First Mass

November 1845

Photos

Documentation

• Historical marker database

Notes

First Norbertine rite in the US. The Premonstratensians are an ancient 12th-century order of Canons Regular. Father Inama arrived in the Wisconsin wilderness in late 1845. He constructed his log cabin church on a plot of land gifted to him by the famous Hungarian pioneer Count Agoston Haraszthy. From this base, he spent years riding circuit to serve German-speaking Catholic immigrants across the region. Though his early Austrian mission eventually faded due to a lack of local vocations, it laid the historical groundwork for the massive, permanent St. Norbert Abbey