About St. Anthony · Cedar Rapids, Nebraska
St. Anthony Parish is a Roman Catholic congregation serving the small community of Cedar Rapids in Boone County, Nebraska, within the Archdiocese of Omaha. The parish is closely identified with the historic 1918–1919 Romanesque Revival church and adjacent school designed by Omaha architect Jacob M. Nachtigall, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2000. It is famous locally for a unique statue of St. Anthony the Great (St. Anthony of Egypt) accompanied by a pig, which commemorates 19th-century farmers whose families were spared swine cholera after praying novenas to their patron. Today the parish is twinned with St. Michael Parish in Albion as part of the Archdiocese's Rural Family J grouping, with regular weekend and weekday Masses and weekly confessions.
- Established
- 1888
- Patron
- St. Anthony the Great (St. Anthony of Egypt)
- Rector
- Fr. Mark A. Tomasiewicz (current pastor, also serving St. Michael Parish, Albion, as part of Rural Family J)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Omaha
Why belong here
St. Anthony is a small, tight-knit rural parish where almost a century and a half of family history lives on the walls — many of today's parishioners descend from the 45 founding families of 1906 — and the community keeps a living record of marriages, baptisms, and funerals in 'The Book of Life.' Visitors find a peaceful Romanesque Revival sanctuary full of unusual devotional detail, from the high altar's patron statue of St. Anthony with his pig to side statues of the Blessed Mother, St. John, and St. Rose of Lima, along with weekly Mass in a parish designated by the Archdiocese as a 2025 Jubilee pilgrimage site. As part of the twinned Rural Family J grouping with St. Michael in Albion, the parish offers consistent weekend and weekday Masses and a Saturday evening confession window, making it a welcoming stop for travelers and a faithful home for local ranching and farming families.
Mass times at St. Anthony
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 5:00–5:25 p.m.
Adoration times
- Church is open 24 hours a day for personal prayer
History & Heritage
St. Anthony Parish traces back to 1888, when the first church — a modest 52-by-26-foot wood-frame building shared with the school — was erected by the Catholic farm families settling along the Cedar River. By 1906 the parish numbered 45 families. In 1911 the current school was built on North 6th Street, expanded in 1926, and in 1917 the parishioners contracted Anton Kettler of Dubuque, Iowa, to construct a much larger brick-and-stone church designed in Romanesque Revival style by Omaha architect Jacob M. Nachtigall. Construction began in April 1918 and the church was dedicated in May 1919.
- First church erected in 1888 (a 52-by-26-foot wood-frame building)
- School built 1911, expanded 1926
- Church groundbreaking April 1918; dedicated May 1919
- 1880s–1890s hog cholera: parish prayed novenas to patron; the famous pig statue was commissioned as thanksgiving
- National Register of Historic Places listing added March 9, 2000 (NRHP No. 00000172)
- Designated 2025 Jubilee pilgrimage site of the Archdiocese of Omaha
The Patron: St. Anthony the Great and the Pig
The parish's identity is tightly bound to its patron, St. Anthony the Great (also called St. Anthony of Egypt, feast day January 17), who appears above the high altar holding a T-shaped cross, a book, and accompanied at his feet by a pig. According to parish tradition, during the late-19th-century hog-cholera epidemic in the Cedar River valley, area farmers prayed novenas to their patron St. Anthony — patron of animals — and, when the epidemic subsided, the grateful congregation commissioned the statue. The 'book' represents his preference for the 'book of nature' over written texts; the cross and pig are read as symbols of his battles with evil.
- Patron: St. Anthony the Great (St. Anthony of Egypt)
- Feast day: January 17
- Unique iconography in the Archdiocese: patron statue with a pig at his feet
- Symbolism: T-cross (victory over evil), book (book of nature), pig (one tradition: a friendly sow whose piglets the saint healed; another tradition: a symbol of the devil)
Architecture & the Historic Complex
The complex consists of a Romanesque Revival church at 514 W. Main St. and a Colonial Revival school at 103 N. 6th St., both designed by Omaha architect Jacob M. Nachtigall. The walls are stone and brick, the foundation is stone and brick, and the roof is slate (with later asphalt shingle on portions). Periods of significance for the National Register are 1900–1924 and 1925–1949. The interior retains its original high altar flanked by statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John the Apostle, St. Rose of Lima, and St. Anthony with the pig; the original altar table was moved into the nave in the 1970s to accommodate Vatican-II front-facing liturgy.
- Architect: Jacob M. Nachtigall of Omaha
- Contractor (church): Anton Kettler, Dubuque, Iowa
- Style: Romanesque Revival (church), Colonial Revival (school)
- Materials: stone and brick walls; stone and brick foundation; slate roof (asphalt shingle in part)
- NRHP listing: March 9, 2000
Pilgrimage Site (2025 Jubilee)
For the 2025 Jubilee Year the Archdiocese of Omaha designated St. Anthony as one of its eight official pilgrimage sites, drawing attention to the parish's historic architecture and to the singular tradition of St. Anthony and the pig.
- Designated a 2025 Jubilee pilgrimage site
- Featured pilgrimage artifact: the St. Anthony statue with the pig
The Book of Life
A handwritten and continually updated parish register, 'The Book of Life,' was compiled originally by a former parish priest and is maintained today by current parishioners. It traces baptisms, marriages, funerals, and family histories and is placed in the back of the church where visitors are welcome to read it.
- Compiled by a former parish priest
- Kept current by parishioners
- Available in the back of the church to all visitors
Parish Life & Pastoral Family
Today St. Anthony is part of the Archdiocese of Omaha's 'Rural Family J,' a pastoral grouping that pairs it with St. Michael Parish in Albion (Boone County). The pastor of St. Michael also serves as pastor of St. Anthony. Together the parishes sustain regular weekend and weekday Masses, a weekly Saturday confession window, and shared sacramental and administrative ministries. Contact for either parish goes through either the Cedar Rapids rectory (308-358-0773) or the Albion rectory (402-395-2332).
- Rural Family J: St. Anthony (Cedar Rapids) + St. Michael (Albion)
- Clergy coordination with rural deanery / Archdiocese of Omaha
- Parish office phone: 308-358-0773
- Email: [email protected]
Sacraments & Sacramental Records
All regular Catholic sacraments are celebrated at St. Anthony or coordinated through the parish office: Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation preparation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick, and Reconciliation (Saturdays 5:00–5:25 p.m.). Of particular historical interest: between 1903 and 1907, St. Anthony's pastors assisted Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, and Winnebago students at the Genoa Government Indian School in neighboring Nance County; sacramental records from that ministry are preserved in the parish archive.
- Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation preparation
- Marriage preparation
- Anointing of the Sick
- Reconciliation: Saturday 5:00–5:25 p.m.
- Historic sacramental ministry to Native American students at Genoa Indian School (1903–1907)
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Various priests of the Archdiocese of Omaha (history from 1903–1907 mentions Omaha archdiocesan priests at St. Anthony's, including those who attended to students at the Genoa Government Indian School)
A parish history book, 'The Book of Life,' compiled originally by a former priest and kept up to date by parishioners, documents the succession but the individual list was not published online; only the historical mention that it was compiled by 'a former parish priest' is verifiable.
- Fr. Mark A. Tomasiewicz
Current pastor per the Archdiocese of Omaha directory; also pastor of St. Michael Parish in Albion as the two parishes share pastoral leadership within Rural Family J.
