Bro. Adrian Wewer, O.S.F.

Adrian Wewer, O.S.F. (1836-1914) was a Brother-architect who entered the Franciscan Order in 1858 at Warendorf, Germany. Born and christened Antonius Wewer, he grew up in Harsewinkel-a small predominantly Roman Catholic town in Northern Germany. In 1862, when he and other German confreres were sent to Teutopolis, Illinois, his Provincial Minister in Germany wrote of him, "Brother Adrian is an excellent religious and a skilled carpenter." Working with older Brothers on construction projects for growing German-American Catholic communities, Bro. Adrian developed his talents for designing church furniture and architecture. He became the primary architect for the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart of Jesus-the "St. Louis-Chicago" Province-and served his Order in this capacity for half a century.

Throughout his fifty years of service as architect, which closely coincides with the first fifty years of German Franciscan missionary work in America, Bro. Adrian drew up architectural plans and superintended construction projects for Franciscans and for other members of the regular and secular clergy. His plans and advice were sought in Roman Catholic circles nationwide. Between 1864 and 1914, ecclesiastical buildings credited to Bro. Adrian were erected across the country-from New York and New Jersey in the East to Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona in the West and Southwest; from Wisconsin and Minnesota in the North to (reputedly) Tennessee and Louisiana in the South. Bro. Adrian planned parish and monastic churches, college buildings, seminaries, schools, friaries, convents, and hospitals; the Chronica of Santa Barbara Mission estimates that he designed over one hundred church buildings. Numerous structures planned by the modest Franciscan Brother-architect survive and still serve monastic communities, the diocesan priesthood, and Catholic parishioners throughout the United States.

Bro. Adrian's monastic home was St. Anthony of Padua in St. Louis, Missouri; before the turn of the century, this friary was his usual point of departure for travel to his many construction and consultation assignments. At a time when long distance overland travel was still arduous, it is understandable that Bro. Adrian's early building activities were concentrated in Midwestern cities and towns near major waterways where German Catholic settlement was most pronounced. Apparently using the ever expanding American railway system, Bro. Adrian and his designs for churches, friaries, convents, and schools soon reached regions far distant from the American Heartland.

The designs of Bro. Adrian were thoroughly imbued with elements of Neo-Romanesque or Neo-Gothic style--those styles typical for contemporary ecclesiastical structures in Bro. Adrian's German homeland. He used three basic groundplan types for the churches he designed -- the three-aisled basilica, the three-aisled hall church, and the wide hall church with no side aisles. To each of these three groundplan types, furthermore, Bro. Adrian sometimes added a transept. With or without a transept, all of his churches--apart from the few in Spanish-Mission style--have a flavor typical for Medieval Germany. Such Medievalism in architectural design--common in nineteenth-century Germany---was transmitted by the humble and venerable Brother from Harsewinkel to many German-American and to some Polish-American Catholic parishes within and even beyond the vast territory of the Franciscan Sacred Heart Province in America.

In California and Arizona, where the first Franciscan missionaries had been Spanish and their Mission style prevailed, Bro. Adrian--for a few of his buildings--exchanged standard elements of his Neo-Medieval vocabulary for those characteristic of Spanish-Mission style. To accent his Mission style structures, Bro. Adrian translated his usual Neo-Medieval vocabulary of architectural ornament into Baroque and Classical forms of the Spanish-Mission style. He continued, however, to incorporate Neo-Medieval design principles in creating the major structural elements of these buildings. He planned his Mission style churches as three-aisled basilicas which include a transept; this type of groundplan is in stark contrast to the long narrow hall plan without side aisles, typical for the California mission churches, constructed by the original Spanish Franciscans.

In a vast majority of his buildings, however, Bro. Adrian worked with the Neo-Romanesque or Neo-Gothic forms common to his architecture in the Midwest. In his architectural designs, Bro. Adrian combined the standard elements of his architectural vocabulary in seemingly ever varied configurations; in doing so, he planned each church to be somewhat different from all the others. All of his churches, nonetheless, show an architectural signature distinctly his.

In the last decades of his life, Bro. Adrian spent increasingly more time in the West.

Immediately following the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, he appears to have been occupied with the restoration and expansion of Franciscan facilities in the bay area.

In December 1908, Bro. Adrian completed his fiftieth year in the Franciscan Order. For this occasion he left California and returned to St. Louis where close friends and many beneficiaries of his services as an architect congratulated him in person, by telegram, or by letter; a message in the handwriting of the Holy Father himself was among the congratulations. The primary celebration of Bro. Adrian's golden jubilee was held in St. Anthony of Padua in St. Louis; the festivities brought together a huge congregation of bishops, priests, friars, monks, and parishioners. The festival sermon was given by a longtime friend, Fr. Frowin Conrad--the Abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Conception, Missouri-whose Abbey Basilica Bro. Adrian had designed.

Bro. Adrian soon returned to California to continue drawing plans, consulting on architectural matters, and superintending building projects. In his final years, Bro. Adrian was resident at friaries in Oakland and San Francisco. While returning to San Francisco from work in San Luis Rey, Bro. Adrian fell ill and rested in Santa Barbara from 23 December 1913 until 2 February 1914. Back in San Francisco, his health continued to decline. After ten weeks in St. Joseph's hospital, on 15 March 1914, Bro. Adrian died. His body was taken to San Francisco's St. Boniface church; thereafter, Bro. Adrian was buried in the Franciscan plot in St. Mary's Cemetery in Oakland.

The following tentative chronology of Bro. Adrian's life lists some parallels between his fifty year-long career as architect for the Province of the Sacred Heart and the first fifty years of German Franciscan missionary work in Sacred Heart Province. Architecture credited to Bro. Adrian in sources such as: Heralds of the King, Provincial and parish chronicals, jubilee and centennial books, bills and purchase contracts, personal and official correspondence; blueprints and plans are indicated by the words "Docs. Bro. Adrian" = documentary attribution to Bro. Adrian. The fact that Bro. Adrian is sometimes not mentioned as architect or planner in parish chronicles-although other sources name him as such-may bear witness to the humility of this venerable Franciscan Brother. Buildings in the style of Bro. Adrian, with no known documents attributing them to him are indicated in the tentative chronology by the words "Style Bro. Adrian" =Stylistic attribution to Bro. Adrian.

Many questions remain. Which additional buildings-churches, friaries, monasteries, convents, residences, schools, hospitals--can be attributed to Bro. Adrian? What did Bro. Adrian design for the Franciscan Sisters of Lafayette? Did he draw up plans for other women's Orders? Where is the letter of congratulations to Bro. Adrian in the Holy Father's own hand? What happened to Bro. Adrian's personal items and records after his death? Where are records of Bro. Adrian's many assignments-his Obediences? This project to reconstruct the architectural and monastic career of Bro. Adrian Wewer is work in progress; therefore, leads to further information regarding Bro. Adrian and his career will be most sincerely appreciated.

Nota Bene: James A. Harmon's article on Bro. Adrian Wewer, O.S.F. (1836-1914) is a compilation on the Provincial Architect of the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart. James A. Harmon, can be contacted in the Division of Fine Arts at Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, 63501. (606) 785-4087 E-mail: fa44@truman.edu. His work is copyrighted and any infrigement on this article is a violation of the laws which protect it. Click here or on the picture at the left for a larger view of Brother Anselm Wolff and his Quincy College chapel construction crew.

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Tentative Chronology

Brother Adrian Wewer, O.S.F. (1836-1914)

• Fifty Years as Architect in the Sacred Heart Province;
  
• Fifty Years for the German Franciscans in America

1836	14 April, Antonius Wewer born to Maurice Wewer & Catherine Rolf in Harsewinkel, Germany-a small predominantly Roman Catholic town east of Muenster, Westphalia.
1842- 1851	Supposed period of Antonius Wewer's schooling and carpenter apprenticeship in Harsewinkel. .
1858	3 October, First Franciscans of the German Holy Cross Province begin their mission establishment in Teutopolis, IL. 3 December, Antonius Wewer takes monastic name Adrian and is invested in the Franciscan Third Order in the Franciscan monastery at Warendorf, Westphalia.
1859	Franciscans begin establishment in Quincy, IL-their second foundation in America. 12 December, Bro. Adrian professes to Franciscan Third Order in Warendorf.
1860	14 July, Bro. Adrian's investment into First Order, probably in Warendorf.
1861	16 July, Bro. Adrian's simple profession into First Order, probably in Warendorf
1862	22 October, Bro. Adrian and four confreres depart convent at Wiedenbrueck for Bremen; they arrive by ocean liner in New York on 11 November, reach Cincinnati on 17 November by train; and arrive on 21 November in Teutopolis, IL. Fr. Servatius Altmicks, O.S.F. goes to St. Louis, MO to develop preliminaries for founding monastery.
1863	5 February, St. Louis, MO, St. Anthony of Padua monastery founded.
1864	17 July, Bro. Adrian's solemn profession as a lay Brother into the Franciscan Order at Teutopolis, IL Quincy, IL, In old St. Francis church, Bro. Adrian, assisted by other brothers (sic.) and Mr. Bob. (sic.) Becker and Henry Schenck (of Quincy), designs Gothic altars & other furniture. Docs. Bro. Adrian Trowbridge, IL, St. Patrick's Church, first church in America that Bro. Adrian designs. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1865	St. Louis, MO, St. Anthony of Padua, Bro. Adrian works on church. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1867-1868	Bro. Adrian works with old Bro. Irenaeus Drewes when the two main wings of the monastery at Teutopolis are erected. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1869	St. Louis, MO, St. Anthony of Padua, Fr. Servatius Altmicks, O.S.F. builds first residence and chapel and puts up a stone church. Bro. Adrian completes nave. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1869	Washington, MO, St. Francis Borgia Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Quincy, IL, St. Boniface Church, Bro. Adrian replaces brick columns with steel columns and adds arches of main arcade. Docs. Bro. Adrian Rural Quincy, IL, St. Anthony of Padua Church built by Bro. Adrian. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1870	Melrose, Tp., IL, St. Anthony Church, dedication,13 June. Docs. Bro. Adrian Rural Quincy, IL, St. Anthony of Padua Church completed. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1871	Wien, MO, St. Mary Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Cleveland, OH, St. Joseph Church, 22 October, cornerstone laid. Docs. Bro. Adrian . St. Louis, MO, St. Anthony of Padua, monastery east wing. Docs Bro. Adrian
1872	Memphis, TN, Bro. Adrian designs Franciscan friary. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1873	Cleveland, OH, St. Joseph's, consecrated in October, Docs. Bro. Adrian
1875	Grand Prairie Township, NE, St. Mary of Angels Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1876	Teutopolis, IL, Bro. Adrian builds frame chapel for seminary. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1877	Teutopolis, IL, Added east wing to original seminary building. Docs. Bro. Adrian Columbus, NE, St. Bonaventure friary complete. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1879	Chillicothe, MO, St. Columban Church, dedication, 23 November. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1883	Humphrey, NE St. Francis Church, consecration, 10 July. Docs. Bro. Adrian Union Hill, MN, St. John the Evangelist Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian St. Bernard, NE, St. Bernard Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Columbus, NE, St. Bonaventure Church, 8 July, cornerstone laid. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1884	Teutopolis, IL, Bro. Adrian enlarges frame chapel for seminary; adds south wing to seminary. Docs. Bro. Adrian Leopolis, MO, St. Patrick Church. Style Bro. Adrian Platte Center, NE, St. Joseph Church, school, and convent. Docs. Bro. Adrian Columbus, NE, St. Bonaventure, 1 November, dedication of new church. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1886	Quincy, IL, St. Francis Solanus, new church dedication, 24 October, Bro. Adrian designed new church, new St. Francis friary, vestment case, high altar, other altars, new school. Bro. Adrian listed as member of the community at this time. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1886-1887	Jordan, MN, St. John the Baptist Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1887	Quincy, IL, Bro. Adrian teaches drawing at evening school. Docs. Bro. Adrian St. Benedict, MN, new St. Benedict Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian San Francisco, CA, St. Boniface Church and friary. Docs. Bro. Adrian Ashland, WI, St. Agnes Church and Friary. Style Bro. Adrian
1889	St. Louis, MO, St. Anthony of Padua, Bro. Adrian builds new school. Docs. Bro. Adrian Watsonville, CA, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Bro. Adrian builds orphanage. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1891	Quincy, IL, St. Mary's Church, Bro. Adrian builds church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Indianapolis, IN, Sacred Heart Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Chicago, IL, St. Augustine Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Conception, MO, Immaculate Conception Basilica. Docs. Bro. Adrian Columbus, NE, St. Bonaventure, major addition to new church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Superior, WI, St. Francis Xavier Church and Friary. Style Bro. Adrian
1892	Chillicothe, MO, St. Columban rectory. Docs. Bro. Adrian Lillyville, IL, Sacred Heart Church, dedication, 18 September. Docs. Bro. Adrian (Bro. Adrian also designed St. Michael in Sigel, IL and St. Aloysius in Bishop Creek, IL.) Docs. Bro. Adrian Watsonville, CA, Immaculate Heart of Mary, institutional building blessed on 4 October. Was Bro. Adrian involved?
1892-1893	Quincy, IL, St. Francis Solanus, new school. Docs. Bro Adrian
1893	Humphrey, NE, St. Francis, new church. Docs. Bro. Adrian. Quincy, IL, auditorium wing at Quincy College. Docs. Bro. Adrian Fruitvale, CA, St. Elizabeth's, two-story frame school/friary/church. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1894	Sacramento, CA, St. Francis Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Chillicothe, MO, St. Columban, Bro. Adrian completes transept, sanctuary, and sacristy. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1894 1895	Quincy, IL, the west wing at Quincy College. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1895	Teutopolis, IL, faculty wing and Romanesque Chapel. Docs. Bro. Adrian Alton, IL, Immaculate Conception Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Indianapolis, IN, Sacred Heart boys school. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1895 1896	Lindsay, NE, Holy Family Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1896	Evansville, IN, St. Anthony of Padua Church, dedication, 25 May. Docs. Bro. Adrian Phoenix, AZ, St. Mary's, Brothers Adrian, Ildephonse, and Eugene repair an adobe chapel. Docs. Bro. Adrian Omaha, NE, St. Joseph, Bro. Adrian's plans used for basement church and priest's residence. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1896- 1897	Omaha, NE, Immaculate Conception, frame combination church, school, convent. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1897	Phoenix, AZ, St. Mary's Church, new vaulted ceiling, sacristy, brick foundation, exterior and interior facade plaster, and interior furnishings added to adobe chapel, a new friary built according to plans by Bro. Adrian. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1897 1898	Quincy, IL, The central section of "Old Main" at Quincy College. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1898	San Francisco, CA, Bro. Adrian worked on sections of the new St. Boniface church, school, and monastery. Docs. Bro. Adrian Denver, CO, St. Elizabeth, church dedication. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1899	Palmyra, MO, St. Joseph, 30 November church dedication. Plans designed by Bros. Adrian and Leonard Darscheid. Docs. Bro. Adrian et. al. Platte Center, NE, St. Joseph Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1900	"In the year 1900 it was stated that up to that time he had drawn the plans for more than one hundred churches and superintended the erection of them. Up to about that year plans resp. (?) drawings for almost all the churches, convents and residences of the Province, including churches of the missions founded or attended by Fathers, had been made by him with the assistance of one or other brothers, and the erection at least of all the more important buildings was superintended by him." Cf., Chronica of Santa Barbara Mission, p.93 f. Tarnov, NE, St. Michael Church. Doc. Bro. Adrian Los Angeles, CA, St. Joseph, Brothers Adrian and Leonard draw plans. Ground broken 29 December 1900. Cornerstone laid on 16 July 1901. Dedication by apostolic delegate on 3 May 1903. Docs. Bro. Adrian et. al.
1901	Los Angeles, CA, St. Joseph Church, cornerstone laid on 16 July. Docs. Bro. Adrian Santa Barbara, CA, St. Anthony Seminary. Docs. Bro. Adrian Watsonville, CA, Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, begun. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1902	Brunswick, MO, St. Boniface Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Union, MO, Immaculate Conception Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Denver, CO, St. Elizabeth, consecration, June. Docs. Bro. Adrian Watsonville, CA, Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, dedicated, 27 July. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1903	Los Angeles, CA, St. Joseph Church, dedication 3 May. Docs. Bro. Adrian Colorado Springs, CO, St. Francis Hospital. Docs. Bro. Adrian Petoskey, MI, St. Francis Xavier, Church and Friary. Style Bro. Adrian
1904	Butler, NJ, St. Anthony, Father Hyacinth Rueberg and Bro. Adrian plan and superintend school and entertainment hall. Docs. Bro. Adrian
Before 1906	Bro. Adrian worked in Allegany, NY; Paterson, NJ; St. Meinrad's, IN. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1906	Humphrey, NE, St. Francis, school dedication. Docs. Bro. Adrian Los Angeles, CA, St. Joseph school. Docs. Bro. Adrian San Francisco, CA, St. Boniface, In December, Bro. Adrian goes to California to draw plans for reconstruction of St. Boniface and other buildings in San Francisco. Docs. Bro. Adrian Bro. Adrian resides at St. Elizabeth in Fruitvale, California until the monastery at St. Boniface is restored. Between 1906 and 1914 Bro. Adrian builds extension of Fruitvale school and monastery. Docs. Bro. Adrian Hood River, OR Immaculate Conception Friary. Docs. Bro. Adrian.
1906-1914	Phoenix, AZ Bro. Adrian was called several times to Phoenix as architect. Work in St. Mary's and at the Indian Mission--St. John. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1907	After 16 February, Bro. Adrian lived at St. Boniface since completed restoration of the monastery. Docs. Bro. Adrian After 9 May, when Bro. Ildephonse Lethert became ill and was transferred to Phoenix, AZ, Bro. Adrian superintended reconstruction at St. Boniface. Docs. Bro. Adrian St. Meinrad, IN, Construction completed on Abbey church. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1908	Cornlea, NE, Church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Sacramento, CA, From June 1908, Bro. Adrian spent most of his time in Sacramento along with Bro. Quirinus designing St. Francis church. Docs. Bro. Adrian San Francisco, CA, St. Boniface, 1 November St. Boniface reconstruction was dedicated. On 15 November, Bro. Adrian's fifty-year anniversary was celebrated in St. Boniface school. On 22 November Bro. Adrian departed Sacramento for St. Louis. He was in the middle of the Sacramento monastery extension project. Fare and travel expenses were paid by Franciscan Sisters of Lafayette, for whom Bro. Adrian had drawn many plans. Bro. Adrian stopped in Los Angeles on his return to Sacramento. Burns, OR, Holy Family, school and residence. Docs. Bro. Adrian St. Louis, MO St. Anthony of Padua, Celebration of Bro. Adrian's Golden Anniversary in the Franciscan order on 13 December in his motherhouse St. Anthony of Padua in St. Louis, MO. The ceremonies were postponed ten days until the honoree could return from work on the Pacific coast. Bro. Adrian celebrated as senior architect and master builder of the Franciscan Order. The sermon was held by Abt. Frowin Conrad, Bro. Adrian's friend of many years. Old friends and acquaintances present $1,500 for a memorial window in the new St. Anthony's church. The window -- Adoration of the Magi -- should commemorate Bro. Adrian's 50th jubilaum and be the largest window in the church measuring 30 feet in height. Docs. Bro. Adrian   Click here for stained glass window.
1909	Santa Barbara, CA, On 2-3 January, Bro. Adrian was in Santa Barbara Old Mission and College and a small jubilee celebration was held with a play in the evening. Sacramento, CA, St. Francis Church in so-called Mission-Style; Bro. Adrian superintended work on the new church, addition to the monastery, and extension of the school. Docs.Bro. Adrian Cowlitz Prairie, WA, St. Mary's School and residence. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1910	Tigard, OR, St. Anthony church and friary. Docs. Bro. Adrian Sacramento, CA, St. Francis Church dedicated on 23 October. Docs. Bro. Adrian Santa Barbara, CA In December Bro. Adrian was in Santa Barbara to make plans for repair and improvements to Old Mission church and to design new high altar and choir stalls. Docs. Bro. Adrian St.. Louis, MO, St. Anthony of Padua, dedication. Docs. Bro. Adrian et. al.
1911	Tigard, OR St. Anthony Church consecrated. Docs. Bro. Adrian Santa Barbara, CA Bro. Adrian superintended work in Santa Barbara which started on Easter Monday. At Santa Barbara, Bro. Adrian also worked on plans for adding a transept to St. Anthony in San Francisco and for a new church and enlargement of the monastery at St. Elizabeth in Fruitvale, CA. Docs. Bro. Adrian On 25 October, Bro. Adrian was transferred to Fruitvale to complete plans for the St. Elizabeth monastery.
1912	Fruitvale, CA, St. Elizabeth's Early in the year work began on the monastery in Fruitvale under Bro. Adrian's direction; the monastery was completed at beginning of September. Bro. Adrian worked on plans for completing the transept at St. Anthony in San Francisco--along with altars, and residence. Docs. Bro. Adrian San Francisco, CA, St. Anthony of Padua, on 9 April, work began on St. Anthony projects. Docs. Bro. Adrian Bro. Adrian draws plans for new residence, school house, and Sister's convent in Cowlitz Prairie, WA; also plans for San Luis Rey school-rooms, Sister's convent with pupilboarders rooms, repairs and improvements to the Old Mission church. Docs. Bro. Adrian Bro. Adrian draws plans for Sacramento, CA residence enlargement; for new St. Elizabeth church at Fruitvale, CA; for new church and residence at Lakeport, CA. Docs. Bro. Adrian
1913	San Francisco, CA, Bro. Adrian's St. Anthony projects--transept, altars, addition to residence--are finished in February. Docs. Bro. Adrian Bro. Adrian resides from February on in St. Anthony of Padua in San Francisco. In December, Bro. Adrian goes to San Luis Rey to see about high altar and school improvements. Docs. Bro. Adrian. On 23 December, Bro. Adrian--returning from San Luis Rey-- stops at Santa Barbara feeling ill and weak.
1914	On 2 February, Bro. Adrian takes train from Santa Barbara and arrives in San Francisco on 4 February, much fatigued. Somewhat after a week, Bro. Adrian is admitted to St. Joseph's hospital in San Francisco. After nearly ten weeks of infirmity, Bro. Adrian Wewer dies at 9:30 PM on 15 March in St. Joseph's Hospital, San Francisco, California. His death comes less than a month before his 78th birthday. He is buried in St. Mary Cemetery in Oakland.
1915	Phoenix, AZ, St. Mary, a basement church is built according to Bro. Adrian's plans. Docs. Bro. Adrian Cornerstone of St. George Church in Hermann, MO. Style Bro. Adrian.