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History of St. James Continued
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The paper fails to
mention the remarkable incident that occurred at the time of the
cyclone. The members of the parish in those days, however,
rejoiced in telling of this event with deep attachment and respect for
the patron of the parish. The statue of St. James which Stood on
the high altar was hurled from its pedestal but was not damaged.
It was later replaced on the altar of the new church and regarded
almost with the awe due a miraculous image. It appeared that the
Lord had taken as good care of St. James as He had of the Blessed
Virgin at Cold Spring.[3l] On this point the parishes were even.
Under an entry of
June 29, the St. Cloud paper, in the same issue quoted above,
summarizes the events which followed the storm. Assurance is
given that the first report was a little too pessimistic, at least as
far as the injured were concerned.
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The injured men of
Jacobs Prairie will recover. Danzl the missing man found.
Winkel and his son John who were first reported as not expected to live
will recover. The Danzl boy was found in the forenoon yesterday,
he had his face and neck besmeared with blood and could hardly
talk. He asked people where Winkels' house was. He could
not find it, and gave no account of himself whatever.
Considerably over
two thousand bushels of wheat were brought into town yesterday by teams
which had gone out to aid the afflicted farmers. The road from
town to St. James was lined all day. Some hauling wheat, the
others loaded with people from town and neighboring places. All
the farmers will
build immediately.
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No time was lost
either in rebuilding the parish church. The Very Rev. Pancratius
Maehren, O.S.B., at that time prior of St. John's, rebuilt the church
that same year. It was a frame structure with brick veneer,
thirty-five by sixty-five feet.[32] On December 2, Father Anthony
Capser, O.S.B., held the first services and on the following October
17, when all had been completed, it was dedicated by the Rt. Rev. Peter
Engel, O.S.B., fourth Abbot of St. John's. The structure cost
about $2,400.
During the
pastorate of the Rev. Bernard Kevenhoerster, O.S.B., in 1898 a transept
and "spacious" sanctuary with two sacristies, as well as a full
basement were added. The parishioners were zealous, however, and
the complete bill, $1,618.75, was paid in full by the time the work was
completed. The following year the Rev. Leonard Kapsner, O.S.B.,
had the entire interior of the church redecorated in a simple but neat
style. He also put a carpet in the sanctuary, donated by William
A. Boerger, who was then teaching at Jacobs Prairie and later to be the
Stearns County Superintendent of Schools.
The turn of the
century saw the purchase of a new pulpit and the greatest celebration
the parish had witnessed in its first fifty years, namely the First
Solemn Mass of the Rev. James Hansen, O.S.B., the first native son of
the parish to be raised to the priesthood. Everyone was on hand
for the great occasion. Ten of his confreres joined in the
festivities and Abbot Peter preached the sermon. At the end of
the notice in the publication book of the
parish the
sentiments of all were recorded with deep Catholic feeling: "TE DEUM
LAUDAMU S."
The Rev. Agatho
Gehret, O.S.B., was appointed pastor in July, 1901. He made his
home in the one room building adjoining the church, and took his meals
with the teacher. During his pastorate of three years, six
stained-glass windows were placed in the church, and some vestments
were purchased. During the Jubilee year of the parish (fifty
years since the first Mass), the Rev. Bonaventure Hansen, O.S.B.,
attended to the needs of St. James. The celebration of the Golden
Anniversary was postponed to the next year to coincide with Father Pius
Meinz' First Solemn Mass. But the celebration was changed to St.
Cloud, because the newly-ordained's mother was living there. The
Prairie, however, did not let the milestone pass without a fitting
celebration on July 25, 1905.
The successor to
Father Bonaventure, the Rev. Robert Wewers, O.S.B., came in August,
1905. He commuted to the parish from St. John's for all the
services as all the pastors were to do until April, 1930. When
Father Robert arrived on the first day, he found that the ten year old
church still lacked a complete set of stainedglass windows.
Within the period of his five years at the parish he saw the completion
of the setting-in of the windows. It was also during this time
that more vestments were bought as well as statues of the Sacred Heart
and the Blessed Virgin which were placed on the side altars. To
complete the artistic furnishings of the Prairie church he purchased a
small composition Christmas crib.
Even after the
formation of the Cold Spring church, the people seemed determined to
continue their parish life. They were supported in their
endeavors by the pastors, although after the cyclone Abbot Peter had
been reluctant to rebuild at St. James. Father Robert and his
flock seemed determined to prove in 1908 that Jacobs Prairie was still
a spot to be reckoned with. In that year the Most Rev. James
Trobec, Bishop of St. Cloud, granted permission for the parish to be
incorporated and a new parsonage built. The residence building
was erected at the cost of $1,800, but it was not for Father Robert to
make use of it. Two months before receiving a new assignment he
brought his pastorate to a climax on June 26, 1910, with the First Mass
celebration of the Rev. Polycarp Hansen, O.S.B. It was another
great day for the parish, the greatest since his older brother, Father
James, had been the happy celebrant nine years before. The labor
and care with which the monks had worked to create a Catholic culture
and community was now bearing fruit.
Between August and
November, 1910, the parish was served by various priests from St.
John's. Abbot Peter then assigned the Rev. Julius Locnikar,
O.S.B., to care for the parish. He did not live in the residence;
since he served as assistant at Cold Spring during the week, he found
it more convenient to stay there. He continued this policy even
after he took on the additional burden
of the Rockville
mission in 1912.
In the Fall of
1911 a grand bazaar was held on the church grounds of St. James to help
cancel the $800 debt which remained on the parish house. When the
last debris was cleared away, it was found that St. James was free of
the financial burden. During the next ten years under Father
Julius' care there were several improvements made. A steam
heating plant was installed in the church. The church was
redecorated; a chime of three bells was placed in the tower; two side
altars were constructed and the high altar was renovated, as were all
the statues. A new set of stations was erected, and a number of
new statues were purchased, among them a sepulchre and resurrection
group. Some copes were obtained for the parish, in Europe, and by
1919 there was a new organ. It was during Father Julius'
pastorate also that the iron fence was placed around the cemetery, and
in 1918 the basement was cleaned, painted, and prepared as a meeting
place for the various parish societies. To Father Julius goes the
credit of organizing the Jacobs Prairie Harmonia Band under the
leadership of John Huss. The staging of the home talent plays
also began about this time.
The peace of the
Prairie was somewhat disturbed with the onset of World War I; but the
trouble did not come so close to home as it had during the Civil War
and the Indian uprisings. St. James, however, did have her men
who gustily sang "The Yanks Are Coming" across the plains of
France. August Winkel, Michael Mueller, Albert Kresbach, Victor
Taufen, Peter M. Theisen, and John H. Theisen were among those who went
to settle the strife in the land their ancestors had left.
The third division
of the parish of St. James had come in 1911, when Bishop James Trobec,
of St. Cloud, had placed fifty families under the jurisdiction of the
newly founded Rockville parish. This reduced the mother parish of
Wakefield township and vicinity to about fortyfive families, where it
has remained for the most part to the present day. Concerning the state
of affairs after this division, Father Julius commented:
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The parish was
never very large. It has always existed under adverse conditions
. . . . Evidently there are enough churches in this section of the
country, and no new parishes will be founded to the detriment of the
'Jacobs Prairiers'.[33]
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Life remained
quite normal on the Prairie for the next fifteen years.[34] The
Rev. Celestine Kapsuer, O.S.B., began coming to St. James from Cold
Spring, where he had been appointed assistant pastor in September,
1921. But the work in Cold Spring was increasing so that just two
years later he was relieved by the Rev. Paul Neussendorfer, O.S.B., who
made his weekly trips from the abbey at Collegeville. Father Paul
continued his work until September, 1926, when Father Hilary Doerfler,
O.S.B., took over his job. The Reverends Odilo Kohler, O.S.B.,
and Sebastian Sis, O.S.B., followed Father Hilary as pastors in 1928
and 1929, respectively.
The pioneer parish
on the Prairie had not seen the end of its troubles as yet. Disaster
once more struck the small church on March 31, 1930. On this day
the church, which had served the parish since the cyclone of 1894, was
completely destroyed by fire of unknown origin. A great burden
was thus placed upon the members of the parish. Were they to
rebuild their church? The people responded with the faith and
determination which had become synonymous with the name of Jacobs
Prairie. During the early part of April they received permission
from the Most Rev. Joseph F. Busch, Bishop of St. Cloud, to go ahead
with their proposed plans. Father Sebastian, wishing to be on the
scene during the construction, took up residence on the Prairie in the
same month. In the work that followed the parishioners gave not
only their money to the extent of $13,000, plus $10,000 of insurance,
but their labor as well. During that spring and summer they
erected the strikingly beautiful church which today serves the
parish. It was built with stones and boulders, seamfaced granite,
taken from the region, as Catholics had done for centuries in
Europe. On July 28, 1931, Abbot Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B., dedicated
the new building. By the time Father Sebastian left in September,
1932, the parish with its resident pastor had regained its full
prestige and self-respect. Not only was Jacobs Prairie the mother
parish of St. Nicholas, Cold Spring, and Rockville, but it now had a
stone church of its own which ranked with any in the Northwest for
beauty of line and use of materials.
No sooner had
Father Sebastian left than the Rev. Eugene Woerdehoff, O.S.B., came to
take up residence in his place. He remained for a comparatively quiet
seven years. In January, 1939, the Rev. Wendelin Luetmer, O.S.B.,
took over the reins. During the ten months of his pastorate he
supervised John Pueringer, John DeWenter, and Edmund DeWenter in the
repointing of the walls of the church and the waterproofing of the roof
on the nine year old building. Father Wendelin also modernized
the parish house by installing running water and a septic tank.
Toward the end of that year Father Robert Wewers returned to his old
parish to guide its people during his last days. After a few
years death claimed him, and in January, 1943, the Rev. Meinrad
Seifermann, O.S.B., became resident pastor. It was Father Meinrad
who erected the cross on the church tower and installed an oil burner
to heat the building. The parish joined with the aging monk in
the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of his ordination in the summer
of 1949. He retired to the abbey the following year because of
ill health and died there in 1952.
The Rev. Anthony
Ronellenfitsch, O.S.B., replaced Father Meinrad in 1950 and began to
make preparations for the approaching centennial. Under his
guidance the land in the cemetery was leveled, grass was planted, and
the oil burner was restored to working condition. He also began
the redecoration of the interior of the church. In 1952 he was
replaced because of his declining health by the Rev. Michael Marx,
O.S.B., Father Michael served the parish from St. John's where he
taught Dogmatic theology in the St. John's Seminary. The Rev.
Matthew Kiess, O.S.B., was named to the parish in the summer of
1953. It was left to Father Matthew to make the final
arrangements for the celebration of the centennial and to guide the
oldest parish of the St. Cloud diocese, this side of the Mississippi,
through its one hundreth year.
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