HISTORY
Holy Trinity
The Church of the Holy Trinity was incorporated by Bishop John Ireland
in November 1917. However, it was not until June of 1940 that the first
resident pastor, Father J. F. Siegienski, was assigned.
Holy Trinity was initially a Polish parish and the Sacrament of Reconciliation
was given in Polish. The first mass was held on June 30, 1940.
The church building and the rectory were built by 1942 and the
church was blessed by Archbishop John Murray in 1942.
Monsignor Vincent Worzalla was named pastor in 1951 and
the new convent and school were constructed in 1954.
The convent housed the Felician Sisters from Chicago, who staffed
the school until 1978. Lay teachers have staffed the school since then.
In 1985, Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary
joined the parish staff and remained until 2000.
The convent (now known as the Parish Center) has been remodeled
and now provides office space for the school and parish.
In 1991, Holy Trinity Church celebrated its 50th Jubilee.
St Augustine
After being remodeled, expanded and reinforced with brick,
the parish was met with great tragedy. On March 31, 1923,
St. Augustine Church burned to the ground.
It was Holy Saturday, so Easter Masses were held at the Ideal Theater
at 8:00am and 10:00am that year. Doing their best to replicate structures
of the old church wherever possible, builders were able to construct the
current church structure for a Christmas Day 1924 opening.
St. Augustine parish was incorporated on June 11, 1896.
Fr. Joseph T. Busch was sent to South St. Paul to organize this new
parish and serve as its first pastor. Fr. Busch oversaw the building
of the church, organized the parish and even formulated a plan for tithing.
The new church was of wooden frame construction and the contract price of building was $2,250, “exclusive of the heating plant and stained glass.”
On August 30, 1896, Archbishop Ireland dedicated the new church which stood
on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Grand Avenue,
where Greystone Apartment building now stands.
Archbishop Hebda decreed that Saint Augustine church will be formally
designated as an Oratory - effective Monday, April 24, 2023 - on the Feast
of the Conversion of Saint Augustine. In reality, Saint Augustine church has been operating as an oratory of the Parish of Holy Trinity since 2010, when the two parishes of Holy Trinity and Saint Augustine were first merged.
This formalizes that reality under canon law.​