About St. Casimir · Adena, Ohio
St. Casimir Catholic Church is a small Roman-Latin Rite parish serving Adena, a village straddling Jefferson and Harrison Counties in eastern Ohio. It belongs to the Diocese of Steubenville and is one of the historic Polish-heritage parishes of the Ohio Valley, founded to serve Polish immigrant families who settled around the local coal and coal-mining communities in the early 1900s. The parish still keeps a modest weekly schedule (a weekday Mass on Thursday mornings and a Saturday Vigil Mass). Because of its small size it shares pastoral ministry with neighboring parishes, including St. Adalbert in Dillonvale.
- Established
- 1904
- Patron
- St. Casimir (Casimir Jagiellon, 1458-1484, Polish-Lithuanian prince, patron of Poland and Lithuania)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Steubenville
Why belong here
St. Casimir offers the rare gift of a small, close-knit parish in eastern Ohio where the same families have worshipped — and in many cases are buried in the parish's own Polish-section cemetery — for generations. The parish keeps a simple but faithful weekly rhythm, with Thursday morning Mass, a Saturday Vigil, and an additional Sunday Mass listed in some parish directories, plus confession by appointment and before Mass. Because pastoral care is shared with neighboring communities like Dillonvale's St. Adalbert, visitors can expect to find priests who know the wider Ohio Valley Polish-Catholic community personally and who can easily connect newcomers with the broader life of the Diocese of Steubenville.
Mass times at St. Casimir
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- By appointment
- Sunday 3:30 PM (before Mass) and upon request
Parish Identity and Heritage
St. Casimir is a small Roman-Latin parish in the Village of Adena, Ohio, belonging to the Diocese of Steubenville. Founded in 1904 as a Polish ethnic parish, it remains a quiet witness to the Polish-American Catholic community that grew up around the area's coal mines and railroads. The parish takes its name from St. Casimir (1458-1484), the Polish-Lithuanian prince who is patron of Poland and Lithuania; his feast day is celebrated on March 4.
- Type: Parish (Roman-Latin Rite)
- Diocese: Steubenville
- Founded: 1904
- Key parish dates: 1904, 1905, 1967 (per GCatholic)
- Feast day: March 4 — St. Casimir
History of the Parish
Founded in 1904 for Polish Catholic settlers in the Adena area, St. Casimir's history traces the rise of a turn-of-the-century immigrant church that built its own school-grade community life, founded a hillside cemetery in 1908, and through the 20th century maintained pastoral ties with the surrounding Polish parishes of Dillonvale, Piney Fork and Smithfield. The Diocese of Steubenville still directs records of several former area missions and stations to St. Casimir, Adena. The parish was — and remains — relatively small but historically significant as one of the principal Polish heritage parishes of the Ohio Valley.
- 1904 — Parish founded
- 1908 — St. Casimir Cemetery laid out on the hillside near the church
- 1967 — Major church building date noted by GCatholic
- Polish-language inscriptions on older grave markers reflect founding community
- 1994-1995 — Cemetery marker transcription compiled by Robert S. Jankowski of Steubenville
Clergy, Staff and Pastoral Care
St. Casimir is served together with other small parishes in the area, and current parish directories list Sister Jeanne Vucic as Pastoral Associate, with Mary Martha Carter and Monica Whitaker as secretaries. For nearly four decades the parish's pastor was Msgr. John C. Kolesar, who lived in the rectory and continued to celebrate Masses after his retirement in 2022.
- Msgr. John C. Kolesar — Pastor (1985-2022); Prelate of Honor 1987; died October 28 at age 86
- Sister Jeanne Vucic — Pastoral Associate
- Mary Martha Carter — Secretary
- Monica Whitaker — Secretary
St. Casimir Cemetery
The parish maintains its own burial ground — St. Casimir Cemetery — begun in 1908 on a hillside near the church. It is divided into five named sections (Coronation, Annunciation, Resurrection, Ascension and St. Joseph), the two oldest of which contain many of the founding Polish immigrant families. A community transcription of remaining grave markers was completed in 1994-1995 and remains a primary genealogical source for the parish.
- Cemetery established: 1908
- Sections: Coronation, Annunciation, Resurrection, Ascension, St. Joseph
- Older markers include Polish-language inscriptions
- Marker transcription compiled by Robert S. Jankowski, Steubenville, 1994-1995
Visiting and Contact
St. Casimir is located on Hanna Avenue in Adena, a small village on the Jefferson-Harrison County line in eastern Ohio. Visitors and parishioners can reach the parish office by telephone; the parish email is listed as [email protected]. The parish is part of the Diocese of Steubenville's Parish Finder directory, and the Mass schedule is mirrored on the national Discover Mass and GCatholic listings.
- Address: 221 Hanna Avenue, Adena, OH 43901
- Phone: (740) 546-3463
- Email: [email protected]
- Diocese of Steubenville Parish Finder listing: https://www.diosteub.org/parishfinder
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Msgr. John C. Kolesar1985-2022 (active ministry); continued residing in the rectory and celebrating Masses until early 2024
Born April 13, 1939, in Unionport, Ohio; ordained May 23, 1964 at St. Joseph Church, Amsterdam, by Bishop John King Mussio. Served Catholic Central High School in Steubenville as instructor in religion, auto mechanics and woodshop from ordination until 1985. Appointed pastor of St. Casimir, Adena, in 1985; named a Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) on March 3, 1987. Also served as pastor of St. Adalbert Parish, Dillonvale (from 2000), administrator of Our Lady Queen of Peace, Smithfield (from 2004), and St. Therese, Piney Fork (from 2004). Served as dean of Mother of God Deanery (1978-2001) and Presentation Deanery (2002-09), and as diocesan cemeteries director for many years. Died October 28 (age 86).