Prior to the Civil War (and any church building in Monticello), Father Jeremiah Tracy celebrated the first Mass in the McDonnon home.  Later services were held in Kinsella Hall.  In 1868, Bishop Smith sent Father Daniel Cogan to Monticello to organize a congregation and build a church.  A lot was purchased on Angle Street, (South Maple and Varvel), which at the time was a central location.  A 30×60 foot wood frame church was constructed at a cost of $2,500.  The name give the church was “Sacred Heart.” Ten years later, on October 8, 1878, the fate of the parish took a dramatic turn.  The Monticello Express describes the beginning of the day:

A day that dawned fairly and suspiciously enough, and ran its course with strange alternations of swelling gusts of wind, and sultry stillness, to end in darkness, and in tempest that rent the very earth, and left a swath of ruin and destruction in its path.

The account continues to describe a tornado’s rampage through Monticello and total destruction of Sacred Heart Church.  The Monticello School Board then offered the congregation the use of a vacant school building on the corner of Sixth and Cedar Streets.  The plans for another church began.

Happy Sesquicentennial Year to the parishioners of Sacred Heart! Reaching a 150 year milestone is indeed something to celebrate.  Let’s take a look at our parish history starting with our name. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus dates back many centuries.  In more recent centuries, relatively, Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in France in the 17th Century.  He revealed His Divine Heart to her telling her that His Heart was so full of love for humanity that it could no longer contain the flames of its burning love.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus is often depicted as a flaming heart with divine light and encircled by a crown of thorns. In 1765 the Feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in France.  Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the universal Church in 1856.  Shortly thereafter, in 1868, Sacred Heart Parish in Monticello was established. Jesus, as shown in the statue in our church, extends His arms welcoming us to His Sacred Heart.  June is the month of the Sacred Heart.  The feast of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the 19th day after Pentecost.  It is also the 8th day after the feast of Corpus Christi.  This year (2018) it is celebrated Friday, June 8.