Tiny Catholic Chapel turns 100
Cherylynn Fausel
Reprinted from the October 2007 issue of New Earth

Out on the corner of a country road sits a solitary chapel, just large enough to house an altar, a few religious artifacts, a priest and two altar servers. St. Joseph’s Chapel, the smallest Catholic chapel in North Dakota, probably in the entire United States, celebrated its 100th birthday on Aug. 3.

“So each man donated $17 for a total of $102 which they used to erect St. Joseph’s Chapel in 1907. In addition to the money collected, Wosick donated the land and Kosmatka donated his time and talent as the architect and carpenter, who whittled all the crosses and trim by hand. This tiny chapel expressed the faith of the settlers in the Red River Valley just as the small chapels and field crosses did that were erected in their homeland of Poland.”

A living testimony of the birth of the chapel is Isabel Klave. Klave is the daughter of Kosmatka. Klave is 106 years old, lives in the Sunset Nursing Home in Grafton, and still remembers how her father helped build the chapel, said Father Kleinschmidt.

Another piece of history Father Kleinschmidt shared is that the first Mass at St. Joseph’s Chapel was offered by Father Matthew Gawkwicz in the fall of 1907. The pastors of St. Stanislaus in Warsaw have been responsible for offering Mass each summer there throughout the years ever since then, usually in June.

The chapel’s caretakers are the owners of the land St. Joseph’s is built upon, John and Geraldine Bishop. The Bishops have been lovingly caring for the chapel since they bought their land in 1959. The chapel is in their backyard so they easily make daily visits to it. Geraldine Bishop said they “patrol it everyday and clean up after the visitors.” Bishop said now-a-days many visitors are disrespectful. They litter and vandalize the chapel, and at night they break-in and use it as a place to drink so the clean-up is often daily. However when visitors come to pray, and show the reverence the chapel deserves, being custodians of the chapel is rewarding.

Bishop’s husband, John, grew up near the chapel and recalls when, every Friday night, the Rosary would be prayed there, often by candlelight. He walked three miles each way to the chapel just to pray the Rosary. “Back then, Catholics were stricter,” added Bishop wistfully.

The chapel is open during daylight hours year-round for visitors and the Bishops have tried to maintain a guest book for people to sign. “The guestbook is now a notebook since the vandals steal the books, but we just keep replacing them,” said Bishop. The most notable visitor that signed the guestbook was ‘Bill Clinton,’ Bishop joked.

The Bishops were the primary planning committee for St. Joseph’s centennial celebration, being responsible for the advertising and organizing the set up and the refreshments served after the Mass. “We are just trying to keep the tradition going,” said Bishop.

The chapel was renovated this past summer for the centennial celebration with fresh paint and some new siding. The crosses were also repaired. “The celebration also meant something a little more this year since it seemed like an act of reparation. On Good Friday this year, someone broke into the chapel, even though it was locked, and stole two statues, one of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the other of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We have two temporary images of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus up there for now, at least until we can find two matching replacement statues that are 18 inches in height. Even with the act of vandalism, it hadn’t dampened the peoples’ desire to go out there in a mini-pilgrimage in honor of St. Joseph,” said Father Kleinschmidt. “We offered this Mass in honor of St. Joseph both in thanksgiving and in praying for a good harvest.”