History of St. Boniface

 St. Boniface Church
Ionia, Iowa
Established November 1899

On approaching the front entrance of St. Boniface Church, Ionia, Iowa the first thing one sees when they look above the front entrance is a piece of beautifully done art work. It depicts St. Boniface after he converted the Germans.  It was a donated gift in memory of early settlers in Ionia, Mr.& Mrs. Julius Feuling.  Who and where the art work originated is still a mystery.   

Once inside the church and into the main area, one sees the beautiful and unusual altars.
The altars at St. Boniface, Ionia are worth a trip to come and see.  When, a decade or two ago, the edict came down for altars to be removed this parish made the wise decision to keep the altars and put the new style altar in front of the original altar. The original tabernacle on this altar is still being used.

These altars, believe it or not, were second hand, and came from St. Luke’s church, 
St. Lucas, Iowa, about 1914. St. Luke’s had built a bigger church and needed bigger altars. Several people told us that the altars were hauled to Ionia on horse drawn hay wagons.  We have not been able to document where or who built these magnificent altars, but it is believed they were constructed about 1870.

When they arrived in Ionia, our church was not yet ready for them and they needed a few additions to fit our needs, the main altar was made wider by Philip Goetzinger, brother of the resident priest.  He widened the main altar to add spaces for the statues of St. Teresa the Little Flower and St. John Vianney who were both canonized in 1925, and our priest Fr. Charles Goetzinger, probably wanted to be the first to honor those saints.  The only way to note the widening is to view the altars from the back side and note the difference in the wood and to closely view the picture of the altars in their original home in St. Lucas.

The marble columns on the altar are not marble, the gold inlay is not gold, it is all wood painted to look like marble and gold.  All painted by Philip Goetzinger. 
Mr. Goetzinger was a true master craftsman and artist.  He had a real passion for his work.  His mastery of carpentry not only shows in the altars but in the vestry cabinets as well.  His artistic talent shows in his paintings on the altar and also in the restoration work done on some of the statues. 

In 1941 the church was vandalized by an angry woman and Mr. Goetzinger was not sure if he would be able to repair the damage done to several statues because of his poor health.   The vandalized statues were repaired and one of them, a kneeling angel is used on the original altar for special occasions, such as Christmas.

Another unique feature of the altar is the three lighted scenes at the base of the altar.  Each depicts a part of the life of Christ.

The windows in the church are not the original windows; the original windows were blown out April 1948 when a killer tornado came through Ionia.  Five persons were killed in the storm, 3 were members of St. Boniface parish.   In May 1949, eight new windows were installed in the main part of the church, and a large semi-circular medallion style window was installed in the choir area.  A few original windows still exist in the stairwell to the choir and in the sacristies.

St. Boniface parish was officially established November 1, 1899. The first church was a very simple wooden structure.  The current structure was begun in 1920, after a very bad, near tornado like storm badly damaged the original wooden structure.  In 1921 the first service were held in the new church, which at that time was only the basement area, however it was constructed in such a way that there were windows in the church at ground level.  In 1927 they were still using the basement but work on the upper part was slowly being done as money was available.  Then the economy got really bad and the finishing of the church was again delayed.  Bazaar, dinners, dances, parades, and many, many fund raisers were held in an effort to finish the church.

August 1930 the “Dyersville Commercial” newspaper reported that the church was celebrating the installation and dedication of the bells in the impressive bell tower.

And September 1931, John Goetzinger, a general blacksmith in Dyersville completed an unusual piece of art, a cross in the form of a monstrance,  which was placed on the tower of St. Boniface. The cross, fashioned from mild steel and finished in gold leaf.

That report (1931) also stated that the church, under construction for fourteen years, was nearing completion.  It stated that the brick work was done by a single brick layer. Much of the construction work was credited to Otto and Edward Goetzinger, sons of John Goetzinger.  Several men in the Ionia area report to also have worked on the building, by carrying bricks up narrow gang-planks to the highest points of the structure, to anchoring the bells in the bell tower and many other very hard labor parts of the construction. 
Records also show that the ladies of the parish cooked many, many chicken dinners, and hosted many events to raise money so the work on the church could be finished. 

It took many additional years to put the finishing touches on the church.  The hard wood floors were not installed until 1938. The interior was not painted until 1958. 
The interior was repainted in 1998 in preparation for our centennial in 1999. 
The “crown” or cupola was removed from the bell tower in 1989, because the tower was considered structurally unsound.  The bells are no longer rung, but the songs are still sung. 

For the celebration of our centennial in 1999 a new altar was designed and consecrated by Bishop Jerome Hanus.  The new altar mimics the design of the original altar but is in natural wood and again this new altar is in the center of the sanctuary in front of the original altar, it was not removed.

August of 2000 when Rev. John Hemann was pastor, our parish was clustered with Immaculate Conception, North Washington, and St. Michael, Nashua.  Later the cluster was changed to include, Lourdes, Alta Vista, and Elma and we were called the “six pack”.  In 2005 another cluster formation was determined, and in that cluster were St. Boniface, Ionia; Immaculate Conception, North Washington;  Holy Family, New Hampton. 

Priests who have served St. Boniface: 
Rev. Michael William McCarthy, Nov. 1899 to May 1900; Rev. J. Molloy May 1900-Nov. 1900; Rev. H. H. Forkenbrock Nov. 1900-Dec. 1905; Rev. Peter Puetz, 1906-May 1916; Rev. Charles B. Goetzinger, May 1916-June 1945; Fr. Arthur F. Stirn, June 1945-July 1953; Fr. Joseph Bohr, July 1953-Sept 1954; Fr. Joseph Schemmel, Sept. 1954-March 1966; Rev. A. D. Gibbs, March 1966- August 1967; Rev. Joseph Heineman, August 1967- July 1979; Msgr. Frederick Heles, July 1979- June 1987; Rev. Francis Perry July 1987- July 2000; Rev. John Hemann, August 2000- June, 2005; Msgr. Carl Schmitt, July 2005 – June 2010, Fr. Mark Osterhaus July 2010-present.