Italian born Father Samuel Mazzuchelli is credited with establishing over 30 Catholic parishes and building 20 churches in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa between 1830 and 1864. The priest has been declared Venerable, the first step towards becoming a saint. One of those churches is Saint Mary of the Assumption in Iowa City. It was originally called “Of the Visitation” when construction began in 1841. After the church was finished in 1869, the German and Irish immigrants sat on separate sides of the aisle in front of their own countries’ patron saint.
