About St. Donatus · Saint Donatus, Iowa
St. Donatus Catholic Church is a small historic parish in the Jackson County village of St. Donatus, Iowa, situated about twelve miles southeast of Dubuque in the picturesque Tete des Morts valley. It is one of four parishes in a single cluster pastored from Bellevue — together with St. Joseph (Bellevue), Sts. Peter & Paul (Springbrook), and St. Catherine — all sharing the website sjandspp.com and listed as a parish of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The parish was founded by Catholic settlers from Luxembourg and Germany in the 1850s, takes its name from Saint Donatus of Muenstereifel, and is nationally recognized as a contributing property within the Village of St. Donatus Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Its hilltop outdoor Stations of the Cross (built 1861) and Pieta Chapel (built 1885) are said to be among the earliest developed in the United States.
- Established
- 1851
- Patron
- Saint Donatus of Muenstereifel
- Rector
- Rev. Andrew J. (Andy) Upah
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Dubuque
Why belong here
St. Donatus is a living link to the Luxembourg and German Catholic pioneers who settled the Tete des Morts valley in the 1840s, and parishioners still worship in a 1908 Gothic Revival stone church whose massive walls were first raised in 1858. Members keep an uncommon Catholic heritage alive through the 1861 outdoor Stations of the Cross on the hill behind the church — among the earliest in the United States — and the annual Holy Week procession up to the 1885 Pieta Chapel modeled on a chapel near Vianden, Luxembourg. Though small, the parish shares active pastoral leadership (a resident pastor, deacon, faith-formation coordinator and youth minister) and full sacramental life with its sister parishes St. Joseph, Sts. Peter & Paul and St. Catherine from the Bellevue cluster office.
Mass times at St. Donatus
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM at St. Joseph, Bellevue
Adoration times
- 1st Friday 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM during the summer at St. Joseph
Parish History
Catholic life in St. Donatus began in the late 1830s and 1840s when Luxembourgish, German, and a few Irish families — including the Tritz, Nemmers, Gehlen, Haxmeier, Knolle, Streff, Lux, Arend, Homan, Siren, Freimann, Hoffmann and Gilmore households — settled along the Tete des Morts creek in what is now Jackson County. Mass was first offered in private homes, and in 1848 the pioneers raised a log church with a cemetery immediately behind it. On December 4, 1850 the parish voted to buy an additional forty acres and build a frame church and rectory; the buildings were dedicated to St. Donatus on July 4, 1851. A resident pastor, Father Henry Rensen, finally arrived in February 1853.
- 1848 — log church and cemetery erected by the early settlers.
- July 4, 1851 — frame church and rectory dedicated to St. Donatus; first recorded baptism (Anna Maria Knolle, June 26, 1851).
- 1853 — Father Henry Rensen becomes first resident pastor.
- 1855–1856 — Father H. Feddermann serves; frame buildings burn in fall 1856.
- 1857 — stone combined church-and-rectory completed.
- 1858 — cornerstone of the Gothic stone church laid by Bishop Smyth (April); completed under Father Flammang.
- July 3, 1860 — Bishop Smyth blesses the new church and confirms 238 people.
- 1861 — fourteen outdoor Stations of the Cross built on the bluff under Father Flammang.
- 1883 — death of Father Michael J. Flammang (December 6).
- 1885 — Pieta Chapel completed on the summit in his memory.
- 1907 — original 1858 church gutted by fire on November 24; massive stone walls survive.
- 1908 — present church completed on the reused Gothic walls.
- 1914–1931 — pastorate of Father Francis Vallaster.
- 1931 — Rev. Nicholas Krull assigned by Archbishop Francis J. Beckman.
- November 8, 1989 — parish complex listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Village of St. Donatus Historic District (NRHP No. 89001870).
Founding Pastor and the Pioneering Era
Father Michael J. Flammang, who came to St. Donatus from Old Mission in Winneshiek County in December 1859 and remained until his death on December 6, 1883, is regarded as the founder of the parish's spiritual and material life. He raised the Gothic stone church (cornerstone 1858, blessed 1860), opened a parish school in the rectory in 1859 with Joseph Dengle as the first teacher, and gave religious instruction three times a week. He also directed the construction of the outdoor Way of the Cross on the bluff in 1861, which was blessed by the Jesuit missionary Father Weninger. Under Flammang, St. Donatus grew into one of the largest parishes of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, peaking around 1860–1870 at roughly 2,000 souls and 120+ baptisms a year.
Architecture and the Historic District
The parish complex — the 1908 church, the 1857 rectory, the 1885 Pieta Chapel, and the cemetery — is a contributing property of the Village of St. Donatus Historic District, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on November 8, 1989. The Gothic Revival church reuses the massive stone walls of the 1858 original; stone for the bell tower was quarried from the nearby bluffs, the wooden steeple caps the tower, and the walls have been coated in cement and lime. The 1857 rectory next door is a contemporary of the first church: locally quarried stone covered in light yellow/brown stucco, with a hip roof and cross-gabled dormer windows — a moderate-pitch, eaves-less design typical of traditional Luxembourg architecture. The Pieta Chapel on the hilltop is a simple cut-stone structure modeled on the Chapel du Bildchen near Vianden, Luxembourg, with little ornamentation and a wooden bell tower above the front gable.
- Style: Gothic Revival
- NRHP reference No. 89001870 (added November 8, 1989)
- Stations of the Cross: fourteen brick shrines, 5 × 5 ft, spaced ~250 ft apart on the bluff footpath
- Rectory: 1857, locally quarried stone with yellow/brown stucco
- Bell-tower stone: quarried from the nearby bluffs
Parish Cemetery
The parish cemetery lies behind the church, laid out in 1848 with the original log church so close that some bodies had to be moved when the larger church was later built. Among the earliest burials is Mrs. Mary Tritz-Wagener (1850). Some of the older graves are marked by elaborate iron crosses, and early stone headstones were carved both in Dubuque and by O. Wenzler of Milwaukee.
Outdoor Stations of the Cross and Pieta Chapel
In 1861, under the direction of Rev. J. Michael Flammang, the parish built fourteen brick shrines along a winding footpath that climbs the bluff behind the church — an outdoor Way of the Cross described by local historians as one of the first developed in the United States. Each station measures about five by five feet, set in an open arched entrance with a gabled roof, and the stations are spaced roughly 250 feet apart. The footpath leads to the summit, where the simple cut-stone Pieta Chapel — built in 1885 as a memorial to Father Flammang and modeled on the Chapel du Bildchen near Vianden, Luxembourg — stands with its wooden bell tower above the front gable. During Holy Week the parish sponsors a procession through the outdoor stations to the chapel on the hill.
Pastoral Staff and Cluster Leadership
St. Donatus is now clustered with St. Joseph (Bellevue), Sts. Peter & Paul (Springbrook) and St. Catherine under a single pastor and a shared parish office at 405 Franklin Street, Bellevue, IA 52031 (phone 563-872-3234). The cluster's pastor is Rev. Andrew J. (Andy) Upah, assisted by Deacon Loras Weber and a lay staff of pastoral, faith-formation, secretarial and finance personnel. Pastoral Council chairpersons represent each of the four parishes, with Larry Herrig serving as the chairperson for St. Donatus.
- Rev. Andrew J. (Andy) Upah — Pastor
- Deacon Loras Weber — Deacon
- Yvette Andersen — Pastoral Associate
- Angela Burken — Coordinator of Faith Formation & Youth Minister
- Denise Michel — Secretary and Bookkeeper
- Larry Herrig — Pastoral Council Chairperson (St. Donatus)
Sacraments
The parish lists Baptism and other sacraments on its main navigation under 'Sacraments,' and the website links to online giving, ministry schedules and a FORMED account so parishioners can prepare for and live the sacramental life. Confessions are heard in the cluster at St. Joseph on Saturday afternoons, and Thursday morning Mass is offered at Mill Valley Care Center, allowing the cluster to bring Communion and anointing to the homebound and sick.
Faith Formation and Youth Ministry
Cluster-wide Faith Formation and Youth Ministry are coordinated by Angela Burken. The four-parish program draws on shared staff and the FORMED digital platform to prepare children and youth for the sacraments and to accompany them through high school. Faith-formation contacts are listed at St. Catherine (Mary Beth Wagner) and at the cluster level through Angela Burken.
Visiting and Contact
St. Donatus Church is located at 97 E. 1st St., St. Donatus, Iowa 52071. The main parish office for the four-parish cluster is at St. Joseph Church, 405 Franklin Street, Bellevue, IA 52031, phone (563) 872-3234. Office hours at St. Donatus are Tuesday through Friday, 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM (closed Monday). The cluster shares a bulletin, online giving, ministry schedules, and Facebook and YouTube channels under one communications umbrella.
- St. Donatus Church — 97 E. 1st St., St. Donatus, IA 52071
- St. Joseph Church (main parish office) — 405 Franklin St., Bellevue, IA 52031
- Sts. Peter and Paul Church — 105 E Main St., Springbrook, IA 52075
- St. Catherine Church — 5181 St. Catherine Rd., Dubuque, IA 52003
- Parish phone: (563) 872-3234
- St. Donatus office hours: Tue–Fri 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM (closed Monday)
Heritage and Luxembourgish Roots
Both the parish and the town take their name from Saint Donatus of Muenstereifel, a patron whose cultus is especially popular in Luxembourg and the Rhineland. The first Catholic settlers — predominantly from the Duchy of Luxembourg, with a few German families and a sprinkling of Irish — preserved Luxembourgish architectural and devotional traditions in the rectory's roofline and in the design of the hilltop Pieta Chapel, which is modeled on the Chapel du Bildchen near Vianden, Luxembourg. The village itself was originally called Tete des Morts (the same name as the creek running through the valley) until 1870, when the local postmaster Nicholas Krier petitioned Washington to rename it St. Donatus because of frequent misspellings.
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Fathers McCormick, Michels, Plathe and Junk (itinerant)1840s–early 1850s
Priests from Dubuque who cared for the spiritual needs of the early settlers at irregular periods before a resident pastor was appointed.
- Father Henry Rensen1853
First resident pastor (Feb 23, 1853 – fall 1853); supervised a frame school before being sent to new fields by Bishop Loras.
- Father Schweigerfall 1853 – January 1854
Temporary pastor after Rensen's departure.
- Father Emmonds1854
Pastor of Holy Trinity, Dubuque, who attended St. Donatus as a mission during 1854.
- Father H. Feddermann1855–1856
From the Diocese of Albany; appointed assistant at Lyons after the 1856 fire, then returned to Tete des Morts once the new stone building was complete in 1857.
- Father George Schneider1856–1857
Pastor of Holy Trinity, Dubuque, who took charge of St. Donatus as a mission after the 1856 fire.
- Rev. J. Michael FlammangDecember 1859 – December 6, 1883
Founder of the parish's spiritual and material growth; built the Gothic stone church (1858–1860), established the school in the rectory (1859) and the outdoor Way of the Cross on the bluff (1861). Died in office.
- Father Rottlersucceeded before 1906
Predecessor of Father Nuebel.
- Father William Nuebel1906–1914
Oversaw the 1907 fire and the rebuilding of the present church on the surviving stone walls (completed 1908).
- Father Francis Vallaster1914–1931
Long-tenured pastor.
- Rev. Nicholas Krullfrom 1931
Assigned pastor of St. Donatus by Archbishop Francis J. Beckman.