About Annunciation · Williams, California
Annunciation Mission is a small Catholic mission church in the rural farming community of Williams, Colusa County, California, part of the Diocese of Sacramento. It is one of two mission churches (the other being Holy Cross Mission in Arbuckle) served by the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in nearby Maxwell, with Rev. Hector Montoya as current pastor. The parish has a strong Hispanic Catholic identity, with a Spanish-language Saturday Vigil Mass and a bilingual Wednesday morning Mass serving the local Latino community. The small wood-frame church at 617 8th Street has a remarkable history: its structure originated in Marysville in 1853 and was physically moved to Williams in 1892, making it one of the oldest continuously used Catholic church buildings in the Sacramento Valley.
- Established
- 1892
- Patron
- The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Rector
- Rev. Hector Montoya
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento (Colusa County, Sutter Buttes Deanery)
Why belong here
Annunciation Mission is a small, bilingual Catholic community that brings the Mass and the sacraments to the rural Williams area on a weekly schedule, including a Spanish-language Saturday Vigil and a bilingual Wednesday morning Mass. It is a parish with deep local roots — its 1892 church building is one of the oldest in the Sacramento Valley — and it remains a place where farming families, longtime Anglo parishioners, and Hispanic Catholics worship side by side. Visitors and parishioners are cared for by the same pastor who shepherds Sacred Heart Parish in Maxwell and Holy Cross Mission in Arbuckle, giving the mission a real sense of being part of a wider Colusa County Catholic family.
Mass times at Annunciation
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Friday 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM (1st Friday)
- Saturday 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM
About Annunciation Mission
Annunciation Mission is the Catholic mission church serving Williams, a small farming community in Colusa County in the Sacramento Valley. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, in the Colusa County / Sutter Buttes Deanery, and is staffed by the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in nearby Maxwell. The current pastor is Rev. Hector Montoya, and the mailing address, phone line, and email are shared with Sacred Heart Parish, Maxwell. The mission holds a Saturday Vigil in Spanish, a Sunday morning Mass in English, and a weekday schedule that includes a bilingual Wednesday morning Mass and a Spanish-language Thursday morning Mass — making it a small but distinctly bilingual Catholic community.
- Diocese of Sacramento, Colusa County / Sutter Buttes Deanery
- Sister missions served by the same pastor: Sacred Heart Parish, Maxwell; Holy Cross Mission, Arbuckle
- Shared contact: Phone 530-473-2432; Email [email protected]
- Website: sacredheartmaxwell.org (parent parish)
- Listed on the diocesan site at scd.org/parish/annunciation-mission-williams
History of the Williams Church
The history of the Williams church reaches back to the very beginnings of Catholicism in the Sacramento Valley. In 1852, Bishop Alemany sent Father Peter Magagnotti to Marysville, where he borrowed $4,000 and within a month built a small 32-by-43-foot wooden church, dedicated by the bishop on March 2, 1853. That building — Annunciation's present structure — was moved to Williams forty years later, in 1892, by Father Michael Walrath, the pastor of the Colusa churches. Father Walrath had come to Colusa County from Weaverville in 1877 and spent the next three-plus decades founding and building up parishes across the county.
- 1852 — Bishop Alemany sends Father Peter Magagnotti to Marysville
- 1853 — Magagnotti builds 32 x 43 ft wooden church; Bishop Alemany dedicates it March 2, 1853
- 1856 — A larger church replaces it in Marysville; the original becomes surplus
- 1877 — Father Michael Walrath arrives in Colusa County from Weaverville
- 1892 — Walrath buys the unused Marysville church, has it dismantled and moved to Williams
How the Church Came to Williams (1892)
Deciding in 1892 that Williams needed a church and remembering the unused Marysville structure, Father Walrath negotiated to purchase it. There are two local accounts of how it was moved: one says he used two large spring wagons, the other that he put the sawed-in-two building on a flatcar and brought it to Williams by railroad. Either way, the church was re-erected at the corner of 8th and F Streets — today's 617 8th Street — where it has stood ever since.
- Building dismantled and sawed in half
- Moved by spring wagon or by railroad flatcar
- Re-erected at 8th and F Streets, Williams
The 1930s Renovations and the Gothic Altar
Sometime during the 1930s the Williams church received a new ceiling, a new floor, and a furnace — the building had previously been heated by a single wood-burning stove set in the center of the nave. The original altar was replaced by a very large, ornate, hand-carved Gothic-style altar. This altar is itself historically significant, because it was brought from the old stone church at Woodland. Other than these 1930s renovations, the building is essentially the same little wooden church Father Magagnotti erected in 1853 and Father Walrath moved to Williams in 1892.
- New ceiling and floor installed (1930s)
- First furnace installed, replacing the central wood stove
- Large ornate Gothic-style hand-carved altar brought from the old stone church at Woodland
Connection to Sacred Heart Parish, Maxwell
Annunciation Mission is one of three Catholic communities served from Sacred Heart Parish, Maxwell, which was established in 1910. All three — Sacred Heart in Maxwell, Annunciation in Williams, and Holy Cross in Arbuckle — share a single pastor, currently Rev. Hector Montoya, and the parish office mailing address is in Williams (P.O. Box 1327, Williams, CA 95987). Rev. John J. Myles is listed as Pastor Emeritus of Sacred Heart Parish. The shared phone number (530-473-2432) and email ([email protected]) connect all three communities to one parish office.
- Parent parish: Sacred Heart Parish, Maxwell (established 1910)
- Sister mission: Holy Cross Mission, Arbuckle
- Shared pastor: Rev. Hector Montoya
- Pastor Emeritus: Rev. John J. Myles
- Shared parish office mailing: P.O. Box 1327, Williams, CA 95987
Father Michael Walrath: The Builder of Colusa County's Churches
Father Michael Walrath, the priest responsible for bringing the Annunciation church to Williams, is remembered as the man who built up Catholic life in Colusa County. After arriving from Weaverville in 1877, he constructed churches in Williams, Arbuckle, and Maxwell, the three most populous towns in the county at the time. According to one of his assistants, in the early 1880s Walrath devised a scheme to travel more quickly between his three towns: the railroad company loaned him a hand car, which he operated himself and supplemented on windy days with a sail he rigged up by his own ingenuity — at one point interfering with the schedule of the overland trains before being asked to stop. The lines used to describe him capture the era: 'Long years o'er our valley ways he trod with messages of faith and God; bearing with love, like faithful friend, the Master's burden to the end.'
- Came to Colusa from Weaverville in 1877
- Built churches in Williams, Arbuckle, and Maxwell
- Famously operated a railroad hand car between his three parishes
- Rigged a sail on the hand car for windy days
- Served Williams from 1892 until succeeded by Father Hynes in 1911
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Peter Magagnotti1853
Built the original 32x43-foot wooden church in Marysville, dedicated by Bishop Alemany March 2, 1853 — the structure that would later be moved to Williams.
- Father Michael Walrath1877–1911 (served Williams from 1892)
Came to Colusa County from Weaverville in 1877; built churches across Williams, Arbuckle, and Maxwell; famously traveled between his three towns on a railroad hand car with a sail. Negotiated the purchase of the Marysville church in 1892 and had it moved to Williams.
- Father Michael Hynesfrom 1911
Succeeded Father Walrath as pastor of Williams, Arbuckle, and Maxwell.
- Monsignor John McGarry
Served Williams after Father Hynes.
- Father Stephen Stack
Served Williams in the succession.
- Father Morgan
Had assistants Fathers Monogue, Bannion, Delahunty, Coffey, and Phelan.
- Father Phelan
Served first as administrator of Williams, then became pastor; per Mrs. Reynolds' 1976 account, was the current priest at that time.
- Rev. Hector Montoyacurrent
Current pastor; serves Annunciation Mission, Williams alongside Sacred Heart Parish, Maxwell and Holy Cross Mission, Arbuckle.