March 19, 1878

The first recorded mass in Logan County was celebrated, following the arrival of Father Wolfgang Schlumpf, Brother Casper Hildesheim, and Brother Hilarin Benetz from St. Meinrad’s Abbey in southern Indiana. The party had headed for Arkansas in a mule-drawn wagon with the purpose of helping to establish a German Catholic colony in Arkansas. Their destination was St. Bernedict’s Colony near Paris (Logan County), which evolved over the next hundred years to become Subiaco Abbey and Academy.