ALTON – A Mass at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 21 commemorating the arrival of Luxembourgisch settlers in northwest Iowa will be held at the site of the original St. Donatus Church. The location is at the corner of 480th St. and Kingbird Ave. in rural Sioux County, about two miles southeast of Alton.
The Mass will be celebrated by Father Doug Klein, a member of the Luxembourg Heritage Society of Northwest Iowa which is sponsoring the remembrance.
The name “St. Donatus” commemorates the original “prairie church” established by Luxembourgisch immigrants who first arrived in northwest Iowa in 1870. In 1881, the settlers built a church on a plot about two miles southeast of what is now Alton. They named that first Catholic church St. Donatus in a salute to the community they had left in eastern Iowa.
In May, 1870, a group of 38 settlers left St. Donatus south of Dubuque and traveled across Iowa in ox-drawn wagons to settle on the virgin prairie. These pioneers were the nucleus of a strong community of Luxembourgers who still influence the culture of northwest Iowa today.
In 1897, the “prairie church” was torn down and the materials used to help complete St. Mary’s church in nearby Alton.
Recently, on January 1, 2025 St. Donatus Parish in Sioux County was formed when the congregations of St. Mary’s Parish in Alton, St. Joseph’s Parish in Granville, and St. Anthony’s Parish in Hospers merged. All three parishes have strong Luxembourg roots.
Everyone is welcome to join the Luxembourg Heritage Society for the Mass. In case of bad weather, Mass will be celebrated at St. Mary’s Church in Alton. Please bring a lawn chair. After Mass, everyone is welcome to join the Luxembourg Heritage Society at the Pizza Ranch in Orange City.