Twelve years after the church was built, it was destroyed by fire. Construction of a new church began immediately and the second Church of the Redeemer was dedicated in 1889. It served as a spiritual home for the Universalist Society until 1941 when, because of dwindling membership, it was sold to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for $112,500. After extensive remodeling in both the upper and lower levels, it was dedicated as St. Olaf Catholic church on June 1, 1941. The name, St. Olaf, commemorating the eleventh century warrior-saint, was chosen because of the city’s large Scandinavian population.