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Discovery Mid-America December 2009

‘Cathedral of the Plains’ a symbol of determined faith

Many travelers crossing Kansas on I-70, a few miles east of Hays, have caught a glimpse of a large stone church located south of the interstate. Even when viewed from a speeding car, the Saint Fidelis Church with its majestic twin towers conveys an air of imposing elegance on the flat prairie.

Returning from Denver recently, my wife and I decided to check out the “Cathedral of the Plains,” as the church is commonly known. Leaving the interstate, we drove two miles into the small town of Victoria, on a route we later learned was Cathedral Street.

St. Fidelis Church — just as impressive at street-level. (photos by Ken Weyand)

Driving down the wide street in Victoria’s downtown, we passed an antique store and other shops, and parked near the church. Another couple from New York arrived at about the same time, and we learned we were among the more than 16,000 who visit the church annually.

“We were driving by and noticed how impressive the church looked from the highway,” the woman said, as her husband took pictures. “I’m so glad we took time to see it.”

Imposing as it is when viewed from the outside, the sanctuary is even more awe-inspiring with its large stained glass windows at the front and transepts, granite columns and polished marble altar and pulpit. It is easy to see why the church’s 1,000 parishioners love their church.

Because it is not the home of a bishop, the church technically is not a cathedral, although it resembles one with its Romanesque style. In 1912, when William Jennings Bryan visited Victoria during his presidential campaign tour, he was so impressed with the church that he called it the “Cathedral of the Plains.” The name stuck.

Victoria, a town of 1,200, was settled in 1873 by Scottish immigrants, who named their settlement for Queen Victoria. They were led by George Grant, a breeder of Aberdeen Angus cattle, who went on to purchase thousands of acres in the region. Today, his stone house still stands and his cattle have become the U.S. standard for beef.

Interior of the church showing Romanesque columns and arches

In 1875, a group of Russian immigrants had settled nearby, naming their settlement of sod huts Herzog, after the town on the Volga River in their homeland of southern Russia. The 38 Scots who settled in Victoria to be gentlemen farmers soon discovered the harsh land resisted their farming efforts, and most of them returned to Scotland. But the hardier Herzog immigrants, known as Volga-Germans, who had come to America to escape forced service in the Czar’s army, were determined to stay and made Victoria their adopted home.

The Volga-Germans had brought with them an enthusiastic Catholic faith and a work ethic developed on the Russian steppes. Their first church was a wooden lean-to. But the following year, quarrying and hauling stone from the local area, the settlers built a larger church.

In 1878, they were joined by Capuchin Franciscans from Pennsylvania, who cared for the religious needs of several settlements in the area. The Capuchins built a third church in 1880 and led the effort to build the present church, which was started in 1908 and completed in 1911.

The exterior of the church is constructed of native limestone, which was excavated in the local area, hauled to the building site and dressed by local stonemasons. This was in the days before automatic lifts and power tools, and each stone weighed from 50 to 100 pounds. News accounts of the day show that men in some families hauled from 70 to 80 loads of stone.

Bedford stone, imported from Indiana, was used for the doorways, and also the bases, and capitals of the pillars inside the church. An artist worked for two years to shape the stone capitals.

Eighteen granite pillars came from quarries in Vermont. Weighing 10 to 15 tons, it took eight horses and 40 men to haul them from the railhead to the church site.

Marble is evident in pulpit and altar.

The pulpit and altar are white Carrara marble, cut and hand-polished in Italy. The sepulcher carved into the altar’s base contains sacred relics of saints, including Francis of Assisi.

The 100th anniversary of the laying of the church’s cornerstone was celebrated in October 2009, according to an article in the Hays Daily News. The reporter, Ryan Christner, wrote that many of the nearly 600 attending the event were direct descendents of those who had assisted with the church’s construction.

Bob Schmidtberger had attended St. Fidelis Church some 80 years ago when he was 3 or 4, and received his first Communion there when he was 6. Later he moved away, joined the military and worked in the Russell area. But the St. Fidelis Church and its community pulled him back and he returned to raise his family in Victoria.

Sharing the centennial of the cornerstone laying with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren was special to him. “It means a lot,” he stated in the newspaper.

Ivan Werner, a 39-year member of the church and chairperson on the centennial committee, expressed his admiration for the original immigrants. “They wanted to build a beautiful house of God that would hold the entire congregation and would last,” he said. “I think they achieved that entire goal.”

Go to www.stfidelischurch.com for more details.

Ken Weyand can be contacted at kweyand1@kc.rr.com.

> Traveling with Ken Archive — past columns

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