Parish History

St. Rose of Lima's parish is now a thriving faith community of approximately 180 families. However, this was not always the case. Between 1884 and 1892, Catholics in Hillsboro had a "station" status, which means that visiting priests celebrated Mass in someone's home, rather than in a dedicated church. The first Masses in Hillsboro were celebrated at the home of John Carmody twice a month on weekdays.

In 1891-2, land was purchased and a wood frame church was constructed, and the parish was officially founded and put under the patronage of St. Rose of Lima of Peru; the parish's official name is St. Rose of Lima's Catholic Church of Hillsboro. In 1893, the church was dedicated by Bishop John Shanley of Fargo. A change to state laws made it necessary to incorporate the parish in 1895, with Bishop John Shanley of Fargo, Rev. Thomas Egan of Jamestown, Rev. Edward J. Conaty of Grand Forks, Mr. John Carmody of Hillsboro and Mr. James Burke of Blanchard as the incorporators.

Since St. Rose of Lima's parish had a church but not a resident pastor, it was now considered a "mission" parish. Between 1895 and 1915 the parish was served by priests from Reynolds. In 1915, Father John Koelman became the first resident pastor of St. Rose after supervising the construction of a new and larger church and rectory from 1914-5.

The early Catholic community in Hillsboro was predominantly Irish in character, with surnames such as Murphy, Carmody, Kennedy, Sherdian, Flaherty, Burke, McCoy, and MacNamees. Between 1909 and 1920, there was an influx of German families due to a land development in the area, and you start to see names such as Muller, Vettels, Kritzbergers, Witte, Boeddaker, Beitz, and Kneip in the parish registry. This Irish and German heritage was reflected in the stained glass windows the parish acquired; two of the stained glass windows preserved from the original church are of St. Patrick for the Irish community and of St. Boniface for the German community.

In 1941 the parish placed a new foundation under the church structure and added a new east-facing vestibule which increased the seating capacity to about 250 people, an increase of one-third of the original size. Fr. Ludwig became the pastor of St. Rose in 1961, and was very concerned about the religious education the Catholic children were receiving. Under the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program Fr. Ludwig organized a new parochial school and built a new Catechetical Center in 1964 with classrooms, a social hall and a kitchen to serve the needs of the parish.

In 1977, the condition of the original church and rectory had deteoriated to the point that the parish began planning a new church and rectory in the current site, adjacent to the existing Catechetical Center. Ground was broken on July 9, 1978, and the new cornerstone was inserted on June 3, 1979 with Bishop Driscoll officiating. On July 20, 1979, the old church building was sold and Mass was celebrated in the social hall for the next six weeks.

On the weekend of September 2, 1979, the first Masses were celebrated in the new church. The sanctuary can seat about 250 worshippers with expansion room for another 100. The pews and altar furniture, including the large crucifix, are made of solid oak and manufactured in North Dakota, and the Corpus on the crucifix is from the previous church. The church was built adjoining the Center to take advantage of facilities already available there, and special care was taken to insulate, heat and cool the church for the conditions of our Northern climate.

The chapel, in particular, is furnished and decorated with equipment from the old church. Above the chapel is the stained glass window of St. Rose of Lima, featured on the banner for this Web site. In addition, the chapel is partitioned off with stained glass windows from the old church, with windows dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, the previously mentioned Sts. Patrick and Boniface, St. Ann, St. John the Baptist, the Eucharist, and the Sacred Heart.