The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1901-10-24
St. AIphonsO's Church at New Mum
ster Celebrated Its Fiftieth An
niversary Today.
MANY PRIESTS TAKE PART
Solemn and Impressive Ceremonies Held
During the Day With Large Crowd
of Worshtpers in Attendance.
(From Wednesdays Daily

A great crowd of Catholics from all
parts of Southern Wisconsin gathered
at the little village of New Munster
today to celebrate with solemn and i'm
pressive ceremony the,fftieth anniver-
sary of the founding of ST. A1phonso's
church. Large delegations were in
attendance from Bristol, Burlington,
Geneva and other cities and took part
in the ceremonies of the day.
The celebration began at ten o'clock
this morning when solemn high
mass was celebrated and the jubilee
sermon was preached by Rev. J. w.
former pastors of the church. The ad-
dress of. the Rev. Mr.. Blum was de1iv-
cred in German, Father Dreis speaking
in English. The jubilee mass was
celebrated by Father ]. II. Schiefen,
pastor, of the church, and his assist
ants, the Rev. Father Bernard Weyer,
of Waterford, and the Rev. Schiefen,
of the town of Dover.
Other priests within the chance1
were the Rev. Mr.. Goebe1, of James
vile, Rev. Henry Blum, of Crosse
Plains, and the Rev. Nicholas Weier,
of Mineral Point. Many other priests
from the diocese of Milwaukee were
This afternoon d free concert was
given at st. A1phonso's hall with reel
tations and speeches by leading men,
bers of the parish and diocese. The
music for the different services of the
day was furnished by the St. Mary's
Javen11e band of Burlington. This
evening the celebration will end with
an entertainment to be given by the
children of the parish assisted by the
st. A1phono's choir and male quartette.
The Jubilee service brought to the
church a rare gathering of the early
settlers of the town of New Munster,
and. many of the men who had come to
Kenosha county from old Munster, in
Germany, in the spring Of 1916, occu-
pied places of honor IN the church.
Among the more noted of the early pi-
oneers present, were seven of the
founders of ST. A1phonso's Church
Society, as follows: Bernard Balster,
aged "a; B. Richter, aged 88; Mrs. Hen
ry Toe11e, aged SO; Henry Kersting,
Mrs. F. Mas, Mrs. Kate Sanders
and Mrs. B. Schmitz.
Historically speaking, the church at
New Munster was one of the most ia
nous in Southern Wisconsin. The
original congregation consisted of
twenty-eight members, all willing, but
most of them poor. They went to
work and completed the church in the
summer of 1851, on plat of land con-
tanning two and half acres, donated
by Martin Schaefer, who was not
member of the church. The church
was dedicated on the 14th of October,
1854, by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Henri, of
Milwaukee, one of the pioneers of the
bishops of Milwaukee, and placed
under the patronage of st. A1phonsus
Maria da Liguori. It's history in later
years has been an interesting one on
account of the fact that the members
of the church adhered to the original
Icustems Of the Catholic church in Ger
many.
Father ]. H. Schiefen, the present
pastor of the church, was born Dec.
10Th, 1860, at Schiefen, near Effort, in
the government district of Coe1n,
Rhenish province, Germany. He was
educated at Effort, Siegburg and Es-
sen, Germany, coming to the United
States in 1880. He took a course in
St. Francis seminary, where he was
ordained TO the priesthood on June a,
1884. He has been stationed at New
Munster since 1896. A great deal of
the present prosperity of the church
and congregation is due to the tire1ess
energy of the pastor.