Supplements

archive ISSUE

msgr. james jansen dies feb. 11 at aviston nursing home

Story by RAFE MIDDEKE
Messenger staff

Msgr. James Jansen, 79, died Feb. 11 at Countryside Manor in Aviston. He had been a resident at the nursing home for three and a half years and celebrated Mass with the residents every Wednesday and Sunday morning and on holy days. He celebrated his final Mass there several weeks ago.

The Rite of Christian Burial was celebrated Feb. 14 at St. Boniface Church in Germantown. Father Dennis Voss, at Msgr. Jansen’s request, was the principal celebrant and homilist. Bishop Stanley Schlarman presided.

In his homily Father Voss, also from Germantown, said “I was privileged to be at his ordination and be a part of his first Mass here in this church. Through the years he continued to be an inspiration to me and I continued to admire him. Father Voss stressed his “quiet and humble style” and his simplicity. “Jim’s humility made it very hard for him to accept the title of monsignor. … Father Jim knew who he was. He knew he was a priest and very proud of this and did not need anything else. He was too humble to want to stand out in any way.”

James Jansen was born April 15, 1929 in Germantown to Joseph and Frances Gesenhues Jansen.
After attending the former St. Henry Seminary and completing his philosophy and theology studies at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Ill., he was ordained to the priesthood May 3, 1955 at St. Peter Cathedral in Belleville by Bishop Albert Zuroweste.

He served as an associate at St. George’s in New Baden, St. Dominic’s in Breese, Immaculate Conception in Centreville, St. Rose in St. Rose and Holy Rosary in Fairmont City. In 1962 he was assigned as chaplain at St. Clement’s Hospital in Red Bud and a member of the faculty at SS. Peter and Paul High School in Waterloo. He began his first pastorate at St. Patrick’s in Tipton and Immaculate Conception in Madonnaville, continuing as a faculty member at SS. Peter and Paul.

In 1970 he began a short pastorate at St. Augustine’s in Hecker before beginning a 15-year pastorate at Immaculate Conception in Columbia. His final pastorate, beginning in 1985, was at Our Lady of Assumption Parish in Fairview Heights. He retired in 2001 because of health concerns and lived at the Hincke-Sense Home until his health required nursing home assistance.

With a reputation for wise financial management he served as the treasurer of the Clergymen’s Aid Society, a member of the Diocesan Finance Council and the Hincke-Sense Board of Directors. He also cared for Holy Cross Cemetery. In a retirement interview he said: “I was glad to get off those boards, but you have to do some penance.”

He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Gerald, Richard, Thomas, Anthony and Paul Jansen; sisters Sister Dolores Marie Jansen, MM, Marcella Nagel, Helen Henken, Mary Ann Jansen and Dorothy Perry. He is survived by a brother-in-law, Toby Nagel of Gary, Ind.; sisters-in-law Florence Jansen, Lorinda Jansen, both of Germantown, Marjorie Jansen of Bartelso, Mary Ann Jansen of Freeburg and many nephews and nieces.
Interment was in St. Boniface Cemetery in Germantown.