Address: 207 North Union St., Exeter, NE 68351
Website: https://www.lincolndiocese.org/directory/parishes/703-st-stephen-exeter
Overview
The large, neo-Romanesque brick church of St. Stephen was dedicated on May 27, 1903 as the second Catholic church for the parish which was formed in 1877. The heritage structure was the idea of a well-loved Irish priest, Fr. Walter McDonald. He was influential in the early growth of the parish, and also built a school and rectory. He is buried in the local cemetery beneath a sculpture of the Crucifixion along with 3 other favorite priests: Rev. E. Boll; Rev. A.A. Antochowski; and Rt. Rev. Msgr. P.J. Healy. The parish has been gifted with many talented pastors including Monsignor Henry H. Ingenhorst for over 32 years. The parishioners, dedicated to maintaining their historic worship space, have undertaken several remodels and renovations, with the most recent in 1988-89. The church has 44 stained glass windows done in the Munich-style which were refurbished and re-leaded in 1997-98. The steeple of the historical church was shortened by a wind storm in 1917, but the landmark structure is still visible for miles around. The large church built to seat 700 holds daily and weekend Masses.
Special things to see in the Church
• Six glowing stained glass windows of favorite saints of the early German and Irish parishioners surround the western apse. The side walls are lined with lovely golden-hued windows with decorative canopies enclosing sacred symbols and saints’ images at the top. The façade of the church is embellished with an enormous opalescent-glass window of figurative greens and yellows surrounding an image of the patron, St. Stephen.
• Donor family names are indicated on the bottom of the stained glass windows to carry forward the historical tradition of the parish. Read more about all of the windows in a Parish Directory which is available from the church.
• A mural of Jesus’ Ascension (Acts 1:6-11) decorates the sanctuary ceiling. The spectacular image of Jesus rising upward, as the Apostles intently watched, has been carefully preserved since its original installation between 1903 and 1918.
• The original pine main altar houses a statue of protomartyr St. Stephen. The patron saint holds a martyr’s palm leaf and three stones representing his death by stoning when he uttered the words “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts 7:60) – a phrase reminiscent of Jesus’ words on Golgotha
• The parish has a special devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague as exhibited in a 1950 photograph of the Infant in a new library of St. Stephen’s Elementary School. The statue of the Miraculous Infant now in the church was donated in 1953 by a parish family in thanksgiving for the healing of their young son.
• The church is home to many other beautiful sacred artifacts including side altars of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, alongside several other statues of saints. Also of special note is the well-preserved baptismal font bearing the image of St. John the Baptist and Jesus.
Interesting Fact About the Church
St. Boniface (~680-755), known as the “Apostle of the Germans”, is pictured in three of the windows the western apse. Local oral history reveals that three German families each wanted to sponsor a window of their “old-country” saint, so they decided to have multiple representations of him. The Benedictine monk from England traveled to Friesland (part of the area now known as Germany) starting around 716 to convert the local populace; and is depicted in the window showing the Saint holding the white banner with a red cross representing his victorious mission. Another window shows an ax and tree stump which recalls the story of the Saint’s conversion of a local community after he felled a large oak tree dedicated to one of their gods with only a few blows. Two of the windows show the Saint holding a book of the Gospels (or Bible) pierced with a sword which was reportedly his defense against an attack by an incumbent local religious group which resulted in his martyrdom. St. Boniface is pictured in a bishop’s miter as he was named Archbishop of Mainz (Germany) in 748.
