Cathedral of the Plains : Kansas Landmark Is a Tribute to 19th-Century Missionaries, Immigrants

The Cathedral of the Plains is a remarkable testament to the piety of 19th-century immigrants and the hardy missionary friars who came to the Kansas plains to minister to them.

This Catholic church is officially called St. Fidelis Church, and it is not officially a cathedral, which is a bishop’s church. But the imposing structure, visible for miles from nearby Interstate 70, is one of the state’s most-recognized buildings and attracts more than 10,000 visitors a year.

“One of the popes once referred to us as the Marines of the church,” said the Rev. David Songy, a Capuchin friar who joined the order in 1982 and was ordained a priest in 1987. “We go where nobody else wants to go and try to serve the poor and needy.”

The Capuchins are a branch of the Roman Catholic religious order founded by St. Francis of Assisi. They take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Songy said, and their history in Kansas is intertwined with the settling of Ellis County and the construction of the church.

St. Fidelis Church, in a community of about 1,300 residents just east of Hays, is in the shape of a cross and changes color throughout the day as its limestone exterior reflects the sunlight.

It was nicknamed Cathedral of the Plains by William Jennings Bryan, a three-time Democratic presidential candidate who visited the church in 1912.

The church is 220 feet long and 110 feet wide and is topped by a statue of St. Fidelis on the roof peak some 75 feet above the ground.

The town was settled in 1873 by English immigrants who named the village for their queen. Two years later, the gentlemen farmers were joined by poor Volga Germans fleeing Russia to avoid forced military service in the czar’s army.

The new arrivals built a sod-hut village, and when the English found pioneer life too difficult and left, the Germans stayed on. Their village, named Herzog, absorbed the old one and took its name in 1913.

The mostly Catholic Germans at first worshiped around a large wooden cross in the center of the village. Their first church was a lean-to attached to a home. Traveling missionary priests came to celebrate Mass, and soon a permanent church was built.

“When the first Volga Germans came out here, they needed someone who spoke German,” said the Rev. Frank Grinko, a Capuchin who has been the parish priest since 1993. “Our province was originally from Bavaria.”

The Capuchin friars arrived in Ellis County in 1878 and prevailed on the Kansas Pacific Railway to donate 10 acres of land for a third church for the growing congregation.

That church stood for nearly 30 years, but its 600 seats were too few at a time when large families were common.

Construction began in 1908 on the current church, and it was finished in 1911. When it was dedicated that year, St. Fidelis Church--with room for 1,100 worshipers--was the largest west of the Mississippi River.

And it still is an active parish, with Saturday night and Sunday morning services filling about three-fourths of the church, Grinko said.

The church was named for its patron saint, St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a Capuchin who was martyred in 1622. Adjacent to the church is a friary, where the members live and where novices spend a year in training.

The Cathedral of the Plains is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a building of “architectural significance” and was designated by the State Historical Society as one of the religious treasures of the state of Kansas.

It is being renovated and repaired, and Grinko said its physical condition is a tribute to the settlers who built it.

“With a structure this large, we should expect the foundation to be shifting and expect cracks,” he said. “There are some, but they are minimal.”