Sacred Heart (Eagle Grove, Iowa)

Sacred Heart (Eagle Grove, Iowa)

"Foreseeing the need for a much larger church, Father Kortenkamp worked with his assistant, Father Joseph Brinkmann, to plan and construct the present Gothic style church with twin spires towering over 200 feet, until recent years the largest church in the state. Three months after Father Kortenkamp’s death, the church was dedicated in 1889. In 1950 a north entrance was added and the church was consecrated in 1955. When Cardinal Konrad von Preysing of Berlin visited Dyersville to bless a school site in 1947, he was so impressed with the huge, stately Gothic church and the almost total Catholic population, that he said, “How wonderfully appropriate it would be, if this lovely church could be raised to a basilica.” Pope Pius XII granted the request in 1956. The Basilica of Saint Francis Xavier is one of 32 basilicas in the United States."

- Rev. Msgr. Edgar Kurt, Saint Francis Xavier Parish, Dyersville, Parish Profile #42, The Witness, September 27, 1987.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque.
The Center for Dubuque History at Loras College.

Loras College
Kucera Center for Catholic Thought
Frank and Ida Goedken Series: "Spiritual Life in the Upper Mississippi River Valley"

Burback, Emily. Burns, Daniel. Gibson, Michael. Oberfoell, Carol. Waldmeir, Helen. Waldmeir, John.

English.

Various primary and secondary sources.

Ca. 1875/1890-
History of the parish over the span of 143 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.

Annual Parish History Update for the Archives (2 documents0
Committees (1 document)
Correspondence (1 document)
Disbursements from the Bingo Charity Fund (1 document)
History (5 documents)
Pastor cards (1 document)
Pastor List (1 document)
Photograph (1 document)