Rosiere, Misiere, Crud, Leccia and the Belgian Church

Rosiere straddles the Kewaunee-Door County line. Misiere is in Door County, a stone's throw to the northwest. Both were small Belgian Catholic communities that had churches and, eventually,  post offices. To name their community Misiere - a loosely translated French word suggesting misery and poverty - reflects the plight of the Flemish Belgians who settled there. A translation of Rosiere, a Walloon Belgian community, is just the opposite, suggesting promising, optimistic, or even smelling like a rose.

Throughout the history of the world, religion has been the root of hatred and wars. For the Catholic Belgians along the county line, it was a war of words. While hatred may indeed be a strong word, records suggest it was not so far off. While the accounts of the rift do not always agree chronologically, they all point to discord within the Belgian church. A history of the Green Bay Diocese indicates Father Wilkins was the first resident pastor at Robinsonville in 1862 and thus served all the Belgian settlements, most of which were strong enough to support their own priests by 1875.

Jennifer Neinas wrote in her student paper Ghost Parishes, presented at UW-Green Bay on April 28, 1994, that what is St. Hubert today was built in 1866 as St. John the Baptist, the first church built in the Rosiere-Misiere area about 1/2 mile to the northeast of the present church. An undated interview of Father Becker indicates St. John's was built in 1864. Disagreements began after it was destroyed in the horrendous Peshtigo fire of 1871. Those who wanted Rosiere as a church site heard rumors of a post office there and felt they could pick up mail on church days. The small business community included both a blacksmith shop and a wagon shop, and there were rumors of a county line highway in the offing. Misiere folks, however, felt the distance was too great for travel in winter. Father Becker also said that if a visiting priest didn't arrive on time at the "schismatic church," - St. Michael's in Misiere - a lay trustee conducted mass.

A few years following the destruction of the Rosiere church, Father Phillip Crud built a new edifice on the same site. Emanuel Wynkers won the contract, dated June 13, 1874, to build that church. Francois Barbiaux was a manual laborer and a mason's helper who was contracted to work at 81 1/2 cents per day to be paid by January 1, 1876. His contract stipulated that if he quit before the church was completed, the trustees would owe him nothing. On November 1, 1875 a list was drawn up of articles from the debris of the burned and torn down church that were sold by Pierre Charles. Items also included materials left over from masonry when the new church was finished.

Not long after, in 1878, Jesuit priest Father Erasmus Leccia built St. Michael's in Misiere, however Bishop Krautbauer felt the new church was too close to Rosiere and did not approve construction.  Before 1878, Misiere was supposed to be a mission of Rosiere, however a deed regarding the first Misiere church was dated in 1864, the year in which the first Rosiere church was built. PenBel tells us that St. Michael’s was the first Catholic church built in the Town of Brussels at Misiere about 1865 on land donated by Adrian Francois. PenBel also says that the church was destroyed in the Peshtigo fire and a new one built in 1878. The society says that sometime later, fire destroyed the Misiere rectory and because the congregation was unable to build a new one, the church became a mission of St. Hubert of Rosiere.

Both of the early churches were built before the Green Bay Diocese was organized in Spring 1868. When the Misiere church wardens, or trustees, wrote to Bishop Krautbauer on November 7, 1877, they asked for blessings and then informed the bishop of "neighborhood gossip" and the doings of Father Crud. Keeping silent until then, the trustees felt they "must speak up about his antics." They went on to say that since his arrival he had not stopped stirring up trouble, going around the Rosiere congregation counseling people "get rid of the present priest" so he (Crud) can take his place. The trustees said Father Leccia was a worthy man although when he arrived nobody knew him and at first they didn't want him. Crud said that both Leccia and (Edouard) Daems were "troublesome, meddlesome priests of the diocese." The trustees said they liked Leccia who taught religion and the word of God while Crud just told stories. "We have become two families, " said the trustees, "the family of the servant girl Crud married" who is his housekeeper. "They make trouble for the priest and for the congregation who loves and respects their priest." The trustees wanted Crud sent away because there was no peace among the Belgians. Leccia denounced the Rosiere faction as being blackhearted while those from Misiere were as white as snow. The "black people" and the "white people" kept the feud going.

Krautbauer received another petition, this time from those who said that the trustees' letter was false. Bishop Krautbauer was petitioned by the members of the Rosiere parish who asked him to "Please send back our good Father Crud." The petition suggests that Crud had gone to France at the time. Included in the petition was the fact that "he works here with great zeal in a land without roads" to establish Belgian congregations. It further said he visited the sick in winter and traveled through swamps and snowstorms to go 30 miles to visit the feeble and dying. The petition pointed out that the saintly Crud lived there for 13 years and wanted to die there. He saw the dissolution of the congregation with the worst possible leader and felt the flock was scattered by a large wolf. It went on to report that the "wolf has blood dripping" and asked the bishop how he could wish "people don't revolt against Leccia" as Leccia caused suffering for the humble sisters at the chapel.*

According to the trustees, that petition came from the housekeeper and her husband whom, the trustees said, collected signatures by handing out whiskey. Some of the signatures belonged to those not of the congregation. If the bishop needed further information, the trustees were prepared to send it. J.J. Gilson, Prosper Naze and J.B. Denis were three of the five trustees whose signatures were decipherable.

Found in the archives at St. Peter, Lincoln, was somewhat of a history that Father Crud wrote on July 12, 1878. In it he recalled his appointment as pastor at Robinsonville in November 1864, at which time he was "in charge of all the Belgian colony and the Irish Congregation at Casco." He told of serving 10 missions every month for six years and building churches at Casco, Walhain, Thiry Daems, Delwiche, Little Sturgeon, Dyckesville and Marchand as well as a convent at Robinsonville. When Crud said he built those churches, he no doubt meant that he assisted in a physical sense: Crud was a mason. Crud talked about Bishop Melchers appointing Father Vermare as Rosiere's first resident pastor in 1869. Vermare left the following year. Crud said he came to Rosiere in 1876 when he built the replacement church. An addendum by one unidentified said there appeared to be no resident priest at Rosiere in the intervening years, but that Father Smett of Dyckesville took care of Rosiere in 1872. The addendum indicates that Father Leccia came in 1878 and in 1879 Rosiere became a mission of Lincoln. Father LePage came in 1880. Father Vaillent came right after and stayed until 1883.

Crud's 1878 St. Peter's history reported that the "great majority of Belgian people remain faithful to the Catholic faith and proved always very devoted to their beloved pastors," but goes on to say that among the immigrant families were "two or three apostate, calling themselves evangelist protestants." He continued saying they requested services of the protestant minister at Robinsonville, and with the assistance of a French lawyer, tried by all means, including money, to "seduce" the faithful of Grandlez.* Fourteen Catholic families "fell into protestant heresay (sic), calling themselves sometimes Presbyterians, sometimes Baptists or Millenarians."

A letter from Bishop Krautbauer on February 13, 1880 said that if the schismatic Belgians - those at Misiere - returned and were obedient and penitent, they would be treated mildly. He said they must be absolved from excommunication according to Roman Ritual and then admitted to the sacraments. As for Father Leccia, the Bishop demanded submission. He wanted Leccia to submit to a theology exam as Leccia said he studied in Rome. Leccia made two requests to see Krautbauer but Krautbauer refused, saying he had no patience with" maliciousness and mendaciousness." He said Leccia was without humility and was shameful. In April, Father Katzer* was apparently writing for the bishop when he said Leccia refused to accept the bishop's conditions and had 8 days to retract and renounce his falsehoods. Katzer also  complained about the Jesuits.

Father Francis Valliant (or Vaillant) wrote on November 21, 1882 that he was the pastor of St. Hubert, Rosiere, having been delegated by Bishop Krautbauer. He said he had blessed St. Michael's Church at Misiere which had been built by a schismatic priest. A few years later, on October 5, 1886, Krautbauer was invited by Rosiere pastor Father Rogers to confirm the children of St. Hubert, St. Michael, St., Francis Xavier, St. John Baptist* and St. Joseph. He did at what was called a simple, elegant event where the Rosiere band played beautiful sacred music as the children processed and the people knelt for a blessing. Luxemburg's pastor Father Drews said a high mass. Father Sellbach, a Green Bay pastor, gave a simple but excellent instruction* in French and Bishop Krautbauer gave a "learned and solid talk."*

A Diocesan letter dated December 15, 1887 (could be 1889) indicated Bishop Joseph Fox was another who did not approve St. Michael's as it was too close to St. Hubert's, and that he did not want a "saloon next to every church." Fox maintained that an old proverb said, "Wherever God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel. But in America, it is surely apparent that it must be said that wherever there is a saloon, people want a church."

Fox's letter went on to say that the oldest church - St. Hubert - is the mother church and if farmers can go 10 or 17 miles from Cooperstown to Green Bay, they can go 2 1/2 miles to Rosiere. It was said that if the people of St. Michael join St. Hubert and submit to ecclesiastical authority and "take either a pew or pay $5 for one" toward the priest's salary at St. Hubert, St. Michael would be recognized as a chapel and mass for the dead would be said several times a week. Again the parish failed to be approved.

A letter on February 10, 1888 was addressed "To Our Brothers, the Catholics of our diocese residing in the woods of the Peninsula." It addressed the issue of a "declared irregular" (lay person) saying "Holy Mass" and required attendance at mass on Sundays and Holy Days under "the pain of mortal sin." The letter continued about the many  who have the "fervor and piety and faith enough to go 5, 6, 7, even 10 miles to Church and assist at the Holy Sacrifice and hear the word of God." Continuing, "We regret to have to say there are too many negligent ones who believe they have done their duty when they has assisted at a Mass sung by a lay clerk. This is a false mass." The letter said only properly ordained priests were successors to the apostles and that, "a fake Mass done by a clerk has less value than one rosary."

Fox apparently was following precedents set by Krautbauer years earlier. In an undated letter signed by Bishop Krautbauer, the people were told that if they were too poor to support a priest, they should go to the church nearest to them even if it was as much as 10 miles away. He seemed to indicate that the father the travel, the greater the merit. He meant lay-said masses when he said the "evil custom" was detrimental to religion and needed to be done away with. He closed in saying,  "In place of it, say a rosary with the litany and sing hymns in your own language when no priest is present." Krautbauer also said any priest who might happen to see "your way of having mass" couldn't help but laugh at its silliness and would say he had never seen the likes of it. "Brothers, we hope you will obey this order and that our dear priests will insist upon it being carried out with all their power."

By the time Father C. Mickers arrived in Rosiere on April 15, 1896, it appeared that Belgian Catholics of Rosiere and Misiere were much less at odds. Mickers wrote telling of his trip from Hoboken to Rosiere, a trip that started with meeting Father Wilkens, Robinsonville's first appointed resident pastor in 1862. From Hoboken Mickers took a 28 hour train ride to Chicago where he was met by Prior Pennings and others. He told about the trip to Green Bay and then starting off by buggy for Martinville (Duvall) where they'd intended to be by noon. Weather was bad and the buggy and all clothing was full of mud, prompting the comment that buggies would not be on such roads in the old country.

Mickers told of arriving in Dyckesville where he had beer while the others had coffee. Then it was off to Delwiche where they arrived toward evening and covered with more mud that didn't seem to bother anybody other than Mickers. They were met at Delwiche by one from Rosiere who wanted to know when they would arrive so he could alert the Rosiere band. When Mickers arrived in Rosiere, church bells rang, trustees came to the house and a housekeeper brought in food. Mickers told of St. Michael's sacristan coming to call. He courteously rang the bell while the other just walked in. Father Mickers felt those who walked in the back door without any formality was suggestive of American liberty or equality.

Mickers said a list of parishioners hung in the back of the church. Ninety-four families were Belgian while 12 were either German or Bohemian. Twenty-five more families were from St. Michael's where Father Mickers had mass every two weeks and on special occasions.

Jim Hale's Going for the Mail tells us the post offices at Leccia and Minor were a result of religious unrest among the Belgians from the 1870s to the 1890s which gave rise to both a Spiritualist and an Old Catholic movement. Hale says the Leccia office was named for Father Erasmus Leccia who started an "Independent Catholic Society based on rejection of papal authority." He says Leccia built the church in 1860. He continues saying that when Leccia reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church, some of his "indignant parishioners" applied for a new post office to be named Minor as a protest. There were proposals in 1880 to name the post office Misiere or Masse but postal records indicate such proposals were turned down in favor of Leccia. When Minor was approved, the post office was moved about a half mile east of the Leccia office on the northeast corner of what is now Misiere Road and Door County Highway J.

Krautbauer's notes indicate when he arrived in 1878, there was a petition to build in Section 21 or 23 in the Town of Brussels. Fathers Crud and Daems were against it, and the church was built without consent. The bishop said no to the naming of St. Michael's and said it was too close to St. Hubert and that he would not allow a church next to every saloon. In November 1864, the bishop appointed the pastor at Robinsonville to be in charge of all the Belgians. This is indeed confusing as Krautbauer served from 1875-1885, so he had arrived prior to 1878. Fox was quite specific about his feelings on saloons, but perhaps he knew Krautbauer's feelings. The 1864 appointment seems confusing as the Green Bay Diocese was not formed until 1868. Northeast Wisconsin was then a part of the Diocese of Milwaukee.

Additional Notes:
  *Champion was the original Robinsonville. Sr. Adele Brise suggested the name of Champion because of the Belgian convent she wanted to enter before her family immigrated. It was today's Champion to which Wilkens was appointed.
  *St. John Baptist was the name of the first church on the site that became St. Hubert in Rosiere. The church was called St. John Baptist in 1886  was sometimes called Robin's Church, and was destroyed by fire in 1894. Its cemetery remains.
  *Grandlez is is known as Lincoln, in Kewaunee County, today. Dictionary.com defines Millenarium as an adjective meaning "of or pertaining to a thousand, especially the thousand years of the prophesied millennium or pertaining to the millennium, especially of Christian prophecy, or millennialism: millenarian zeal." As a noun, the word means "a believer in the coming of the millennium."
  *Ferdinand Katzer served as 3rd Bishop of the Green Bay Diocese from 1886-1891.
  *The letter is dated, however the website for the Green Bay Diocese indicates Krautbauer served as the Diocese's 2nd bishop from 1875-1885.

Sources: Jim Hale, Going for the Mail c. 1996; Jennifer Neinas, Ghost Parishes c. 1994;Knnerwurf, Sharp & Johnson Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County c. 2010; St. Joseph Catholic Parish, Champion, Wisconsin, 1862-2012; letters in the ARC at UW-Green Bay; website for PenBel (Peninsular Belgian Society); website for the Diocese of Green Bay. The postcard and undated picture of St. Michael's from Door County Advocate are in the blogger's collection.