The first Roman Catholics in
Perry County settled around Somerset in the early 1800's. It was the Dittoe and Finck families who petitioned the Bishop
of Baltimore to send them a priest to minister to their spiritual needs.
In response to their request, Father Edward Dominic Fenwick, a
Dominican, came to Somerset and started a parish. It was those Catholic
farmers and merchants that built the first Catholic church in Ohio two
miles outside Somerset. In that church, St. Joseph’s, the first Mass was
said on December 6, 1818.
From St. Joseph's, the Dominican priests (officially called the Order
of St. Dominic or the Order of Preachers) spread Catholicism throughout
Perry County. From St. Joseph's, they rode circuit to the other towns
and areas of the county where they established mission churches. In the
order of their establishment, the Dominican Fathers started Junction
City, St. Patrick (1820); Deavertown, St. Barnabbas (1822); Somerset,
Holy Trinity (1827); Rehoboth, St. Louis Bertrands (1832); Monday Creek,
St. Peter [the Old Stone Church] (1845); McCluney, St. Dominic (1849);
South Fork, St. Pius V (1853); and finally New Lexington, St. Rose of
Lima (1867).
The original congregation of St. Rose numbered about 15 families and
met in private homes for Mass every other Sunday. In 1868 they bought a
brick building from Samuel Koonts which stood at the site of the present
day church. They used this as a church until they built the present
structure in 1880.
In 1872, the Diocese of Columbus was established by the Holy See. To
its first bishop, Sylvester Rosecrans, the Dominicans turned over all
their Perry County parishes except the two in Somerset. The bishop
appointed the first resident pastor for St. Rose of Lima in April 1876.
He was Father Philip Meschenmoser, a German Jesuit, who was exiled from
his homeland because of the policies of Bismarck during his Kulturkampf. Fr. Meschenmoser built the rectory and the present day St. Rose Church.
His name appears in the first stained glass window on the right side of
the church. Bishop John A. Watterson of Columbus dedicated the church in
1881.
The tower was added to the church in 1885 and in 1902, after a fire
in the church, the interior was lengthened by 30 feet. The current pipe
organ was purchased for $2,000 and installed in 1908. Various pastors
over the years have organized the people of the parish to paint,
decorate, or renovate the interior of the church.
On October 2, 1912, St. Rose school was opened with four classrooms,
116 pupils, and four Franciscan Sisters as teachers. In 1922, two more
classrooms were added to the school. The school continues to excel with
over 140 students, 10 lay teachers, and nine classrooms.
St. Rose of Lima Catholic parish is a one of four parishes in the
Perry County Consortium of Catholic Churches. The parish serves as
the host for the consortium office and the pastor's rectory. The
three other parishes of the consortium are St. Patrick of Ireland
(Junction City, OH); St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Corning, OH); and Church
of the Atonement (Crooksville, OH). Mass is celebrated every day
of the week at St. Rose and on the weekend throughout the consortium
parishes. Approximately
525 Catholic families worship at St. Rose Church at one of the three
Masses on any given weekend.
