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ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CATHOLIC CHURCH
Catholicism in the Tallassee area can be traced back to the Spanish explorer Hernandez Desoto. It has been recorded that Desoto trekked through the Indian village of Talisi accompanied by other Catholic explorers and missionary priests; just barely 50 years after Columbus discovered America.
Yet it was not until 1910 that priests again came to Tallassee to tend to the Catholic residents with any degree of permanency. Priests of the Congregation of the Mission, better known as the Vincentian Fathers (named after their founder, St. Vincent de Paul), settled in Opelika to administer to souls in east-central Alabama. Records show that Father Thomas J. McDonald, C.M., offered Mass for the first time in a Tallassee residence on September 18, 1910; but it was not until 1945 that interest was shown in establishing a Catholic church in Tallassee.
With the influx of Catholic war brides in 1945 and Catholic men who came to settle in the hometown of their brides, Mass was once again offered in Tallassee by Father Bartholemew O’Malley. Every other Saturday Mass was said in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Ellridge Sims, two zealous converts who owned the Sims Pharmacy in East Tallassee. After the Sims moved to Dothan in 1948, Rev. James T. Wholey offered Mass in the home of Dr. and Mrs. E.P. Eckart. In 1950, Rev. John C. Cody, who succeeded Father Wholey said Mass in the hall of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Carrville. Two years later, Mr. Herve Charest arranged for Mass to be held each Sunday in Post 118 of the American Legion.
In 1952, plans for a Catholic Church in Tallassee got underway. With the encouragement of the Vincentian Fathers’ superior in Philadelphia, the Very Rev. Daniel M. Leary, C.M., Father Cody submitted ideas for a church and priest’s quarters. The following year George P. Turner, a Birmingham architect, drew up plans for the present building. A lot was secured in East Tallassee but afterwards this property was deemed inadvisable. Another delay occurred when construction bids came in too high.
Finally, Colonel and Mrs. Roberts Blount generously donated property on Highway 14 (Gilmer Avenue) for a Catholic Church. Both were converts to the Catholic faith. Mrs. Blount’s interest in the Catholic Church was heightened by a series of Lenten sermons delivered on the radio by Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen who prompted Mrs. Blount to pursue a course of instruction under his guidance in Washington D.C. Mrs. Blount converted to Catholicism in 1951, and in 1955 Msgr. Sheen attended the dedication of the new church in Tallassee. Mr. Blount, who donated most of the funds to build the church, later converted to Catholicism himself in 1958, and was baptized in the present church.
On July 19, 1954, the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul, an impressive groundbreaking ceremony took place. The Very Rev. John S. Hild, C.M. and Father Cody blessed the grounds and turned the first shovels of dirt. Also present were Fathers John Conway, Joseph Kennedy, and Walter J. Menig, who was later appointed pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church. Another memorable day was December 2, 1954, when a contract was signed with Wyatt Construction Company of Montgomery to build the church. The church was completed in the fall of 1955, and on October 30, 1955, Mass was offered in the new church for the first time.
Almost 50 years later, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church is blessed with a thriving parish of approximately 90 families serving the Tallassee and Lake Martin areas and guided by our pastor Father Francis Lynch, C.M. Our church community looks forward to next year when we will celebrate the golden jubilee of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.
(This history was compiled from records found at the Church. The accuracy of the information and the author is unknown)
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