During the 1930s, rural Rose Township was primed to bloom into a
bustling suburb. On July 24, 1939, Archbishop Murray established
St. Rose of Lima with Fr. John C. Abbott as founding pastor.
In 1940, a combination church and school building opened. Eight Servite Sisters taught 170
students. In 1957, school enrollment peaked at 1,240 students. The original building was no
longer sufficient to house the school and church. In 1967, the current church building was
completed. One of the first churches within the Archdiocese built following the Second Vatican
Council, the round shape of the church expresses the active participation of the assembly,
gathered around the table of the Lord. The convent chapel was converted into a chapel of
perpetual Eucharistic adoration in 1989. Countless people from inside and outside St. Rose
still come to adore the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel to this day.
Today St. Rose of Lima provides a parish home for over 1,000 households in the Roseville area
and beyond. Nourished by the Word of God and the Bread of Life, parishioners seek to fulfill
the mission statement: “Glorify God. Follow Jesus. Love one another. Invite everyone.”