Alleman High School - Pioneer (Rock Island, IL)

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5 ,335 ite- A Century Love of God and of fellowmen and a desire to bring to them the truths of Catholicity impelled Father John George Alleman to become one of the pioneer builders of the West. This inspired missionary enkindled the fire of faith in the hearts of men and fed the flames with the fuel of the Sacraments and his own burning love of God. The success of his efforts is manifested in a lasting memorial to him-the embodiment of his love for God, his zeal for souls, and his forceful initiative. Materialistically this monument is the sturdy structure of the school bearing his name but in a higher sense it is a structure not built with hands, a structure that will live forever in the hearts of God and men. Father Alleman was born in 1806 near Strasbourg, Alsace. Little is known of his youth but it is believed he was employed as a foreman in a French linen factory. At the age of twenty he gave up worldly pursuits and began studying for the priest- hood. He emigrated to America when he was twenty-six and went at once to the Dominican novitiate of St. Rose, Spring- field, Kentucky. There he was clothed with the Dominican habit and continued his studies for the priesthood. On June 8, 1834, he was ordained a priest in St. John's Church, Zanes- ville, Ohio, and was assigned to work in the missions of Ohio. He then began his long career as an itinerant missionary. Most of this time was spent in the Mississippi Valley. He traveled throughout Ohio, Iowa, and southern Illinois. Urged by Rt. Rev. Wm. Quarter, the first Bishop of Chicago, to give himself entirely to this portion of the diocese, Father Alleman selected Rock Island as the center of his apostolate. Arriving in 1851, he sought out several German Catholics, among them Ignatius Huber and John Zeipgler. The project of building a new church was broached and taken up with such enthusiasm that he soon had in his possession the prop- erty where St. Mary's church and rectory now stand. A struc- ture, 30 by 50 feet, of limestone brought from the Morman 6

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Temple at Nauvoo, was erected by Father Alleman with the assistance of the Littig, Meisner, and other Catholic families. lt was dedicated to St. James and the cornerstone was laid on August 31, 1851. Catholicity was making such rapid strides that in May, 1856, Father John P. Donelson was sent to assist him in his labors. With characteristic unselfishness and tireless energy Father Alleman turned to a new field of activity. Having laid a firm foundation for St. Mary's, St. Joseph's, Sacred Heart, and St. Paul's churches, he placed his iob in capable hands and once more became itinerant. Before this time, however, he planted the roots of the Catholic Church in Moline, where in 1857, the first church, a frame structure, was dedicated to St. Anthony. Following the com- pletion of St. Anthony's, St. Mary's, Sacred Heart, and Holy Trinity churches, as well as St. Mary's, and St. Anne's churches in East Moline were founded. Also in this area Father Alleman organized Immaculate Church in Hampton in 1852, Holy Name, Coal Valley, in 1858, St. John, the Baptist, Rapids City, in 1857, and St. Patrick's, Edgington, in 1858. The racking labor of twenty-five years of constant traveling and privations was taking its toll and in 1863 Father Alleman retired to assume a chaplaincy in St. Louis. He died there July 14 1 in Calvary cemetery in an he had lived, a humble friar intent not about a name or record. lt was trait that made him what blending of the best which made him him and by all who ,f .ff rw... ,.,, Mepwf Q' ...Q X is f-sum., .. 7