Ashland parish celebrates 150 years, Franciscan past

From The Superior Catholic Herald...
 

The 150th anniversary for Ashland’s Our Lady of the Lake Parish was many months in the making, but the history and heritage behind this sesquicentennial celebration is comprised of generations of Catholic laity and missionary religious.

A celebratory Mass was held Sunday, Sept. 10, with Bishop James P. Powers as the main celebrant. In his welcome, the bishop recognized the “monumental event” they had gathered from near and far to commemorate.

To begin the homily, Bishop Powers brought attention to the sprinkling rite performed, “Where we recall our baptism, where we consciously rededicate ourselves to our God.” He noted how he had also sprinkled the walls to rededicate the sacred space to God.

Referencing a booklet of the parish’s history, Bishop Powers spoke of the donation of land in June 1873 with the first Ashland Catholic church, under the patronage of St. Agnes, being dedicated in 1874. It was only four years later when the bishop of La Crosse (the Superior Diocese was not created until 1905) requested the Franciscan Friars from the Sacred Heart Province in St. Louis to come and serve the parish’s needs. St. Agnes was added as a mission church, along with those in Bayfield, Odanah and La Pointe. In 1881, Franciscan sisters from the Joliet province arrived to teach at the newly built school, replaced in 1884 by the La Crosse-area Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

Read the rest of this news story on The Superior Catholic Herald (official publication of the Diocese of Superior) website here...