OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CHURCH (SAINT PAUL, MINN.):

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church began in 1931 as a Mexican mission formed at the urging of the Guild of Catholic Women. The Guild rented a former grocery store at 123 South Wabasha Street to serve as the mission's first chapel and Reverend Joseph Guillemette, a priest in the foreign language department of the College of St. Thomas, was assigned by the Archdiocese to minister to the Mission. The first masses, celebrated in Spanish and English, were held on February 22, 1931.

In 1937 Reverend Henry Dicks replaced Guillemette and became the mission's first full-time pastor. On April 25, 1939, after purchasing a building at 186 East Fairfield that it planned to renovate with a chapel, rectory, and social center, the Mission was incorporated as a parish.

By the end of the 1930s the parish had extended its mission work to Saint Paul's east side and had formed classes in religion, sewing, and English. Reverend James A. Ward came to the Church in August of 1942. Shortly thereafter he instituted a weekly novena and the chapel became widely known for its shrine to the Lady of Guadalupe.

River flooding during the 1950s and planning by the Housing and Redevelopment Authority caused the Church to seek a new church site and also caused many of its parishioners to seek new homes above the flats of the river. Five acres along Concord Street were purchased in 1955 and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on December 12, 1956, the feast day of the Lady of Guadalupe. Completed in 1961 the new building housed a church, offices, parish center, kitchen, and school.

Historical information was taken from Nuestra Senora, Our Very Own, Saint Paul, Minn.: Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, [1981?].

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Eight volumes of baptismal, marriage, and death registers kept by a Catholic church serving a Mexican American community on the west side of Saint Paul.

Entries in each volume are arranged in chronological order and are preceded by an alphabetical index to surnames. Early entries include information on the births of individuals in Mexico and southwestern parts of the U.S. dating from 1863.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions:

Permission from the archdiocese is necessary for reproduction or publication. Copies of individual register pages are permitted.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item here]. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. Parish Registers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,951

The original registers are held by the Church. The master microfilm was produced by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and additional copies are available from the Archdiocesan Archivist.

Processing Information:

Processed by: Monica Manny Ralston, October 2002

Catalog ID number: 09-00323302

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A variety of print, manuscript, and sound and visual materials related to the Church and its activities are available in the Minnesota Historical Society library.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Church records and registers -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Registers of births, etc. -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Mexican Americans -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul -- Statistics, Vital.

Places:

West Side Community (Saint Paul, Minn.) -- Statistics, Vital.

Organizations:

Catholic Church -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul -- Registers.

Document Types:

Microforms.

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