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History of
St. Gregory Barbarigo Parish, Maryville, MO
1858 The first Church is built called
Mary Immaculate, later called St. Mary’s. The 3 priests
who served the area were James Powers, John Hennessey and
John Hogan, later Bishop Of St. Joseph, MO
1860 Small
brick church named St. Mary's is dedicated where Fr.
John Powers offers Mass.
1869 Fr.
Constantine Hergenrother starts a school where several
Benedictine Sisters from the Swiss convent of Rickenbach
teach.
1877
Cornerstone of St. Mary's basement church is laid on
Oct. 13.
1878
Basement church is blessed and completed on Oct. 13. Fr.
Adelhelm, OSB, Pastor. Fr. Anselm, OSB, became pastor in
1881
1881 Eighty
Irish families form St. Patrick's Parish with Fr. Daniel
Pembroke as pastor. Built small frame Church south of
the later brick one in 1882.
1886
Benedictine sisters go to Yankton,SD; Sisters of St.
Francis take over school & begin hospital
1887 St.
Mary's Church is completed and blessed on Nov. 20.
1895
Hospital built at East First St; wing added 1901; new
school built south of the St. Mary’s Church
1899 St.
Patrick's Church is completed in one year, cost $10,000,
Fr. Nieman, pastor.
1910 St.
Patrick’s School started with Benedictine sisters of
Atchison, KS.
1913 Fr.
Anselm leaves St. Mary’s after 32 years; Later Fr.
Isidore would serve 25 years as Pastor 1931-59
1928 Fr.
Robert Graham pastor at St. Patrick’s until his death in
1955
1933 Fr.
Isidore bus system begins.
1937 St.
Patrick’s High School is closed
1958 Pope
John XXIII, new Pope; Vatican II proclaimed Jan 1959,
Begins in Oct 1962.
1959 Fr.
Isidore moved to Nebr in July; Fr. Stack pastor of both
parishes by Bishop Cody.
1960 Sisters
of St. Francis plan new Mount Alverno High School for
girls east of Maryville. Opened 1963
1961 St.
Mary's and St. Patrick's are combined and the parish is
named for St. Gregory Barbarigo.
1963 New St.
Gregory's School opens fall 1963. Pope Paul VI elected
June 1963
1964 Mass in
English, not Latin; high altar removed from St.
Gregory’s & new altar faces the people
1965 Old St.
Patrick’s Church torn down;
1970
Saturday evening Mass permitted; 1977, communion in the
hand allowed.
1970 New 96
bed St. Francis Hospital built on South main
1971 Mount
Alverno High School closed; Maryville Treatment Center
(prison) opens 1997
1976 Deacons
Martin Schieber and Roy Seipel ordained; Fr. Frank
Lackamp, Pastor
1982 New St.
Gregory's Church is constructed. The cornerstone is
blessed and laid Oct. 24.
1982 Priests
use 1967 convent as rectory; nuns move to house on S.
Charles St.
1983 First
Mass celebrated in the new St. Gregory Barbarigo Church
Jan 22, 1983,Fr. Helfrey Pastor.
1985 Debt of
over $1,056,500 for Church and hall paid off, Fr. Terry
Bruce pastor.
1995 Opening
of St. Gregory’s Preschool and Childcare Facility
1996
Dedication of the Parish Center, with Gym, pre-school,
kitchen; Fr. John Leitner, Pastor
Stained
glass window in St. Gregory Sanctuary depicts history of
parish.
The large
window above the entrance has been designed in warm,
earth-tone colors of faceted glass. The design is
somewhat abstract, symbolizing growth in plant and human
life, with “life streams” waving through the background
of the composition to emphasize religious, academic,
family life and rural aspects of life in this parish.
The center panel features a very large face of Christ
the King (symbolic of hope and victory). A cross is
suggested, symbolic of redemption, as well as the
triangle representing the Trinity.
This dynamic
abstraction of God reminds us that God is ever present,
and that we must look for Him in all aspects of our
lives. Curved lines radiate from this area of the window
touching an abstract figure representing the soul---
growth in spiritual life through the Church. The
buildings shown are the old St. Mary’s and the old St.
Patrick’s Church. These represent the religious history
of the parish today. Buildings representing Mount
Alverno Convent and Conception Abbey, and the towers of
Northwest Missouri State University depict the academic
aspect of life. The family is depicted by a figure
group; the industrial and farming aspects are
represented by a grain elevator. Corn and wheat, the
main crops grown here, are depicted to represent the
rural aspect of life in St. Gregory’s Parish. The
vertical strips of green and gold in the bottom part of
the composition again represent the farming in this
community.
This window was
designed by Dolores Veth, from Hopscroft Glass Studio,
Kansas City, Missouri. Ms Veth studied art and
architecture at the University College Division of
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. Basically
self-taught, she began her career in stained glass in
1959.
The Story of Our Patron Saint
Saint Gregory Barbarigo
Pope John
XXIII canonized St. Gregory Barbarigo, the patron of our
Parish, in 1960. His feast day is June 18. St. Gregory
was given to us as our patron on October 11, 1961, when
the parishes of St. Mary and St. Patrick were combined
by approval of Pope John XXIII.
St. Gregory was born on September 16, 1625, and he died
in 1697. His family lived in Venice and were held in
high repute by the people there. He was the fourth son.
He excelled in his studies at an early age and became
interested in diplomacy and statesmanship. He knew
Contarine, the Venetian ambassador, and went with him on
at least one ambassadorial mission.
After he was ordained a priest in 1655, he organized
care for the plague-stricken people of Rome. In 1657,
Pope Alexander VII made him the first Bishop of Bergamo.
He was a leader in promoting the reforms of the Council
of Trent. He visited parishes, organizing the teaching
of Christian doctrine and also worked with seminarians
and clergy to raise their standards. His work was so
respected that in 1660, he was made the Cardinal of
Padua.
St. Gregory was extremely interested in higher education
and worked for the development of seminaries and
libraries. He established a printing press that printed
pamphlets for Christians under Moslem rule. He was
active in laboring to bring about a reunion with the
Greek Church. St. Gregory took part in five papal
Conclaves (for the election of the Pope) and was a
candidate in three of them. It is recorded that his
congregation thought him to be a man filled with wisdom. |
