The Pastors' Note
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South Mille Lacs
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Onamia Crosiers
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Diocese of Saint Cloud
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An anniversary of any kind is always an occasion for retrospect and reminiscenses, and so it is not at all surprising, that when the 30th birthday of our parish came along last Fall I could not help but think of many of the events that led up to the foundation of this congregation, that I visualized many things again that happened during these thirty years, and, that names nearly forgotten were remembered again.
It seems to me that the issuance of the yearly report as demanded by statute and custom offers me a good opportunity to give to the present members,--and some of them have been affiliated with our church for all those thirty years--, a short history of our church. This offers the pastor a welcome occasion to give his parishioners a small token of his deep appreciation for whatever they have done during these years for the erection, upkeep and growth of the parish, and I cherish the hope that it may be a powerful incentive to keep up the good work and to do it even better.
Whatever happened here in the line of Catholic activity before the Fall of 1910 has only come to me from hearsay. Records if there are any, are not in my possession: and it will be hard to construct a real parish history from the fragments of some records that as yet may be kept in the baptismal books of one or the other parish or in some diocesan archive.
Before the summer of 1910 the Catholics around Mille Lacs were visited occasionally by different missionary priests, who, from places such as Pierz; Belle Prairie; Crowing; Brainerd; Aitkin; Sandstone; Pine City; Hinkley; Princeton and Royalton found their way now and then through the stately pines and sturdy oaks that graced the land and swamps around the Lake. I have heard that Father Hennepin at one time preached on the shores of Milacs, and the name of Hennepin Island seems to substantiate that tradition.
Mr. John McClure, who operated the sawmill years ago at the West end of town on the banks of the Rum river, showed a cross, found in the sand of the Lake shore. It gave one an idea of the Bishop’s pectoral cross, and one wonders whether that could not be connected with the great Bishop Baraga of Marquette, Michigan! Could it be possible that the saintly and intrepid missionary also had extended his labors this far? Who will tell?
But it is beyond doubt that Father Pierz from Rich Prairie as Pierz was then called, and Father Buh, Father Lynch, and Father Mooney, who came from Pierz Belle Prairie, Brainerd and Hinkley have done their great share,--and they had to do it under hardships that we in our days can only admire but not understand --, to keep alive the flame of Faith in the souls of the early settlers and lumberjacks, who tried hard to eke out a meager existence in what was then the wilderness of the Lake Country.
Gradually however trails were transformed into roads, not be any means to be compared to our present paved highways, but roads that facilitated travel a great deal, and so around 1900 the missionary labors of those good and courageous Fathers took a more organized form. We find that from 1900 till 1909 Father Levings of Princeton regularly made a monthly or a six weekly trip into these parts. His was no easy task. From Princeton he went to Greenbush, then south to Foreston, then west Ogilvie and Mora, and from there he came north and said Mass in the trading post of Potts in what was then Lawrence and now is Wahkon; and from there again he came to the Lynch place, three miles north of Onamia. There he found the Lynches and the Shaughnessys and McAcoloneys, the Bakers and the Bauers, and some more. To them he preached his sermon; for them he said Mass, heard confessions and gave them Holy Communion. And after a visit of one or two days, went south again to see how Princeton had fared during his absence.
In 1908 a start was made to lay the steel for the SooLine branch from Duluth to Brooten and in the early part of 1910 it was completed. Freight trains at first, and, later passenger trains connected this country with the outside world. The sawmill did not depend anymore on the dams in the Rum river, the train started to haul its products. A station was built. Chas. Gravel moved his store from Gravelville north of Pierz to the spot where he later built the present one. He also moved his sawmill to where its remnants still rest. Some more stores were built; Person Hardware; and Goulets Hardware; the Gishes and the Eynons and the Dalgren and the Davis’ stores; a bank and a butchershop; a telephone office; a blacksmith shop and a Presbyterian, a Methodist and a Lutheran Church; the latter across the river in Ericsonville, where Ericson even had an organ factory; and not to forget two saloons; all that and more formed a new town instead of a few little shanties that used to cluster around old McClures sawmill.
There was of course also the proverbial little schoolhouse; but in 1909 it was way too small for the growing community and so a new two_story schoolhouse was built while the old one was vacant and for sale. With the building of the track the Bishop thought that it would be easier for the pastor of Royalton to visit the Catholics occasionally in and around Onamia and so Father Plachta took charge of the Onamia and Wahkon Missions. It was then decided to move the Mission Station from the Lynch place to town, to the home of Mrs. Shook, who lived where Eug. Gravel now resides; and Mr. and Mrs Goulet also offered their home to harbor the priest and to have the Holy Mass said for the Catholics. It was not for long however. The town was growing by leaps and bounds those two years. Streets and avenues and alleys and even a boulevard were laid out and cleared, yes, there even was a mainstreet, that might have, but did not inspire Sinclair Lewis. And there naturally were a number of Catholics among those pioneers who made mainstreet and lived in the residences that at first were hidden snugly among the trees and brush but gradually started to trim the thoroughfares of Onamia.
Such was the general condition and birds-eye picture of Onamia, when the D. S. B. Johnston Land Co. of St. Paul decided to offer their vast holdings north of Onamia for sale in the Summer of 1910 under the auspices of the Minnesota Catholic Colonization Society which had been organized under the presidency of his Grace, Archbishop Ireland of St. Paul. It was then that the Bishop of St. Cloud, His Excellency James Trobec asked Father Van Dinter, who but recently had come from Holland to Butler, Minnesota under the auspices of the same above named society, to come and take care of Onamia and Wahkon. This request was accepted and ever since the Order of the Holy Cross, of which Father Van Dinter then was the Superior in these parts, has taken care of the Holy Cross parish of Onamia and of the Sacred Heart parish of Wahkon, and a few years later also the congregation at McGrath, with its settlement at the sawmill in White Pine before the 1918 forest fire destroyed the same. Also of Moose Lake and Barnum, the latter four with the permission of the Bishop of Duluth to whose diocese those places belong.
Mention has already been made of a vacant schoolhouse that was for sale, and with the arrival of a resident priest the few Catholics bought that building for $65.00. They moved it to the corner west of the present Sister’s House, and there it was transformed into a chapel or first Catholic Church of Onamia. It took some time before the necessary things were made. Jim Gravel came up from Little Falls to make an altar and Confessional, Communion railing, vestment case and twelve small pews, they could not have been bigger nor more in number for there was no more room, and best of all no charge was made, neither for his work nor for the material he took from his brother’s store and lumberyard. Brother Lambert painted that furniture. An old set of stations and a sanctuary lamp came from the French Church of Little Falls, and a vestment from the German Church there and also from Buckman. Father Plachta had left us a box with a chalice, an alb and one set of vestments. Father van Dinter had brought a black chasuble from Butler where he was stationed first, and when Advent came along we bought from our meager resources the only vestment we needed yet; a purple one. A ciborium was donated by Father Plachta, who also donated a chalice for Wahkon. The Missal came from St. Henry’s at Perham, and Bishop Trobec also sent us a vestment from his private chapel. These things and different other odds and ends made up the first sacristy and furniture of the little church, to which Mrs. Goulet added six new brass candlesticks and some flowers when she saw that the altar was only decorated with one candlestick at each side of the crucifix.
The first Sunday of Advent 1910 had been appointed as dedication day. All were there at ten o’clock – let me try to remember them: Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Gravel; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Boyer; Mr. and Mrs. H. Goulet; Mr. and Mrs. Kobleski; Mrs. Shaughnessy and children; Mr. and Mrs. H. van Risseghem and children; Mr. and Mrs. Alb. van der Heyden and children; Mr. and Mrs. R. Albers; John and Albert de Laat; Mrs. A. Petrin; and Mr. and Mrs. Martin Lynch and their dog, who by joyous barking and other canine antics brought a smile on the face of all who took part in the procession that marched around the church. There also was Mrs. Price from South of town and perhaps a few other whose names have since escaped my memory.
This little abandoned and transformed school building was in use for nearly three years. At first there was ample room for them all at one Mass but gradually the need for two Masses became apparent. It was not long when two Masses could not offer room to all and thus the building of a new church became a necessity and a very acute necessity. But where to get the money to build with? A drive was made one subscribed money, another promised logs, others labor of any kind, and finally with a substantial donation from the Johnston Land Co. named above and generous contributions from the Crosier Fathers, work began, and proceeded so successfully, that we could ask the Bishop to designate a date for the solemn blessing in September. We would have liked to have it on the 14th of September, the feast of the Holy Cross but for one reason or the other that was impossible and the date of September 22nd was decided upon.
The evening before, the Bishop and some fifteen priests from neighboring parishes arrived on the 4:15 train. There were no cars available in those days, and so the Bishop and some more Fathers who could find room in the two-seater buggy of Mr. Boyer were conveyed in all stateliness to the parsonage. The other Fathers had to walk the short distance. Both the front of the church and priesthouse were gaily decorated by bunting and by cut trees of all kinds. I still remember how feverishly we all worked that afternoon to have everything in shape for the arrival of our distinguished guests. Father van Dinter was supposed to go with me to meet the train, but at the last minute he could not be found. Finally I located him. He was still planting some more trees with Mr. Henry de Grood, and I could not help but laugh when I saw him so busily engaged in his best suit and frog coat. I told him that a man with a wedding suit should not work so hard. “Never mind”, said he, “I wear a wedding suit but I am not married”. – He let me go along to the depot, he could not spare the time.
The ladies of the parish provided supper that evening and dinner and supper the next day; and banquets they were, every meal, and everybody said so that day and still many a time afterwards it was repeated in different parish houses. The priesthouse of course was not big enough to offer everyone a bed and quite a few of the clergy enjoyed the hospitality of the members of the parish.
Early the next morning Masses were celebrated for the last time in the old chapel, and the last Mass was the one celebrated by the Bishop himself at 8 o’clock for the special class that was to be confirmed that morning after the dedication ceremonies.
Those ceremonies started at ten o’clock and were witnessed by a crowd of parishioners and friends that really taxed the seating capacity that day to its utmost. Happily a couple weeks before the dedication we had been able to buy two dozen pews from the St. Mary’s church at Mora. We got them cheap. $1.00 a piece and the freight on top of it, they came to $2.00 each. Gradually also the other old church furniture that had been in the old church or had been obtained elsewhere was replaced by new pieces. So, for instance, the twenty_four old pews were not big enough and they were replaced by new ones for about $700.00. Some of the old pews were given to the church at Moose Lake where they were burned in the forest fire of 1918, and some of them can yet be seen and are in use in the chapel of Crosier College. A new gothic communion railing was bought with the result of two ice-cream socials, and a beautiful altar finally was bought as the result of a campaign of several years when pennies and nickels and dimes and even a few dollars picked up here and there were saved, yes, even were put out on interest, for the great purpose of purchasing an altar for the Most High. Stained glass windows were installed one at a time but they finally were all there-a monument to the faith of their donors. There also came in due time a beautiful and very artistic sanctuary lamp. This lamp has a story, but I let it die with me. It might be too embarrassing for someone, though, that person is not a member of the parish.
We even obtained a new church bell for twenty five dollars. Our first little church bell though, had, and has a story that should be told somewhere and it may as well be here on this occasion. I referred already to the old saintly missionary, Father Pierz, who used to go from place to place. And many a time his arrival was not announced, for the simple reason that he could not set any definite time, for the roads and trails on which he had to find his way were often impassable. It was his custom to ring the church bell at the time of his arrival, and, the one who heard the ringing of the bell, told his nearest neighbor that Father was around, and so the new spread and the next morning the countryside came to Mass. One day he was on his way to Belle Prairie when he was overtaken by an awful snowstorm, which finally got the best of him, for he neither could go back nor further. It is hard to say what might have happed if the church bell had not rung there in Belle Prairie. It aroused some of the neighbors who could not understand how Father could have made it in such a storm and they went to see whether they could not do something for their priest. But sure enough they could not find their priest around the church and it took quite a while before they found him a long ways off and nearly overcome by the bitting frost and heavy snow. They then wondered how it had been possible for him to ring that church bell, and when they asked him about it he told them that he never rang that bell and that it must have been his guardian angel who in this way obtained help for him. This story was told to me by some of the Sisters of Belle Prairie, and so I learned what a very historical bell we had once in our possession. I say once, for it is not here anymore. For already we bought a bigger one from the Paynesville congregation and because I did not see any reason for the luxury of two bells I gave the small one to Wahkon where it rests as yet in the steeple. When I heard this story I was sorry, but what could I do, I had given it away and it would have been childish if not mean to demand it back.
As I said before, Onamia built a new school and we bought the old one. The same happened a second time. In 1918 that new school was not big enough any more and a new Grade and Highschool was built across the road. So there was another schoolhouse vacant and for sale. In 1920 our church corporation bought it and moved it south of the church where it stands yet to-day. In 1922 it was opened as a parish school under the direction of the Urseline Sisters of Kenmare North Dakota. These Sisters conducted the school until 1931 when conditions beyond their control, especially lack of personel forced them to give up its direction. Since then the Benedictine Sisters of St. Joseph have assumed its control.
A History such as this would not be complete if it did not give the names of the pastors who at different times directed the parish. Father van Dinter was the organizer in 1910. After him came Father van der Hulst from 1911 till 1922. Father van Dinter came back in 1922 and stayed until June 1927, when he was elected to the office of Master General of the Order of the Crosier Fathers.
His Lordship returned to us for a visit twice, the last time in August and September of 1939. The visit took place just about a year before his death. For on September 27th he was called to his reward, and on the 14th of October a Solemn Funeral Mass was celebrate in Holy Cross Church for the repose of his soul. At his elevation to the Generalate of the Order, Father J. van der Hulst was appointed to be his successor and remained until the Fall of 1933, when he was succeeded by Father Brandon, who was pastor of the church till the Fall of 1936, when he was followed by Father A. van Zutphen, who in September 1939, was succeeded by Father J. van der Hulst the present pastor.
The following gentlemen acted at different periods as trustees of the corporation: Mr. Chas. Gravel and Henry Boyer were the first ones, they signed with Father van Dinter, with the Bishop, His Excellency James Trobec, and the Rt. Reverend Edward Nagle, the Vicar General, the articles of incorporation. After them came Henry Posely and Henry Cremers; Fred Gravel and H. Kokke; Jos. Gohl and Hector van Risseghem; Frank Schneppenheim and Louis Gravel. The present trustees are H. de Grood and Henry Goulet.
Different societies have always taken a great and lively interest in furthering and fostering the good of the parish both in spiritual and temporal affairs. There is a branch of the Holy Name Society, with Mr. R. Tice, Henry de Grood and Jos. Grattan as officers. The Christian Mothers are organized under the name of ‘St. Ann Society’, and its affairs have been taken care of by Mrs. H. de Grood and Mrs. L. Gravel. At their last meeting Mrs. Eug. Murray was elected President, Mrs. M. Vik Vice_president, Mrs. Br. Milton Secretary and Mrs. Fr. Gravel Treasurer. Miss Lilian Kobilka, Miss Amanda Schneppenheim and Miss R. Picotta are at the helm of the St. Agnes Study Club which has been organized among the young ladies and young men of the congregation. These three organizations have been duly affiliated with the confraternities of Christian Doctrine, of the Holy Ghost and of the Blessed Sacrament which are canonically erected in the Diocese of St. Cloud.
A review of this kind, it seems to me, also calls for what we may call: vital statistics. ….. The parish register reveals the following items that may be of interest: 358 baptisms were administered since the organization of the parish. Leland Eugene Petrin was the first one on October 16, 1910, but he ran in a close race with James Plavotisch (“Big Charley”, we used to call his father). James, however, won in another race, for he died in the summer of 1911, and his was the first funeral of the eighty-five. Geo. van Risseghem was the first adult buried from the new church. 385 children received their First Holy Communion here, and of them, the first to receive Aug. 15, 1911 were Maurice van Risseghem and Rose Shaughnessy, now Mrs. Brandt. ….. 450 persons were confirmed at different times; Mrs. Ant. Bollwerk was a member of the first Confirmation Class. 87 couples were married, and the first was the local prizefighter, Mike Williams, who took Mary Boice for his wife.
Parishioners and friends, these are a few of the highlights in the history of our parish. Nothing grotesque, indeed, nor astounding, it is but a short and very much abbreviated history of a church that is naturally dear to me, for I witnessed and helped to make a little chapel from the old schoolhouse, I helped to dig a basement for the new church and handled many a rock that went to make the foundations strong. I was there when good Brother Lambert scaled the modest steeple and planted the golden cross to crown it all. I helped Brother John install the furnace.
Then came the school, the child of fondest expectations, and, yes, let me say it, the child of keen and bitter disappointments. It was solely and entirely conceived and brought into being and reared and fondled that it might be a profit to the welfare of your children, the 305, the majority of whom were baptized by me, your children to whom I gladly gave Holy Communion and proudly presented to the Bishop for Confirmation.
Those events,--and they are not so easily forgotten,--I have inserted in this anniversary report, that you too, if perchance you would have forgotten them, may remember them again, in order that that remembrance may enliven in you your love for and your interest in your church. And may it help your children also to grow up in love for and interest in the church which we older ones provided for ourselves and for them, your children.
“Let us praise our parents in their children”, Holy Scripture says. What else can this mean, then that we should keep alive in ourselves and in those that are so dear to us, the Holy Faith, our cherished inheritance, which we want to be the possession of our posterity forever.
Finally, let me thank you, good and kind parish members and our kind and friendly neighbors for the great and appreciated support that you always have given to the church. May God reward you for your generosity. And in closing, a word of thanks to those friends, who by their advertisement made it possible for me to have this report printed. May God bless you.
And “Blessed be his Holy Name”
Father John Van Der Hulst, O.S.C.