140+ Years of History

Welcome to St. Mary’s Catholic Church! Since the 1880’s, the Church of St. Mary’s has been an essential part of the Waverly community by bringing the sacraments and the teachings of the Church to thousands of people. Today, our parish family continues its mission of proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ and nourishing souls with the gifts of his presence and his grace.

On August 10, 1884, Father Joseph Guillot became Pastor of St. Mary’s.  He would be Pastor until 1896. His first work of business was to organize St. Mary’s Parish into a Religious Corporation. The State of Minnesota saw the need for religious entities to be officially recognized as a church organization.

On August 29, 1884, trustees John Cullen and Henry Lammers, and Fr. Guillot went to St. Paul to present Bishop Ireland the Articles of Incorporation. On that day, the Articles were accepted by the Bishop and notarized at Ramsey county. This was a big deal to be officially recognized as a Church. It would become a bigger deal, so that the Church could officially conduct business. Because of this, most Churches, St. Mary’s included, used the date of incorporation, (8/29/1884 for St. Mary’s), to celebrate the age of the parish, rather than the founding date of a parish. (1861 for St. Mary’s.)

Because our Incorporation date is at the end of August, which is a week before our festival, we have chosen August 4th to celebrate the 140th Anniversary of

St. Mary’s Parish.  So get August 4, 2024 on your calendar!

Overseeing the building of the school was the second work of business Fr. Guillot engaged in. He was born and raised in France. People at the time he was Pastor said Fr. Guillot spoke English with a heavy French accent. When he became Pastor there were many English speaking members of the parish, but there were parishioners who were French, German, Polish, Bohemian, and Irish, who spoke their native tongue. If they spoke English, it was just a little. Fr. Guillot determined that English had to be the common language for everyone to be able to communicate. At the time there were about 375 families in the parish.  To help foster the use of English, he decided that a school should be built for the parish. He believed that as the children were taught English, that the parents would acquire the language as well. The people agreed and in 1885, the foundation for the school was laid and construction began. The school opened the fall of 1886. But the dedication did not take place until 1887 because the difficulty trying to schedule Bishop Ireland. The school was staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph.

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When Fr. Joseph Guillot came to America, he had in mind that he wanted to oversee the building of a church in Waverly. In preparation, he brought a stone from a field in Lourdes, France. The stone was from the site where the Blessed Mother appeared to Saint Bernadette. His intention was to incorporate the stone into the church building. The story was told by one of the nuns, that Fr. Guillot had difficulty explaining to the custom agents in New York, why he wanted to bring a rock into the country. Those agents were the first people to hear about Fr. Guillot’s plans to build a church in Waverly.

The stone was inserted into the south exterior wall of our church, right around the corner from the steeple. It can easily be seen and touched from ground level. The stone is blue granite and is round (looks like a nose). Take time to locate the stone and touch it! It is taken from near where the Blessed Mother stood and appeared to Bernadette. That stone connects us to Lourdes, France and the Blessed Mother’s appearance!