Cherishing the chapel in the Badlands

This year marks 100 years that the sons of Medora, wife of the famed Marquis de Mores, gifted the Catholic church in the town of her namesake to the Catholics of the Diocese of Bismarck. The modest, little St. Mary’s Catholic Church still serves the community of Medora as the oldest Catholic church still in use in the diocese.
           
In 1884, the French nobleman and Badlands adventurer built the brick chapel for his wife and other Catholics in the area. The family strongly supported churches in the Dakota Territory, also helping to pay for St. Patrick’s Church in Dickinson. When the current St. Mary’s Church was built in Bismarck in 1897-88, Medora donated the large stained-glass window of the Immaculate Conception in honor of her husband.
 
Ministering to the west
           
Tending to the spiritual needs of the settlers flocking to the Dakota Territory was difficult for the leaders in the faith and frontier priests were in short supply. Appealing for clergy to come to Western North Dakota didn’t exactly read like a standard “help wanted” advertisement.
           
According to the Centennial publication “Perseverance in Faith” of the Bismarck Diocese, one French advertisement for the American missions read: “We offer you: no salary, no recompense, no holidays, no pensions. But, much hard work, a poor dwelling, few consolations, many disappointments, frequent sickness, a violent or lonely death, an unknown grave.”
           
Filling this void for those hearty enough to take on such an assignment were the Benedictine priests of St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota. The first of these to come to Mandan was Fr. Martin Schmitt, O.S.B., a young priest of just five years, who arrived around 1882. He ministered and celebrated Mass in missions, stations, private homes or public halls across the western part of the state between Mandan and Medora.
           
It is believed that Fr. Schmitt knew two of North Dakota’s most famous residents, the Marquis de Mores and his wife, Medora who had established a town in the far western part of the state that experienced rapid growth. Within a few months of its founding in 1883, the town of Medora grew to about 250 residents. By mid 1884, Fr. Schmitt said Mass in the local hotels that summer. By that August, the Marquis ordered the construction of the 24-foot by 50-foot simple building with four Gothic windows on each side. 
 
A local brick maker went to work laying the cornerstone on Sept. 20, 1884. With her name inscribed on the cornerstone, the Church was sometimes referred to as the Athenias Chapel, named for the de Mores’ infant daughter.
 
Construction proceeded rapidly and the building was completed and blessed by Fr. Martin in early November. The local newspaper, the “Bad Lands Cow Boy,” carried the following description of the blessing of the Church: “The Catholic church erected by the Marquise de Mores was blessed by Father Martin on Sunday last. A large congregation gathered to participate in the ceremonies, which were very impressive. Father Martin took his text from the temple of Solomon, and delivered an eloquent and instructive sermon…Now that we have a place of worship, the community at large should not fail to appreciate the efforts of the Marquise in erecting the holy edifice.”
 
Before 1884 ended, the newly-built Church of St. Mary saw its first baptism and wedding, both celebrated the same day on Dec. 30.
           
Served as a mission
 
Several priests from the Dickinson and Beach areas served the parish mission until 1919 when Fr. Louis Doering, resident priest in Belfield assumed duties in Medora. Then in 1922, Fr. Theodore Roessler of Belfield took over responsibility of the parish serving until 1937. Since then, Medora has been a mission among several other surrounding parishes. It is currently part of a cluster with St. John the Baptist in Beach and St. Mary in Golva served by Pastor Fr. Dan Berg, who has been touched by the generosity of the parishioners who care for the historical church. In 2007, the 15 families of the parish addressed the exterior brick which needed repair, completing the project in 2008.
           
“It is a very small parish community but its members are active, and they definitely want to keep the church up,” Fr. Berg said. “They are genuinely concerned about St. Mary's. I am impressed by their dedication.”
           
In 1936, the State Historical Society and the Park Service restored the church’s deteriorating external structure. It remains the oldest functioning church in the state. Since 1984, Mass has been held in the community center in Medora during the summer months to accommodate tourists because the church is small. Normally, Mass is held each weekend at St. Mary's Catholic Church in May, and from Memorial Day weekend through the weekend after Labor Day, it takes place in the city’s auditorium. 
           
“The church provides a place of serenity and respite for tourists and locals,” Fr. Berg added. “It helps keep their faith alive.”
           
Ted and Kay Tescher, long-time parishioners of St. Mary's, believe that helping the church is a way of giving to others. 
           
“We see it as a service to the tourists, and that is what motivates us to keep it up and going,” she said. “We have been parishioners for over 40 years, on and off, and our children went to St. Mary's growing up. We like to help set up for Mass. I also play the piano, and Ted serves as an usher.”
           
In the end, this precious, quiet “chapel in the Badlands” is truly cherished by those who take time to appreciate it. And, according to parishioners Patrick and Eleanor Bohn, it's actually more popular than one may think.
           
“Over the years, we have helped in different ways at St. Mary's,” Eleanor said. “Having St. Mary's there provides a great way for tourists to make sure they still go to Mass even when they are out of town, and away from the parish they usually attend. I think it is so wonderful that people would take time out of their vacation to go to church. Sometimes we have wall-to-wall visitors in the auditorium, and it's packed! But no matter how full it gets, we never turn anyone away.”
           
Due to the current situation regarding COVID-19, St. Mary's Mass times and locations are in flux. For more information on upcoming Masses, please visit triparishnd.org.

Sources: State Historical Society of North Dakota; “Chapel in the Badlands” by Raymond C. Backes; and “Perseverance in Faith: A History of the Catholic Church in Western North Dakota,” Diocese of Bismarck Centennial Edition 1910-2010.