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Inspired by Lamy and Machebeuf, American novelist Willa Cather told the story of their western mission in the classic 1927 novel “Death Comes for the Archbishop.”
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Father Jean Baptiste (Americanized to John Baptist) Lamy built this mission on Kaylor Ridge in extreme southwestern Holmes County, overlooking the Knox County line. The priest was centered in Danville but rode a circuit through the region from 1839-1848. He later became the Archbishop of Santa Fe.
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Father Machebeuf, a good friend of Lamy’s, was the priest for northern Ohio, centered in Sandusky. He went west as well, becoming the Bishop of Denver. He was remembered in Sandusky for tracking down parishioners to taverns and flogging them with a rawhide whip for drinking.
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The Saints Peter & Paul Church was built in 1857 in nearby Glenmont. It became the central Catholic church for the region. The St. Joseph mission ended around 1861.
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A handful of carved tombstones remain in the mission graveyard, though most have been broken off or removed.
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Field stones mark numerous other graves in the mission graveyard. At least a few dozen people are buried here, perhaps as many as 50.
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At the site of the St. Joseph Mission, only rough rock foundations remain. Looking north, the viewer can make out the smaller rectangle at the back of the building, and the larger rectangle closer to the road.
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From the front left corner of what was once the main sanctuary of the church, looking across the foundations toward the church graveyard.
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This small antechamber to the main room of the church may have been a sacristy where Father Lamy changed out of his traveling clothes and into his robes for services.
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A stained glass rendering of Jean Baptiste Lamy.
Newspack Team More by adminnewspack