Brief History of Holy Rosary Church
Brief History of Holy Rosary Church, Aurora MN
1908-Present
Established in 1903, the city of Aurora grew out of the mining locations and began to be built on the present site in 1905. The Catholic people of Aurora built a church in 1906 and were first served by a priest living in Eveleth. This community was officially incorporated as Holy Rosary Church on June 3, 1908.
On April 8, 1957, the church was destroyed by fire. Six months later construction began on the current church building which was completed in February 1959 and was dedicated by Bishop Lawrence Glenn on March 8, 1959.
In February-September 2015 we, merged with Queen of Peace, Hoyt Lakes and St. John’s, Biwabik to form Our Lady of Hope Parish. We are all members of the same parish, with one set of trustees, one Finance Council and one Pastoral Council.
Pastors (*and associate) who have served Holy Rosary Catholic Church:
Mission Pastors | |
M. Bilban | 1906-08 and 1916-17 |
Francis Saloven | 1911-13 |
Joseph Polak | 1913 |
Patrick J. Pirnat | 1913-1914 |
Richard O'Gorman | 1914-15 |
Anton Leskovic | 1916 |
John Bigley | 1917-18 |
A. L. Dufresne | 1918-19 |
Joseph L. Quillien | 1919 |
John Jershe | 1919-25 |
Resident Pastors | |
Aloysius L. Pirnat | 1908-11 |
John Jershe | 1927-30 |
Timothy Culligan | 1930-32 |
Thaddeus McCarthy | 1932-34 |
Patrick S. Flynn | 1934-46 |
Andrew P. Crawford | 1946-47 |
Edmund Mockler | 1947-49 |
David Taylor | 1949-52 |
Mirko K. Godina | 1952-59 |
Innocent Koncnik* | 1954-58 |
Steven Savinshek | 1958-72 |
Alvin Yard* | 1959-64 |
Cletus Pifher* | 1964-66 |
Herbert Graf* | 1966-67 |
John Dolsina | 1972-87 |
John Sustarsic | 1987-93 |
Peter Muhich | 1993-96 |
Joseph Sirba | 1996-03 |
David Forsman | 2003-07 |
William Skarich | 2007-08 |
Richard Banker | 2008-09 |
Keith Bertram | 2009 |
Steven Daigle | 2010-2016 |
Peter S. Lambert | 2016- |