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This church, built as the
second Catholic Church in Pueblo, is now the oldest. The first mass at St.
Patrick’s was said on December 2, 1882. Since then, the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass has been continuous except for three months during the flu epidemic of
1918.
For the first 43 years
of its history, Jesuits served the parish.
In 1885, the limestone
building adjacent to the church opened as a school. For many years it was the
only parochial school in Pueblo, with three Sisters teaching 150 students in
three classrooms.
The 1900s saw much
growth in the parish and in the school. By 1922, enrollment had gown to 434
elementary students and 88 secondary students. The school even served as a
relief station during the Pueblo Flood: Women of the parish and the Red Cross
served 1,200 meals to the hungry and provided shelter for those affected by the
high waters.
1962 witnessed the closing
of St. Patrick’s school. Thirty years later, the buildings were demolished.
Since
its beginning, renewal has been a constant companion of St. Patrick’s Church
and in recent years, the parish has become a leader in liturgical renewal. In
1996, St. Patrick’s united with Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Mary Church
to form a cluster parish. The clustering of these parishes will make it possible
for them to remain open and active into the next millennium in order to share
our Catholic faith with many generations to come.
This parish closed on
March 31, 2008. To read more about the closure, please
click here.
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