O most holy heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins I offer you this poor heart of mine. Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to your will. Grant, Good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you. Protect me in the midst of danger. Comfort me in my afflictions. Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen.
Physical Address: 114 Soo Avenue, Almena, WI 54805
Mailing Address: PO Box 548, Cumberland, WI 54829
Approximately 20 Catholic families lived in the Almena area in 1892 when a small frame church was built on Soo Avenue. Sacred Heart Church was a regular mission of St. Mary Church in Cumberland, and services were conducted twice a month.
With new families continuing to settle in the area, the congregation decided to build a new church in 1901. The entire brick structure, the present building, was completed in 1903. In 1906, the old frame church was remodeled and a parochial school opened, staffed by the Sisters of the Divine Savior.
Fr. Roman Fassbender was assigned to Sacred Heart in 1931 and designed gardens that were so well known that tour bus passengers would stop to see them. In 1951 the sisters were reassigned and the school closed.
A convent was erected in 1952, the school was remodeled, and the Servite Sisters of Ladysmith arrived to administer the school. However, in 1966, due to increased costs, Sacred Heart School was closed.
Fr. William Cary was assigned to the new cluster of Sacred Heart and St. Ann in Turtle Lake in 1983. In 1997, Sacred Heart was clustered with St. Anthony the Abbot Parish in Cumberland, with the Turtle Lake parish being added in 2002.
On December 4, 2004, Sacred Heart Parish dedicated its new church facility to be used for parish functions and religious education classes.
REFERENCE: Our Journey through Faith: A History of the Diocese of Superior,
by Sam Lucero, 2005, pp. 11-16.