The Vidette-Messenger Centennial EditionThe 1936 special edition celebrating Porter County's centennial year . . . .
The following article has been transcribed from the August 18, 1936, issue of The Vidette-Messenger, published in Valparaiso, Indiana. This particular special edition focuses on Porter County's centennial celebration and contains a 94-page compendium of Porter County history up to that time.
Return to the index of articles from The Vidette-Messenger's Porter County Centennial special edition.
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso,
Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 4, Page 19.
SHRINE OF SEVEN DOLORES
Located in
Portage township, Porter county, about eight miles northwest of Valparaiso, is
the Shrine of Seven Dolores (meaning sorrows) a religious center of the Slovak
Fathers of the Franciscan order.
Started in 1931 by the Slovak Fathers through a gift of 100 acres of land by
John Petterhoff, Whiting attorney, through the cooperation of Rev. John G. Lach,
pastor of the Slovak Catholic church in Whiting, the ground have been
transformed into one of the show places of Porter county, visited by thousands
each year.
The location of the shrine and its surroundings are incorporated and subdivided
as the town of St. Francis.
The Shrine was built five years ago at a cost of $35,000, and in 1935 a
monastery, costing $31,000 was erected as the second unit in a $250,000
development. The latter, an eighteen room structure, is built along the lines of
old English manor house style of architecture.
Additional units are planned by the Fathers, the next being a nonsectarian high
school estimated to cost $100,000. The fourth unit is another monastery costing
$75,000. When this is completed the present monastery building will be used as a
guest home.
The Slovak branch of the order has been active in the United States for the last
eight years. In addition to the St. Francis house of the order, centers also
nuclide Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Clifton, N. J.
Rev. Paul J. Kulka, who was superior at the Seven Dolores Shrine and friary, and
Rev. Thomas Tomas, commissary, were transferred to Pittsburgh, Pa., last
November and Revs. Sylvester J. Jankols, of Pittsburgh; Raphael P. Chun?,
chaplain at Mount Assisit Academy, Bellevue, and Lamber J. Andrews, missionary,
were transferred to Seven Dolores Shrine and friary as superior, vicar and
discreet, respectively.
Article transcribed by Steven R. Shook