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We are glad you found us on the web and hope you will spend a moment to find out more about us.
St. Mary's Church is the only Catholic Church in Beaverville, Illinois. In fact, it is the only church in town. Our parish belongs to the Joliet Diocese. We are located in the northeast corner of Iroquois County. Not all maps have Beaverville on them, but we are located about 100 miles south of Chicago. We are located 4 miles north of Illinois Route 52; 8 miles west of the Indiana / Illinois state line and 16 miles east of Interstate 57 exist 293 at Ashkum. Now that you know where we are, come visit us. Father Bob gives the best homilies.
Beaverville is an old farming community. We are an old parish, having celebrated our 140th anniversary in 1997. We are rich in French Canadian heritage and have an interesting past. We have about 120 families in our congregation, some from surrounding communities that have no Catholic church.
Our church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. It is fondly referred to as the "Cathedral in the Country." During 1980 the roof started leaking and by 1990 had caused major damage to the ceiling and walls. At that time the parishioners had a major decision to make- should they go into extreme debt to repair this beautiful structure or should they tear it down and rebuild something smaller.
Those with great foresight and faith decided to repair this treasure that our forefathers created for us. We cannot keep this National treasure to ourselves, we must share it with the world. That is when we decided to share our story on the web.
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