Fr Filip Maly, SJ ~ a Czech Immigrant Priest of Many Hats, an Early Pastor of St Wenceslaus, Wilber

From Nebraska Bohemians FB Page

Over and over again as we discuss various early Czech Churches in Nebraska, we see the mention of Father Filip Maly. He was somehow involved with many different parishes, while his greatest length was with Wilber.

Since we do not have photo of him, shown here is one of the early churches he was most involved with – St. Wenceslaus in Wilber (1890).

Father Maly was born in Paclavice, Moravia, in 1840, and was ordained in 1869. He died in Moravia in 1912. The date of his first arrival in the U.S. was most likely 1879 and he made at least one trip back to his native land, and ultimately another one which included his last days.

I am reminded of that Johnny Cash song, “I’ve Been Everywhere”. This describes Father Maly to a tee, as you will see. Sometimes he was seemingly in two places at once (or at least in the same year.) He made many lasting contributions to each place he supported. Here is a list of most of the places where he contributed to Czech Catholics of Nebraska: Wilber, Crete, Milligan, Table Rock, Netolice, Ravenna, Plattsmouth, Odell, Warsaw, Plasi, Weston, Tobias, Steinauer, Clay County, Humbolt County and Hays County.

Father Maly was ordained in Prague. He then he came to America in 1879. He first studied English in St. Louis until 1880.

Father Maly would be assigned his priestly duties by Omaha. Specifically it was called The Omaha Apostolic Vicariate, which was before there was a Diocese (in Lincoln). The Vicariate dated back to 1857 which existed to evangelize the Native Americans. The Diocese of Omaha was created out of the Vicariate in 1885, whose responsibility extended all the way into Wyoming. The Diocese of Lincoln began in 1887 and included everything in Nebraska south of the Platte River. It was carved out of what was the Diocese of Omaha. This was an area that included so many of the Czech communities of the state. The Diocese of Grand Island was organized as the same time, and took responsibility for the western part of Nebraska, while Omaha retained responsibility in the east, north of the Platte.

Father Maly’s initial responsibilities were to cover what were called “the jubilee missions”. The real reason for Father Maly, a Jesuit priest, for even being in America was due, indirectly, to the Pope himself. There was such a demand for and shortage of Czech speaking priests for Nebraska that the Bishop in Nebraska appealed to the Pope. So the Pope ordered the Jesuits to service this need. Fr. Maly was part of the group of Czech Jesuits send to Nebraska.

There is documentation that says Fr. Maly performed a Baptism in 1880 at the church in Warsaw. This cannot be confirmed, but he was in fact there in 1890.

After serving the Missions, Fr. Maly was assigned to Wilber in 1882. At that time he had been servicing Tobias, Table Rock, Odell, Steinauer, Netolice, Humbolt County, and even Hays County (way out West).

In the fall of 1882 Fr. Maly said Mass at Netolice (later named Geranium). While he was saying Mass there was a large prairie fire which threatened farms and homes. Everyone left Mass to tend to their properties and later would come back for Fr. Maly to finish Mass.

From 1882 to 84 Fr. Maly was called to Plattsmouth a couple of times a year, rotating with other priests who did the same.

In 1885 Fr. Maly also visited Clay County a couple of times to say Mass in sod houses there and to administer sacraments. The Clay County location would eventually be home to Saint Martin Church at Loucky.

Also in 1885 Fr. Maly said Mass in Heun.

Again in 1885 from Wilber, Fr. Maly would visit Odell. Here he said Mass at different homes and even at the railroad station house. In 1886 a church was built by combined Czech and Irish parishioners. Fr. Maly served this church as well.

While in Wilber in 1888 Father Maly unsuccessfully started a church building campaign for the Catholic families in Tobias who attended Sunday Mass in Milligan, ten miles away. While his intentions were good, Tobias would not be able to collect funds for a church until 1913.

When Fr. Maly got to Wilber there was supposed to be a church there but it was destroyed by lightening before it could be completed, so he conducted Mass in the Courthouse.

The partially completed church was purchased and turned into a tavern. Many Wilber locals were Freethinkers and hoping the Catholics would get discouraged and leave. Local Catholics were in fact very discouraged. Father Maly was faced with building a replacement church and asking for funds to do so. This new priest begging for money did not go over well. Many had already been cheated before due to their language restrictions. Plus they did not trust this new priest, a stranger. Finally, the Bishop gave him initial limited funds to build a church. He bought a church building that had been used by the United Brethren. So by 1883 they had their first church, named St. Wenceslaus. He had nowhere to live but in the church itself, until a rectory was built in 1886. Father Maly was able to came up with funds to construct a school in 1887. Only religion was originally taught due to shortage of teachers.

While Fr. Maly was in Wilber he was also traveling around Saline County administering to Czech religious needs such as Baptism, etc. In all there were said to be 800 Czech families needed religious administration.

Fr. Maly’s assignment was further complicated by “Who is in charge?”, when his direction now changed from Omaha to Lincoln in 1887.

Fr. Maly also had another very difficult group to work with. They were called Nativists and they felt they were the only true Americans. They came from New England with the express purpose of converting everyone to their beliefs which included the teaching that Catholics were the plague of the world and responsible for all its problems, including those of Bohemia. They targeted Freethinkers and fallen away Catholics. This presented a challenge for Fr. Maly. The nativists also attempted to take over the school in order to teach children their beliefs. Eventually, and perhaps with help from Fr. Maly, the local Czechs saw the nativists for what they were and drove them from their schools and their community. This attempt to demonize Catholics actually worked in Fr. Maly’s favor, making him more trusted, and it also helped add many more new parishioners to their fold. By the end of 1888, Fr. Maly was reassigned by the new Lincoln Diocese.

While in Wilber, he somehow found time to go back to Moravia. While there he found a painting of St. Wenceslaus and arranged to have it delivered to his church in Wilber. This beautiful and rare painting can still be seen today.

The painting of St Wenceslaus that
Fr Maly brought from Moravia.

Also, while in Wilber between 1885 and 1888 he also serviced St. Ludmilla’s in Crete. Crete Czechs were desperate for a Czech priest, as the priest there did Mass in German and they did not feel as if they belonged. Crete is yet another example of Fr. Maly seeming to be in two places at once.

In 1889 he was assigned to Table Rock and named the church there St. Wenceclaus. The name of the church was changed later to John the Baptist, or St. John’s.

From 1890 to 93 he was eventually assigned to Ravenna, and also to Odell to be the regular priest where he once served on a temporary basis before the church was built. Documentation says he went to Odell from Table Rock but it also states he returned back to the homeland after being the priest there. It sounds like perhaps Odell was before Ravenna.

Fr. Maly would then return to his native Moravia where he now lays at peace.