St. Stephen Parish — the Hungarian Parish

Hungarian national parish organized 1900, 1102 West Thomas Street — closed 31 May 2003

Founding: Until their own parish was organized, the Hungarians of South Bend attended St. Patrick’s Church and also St. Mary’s Church, because many of them spoke German; Father Johannes of St. Mary’s had cared for the Hungarian settlers from 1888. The Rev. Michael J. Biro, C.S.C., shortly after his ordination in February 1900, was appointed pastor of the Hungarian Catholics and within a short time organized the St. Stephen’s congregation. He found about sixty Hungarian families. The parish church stood at 1102 West Thomas Street.

The schism: In 1911 a controversy broke out at St. Stephen’s over the pastor’s handling of the title to the church property, after Bishop Alerding dissolved the parish board of trustees. A large part of the congregation followed the Rev. Victor von Kubinyi and organized the Sacred Heart Independent Hungarian Catholic Church in the spring of 1912; the bishop excommunicated Kubinyi and those who had left St. Stephen’s. In December 1913 Kubinyi and his remaining flock were received into the Episcopal Church as its Hungarian mission, the ancestor of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. The diocese answered in part from St. Stephen’s own territory: Our Lady of Hungary began as St. Stephen’s mission for the Hungarians of the south side. The Rev. Lawrence Horvath served as pastor from 1916 to 1922 and was succeeded by the Rev. Count Frederick Wenckheim.

Closure: St. Stephen’s closed on 31 May 2003, and its congregation was merged with St. Adalbert and St. Casimir parishes in South Bend. Latino families who had worshipped at St. Stephen’s followed that path to the two west-side parishes, a movement pastors there still cited twenty years later. After the closing, former parishioners sought landmark status for the 93-year-old church building; the diocese instead announced that the building at 1102 West Thomas Street would be razed, and that the property would be donated to El Campito, the day-care program housed in the former St. Stephen’s School. The parish’s sacramental records passed to St. Adalbert’s parish.

Sources:

1. H. J. Alerding, The Diocese of Fort Wayne, 1857–1907, St. Stephen’s (Magyar) Church history, as transcribed for the St. Joseph County genealogical pages — Biro’s 1900 organization of the congregation and the sixty Hungarian families.
2. South Bend Tribune report of the demolition announcement, as preserved with the St. Stephen parish history — the 31 May 2003 closing, the merger with St. Adalbert and St. Casimir, the razing decision and the El Campito donation.
3. Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana archives, Church of the Holy Trinity history — the 1911 trustees controversy, Kubinyi’s Sacred Heart Independent church, and the 1913 reception into the Episcopal Church.
4. Today’s Catholic, “St. Adalbert, St. Casimir Parishes in South Bend to Consolidate,” 29 April 2025 — the Latino community’s arrival at St. Adalbert and St. Casimir when St. Stephen closed in 2003.