St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Hughson
History of Hughson, California: The People, the Places, the Traditions of a Small Town
Celebrations for the centennial of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church began May 29, 2022, with a special bilingual mass at 11:30 a.m. and reception. The date also marked 55 years since the current church building was built and consecrated on May 28, 1967.
Stockton Diocese Bishop Myron Cotta celebrated the mass. A reception followed with food provided by parish ministries. In the background, a slideshow displayed photos from the parish directories over the years.
Portuguese and Italian immigrants founded the parish in 1922, naming it after a saint beloved by both cultures, St. Anthony of Padua. He was a Franciscan friar, doctor of the church, patron of the poor, born in 1195 in Lisbon, Portugal, and died on June 13, 1231, in Arcella, Verona [Italy]. St. Anthony was canonized in 1232.
According to the parish, “In January 1918, Father James Delahunty celebrated the first Mass in Hughson, in the home of Mrs. A.J. Serpa. Catechism classes followed. For two years this mission community moved from home to home celebrating the sacraments until Father James Galvin rented Northway's Hall in Hughson for Sunday Masses and a Sunday school. This generated enough enthusiasm among residents that they began planning for a church. The mostly Portuguese community pledged enough money for a new church, where the first Mass of this young parish community was celebrated on Christmas Day, 1921.”
Phillips served as the first pastor of the parish.
The church was dedicated on Christmas Day 1922. Designed by Phillips it was an “A-frame building with stucco exterior, metallic sheeting and wooden wainscoting interior, it measured 90 feet by 42 feet.” The parish occupied one acre. On the remaining space on the property, there was alfalfa for sale.
Janet Camagna, the President of the Hughson Historical Society, remembers attending mass with her grandfather at the old St. Anthony’s. Camagna and her grandfather walked from their ranch across the high school to the church and attended mass. “I remember doing this, everybody was so big and I didn't quite know what was going on.” Afterward, they walked to a neighbor’s house. “They would have donuts or they would have various pastries and you would walk in the back door and there was this wonderful room.”
That tradition continues with coffee and donuts after Sunday masses today, although instead of a house down the street, it takes place in the Hughes Hall on the parish campus.
“For people who lived in Europe,” Camagna explained, “if there had been wars if they had been uprisings, famines, whatever, big families they had nothing to give the other children in the family, you had to look for something else. In the case of my own family on my father’s side, my grandfather was one of six children. There were no jobs. Father was working two different jobs and so then they had to look to see what else was going on. He heard land was being given in Canada to people that would make the trip like we did in this country giving land to people who would come across settle and work the land. That was very intriguing so that people would pull their money together. The appeal of getting land, getting a start was something that was irresistible.”
In 1967, the church building was completed along with a church hall with kitchen facilities and three classrooms where the Holy Family Sisters and lay people gave religious instruction to the children. Other facilities have been added since. In the 1990s, a chapel for daily mass and adoration was added to the parish rectory. After the COVID-19 shutdown, daily mass moved from the chapel to the church to allow for more spacing between people.
On May 29, 2022, Cordeiro opened a new chapel for prayer within the parish office. The chapel was designed by Cordeiro with a tabernacle from Mexico and artwork made from wood to represent a mountain range referencing Mount Sinai and the three Persons of the Trinity, Cordeiro said. Those who would like to visit the chapel may contact the parish office, 7820 Fox Road Hughson, Ca 95326, for more details.
Originally published in the Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch on June 13, 2022. The Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch is part of MidValley Publications and is committed to the power of the positive press. Reprinted with Permission.
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