Dana, St. Maurus Parish

Suffice it to say that Dana had an early history that goes back to 1902 when Nykola Wawryk and his family landed in Rosthern. That same year they went out to search for homesteads and learned that a few others had already preceded them. They finally filed for claims in 1904 in the Dana area. Settlers soon flocked to the community, and when the railway came through in 1905, Dana was born.

Dana and neighboring Peterson communities had an origin different from that of most communities of St. Peter's Colony which in 1921 became the Abbacy of Muenster. Most communities of St. Peter's Colony were pioneered by families of German descent who had lived a generation or more in the United States before making their way to our part of Saskatchewan. However, there were settlers in the Dana area before St. Peter's Colony was established in 1903 (as mentioned above).

Fr. Chrysostom Hoffmann, OSB, celebrated the first mass in Dana in Fred Imhoff's store on Saturday, Jan. 2, 1906. It was a high mass with the help of the Leofeld choir. Since it was a Saturday, Fr. Meinrad Seifermann from Leofeld was also able to attend. Parish records start with a baptism by Fr. Chrysostom. Josephine Marie Normand, born March 15, 1906, was baptized on April 8 of the same year. The first church of St. Maurus was ready for services on June 24, 1907. It was a frame building 24 ft x 36 feet, with a 10 ft x 12 ft addition to serve as sacristy. That same year a 350 pound bell was ordered and was mounted in the belfry.

Bishop Pascal visited Dana on July 3, 1910, and confirmed 12 children. This first church served the community until 1962, when a new church was built. Like the first church, this one was built mainly with voluntary labor by the parishioners. This latest church has not been used the past several years, as will be explained later.

The parish of St. Maurus never had a resident pastor. However, the priest often came by train and stayed overnight, especially at the Municipal Office at Totzke as the guest of Elie and Carmen Corneau. Then various forms of transportation were used to get to Dana and to Peterson and then back again to the train. Starting in 1946 the priest came regularly by car from a neighboring parish or from the abbey in Muenster but winter roads made such trips a real adventure. Dana was served from Bruno in the early days, then some years from Cudworth, then from Carmel and finally, again from Bruno. Some years in between the priests came from the abbey.

Dana's pastors included Fr. Leo Ojdowski, from 1918-1924, and Fr. Casimir Cismowski, from 1924 1940. Their knowledge of Polish was a real asset to Dana. In the early 1940s, Dana was served by Fr. Gallus Sherman and Fr. Edward Benning from Cudworth. Quite a few other priests served as pastor or assistant, such as Frs. John Hable, Paul Kuehne, Wilfrid Hergott, Cosmas Krumpelmann, Bernard Schaeffler, Alphonse Ludwig, Luke Boeckmann, William Gehlen, Philip Loehr, Leander Dosch, Augustine Nenzel, Gregory Gasser, Matthew Michel, Damian Yaskowich, Roman Schneider, Albert Ruetz and Werner Renneberg.

Dana flourished for the first 20 years of its existence. It was the depot for supplies of all kinds needed for farming the area and for the "Salts and Chemicals" factory at Muskiki Lake. But the closing of the salt factory soon after the death of its manager, Mr. Hyde, in 1923, was a heavy blow to the village. Fires also destroyed several businesses, and by 1929, the village came under the authority of the Rural Municipality of Bayne.

On Sept. 8, 1984, Abbot Jerome Weber celebrated Sunday mass in Dana, and announced that the time had come for the parish to be closed and that regular Sunday masses would no longer be celebrated.

However, when the Radar Base closed in 1987, it was thought that the parish would again become viable, and services were restored, but the desired resurgence did not happen and since April 9, 1989, no Sunday masses have been celebrated in the parish church. Negotiations are now underway to officially close the parish and to provide for the perpetual care of the local cemetery.