About St. Thomas Aquinas · Thomas, West Virginia
St. Thomas Aquinas Parish is a Roman Catholic parish in the small coal-country town of Thomas, Tucker County, West Virginia, in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Founded in 1893 to serve the Italian immigrant families who came to work the coal mines of the Upper Potomac Coalfield, it has remained an active parish for more than 130 years and today ministers alongside its mission chapel, Our Lady of Mercy in nearby Parsons. The parish offers a full weekly schedule of Masses (six Masses a week, including a Saturday Vigil and Sunday liturgy), along with Confession and Eucharistic Adoration, and is led by parish staff including a pastor, an organist/music director, and two parish secretaries.
- Established
- 1893
- Patron
- St. Thomas Aquinas (13th-century Dominican friar, priest, and theologian; patron saint of students and Catholic schools)
- Rector
- Father Martin J. Smay (listed as pastor on the parish website; reassigned by Bishop Mark Brennan effective June 18, 2025, to Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Huntington, and St. Stephen Parish, Ona)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
Why belong here
St. Thomas Aquinas offers a faithful, intimate Catholic community in rural Tucker County — the kind of parish where everyone knows each other and the Eucharist is at the center of weekly life. Weekend Masses are celebrated Saturday at 5:00 PM and Sunday at 9:00 AM, with daily Mass on Monday morning and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, plus Friday Eucharistic Adoration and Saturday Confession. Parishioners also gather at the mission chapel of Our Lady of Mercy in Parsons for an 11:00 AM Sunday Mass, making this a true two-town Catholic family under one pastor.
Mass times at St. Thomas Aquinas
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:00 PM – 4:50 PM
- 30 minutes before Mass on weekdays and Sunday
Adoration times
- Friday 4:00 PM – 4:50 PM (followed by 5:00 PM Mass)
About St. Thomas Aquinas Parish
St. Thomas Aquinas Parish is a Roman Catholic parish in Thomas, Tucker County, West Virginia, in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Founded in 1893, it has ministered to the coal-country Catholics of the Upper Potomac Coalfield for more than 130 years. The parish serves Thomas and, through its mission chapel Our Lady of Mercy, the neighboring town of Parsons. Weekend Mass is celebrated Saturday at 5:00 PM and Sunday at 9:00 AM, with daily Mass Monday through Friday (except Wednesday) and a full schedule of Confession and Eucharistic Adoration.
- Founded: 1893
- Diocese: Wheeling-Charleston
- Address: 316 Brown Street, Thomas, WV 26292
- Phone: (304) 463-4488
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://www.sttsite.com/
History
The parish traces its roots to 1893, when Catholic families in the booming coal-mining community of Thomas needed a church of their own. The Thomas-Coketon-Pierce coal camps drew the largest concentration of Italian immigrants in the Upper Potomac Coalfield, and St. Thomas Aquinas was established to serve them and their neighbors. The parish has remained continuously active ever since and today, more than a century later, it also shepherds the Our Lady of Mercy Mission in Parsons. Under the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, the parish maintains its witness in rural Tucker County through regular Mass, the sacraments, and Eucharistic Adoration.
- Founded 1893 in Thomas, WV
- Served Italian-immigrant coal-mining families of the Upper Potomac Coalfield
- Now paired with Our Lady of Mercy Mission in Parsons
Our Lady of Mercy Mission, Parsons
St. Thomas Aquinas Parish shares its pastor with a mission chapel, Our Lady of Mercy, in nearby Parsons, West Virginia. Our Lady of Mercy celebrates Sunday Mass at 11:00 AM at 221 Water Street, Parsons, WV 26287, giving Catholics in Tucker County a second weekend liturgy option. GCatholic notes that Our Lady of Mercy Mission dates to 1950.
- Address: 221 Water Street, Parsons, WV 26287
- Sunday Mass: 11:00 AM
- Mission of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish
Pastor and Parish Staff
The parish is led by its pastor together with a small, dedicated staff of lay collaborators. The parish website and bulletin list a pastor, an organist and music director, and two parish secretaries. All inquiries and correspondence can be directed to the parish office at (304) 463-4488 or to the pastor's email.
- Pastor: Rev. Martin J. Smay — [email protected]
- Organist & Music Director: Jonathan P. Mann
- Secretaries: Melinda Siler and Cindy Goughnour
- Mailing address: P.O. Box 300, Thomas, WV 26292
About Father Martin J. Smay
Father Martin J. Smay grew up in Weirton and Wheeling, West Virginia, as the fifth of six children. A graduate of West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Science in mining engineering, he worked as an underground mine foreman on a continuous-miner section for CONSOL Energy at the McElroy mine in Marshall County before discerning a vocation to the priesthood. He earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Angelicum in Rome and was ordained in 2018. After ordination he served two years as parochial vicar at St. Michael Parish in Wheeling, then ten months as vice-rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph, before being appointed pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Thomas, and Our Lady of Mercy Mission, Parsons — a role he held for about four years until June 18, 2025, when Bishop Mark Brennan reassigned him to Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Huntington and St. Stephen Parish in Ona.
- Born and raised in Weirton and Wheeling, WV
- B.S. Mining Engineering, West Virginia University
- S.T.B., Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome
- Former underground mine foreman, CONSOL Energy, McElroy mine
- Ordained 2018 for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
Catholic Sharing Appeal
St. Thomas Aquinas Parish and Our Lady of Mercy Mission participate in the annual Catholic Sharing Appeal (CSA), the diocesan-wide fundraising effort of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston that supports parishes, schools, vocations, and charitable works across West Virginia. Parishioners are invited to contribute each year through the parish.
- Diocesan-wide appeal supporting parishes, schools, vocations and charities
- St. Thomas Aquinas and Our Lady of Mercy both participate
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Martin J. Smayc. 2021 – June 18, 2025
Former mining engineer (CONSOL Energy, McElroy mine); WVU B.S. in mining engineering; S.T.B. from the Angelicum in Rome; ordained 2018; previously parochial vicar at St. Michael Parish, Wheeling, then vice-rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph; reassigned June 2025 to Our Lady of Fatima / St. Stephen.