Welcome to Holy Trinity Oratory

History of Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity Oratory, New Denmark, is small in comparison with most Catholic churches. It currently has around 51 families. However, the church and parish grounds, including the cemetery, are maintained in excellent condition. The interior has pine-paneled walls and a beamed ceiling, part of the work accomplished when the church was completely remodeled in 1939. A large number of the parishioners are of Bohemian extraction, and the church is often referred to around the neighborhood as the “Little Bohemian Church”, and “Jak se Maj!” (How are you?) is a Bohemian greeting used in the parish to this day.

The land on which the church now stands was bought from Franz Kozlovsky on December 9, 1866, for $30. Originally, Catholics living in the area of the present church attended mass in the now ghost parish of St. Wencelaus in Green Street, nine miles away.

Charter members of the congregation were Kozlovsky, Nepomac Wanek, Casper Pociepicky, John Hanek, Frank Tuma, Frank Pelishek, Anton Shochpol, Frank Kapinos and Joseph Kapinos.

Parish men cleared the land and began the erection of a log church.

The logs were squared and the ends were flush. Hemlock logs were used and the building measured 24 by 36-ft. The gabled ends were boarded up and a chimney rose from the southwest corner.

It was roofed with long lasting pine shingles. Later, the log sides were covered with sawed siding. There was no vestibule but a 6 by 6-foot platform made ingress easier.

There was only one altar, the main one, and a sacristy was formed by a curtain hanging across the southeast corner. The inside walls were plastered and the ceiling covered with wainscoting.

The main altar was made by a local carpenter of wide, clear white pine. Each family made its own pew or had it made.

A box stove stood in the northwest corner, with the stovepipe running diagonally to the southwest corner chimney.

Father Gideon Mazanek, the Greenstreet pastor, who urged the construction of the church, offered the first mass in it.

In 1873, on Trinity Sunday, a dinner was scheduled at Kozlovsky hall following the parish's Feast Mass.

Father Mazanek came for the dinner, but complained of not feeling well. Off the kitchen was a small room, its floor thickly covered with shavings from making shingles. He laid down in shavings and asked that the priest in Cooperstown be summoned. Father Mazanek later died and is buried in the Greenstreet cemetery. Fr. Ludmissus Klacal, who followed Fr. Mazanek as Greenstreet pastor, came to Holy Trinity during the summer months only.

Around 1888, Rovnost National Cemetery, about 2 miles away, was founded by local members, allegedly over a disagreement over pew rent and overdue Church dues.

Later in the century the church then was abandoned and neglected.

Records in St. Francis Xavier Parish, Green Bay, indicate that for a time the mission was served from Green Bay, but to this day, original deeds to the church are not located and official “ownership” is unknown by local parishioners.

During the early days of the church, when a death occurred, Frank Vogltanz was called to measure the body for a coffin. He would then build the coffin of oak, scraping it with broken glass and polishing it with wax, while the neighboring women washed, dressed and prepared the body for burial.

In 1897, Father Max Oswald was appointed pastor of St. Mary’s, Glenmore. Enroute to his mission in Stark, he passed the then dilapidated and broken down church of the Holy Trinity.

He approached a member of the congregation, promising to offer mass twice a month if the church would be rebuilt.

In 1898, the log building was taken down, and the better logs were used. The men contributed each a portion of money, and one went to Denmark for a load of lumber, and the men worked on the church. This process was repeated until the church was finished.

Father Oswald had pews and altars installed.

Holy Trinity Mission has been served from Denmark since 1922 when Father Joseph J. Ahearn was appointed first resident pastor of All Saints’ Parish. Other pastors of Holy Trinity were Father Dusold, Father Jacobs, Father Short and Father John Gehl.

In 1929, records show that the original “DSA” was $50 per parish, as stated in a letter from Bishop Rhode, and pew rent was $12.