Nacaim, St. Martin's Parish

The archives at St. Peter's Abbey holds some very important little pamphlets, handwritten by Fr. Chrysostom. These were hand made of ordinary plain paper and were about two and a half inches by four inches and just sewn together with black thread. They had about eight pages.

Further on we read: "One of the first churches in what is now the Spalding district was built on the S.W. quarter of Sec. 14, Township 39, Range 18, W 2nd. It was built of logs, started in 1907 and completed and opened for mass in 1908. Father Chrysostom conducted the first Mass.

This was prepared from information secured by Mrs. Matt Dircks. It names 12 contributors by name and then adds "and others". Here is a quotation from that booklet:
"And do you remember: That in 1906 J.W. Hutchison arrived and built a two and a half storey house and store on his farm northwest of Spalding's location? When Mr. Hutchison was appointed postmaster, he named the post office after the birthplace of his wife, the former Pattie T. Hall of Spalding, England.

"During the next 14 years an inland hamlet developed around the post office, and eventually old Spalding could boast of a bank, doctor, cafe, blacksmith, butcher and telephones. It became the meeting place for the LacVert, Naicam and Spalding areas."

Anselm's was located about two miles north of the present village of Spalding. And so we have three churches now very close together. So much for St. Anselm's.

Excerpt from a letter dated Feb. 18, 1920.
To: Father Jan, administrator
From: Philip L. Fortin, secretary of Beauchamp with authorization of trustees of the parish of Beauchamp.
Purpose: requesting a resident Priest
"During the last three years, we built a presbytery, remodeled the church and bought chairs for the church and all this is paid for. We also paid $25.00 and interest to date on the Episcopal Corporation tax."

Rev. M. Joseph Samuel Benoit was pastor of Beauchamp from Oct. 16, 1911 to Aug. 23, 1916. There is no record as to who took over Beauchamp. There is a letter on file from the administrator of the P.A. Diocese informing him that he move to a residence at St. Front. The reason given was that "the Benedictine fathers will take over Beauchamp.”

And now back to St. Martin's again. Fr. Chrysostom continued to serve St. Martin's until 1939 when he had to go to Saskatoon for surgery. St. Martin's was attached to Englefeld and attended to by Fr. Matthew Michel, OSB. He travelled a great deal on horseback and had many trying experiences going from Englefeld to St. Martin's especially during the winter months when the snow was deep and the weather unfriendly. In 1950 Fr. Matthew bought the old St. James church and moved it to the site of the original log church.

In 1980 Fr. Alphonse Ludwig, who was pastor at St. George's in Naicam, took sick and Fr. George Brodner was asked to take care of Annaheim, St. Martin's and St. George in Naicam. He had Fr. Damian Yaskowich as his assistant. Fr. Damian lived at the abbey, but came out every Sunday. Naicam had two masses as the church was too small.

In 1982 Fr. Alphonse Ludwig retired to the rectory in Carmel and Fr. George moved to Naicam. He took St. Martin's with him. In 1985, Abbot Jerome saw that the shortage of priests was becoming more acute, so he decided to close St. Martin's.