Rev. James D. Conley, D.D., S.T.L. | Diocese of Lincoln website

St. Benedict Parish in Nebraska City holds the distinction of being the oldest parish in the Diocese of Lincoln. Its origins trace back to 1856, when Father John Cavanaugh became the first priest to visit the city. By 1859, Father Francis Cannon had only $3.50 available to construct a makeshift altar in a storeroom.

In 1860, James O’Gorman, who was then the second bishop of the Vicariate of Nebraska, blessed the cornerstone of St. Benedict Parish. The following year, Father Emmanuel Hartig completed the construction of a brick church, which cost $4,000 and measured 87 feet in length with a 50-foot-high belltower. It is believed that parishioners themselves made many of the bricks used in the building.

Father Hartig became the first pastor of St. Benedict after its construction and led the parish for 40 years. Originally from Bohemia, he oversaw the establishment of five parishes in Nebraska and often traveled by horseback to provide sacraments to Catholics across Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas. In 1893, Bishop Thomas Bonacum, who was appointed as the first bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in 1887, named Hartig vicar general.

St. Benedict Parish also features unique artifacts with notable histories. For example, Mrs. Henry Kalkmann requested a steamboat captain on the Missouri River to donate a chandelier from his vessel’s dining hall to the church; it remained in use until 1936. The church bell was salvaged from a different steamboat wreck by Anton Wirth, who lived near where the Kansas ran aground.

The land for St. Benedict Cemetery was donated by Joseph Sand Sr. and his son Joseph Jr., both members of the parish community.

In 1915, several parishioners contributed funds to purchase stained-glass windows from Munich, Germany at a total cost of $2,000.

During the 1940s, Mrs. Frank Buckman dedicated 2,254 hours making linens for use at St. Benedict Parish using 25,000 yards of thread; her work later received recognition at the state fair.

By 1948, structural concerns led parishioners to replace most of the original brick walls with new brickwork while maintaining much of the church’s historical design from its completion in 1861. Since then, additional updates such as air conditioning have been added.

Today, St. Benedict remains an active parish in Nebraska City. Its intricate altar from 1898 is still used regularly, and a new parish hall called “The Abbey” was dedicated in 2024. The current pastor is Father Doug Daro. A virtual tour featuring images of its Munich windows can be found on its website at https://www.stbens.org/virtual-tour.