St. Benedict's Catholic Church - ND - Country Churches on Waymarking.com

What events mark the beginning of a parish?

Especially during the pioneer days - is it the first Mass celebrated?

Is it the construction of the church or a regularly scheduled Mass?

Father Louis LaFleche made mission trips through the Red River Valley from 1844 to1856. He offered Mass at the Wild Rice River with hunting parties who made it a rendezvous. Fr. LaFleche later became the Bishop of the Trois Riveres Diocese in Quebec, Canada. When farmers from that diocese told the bishop of their plans to emigrate to the U.S., he told them of the fertile land in the Wild Rice River area.

In 1870 Ulphi Cossette established a farm near the confluence of the Wild Rice River about 4.5 miles northeast of the current church of St. Benedict. Also, a U.S. Government survey party in 1870 noted in its records a small log church near the Wild Rice and Red River - the records referred to a Holy Cross Mission. During the 1870's there were numerous missionary priests who served the small French community. Finally in 1881 Fr. Bernier was appointed resident pastor. During the 1870's, the French community was growing quickly.

The early settlers included names such as Cossette, DuBord, Duval, Hebert, Denis, Sauvageau, Morin, Pronovost, Brunelle, Richard, Trottier, Tessier, Bellemare, Lajoie, Bernier, Montplaisir, and Bailly. Many descendants of these first settlers are parish members today.

In 1882, the church was moved to it present location and the name was changed from Holy Cross Mission to St. Benedict's Church. This was a more central location for the French settlers.

In 1888 a larger church was built for $6,000.00. In 1913 it was torn down and replaced with the current building for a cost of about $12,000.00. An important phase of our church's history was the establishment of a Catholic grade school in 1903. The Sisters of St. Mary of the Presentation offered to teach the children of the parish. The men of the parish agreed to build a convent and school. there were additions to the school in 1907, 1913, and 1927 to accommodate the growing numbers of students and boarding students. In 1939 the high school was added. It graduated its last class in 1964. In 1966 the grade school was closed. The old wooden school was immediately torn down and replaced with the current CCD building.

From the fine religious education of over 60 years at St. Benedict's, religious vocations included two priests, Fr. Anthony Richard and Fr. Dan Richard. There were also two brothers, and 21 sisters. In 1940 the parish purchased our pipe organ from the closing Fargo college. The organ was built in 1888. Some renovation work was done on the organ in 1986 by Mike Nelson of Wolverton MN. Due in great part to the generosity of Mick Pflugrath a major renovation was completed in October of 1995. In 1987 the new entrance to the church was built.

St. Benedict Parish celebrated its 125th anniversary on July 8 and 9, 1995.

Our parish is growing steadily. We are now comprised of about 190 households.

Church Name: St. Benedicts Church In Use (even only just occassionally): yes Date Church Built: 1913 Rate this church.:

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/24/2006 MNSearchers visited it

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