While St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Lemberg is not the oldest church in Saskatchewan, the historic building celebrated its 125th anniversary on Sunday. The Archbishop of Regina Don Bolen was present for the milestone celebration, in large part because of his connection to the community. “I grew up west of Gravelbourg in a little German settlement,” he said. “In fact, our next-door neighbour was a woman who married a farmer from there, but who is actually from here in Lemberg. So, the world is small, but just as our little community there, those communities were very close knit.” The church has stood since 1901 and according to Bolen, was built by stonemasons who came to the area from Austria-Hungary in Europe. The stonemasons erected the church with field stones. On Sunday, some odd 125 years later, nearly 180 people gathered to celebrate the building’s long-standing history. “People feel very attached to this church and to this community. Sometimes these churches in the country or in a very small towns were a real centre of life, of culture, of community and this is the case here,” said Bolen. After mass, Bolen blessed scores of tombs with holy water, in the cemetery right beside the community church. Many attendees paid tribute to their loved ones. And for some like Linda Krupski, the anniversary rekindled fond memories of her great-grandfather Wilhelm Sebastian Hanoski, who was one of the stonemasons who helped build St. Michael’s with their bare hands. “He [did] stonemasonry from the old country. He came over here along with other early settlers in the early 1890s and he oversaw the building of this church,” said Krupski. While the church has been in Krupski’s family since its inception, parishioner Sandra Yawney joined the congregation just eight years ago after moving to Lemberg from Regina. Yawney said she and her husband were welcomed with open arms. “They are such a tight community. So much love, so much sharing, so much volunteerism,” she said. “It’s amazing, we love it here. We actually bought plots this year, so we plan on being buried in the cemetery beside the church. It’s just a wonderful, wonderful place to live.” Yawney added that the parish is small but mighty, with around a dozen members currently. Organizers say seeing the amount of people who came to celebrate was well worth the effort that went into putting it all together. Lemberg is a town roughly 123 kilometres northeast of Regina.
