St. Anthony's Catholic Church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the

Diocese of Des Moines The Diocese of Des Moines () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in southwestern Iowa in the United States. It is a suffragan see in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque. ...

located on the south side of

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, United States. It 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 2021.

History

The first

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immigrants arrived in Des Moines in the 1870s, with most arriving between 1880 and 1915. They followed the

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lines to areas south of the

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Bishop Henry Cosgrove appointed the Rev. Francis Leonard to found St. Anthony's parish in 1898, but difficulties arose and the project came to an end. In 1906, Cosgrove assigned the Rev. Victor Romanelli to found the parish on Des Moines' south side. Romanelli was a native of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and had served parishes in

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and

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. He acquired an old fire station where he resided and where the parish's first

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

was celebrated on August 19. Property was acquired on Columbus Avenue and a small brick church was built there. The Rev. Michael Flavin, the pastor of St. Ambrose Church opposed the establishment of the parish and incorrectly insisted it was established as an Italian ethnic parish because he did not want to lose the parish territory or income. The Des Moines Diocese was established in 1911 and St. Anthony's transferred to the new diocese. A second floor was added to the church building and the parish school was opened in 1912 with the

Congregation of the Humility of Mary The Sisters of the Humility of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious congregation, founded at Dommartin-sous-Amance, France, in 1855. The community immigrated to the United States in 1864, and established themselves near New Bedford, Pennsylvania. Thi ...

providing the faculty. By 1956 it was the largest school in the diocese. The present brick

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

church was built in 1931 during the pastorate of the Rev. Cornelius Lalley (1928-1955).

References

External links

Parish website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Anthony's Catholic Church, Des Moines Christian organizations established in 1906 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Roman Catholic churches in Des Moines, Iowa Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Des Moines, Iowa Romanesque Revival church buildings in Iowa