History of St. Anne 's

1820 – The Diocese of Charleston was founded, covering North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

1919 - Bishop William T. Russell of the Diocese of Charleston transferred Irish-born Father William J. Tobin, the assistant pastor of St. Peter's Church in Columbia, to Rock Hill as pastor of the newly established St. Anne Parish. There were only about 20 Catholics in Rock Hill's total population of some 7500.

1920 - St. Anne's Church on Saluda Street was dedicated on November 21.  Marquis Martin Maloney, a New Jersey millionaire, contributed $6,000 to help build the new church, while a $500 donation came from the Catholic Extension Society.

1925 – Another Irish-born diocesan priest, Father William J. Mulvihill, became pastor of St. Anne’s.

1926 - St. Anne's rectory was built next to the church.

1928 – The parish population numbered 60 individuals.  By 1933, there were 133 members of the parish.

1929 – Jesuit priests from the southern province in New Orleans began their ministry to St. Anne's.  During the next five years, four Jesuit priests served the parish in succession

1934 - The Congregation of the Oratory established its community at St. Anne's rectory.  The German-born Father Ernst Musial, C.O. (known locally as “Father Ernest”), became pastor and was succeeded by Father Paul Hatch, C.O., in  1935.  Fr. Paul served until 1941.

1935 – Bishop Emmet M. Walsh came to Rock Hill to bless the new St. Philip Neri Hospital on Confederate Avenue, as well as Newman Hall and the Oratory chapel on Charlotte Avenue.

1942 – The parish population numbered 220.  During this period, the pastors of St. Anne included Oratorian Fathers Vincent G. Scharff (1941-1946), William Coyle (1947), E. Gerald Ernst (1947-1948) and Myles V. Morris (1948-1950).  By 1948, the number of parishioners had increased to 344.

1950s.  The pastors of St. Anne in these years included Oratorian Fathers John A. Nedley (1950-1954), Robert Sweeney (1954-1958) and Maurice V. Shean (1959-1960).

1951 – The old rectory on Saluda Street was remodeled and became St. Anne School, which enrolled 17 pupils in kindergarten and first grade.

1954 – St. Anne School began its school year with over 30 pupils enrolled in grades one through five.  Among them were five black children.  St. Anne School thus became the first racially integrated school in South Carolina.

1956 – Bishop John J. Russell dedicated the new St. Anne School on South Jones Avenue.

1958 – Sisters of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM's) from Pennsylvania began their service at St. Anne School, residing in a new convent built on the school grounds.

1960s – Oratorian Fathers James J. Sharples (1961-1962 and 1964-1966) and Edward V. Wahl (1963 and 1967-1970) served as pastors during the decade.

1961 – The old church on Saluda Street was now inadequate, and parishioners began attending the Oratory church on Charlotte Avenue.  The parish population numbered about 425.

1970s – Pastors of St. Anne’s included Fathers Henry F. Tevlin (1971-1973) and Joseph A. Wahl (1974-1980). 

1975 – St. Anne Parish sponsored the resettlement in Rock Hill of a Vietnamese family with 22 members.  This marked the beginning of the Vietnamese community in the parish, which two decades later numbered about 155 persons.

1976 – With the parish population reaching about 1200, St. Anne School was expanded by adding two classrooms and a library.  The parish also expanded its outreach to the community, beginning what would become a tradition of serving Thanksgiving dinner at the school and providing encouragement and support to the founding and growth of Pilgrim’s Inn.

1978-1979 – Oratorian Brothers Eugene Patenaude and Joseph Wilkerson were commissioned as the parish’s first extraordinary ministers of the Holy Eucharist.  Twenty-two lay Eucharistic ministers were commissioned the following year.

1982 – With the parish population exceeding 1800, Masses began to be celebrated in the auditorium of St. Anne’s School.  From 1980 until his unexpected death in 1983, Father Richard J. Wahl served as pastor.

1983 – Father William Pentis, C.O., began his twenty-one-year-long pastorate of St. Anne Parish.  From 1983 to 1987, parish membership averaged about 1900.

1986 – The first phase of the capital fund drive for a new church began.

1989 – Forty-five acres of land on Bird Street were purchased as the site of the new church.

1990 – On June 10 a building committee was formed.

1991 - On October 27, Bishop David B. Thompson came to Rock Hill to preside over the groundbreaking for the new church.

1992 - The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary reluctantly recalled the sisters from St. Anne’s School because of a lack of personnel. On August 22, Fr. William, the pastor, and Fr. Joseph Wahl, the provost of the Oratory, celebrated the first Mass in the new church, which Bishop Thompson formally dedicated on October 4.  The altar and ambo in both the church and the daily chapel and other liturgical furnishings were the gift of the Vietnamese community.  The parish population now numbered 2,032.  The following year it reached 2,538.

1993 – A new building committee was formed to plan a new school and parish life center to be built adjacent to the church.

1994 – The parish celebrated its Diamond Jubilee, marking its seventy-fifth anniversary, and the fund-raising campaign for the new school and parish life center began.  The parish population was now 2,670.

1995 - Perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament began on the Feast of Christ the King.

1996 – The mortgage on the church was retired.

1997 – The construction on the new facility began.

1998 - On July 26, Bishop Thompson dedicated the new parish life center and school. On August 21, St. Anne School opened for the 1998-1999 school year at the new location.

1999 – Parish membership totaled 3,597.

2002 – A Spanish-language Mass began to be celebrated every Sunday.

2004 – Father William Pentis retired from the pastorate and was succeeded by Father Adilso Coelho.  The parish now had 3,990 members.

2007 – Parish membership reached 4,900, including the Vietnamese community that had been established three decades earlier and a newer and rapidly growing Hispanic community.

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