Adrian Wewer

Adrian Wewer, O.F.M. (April 14, 1836 – March 15, 1914), was a German-born Franciscan lay brother who designed more than 100 churches, college buildings, seminaries, schools, friaries, convents, and hospitals throughout the United States. He primarily worked in the Neo-Gothic style of architecture then popular.

Life He was born Antonius Wewer in 1836 in Harsewinkel, in the Prussian state of Westphalia, and as a teenager was trained as a carpenter. In 1858 he was admitted to the novitiate of the Friars Minor of the Province of the Holy Cross located in Warendorf in the Kingdom of Saxony, at which time he was given his religious name of Adrian. That same year the friars received a request from Henry Damian Juncker, the Bishop of Alton in Illinois, to help to care for the large German Catholic population which had settled in the region.

The first Friars Minor arrived that same year, and settled in Teutopolis, Illinois. Wewer was one of a group of five friars who arrived in November 1862 to assist with projects of the friars in Illinois and Missouri. He was initially based at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in St. Louis, Missouri, where he designed the church built 1864-1869, after he had built his first church in Trowbridge, Illinois, in Shelby County, in 1864. He also participated in the design of the interior altars and furnishings of the first St. Francis Solanus Church in Quincy, Illinois. After that church was demolished in 1887, the altars were moved to the new church.

Wewer's work was so prolific and well appreciated, that, on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee as a member of the Order in 1908, he received a personal letter of appreciation from Pope Pius X. He was later sent to San Francisco, where he died in 1914.

Wewer's most notable structures are the Conception Abbey in Conception, Missouri and Francis Hall at Quincy University in Quincy, Illinois.

Works

Indiana Archdiocese of Indianapolis: Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Indianapolis, Indiana Diocese of Evansville: St. Anthony of Padua Church, Evansville, Indiana

Illinois Diocese of Springfield in Illinois: St. Mary Church, Quincy, Illinois St. Francis Solanus Church, Quincy, Illinois (demolished, furnishings retained in the new church) St. Patrick Church, Trowbridge, Illinois (demolished) St. Anthony of Padua Church, Quincy, Illinois (demolished) St. Augustine Church, Chicago, Illinois (demolished)

Minnesota Archdiocese of Saint Paul - Minneapolis: St. John the Evangelist Church, Union Hill, Minnesota St. Benedict Church, Saint Benedict, Minnesota (demolished) St. John the Baptist Church, Jordan, Minnesota St. Joseph Church, Waconia, Minnesota Ss. Peter and Paul Church, Belle Plaine, Minnesota (now Our Lady of the Prairie)

Missouri Archdiocese of St. Louis: St. Anthony of Padua Church, St. Louis, Missouri (demolished) St. Francis Borgia Church, Washington, Missouri Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph: Conception Abbey, Conception, Missouri St. Columban Church, Chillicothe, Missouri Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri: St. George Church, Hermann, Missouri St. Mary Church, New Cambria, Missouri

Wisconsin Diocese of Superior: St. Francis Xavier Church, Superior, Wisconsin Holy Family Church, Bayfield, Wisconsin St. Louis Church, Washburn, Wisconsin

California Archdiocese of San Francisco: St. Boniface Church, San Francisco, California Diocese of Sacramento: St. Francis Church, Sacramento, California