The Southern Indiana Legacy of Father Joseph Kundek скачать в хорошем качестве

The Southern Indiana Legacy of Father Joseph Kundek

Historian George R Wilson, in his book, “History of DuBois County from Its Primitive Days to 1910,” called Father Joseph Kundek “probably the most remarkable man that ever had lived and died in Dubois County.”. The rich German-Catholic heritage that Father Kundek nurtured during the two decades that he ministered in the area is still on display. Resonating throughout the communities he touched, there’s an ever-present audible reminder of the legacy of Father Joseph Kundek. The tones of evocative and magnificent bells toll from the towers of the iconic religious structures that are here in large part due to the efforts of this Croatian priest. As a missionary priest of the Diocese of Vincennes, Kundek started Jasper’s St. Joseph Parish in 1837 and began to encourage German immigrants to settle in area. In 1840 Kundek acquired land about fifteen miles south of Jasper in the very southern part of Dubois County and establish another town for German immigrants, Ferdinand. Kundek placed ads in German language newspapers in major cities on the Ohio River inviting German Catholics to come and settle in the new town of Ferdinand. During a trip to Europe in 1853 Father Kundek convinced Benedictine monks from Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland to come to America to minister the area’s growing German-speaking Catholic population. In 1854, they formed St. Meinrad Archabbey on land located about 6 miles from Ferdinand. In 1867, German speaking nuns from a Benedictine monastery in Covington Kentucky were brought to Ferdinand to teach in the parish schools started by Father Kundek and the monks from St. Meinrad. The sisters of St. Benedict would establish the Monastery Immaculate Conception atop a large hill overlooking Ferdinand. The sisters would eventually teach in more than seventy-five schools in twelve states and five countries.