St. Mary of the Assumption — the German Parish

German congregation formed September 1881 — first regular pastor appointed February 1882 — church dedicated 11 May 1884 — parish merged into St. Jude, 28 January 2007

The German families: German Catholic families were living in South Bend as early as 1850. They attended Mass first at Notre Dame and then at St. Joseph’s Church, and when St. Patrick’s Church was built on West Division Street they contributed to it and worshipped there. The Rev. Joseph Carrier, C.S.C., was probably the first priest to preach to them in German at St. Patrick’s. Several early attempts to organize a separate German parish failed.

Organization: While at St. Patrick’s the German Catholics organized the St. John’s Benevolent Society on 25 March 1879, and through it Bishop Dwenger secured the Rev. Paul Kolopp, C.S.C., to take charge of the German Catholics, residing with St. Patrick’s pastor. Blanchard’s 1898 history dates the formation of the congregation from St. Patrick’s to September 1881, under Kolopp’s supervision. In February 1882 the Rev. Peter Johannes, C.S.C., was appointed the first regular pastor of the Germans; the congregation then comprised about fifty families. The commonly repeated dating of the parish to the 1850s is not what its own early record states: the families were present from about 1850, but the parish itself dates to 1881–82.

The church: Ground measuring 99 by 221 feet was bought in July 1882 for 2,100 dollars. The cornerstone of the new church was laid on 22 August 1883 and the building was named for the Assumption. First services were held in it at Christmas 1883, and Bishop Dwenger solemnly dedicated it on 11 May 1884. A schoolhouse was completed and opened in January 1884, on the chronology given in Blanchard. From 1888 a number of Hungarians settled in South Bend, and Father Johannes cared for them until a parish of their own was organized. He died on 27 October 1904, the year after his silver jubilee as a priest was celebrated at the parish on 12 October 1903.

End of the parish: St. Mary of the Assumption remained a small parish into the twenty-first century. Bishop John M. D’Arcy announced in December 2006, after the consultations required by canon law, that it would be merged with nearby St. Jude Parish; in its last three years the parish had recorded 11 baptisms and no marriages, with about 140 persons in the congregation. The final Mass was celebrated on 28 January 2007, after 125 years, and the parish was officially merged with St. Jude that day. One of St. Mary’s bells, kept in storage after 2007, was later installed in St. Jude’s rebuilt bell tower.

Sources:

1. H. J. Alerding, The Diocese of Fort Wayne, 1857–1907, as transcribed for the St. Joseph County genealogical pages — the German families from 1850, the 1879 benevolent society, Johannes’s appointment, the 1882 purchase, the 1883 cornerstone and the 1884 dedication.
2. Charles Blanchard, ed., History of the Catholic Church in Indiana, vol. I (1898), South Bend section — the congregation formed from St. Patrick’s in September 1881 and the school opened in January 1884.
3. Today’s Catholic, 10 December 2006 and 4 February 2007 — Bishop D’Arcy’s merger announcement, the consultation and sacramental figures, and the final Mass of 28 January 2007.
4. Today’s Catholic, “Bishop Rhoades blesses St. Jude renovations, construction,” 2013 — the St. Mary bell preserved and reused at St. Jude.