The Altar of the Former Abbey Church Decorated ... - St. John's Abbey

Anna Maria Brunner, first child to be
baptized, August 5, 1856, at Jacobs
Prairie
we plodded over hills and through
swamps, in every season, exposed
to biting cold and vexatious mosquitoes,
from station to station for
six-to-eight and occasionally twelveto-fifteen
miles a day. Such was
pioneer missionary life.
The life of the laity was no less
strenuous. Bruno’s arrival in mid-August
was accompanied by a devastating
invasion of grasshoppers that devoured
the grain fields. Months of misery
plagued the settlers who had little or
nothing to begin with and still less after
the grasshoppers had scoured the land.
One year later four area pastors proposed
a solution: parishioners would
vow to make an annual procession on
July 4 and September 6, the feast days
of Saints Ulric and Magnus, venerated
in southern Germany as patrons
The Quilt Auction at the Celebration
against grasshopper infestations.
Bruno reported, “God heard us
who were weak and helpless
against such small insects. In the
early days of June a brisk northwest
wind set in and carried a
whole cloud of the little fiends
with it to other climes. One
week later a southwest breeze
carried off the rest. We were saved.”
Other crises soon developed. The
first log church was destroyed by fire
in 1858 and soon replaced by a second
chapel which in turn was replaced by
a third and larger structure in 1864
which in turn was leveled by a tornado
in 1894 only to have the fourth
church burn down in 1930. The fifth
and present church was built that same
year and still stands solid. An addition
to this fiery sequence occurred when
the parish house burned down in 1984.
Yet another critical condition arose
in August of 1862 when Indian uprisings
threatened the area. Blockades
were erected at Saint Joseph and Richmond
and seven feet high earthworks
established defense lines. Panic and
precautions were short-lived, however,
and by October the situation had
returned to normal.
If the parishioners of Jacobs Prairie
ever dreamt that their parish would
one day be more than just a prairie,
that dream was dissipated as a brew-
FEATURE
“The Singing Nuns,” Saint James’ parishioners
who entertained at the Sesquicentennial
Celebration, June 12, 2004
ery, flour mill and granite industry
flourished in nearby Cold Spring.
Thus Saint James Church remains
a “small little parish.” The St. Cloud
Visitor of June 10, 2004, reports that
“Modern members of St. James are
comfortable with their modest parish
size and take pride in and relish the
quality of parish life if not quantity of
parishioners.” The parish is described
as “close-knit and family-like with a
good variety of young and old.” One
parishioner said, “We’re small, but
that’s what I like about it.” Mathias
Spier, OSB, the current pastor, sets the
parish population at 102 families.
Father Mathias had plenty of help to
organize the parish’s Sesquicentennial
Celebration last June. He credits the
very active parishioners for their ability
and willingness to pitch in and get
both worship
and work done
in an inspiring
fashion. In a
parish where
the turnover
of pastors has
been unusually
frequent, the
stable element
has been
the laity who
Mathias Spier, OSB,
present pastor, 2002-
planted their families, their crops and
their faith deep in the soil of Jacobs
Prairie.
Daniel Durken, OSB, is the editor of
The Abbey Banner.
The Abbey Banner Winter 2004 page 13