered Mass in Mount Vernon and Lisbon area of Linn County in 1857. With the completion of the railroad to Cedar Rapids in 1859 came an influx of Irish immigrants. A year later…