St. Patrick

History of St. Patrick Parish

St. Patrick's story begins on St. Patrick's Day, 1857, when Father Patrick Henneberry of the Society of the Precious Blood rode in from Minster to celebrate Mass for Irish Catholic settlers in the rural community then known as Six Mile. For its first five years the small community worshipped in private homes until a parishioner donated land and a framed church was built and dedicated in 1862 as St. Thomas. The parish was unusual in this stretch of western Ohio — most Catholic churches being founded in Auglaize and Mercer counties at the time were German; St. Thomas was Irish. The parish grew rapidly with the 1870s oil and gas boom and the arrival of the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, which renamed Six Mile 'Glynwood' after local resident John Glynn. By the early 1880s the frame church was too small even after an 1873 addition, so additional land was purchased and a new brick church was begun in 1883. It was dedicated on April 27, 1884 and rededicated under the name St. Patrick — honoring the patron saint of Ireland — while the adjacent cemetery kept the older name, St. Thomas Cemetery. St. Patrick has been served by Precious Blood priests (and a brief period of diocesan pastoral care under Fr. Joseph Lutz in the late 1870s) ever since.

• 1857 — Mission established by Fr. Patrick Henneberry, C.PP.S.; first Mass in homes of Irish settlers on March 17, 1857
• 1862 — Framed church dedicated as St. Thomas
• 1873 — First addition to the frame church
• 1876–1880 — Fr. Joseph Lutz, first diocesan pastor; built the first rectory
• 1880 — Society of the Precious Blood Fathers resume pastoral care
• 1883 — Cornerstone of the present brick church laid; community renamed Glynwood
• April 27, 1884 — New church dedicated as St. Patrick
• 1979 — Church and rectory listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP #79002836)
• July 1, 2022 — St. Patrick joins St. Isidore the Farmer Family of Parishes

Architecture & Historic Significance

The present St. Patrick church is a brick Gothic Revival building completed in 1883 and dedicated in 1884. Architectural historians place it as a transitional structure between the second-generation, small-brick Precious Blood churches and the third-generation High Gothic Revival churches — its prominent tower, in particular, anticipates the soaring spires that would later define the region's signature 'Cross-Tipped Churches' silhouette. The accompanying rectory and the historic St. Thomas Cemetery share the property. The recognition of St. Patrick's architectural and historical importance came in 1979, when the church and rectory were added to the National Register of Historic Places under the 'Cross-Tipped Churches of Ohio' thematic resources multiple property submission. Twenty-seven other Catholic churches from the same missionary network — including the old mother church at Minster — were listed at the same time, confirming St. Patrick's place within one of America's most distinctive concentrations of 19th-century rural Catholic architecture.

• Style: Gothic Revival (brick, 1883)
• Listed on the National Register of Historic Places — July 26, 1979 — NRHP #79002836
• Part of the 'Cross-Tipped Churches of Ohio' Multiple Property Submission
• Transitional design between 2nd- and 3rd-generation Precious Blood churches
• Includes adjacent St. Thomas Cemetery and parish rectory

St. Isidore the Farmer Family of Parishes

Since July 1, 2022, St. Patrick has been part of the St. Isidore the Farmer Family of Parishes — a collaborative partnership of five area Catholic parishes led by Pastor Father Rob Muhlenkamp and Parochial Vicars Father Prashanth Bandanadham and Father Adam Berning. The family model allows the parishes to share clergy, faith-formation staff, music directors, and pastoral resources while keeping each individual parish's identity, history, and worship schedule intact.

• Holy Rosary — St. Marys, OH
• Immaculate Conception — Celina, OH
• St. Teresa — Rockford, OH
• Our Lady of Guadalupe — Montezuma, OH
• St. Patrick — Glynwood (St. Marys), OH

Ministries & Faith Formation

Parish life at St. Patrick centers on its religious-education program for children, liturgical ministry at Sunday Mass, and the pastoral-care and formation offerings shared across the Family of Parishes. A monthly Ministry Schedule is published on the St. Isidore the Farmer website listing lectors, Eucharistic ministers, servers, and other liturgical volunteers for each parish — and anyone interested in serving is encouraged to call the parish office.

• Religious Education (C.R.E.) for St. Patrick parish children — coordinated by Missy Chalk
• Liturgical Ministry (Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, Servers, Ushers, etc.) — monthly schedule published online
• Music Ministry — Stacy Smith and Polly Muhlenkamp serve St. Patrick
• Stephen Ministry — lay caring ministry offered across the Family of Parishes (leaders include Garrett Forlow and Julie Shaffer)
• Safe Environment program — protecting children and vulnerable adults
• Marriage & Family Evangelization — directed by Wes Horstman at the Family of Parishes level

Why St. Patrick Matters

St. Patrick is more than a stop on a rural road — it is one of the oldest Irish Catholic congregations in western Ohio, a contributing property to the National Register of Historic Places, and a living parish where descendants of the 1857 founding families still gather each Sunday in the same brick sanctuary their great-great-grandparents built in 1884. As part of the St. Isidore the Farmer Family of Parishes since 2022, St. Patrick combines the intimacy of a small country church with the stability, formation, and sacramental life of a larger Catholic family.