St Patrick's Catholic Church
Founded 1884

Today's world is a different place from 1884.  People traveled by horse and buggy to rural farming communities.  The nation was only 19 years removed from the Civil War.  People burned wood in their fireplace to see warm in the winter and entertained themselves bye reading Mark Twain's new book: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  One waited days of ra letter to cross from city to city and got their news for 5 cents from the Pioneer Press or St Paul Dispatch.  Mass was celebrated in Latin as the priest prayed with his back to the congregation.  It was this world that St Patrick's Catholic Church was born.

St. Patricks was founded on October 13, 1884.  The parish was named in honor of the Irish immigrants which lived and worked around our original location at Mississippi St and Case Ave.  The old Rice School building was purchased and moved to the parish location to serve as the first school and church.  Soon a stand alone church was constructed next door.  

The original school burned to the ground on January 7th, 1887.  The school was temporarily moved into the church basement and with the insurance money the parish chose to expand the church, adding a state of the art feature: gas lights!  For a time it was one of the finest churches in St Paul.  Soon a new school building was constructed and both the parish and school grew in size and faith over its 54 years on Mississippi St.  

In September of 1928 Fr Richard Lee became pastor.  During his 27 years as pastor he would oversee the greatest change in our parish's history.  It was announced at the golden jubilee in 1934 that the parish would be moving from Mississippi St several blocks north-east to Magnolia and DeSoto and a new combined church-school building would be built.  In 1938 students packed up their desks in wagons and made the trek up hill to the open the new school.  

St Pat's continued to grow under Fr Lee and by the early 50's there was money for a stand alone church.  However, the school was overcrowded and the decision was made to double the size of the school in 1952.  Fr Lee passed away on August 12, 1955.  The meeting room in the current church is named in his honor.  

By the early 60's we again had money and this time it went to that stand alone church!  Land was purchased across the street and on March 11, 1964 the first Mass was celebrated in our current church building.  Fr Leon Bonnin (for whom the church hall is named for) oversaw this massive expansion project, which included a new rectory and convent building.  

At this point the we weren't about building new structures, but building on the changes of the community.  Starting with changes to the Mass during Vatican II, many of the traditions we know and love today were started, including Toy Sunday, the Pancake Breakfast, contemporary music groups, Friendship Sunday and Patrick's Pantry.

The next major change came in 1973 when the Capuchins took over the parish from the Archdiocese.  Fr Crispin Weinberger became the first Capuchin pastor.  The Capuchin's injected new life into the parish as the Eastside community around began to change.  However tragedy struck on January 24, 1981 when Fr Cris died suddenly of a heart attack.  The parish was stunned, but came together to celebrate his life and try to move on.  

In 1984 we celebrated our centennial anniversary with a huge Mass, choirs, bonfires, and of course, pancakes.  In 1996 St. Pat's went through another time of major change.  First, after 108 years of educating, the difficult decision was made to close and merge the school.  Secondly, after 23 years the Capuchins left St. Pats and returned the parish to the archdiocese.  A farewell Mass was celebrated on June 19, 1996.  The basement chapel was named the St Francis Chapel in honor of the Capuchins time with us.

In the early 2000's the Archdiocese began a wide analysis of all parishes to help save off a potential priest shortage.  As a result in 2009 it was decided to cluster St Pat's with nearby St Casimir.  St Pat's and St Casimir's have long worked together on the Eastside, including merging our schools back in 1992.  Today we share a pastor and work together in various ministries and community events.  This also meant a new order or priests coming into our parish in the form of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, whom have served St Casimir for over 100 years.  

Our most recent addition to the parish was welcoming in the Hmong Catholic Community.  This faithful group of parishioners has injected new life into the parish and ties is into the current Eastside community today much more than our old Irish heritage does.  We know that changes will continue to come and we will continue to grow in size, faith, and love. 

Today's world is a different place from 1884.  People travel in electric cars to ever expanding suburbs.  The nation is 18 years removed from the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  We run fuel efficient air conditions to keep cool in the summer and entertain ourselves watching the latest Star Wars movie on Netflix.  You wait seconds to send an email to the other side of the globe and get your news by pulling up pioneerpress.com on your smartphone.  Mass is said in English and Hmong and our pastor gladly walks into the congregation to shake our hands at the Sign of Peace.  This is the world that St Patrick's Catholic Church continues is journey today, and into tomorrow.