St. Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love, total devotion, and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God and in the importance of his mission.
Impelled by the love of Christ, with St. Patrick as our patron, we, the Parish Family of St. Patrick, are called to create a welcoming home for all who seek to know Christ in His loving body, the Church. As the Body of Christ, made in His image and likeness, we are called to use the gifts that He has given us, to care as He would care, to teach as He would teach, to challenge ourselves to grow as He would have us grow, and to reach out to others in our community with a warm love, which is Christ’s love.
Our parish is strong in faith, generous in hospitality, and dedicated to God and His Grace within each of us. Following in the footsteps of our patron, St. Patrick, we have the fervor to spread our faith and be proud of our humble beginnings. We are truly ALIVE and GROWING IN JESUS' NAME. Through the intercession of St. Patrick, may God truly continue to bless and keep us.
St. Patrick Parish began as a mission parish of Montgomery City. Reverend J. J. Head attended to the mission, as well as other missions and parishes in the towns along the Wabash railroad. In those days, Father Head made the trip to Wentzville twice a month to celebrate Sunday Mass. Masses were held in the Masonic building in town. The other Sundays, the parishioners had to travel by horse and wagon to Josephville for Mass. During the winter, it was extremely treacherous in the snow. After many prayers and requests from parishioners, especially Mr. and Mrs. Philip Post, coupled with 15 long, arduous trips into St. Louis by Mr. Post and various other parishioners, Archbishop Kenrick finally relented and gave permission to start a Catholic Church and school in Wentzville. On September 15, 1882, Bishop Patrick J. Ryan dedicated this mission as St. Patrick Parish in keeping with his Irish heritage, but there was still the need of an actual Church. We have the families of Reinecke and Mispagel to thank for mortgaging their farms to raise money to get the parish started. Land was secured from Colonel Joseph and Mrs. Ruth Savage in the sum of $200.00 for three and a half acres. This property is the present site of the parish buildings on Church Street.
Although the Church had been dedicated in 1882, our first resident Pastor, Father Peter Byrne, did not arrive on the scene until 1905. Father Byrne resided in the Wentzville Hotel until the parochial residence was built. Father John Kretchter succeeded Father Byrne and began establishing a school, holding classes in his residence until 1909 when the school was completed. Over the years, the parish has benefited from the hard work and dedication of 16 Pastors, our first Associate Pastors, and 3 permanent Deacons. Between 60 and 70 Sisters of the Most Precious Blood have served St. Patrick School as teachers and as Principals. Many caring lay teachers have also served the school, and we are still benefiting from their hard work and commitment.
We have moved forward as we have grown and built to house the faithful of St. Patrick. We started with a handful of families and today we are a parish of 1900 families. With the same determination of our founding parishioners, we look to the future with hope and strength.