About Us

The roots of the Catholic Faithful in this corner of the State date back to the 1800s with the Christian fur traders and settlers coming through the area. The Jesuit Father Pierre DeSmet was probably the most famous priest in his travels in the early part of  the church’s history. Another famous Jesuit priest, Father Christian Hoecken came into Clay County on July 19, 1840, where he conducted baptisms in Vermilion.

At Fairview, the first church in South Dakota was built in 1860. It was a small log church with a dirt floor. A new and larger church was erected in 1877 by Father E.M. Hennessy and was dedicated to Mary. The building of the first Catholic Church in Vermilion was initiated by Father D.V. Collins in 1884, and was named Saint Agnes. However, on June 19, 1889 the town and Saint Agnes Church  suffered a tornado that swept through the town and almost totaled the church. The church was rebuilt in 1890. In 1895 the Fairview Parish was annexed with Vermilion. Because of the added members, a new Church building was needed.

In 1902 Thomas Flood arrived in Vermilion where he would remain for almost a half a century. He took on the task of building a new Church. This Church was completed in 1907 and was celebrated as one of the nicest Churches in the diocese.

Throughout the decades the church continued to grow in numbers. A Catholic  School was built in 1961 under Fr. Hugh Wolf. Fr. John Fischer had an addition to the school built in 2015.

The parish called St. Mary’s in Garryowen was organized in 1879. Over time as this parish grew, a larger one was constructed in 1904. In 1924, this church was destroyed by fire, and so a third church was built in 1925. The people of Garryowen supported this parish until the diocese of Sioux Falls closed St. Mary’s Church in 1993. Many of the parishioners then joined St. Agnes Parish.   

Because of the growth of the parish, the St. Agnes Church was sold in 1974. Services were then held in the School Gym, waiting for a new church building. It was through the tireless efforts of  Monsignor Mahowald that the construction of the current beautiful church was built in 1982. And it was Father Rod Farke who added the Church Hall onto the new church in 2006.