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St. Bonaventure Church |
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In the spring of 1888, Most. Rev. John J. Hogan, Bishop of Kansas City, requested to build a Catholic church in Marceline. Fr. Tormey secured the lots. Fr. Thomas J. Burke came to Marceline in August 1888, to assume duties as pastor, and erection of the St. Bonaventure Church began. Frank Poncelet and John Gucker were the contractors. Parishioners quarried and hauled rock from the Gucker farm for the foundation. Construction of the church was of wooden clapboard. Altars and communion railing were also made in Marceline. Fr. Burke designed and supervised, doing much of the work himself. The church was heated by a pot-bellied coal stove and dedication in November 1888. While our church was being built, the first Mass was celebrated in the home of John and Barbara Sennerich, August 1888, on the dresser that is in the vestibule of our church. Many of the early members were of Italian, Czechoslovakian and Croation origin. In 1899 the ground for the Catholic cemetery was purchased. In 1918 St. Bonaventure school was founded. Our Name St. Bonaventure Bonaventure was born 1221, at Bagnoregio, 60 miles north of Rome. He was given the name John at his baptism. At the age of 22, he entered the Franciscan order and was appointed professor of theology at the University of Paris at age 27. He was chosen Minster General of Franciscan Order at the age of 35. Age 52 he became Bishop of Albano and a Cardinal. He died at age 53, Two centuries later in 1482, he was canonized a Saint and in 1588, he was declared a Doctor of the Church. ‘PRAYER”, he wrote, “is the source and origin of every upward progress that has God as a goal”. We as a parish family proudly bear the name of this Saint as our patron. Submitted by Father IC. Medina |
