Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-09-01
GOLDEN JUBILEE WAS
A GREAT SUCCESS
St. Clements Fiftieth Anniver'
sary Fittingly Celebrated
Large Number of Visiting Catholics
Were Present-Prcgram of Very
Entertaining Character.

Entertaining Character.
The 50th anniversary of the found
ing of Catholic church in this city
was fittingly observed last Thursday
and Friday by the members of st.
Clements congregation.
Father Schleicher. the church
officers. the members of the different
societies, as we'll as the church mem
bers generally, had worked hard in
preparing for this event but the fact
that it was complete success recon-
pensed them amply for the time and
labor they had contributed.
The celebration opened formally
Wednesday afternoon and evening,
this time being mainly devoted to the
meeting and reception of guests. In
the evening an entertainment was
given at the school hall by the girls
of st Clements school and was
greatly enjoyed. This, as we'll as
the entertainment next day, at the
fair grounds, by the boys of the
school, displayed not only unusual
ability OH the parts of the young peo-
pie engaged but showed that great
care and effort had been spent in drill
ing them for their respective parts.
Thursday exercises were held at the
fair grounds. During the day large
delegations arrived from Cassyille,
Bloomington, Fennimore, Mt. Hope
Potosi, Patch Grove, Glen Haven,
jamestown and other towns of this
section. The procession to the grounds
at about noon was participated in by
a great number of the visiting church
members, many of them being mem
bers of the Catholic Knights order.
1t is conservatively estimated that
800 or 900 people attended the
exercises at the fair grounds during
the day.
The leading feature of the after,
noon's program was, of course. the
representation of the play "The Sign
of the Cross by the Hon. James
Francis o. Donnell. This attraction,
was perhaps, the best of its kind
even given in this city. The many
little annoyances usually incident to
an entertainment given before grand
stand, Or in the open air, all helped to
detract the listeners attention from
the speaker, but despite this, Mr..
O'Donnell kept a majority of his
hearers interested throughout the
play Mr.. O'Donnell has
beautifully modulated voice and shows
great skill in his handling of
characters of widely varying natures.
The play is founded on an incident of
the Christian prosecutions in Rome
during the time of Nero.
In the evening the stereopticon
lecture 10y Rev. Gehl was an interest
ing feature and was we'll attended.
A regreUtable incident was that
Bishop Schebach, Messmer and
Schinnmer could not be present.
the first named on account of
illness and the other two because of
church duties The following visit
ing clergy were present: Rt. Rev.
Mgr. A. F. Kremer q. g., Genoa,
Wis. Rev. Nicholas Weyer, Mineral
Point; Rev. August Albers, Water
ford; Rev. Joseph Rooster, Madison !;
Rev. Francis Orthan Mt. Hope Rev.
Peter Eichner, st. Peters; Rev. Max
Rupprechter. Loretto; Rev. John
Salentine. Juneau; Rev. Peter Becker,
Prairie du Chen Rev. Peter Thiesen,
Milwaukee,; Rev. Eugene Gale, Mil
waukee; Rev. Peter Pape, Potosi !;
Rev. Louis BIudermanns, Blooming
ton Rev. John Fl. Theisen, Milwau-
kee; Rev. Peter Jones, Cassville;
Rev. John S. Fisher. Dickeyviile !;
Rev. Rudolf Ollig, Keller; Rev.
John Bruddermanns, Spring Green;
Rev. John Field, Fennimore; Rev.
Henry Blum, Sun Prairiei Rev.
Augustine Birsner Highland. and
Rev. Louis Kaluza, Lacrosse.
Former pastors of st. Clements
present were Rev. Kaluza. of La
Crosse, and Rev. Albers of Waterford
The former, who was pastor here from
1892 to 1893. delivered the sermon in
German Thursday morning. Rev.
Salentine, of juneau. delivered the
sermon in English.
The Vicar General celebrated the
solemn high mass Thursday morning
assisted by Fathers Albers and OlIig
The master of ceremonies was Father
John Thiesen, of Milwaukee. A
number of the clergy took parts in
the singing which was under the
direction of Father Pape. of Potosi.
Taken as a whole the celebration
was as we have said before, very
successful. The several programs