St. Martin Chapel ‘a little jewel’ under restoration

There’s not much that Sister Jane Frances Mullaney gets nostalgic about, but she admits that the historic St. Martin Chapel in Sturgis often leaves her a little teary-eyed.

“If I’m nostalgic for anything in Sturgis, I am for that chapel,” said the Benedictine nun, who professed final vows there in 1938. “The frescoes on the ceiling are just so beautiful. I don’t very often want to cry, but every time I go there, I’m moved by its beauty.”

The public will get a chance to see the chapel’s beauty, and its ongoing restoration project, during the ornate church’s annual Memorial Day open house on Monday, May 28. Bishop Robert Gruss of the Diocese of Rapid City celebrates Mass there at 8:30 a.m. on Memorial Day. The chapel will be open to the public until 2 p.m. that day.

Often described as “a little jewel,” the 1911 chapel has a simple exterior that belies its interior. It was completed and dedicated in 1912 to serve both the nuns of St. Martin’s Convent and students at St. Martin’s Academy, which were located in Sturgis from the time of the nuns’ arrival in 1889 until they moved their monastery and school to Rapid City in 1962. They shared the church with the community of St. Aloysius parish until 1950, when another Catholic church was built in Sturgis.

Sr. Jane Frances, who grew up in a Sturgis family, recalls how the monastic nuns were cloistered from the main congregation during parish masses. They worshipped in two private side chapels that were enclosed by lattice work walls.

As a member of the St. Martin Chapel Restoration Committee, Joanne Harmon works to preserve both a historic community building and a family memory.

“My grandfather built it,” Harmon said of the ornate Catholic chapel. Her grandfather, Henry Bruch, and Nick Keffeler constructed the church as the capstone of a Benedictine campus that included a convent, school and dormitory at the west end of Sherman Street. The chapel is the last remaining structure on the property that adjoins St. Aloysius Cemetery. The others were destroyed by fire or neglect, and the intervening decades weren’t kind to the chapel, either, which was owned and used by other organizations over the years. Since 1987, the historic chapel has been owned by the St. Aloysius Cemetery Association, which is part of the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church parish.

“I look around and see so many old buildings destroyed or taken out. There’s not much left in our town. … And I think this is really important to the history of our community,” Harmon said.

Harmon was in the first graduating class of Rapid City’s St. Martin Academy. Keeping the memory alive of the St. Martin Academy years requires that the building be maintained and preserved, she said. “If you don’t have something to point to … how are you going to pass on that history to future generations?”

The restoration work began in 1989 with a new roof, restored exterior walls and extensive interior work. Half of the church’s stained glass windows are sealed with protective clear coverings, and the remainder will be paid for with about $20,000 in grant funds expected from the Deadwood Historical Preservation Foundation, Harmon said. In 2001, the committee spent about $15,000 to repair and restore a damaged stained-glass window. The rotted wood floor in the basement was removed, and a new concrete floor will be laid this summer.

“It’s beautifully restored,” Sr. Jane Frances said. “In my heart, I wanted to go back to that chapel in Sturgis.”

“We’ve been really blessed by generous donations from people who have gone to school there, and people just interested in preserving our heritage,” Harmon said. One of the project’s principal donors is former student V.J. Skutt, former chairman of the Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co.

Still, the restoration committee is always fundraising. “Fish suppers during Lent, an occasional Bingo game; church breakfasts. Anything we can do to raise a little money,” Harmon said.

Today, the chapel is used occasionally for weddings, funerals and an annual Christmas Eve mass by the St. Francis of Assisi parish. In addition to its religious art and stained glass, the chapel’s interior offers something else of beauty, says Gloria Takahashi, church secretary at St. Francis: Exceptional acoustics. “It’s one of those old churches that you don’t need a microphone to hear in. It has great acoustics,” Takahashi said.

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com.