Saint Donatus Catholic Church is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of the

Archdiocese of Dubuque The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. The Diocese of Dubuque was erected in 1837 and ...

located in the

Jackson County, Iowa Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,485. The county seat is Maquoketa. History The county was formed on December 21, 1837, and named after US President Andrew Jackson. I ...

community of St. Donatus. The patron of the parish and the town is

Saint Donatus of Muenstereifel In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Ortho ...

, whose ''cultus'' is popular in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

. The parish complex includes a church building,

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

, chapel and cemetery. They are all

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

in the Village of St. Donatus Historic District, which was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1989.

Description

The original church building, modeled after St. Boniface Church in New Vienna, was completed in 1858. It was destroyed in a fire on November 24, 1907. The exterior stone walls survived, and were used to build the present church. It was completed in 1908. The stone for the bell tower was quarried from the nearby bluffs. It is capped by a wooden steeple. There is little in the way of exterior ornamentation. The exterior stone walls have been covered with a coating of cement and lime. The parish cemetery is located behind the church. Some of the earlier graves are marked by elaborate iron crosses. Some of the early stone headstones were made in

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 59,667 at the 2020 United States census. The city lies along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region ...

, while others were created by 0. Wenzler of

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. The rectory, located next to the church, is a contemporary of the original church. It was built of stone that was quarried nearby and covered with light yellow/brown

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

. It is capped with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

that features cross

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...

windows. The moderate pitch of the roof and the lack of

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

are typical of traditional Luxembourg architecture. The parish is known for its outdoor

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

located on the hill behind the church. They were constructed in 1861 under the direction of the Rev. J. Michael Flammang, and may be one of the first developed in the United States. Each of the fourteen stations are , and are placed in open, arched entrances and gabled roofs. They are spaced at intervals of about along a dirt footpath that winds its way to the top of the bluff and the Pieta Chapel. During

Holy Week Holy Week () commemorates the seven days leading up to Easter. It begins with the commemoration of Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednes ...

the church sponsors a procession through the outdoor stations to the small chapel at the top of this hill. The chapel is modeled after the Chapel du Bildchen near

Vianden Vianden ( or (locally) ) is a commune with town status in the Éislek region, north-eastern Luxembourg, with a population of 2,203 as of 2023. It is part of the canton of the same name. Vianden lies on the Our river, near the border between ...

, Luxembourg. The simple cut-stone structure was completed in 1885. The exterior stone has been left bare, and has little ornamentation. A simple wooden bell tower is located above the front gable. File:St. Donatus Catholic Church Complex.jpg, Parish complex File:Cemetery behind St. Donatus Catholic Church.jpg, St. Donatus Cemetery File:Pieta Chapel.jpg, Pieta Chapel File:St Donatus, IA, USA - panoramio.jpg, One of the outdoor Stations of the Cross

References

{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque, state=collapsed Roman Catholic churches completed in 1908 Donatus Churches in Jackson County, Iowa Gothic Revival church buildings in Iowa Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Jackson County, Iowa Historic district contributing properties in Iowa 1858 establishments in Iowa 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States