For Catholic families of the Manteca area who wished to attend Sunday Mass at the beginning of the 1900's, the choices were few. Previous to 1913-14, Catholics of the district were served in the Mission of Atlanta. Atlanta is an unincorporated community located in San Joaquin County, North of Manteca.

They could either go to the mission church in Lathrop or to St. Patrick's Church, located between Manteca and Escalon. Both churches were "missions" of St. Mary's Church in Stockton. Father William McGough would come out to these churches to say Mass on alternate Sundays. From Manteca, it was about an hour's horse and buggy ride to either church.

In 1913, Father McGough began coming to Manteca twice a month to say Mass upstairs in the Cowell Building (now the Bernacchi Building), located on the northeast corner of Yosemite Avenue and Hogan Road (now Main Street).

The year of 1915 saw stirred interest in building a Catholic church in Manteca. In early November of that year, a group of Catholics met at the Board of Trade Hall (now Manteca Bedquarters) and planned the new church. Three lots on the northeast corner of Sherman and Yosemite Avenues were purchased from Joshua Cowell and a contract was signed with local contractor Dan Baysinger to construct a church to seat 350 people for $4,000. The campaign was on.

In January of 1916, construction of the new Catholic church, to seat 350, was begun. At about the same time, word was received that San Francisco Archbishop Edward Hanna had agreed that the church should be named St. Anthony's. The Ladies Society set out to hold bazaars and dances to raise money for the project.

The original frame church built in 1916 on land donated by the Bacigaloupi family served primarily the Portuguese dairy farmers who arrived with the opening of the irrigation district in 1909. The Caino, Chinn, Dempsey, Henas, Huette, Lambert, Lamasney and Wolter families all donated beautiful windows for the church and Mrs. Harry Pearce donated an altar cloth. On April 18 at 2:00 p.m., Father McGough said Mass in the still-incomplete church.

The dedication ceremony was held during a Mass at 10:30 a.m. on June 18. Mass was sung by Father James Grant of Burlingame with Archbishop Hanna giving the dedicatory address. The church was packed as people from the community and surrounding towns were in attendance. Representatives from other Manteca churches were also present. A dinner was held that evening at the Palace of Amusement on the 100 block of North Main Street and the ladies of the church served more than 200 persons.

Masses were said every second and fourth Sunday through the end of September, with Father McGough and other priests from Stockton's St. Mary's Church alternating Sundays with services at St. Patrick Church. Plans were now being formulated for the instruction of a group of children for their First Communion.

In early July of 1916, a children's Sunday school was begun at St. Anthony's with Mrs. Margaret Pearce in charge. She prepared the children for their First Holy Communion. The Mass and ceremony were conducted on Saturday, August 27, by Father Ceresia from Stockton's St. Mary's Church. Throughout the rest of the year, the church ladies held bazaars on a regular basis in their fund-raising efforts to pay off the construction debt. At the same time, Father McGough and other priests from Stockton were traveling to Manteca for Sunday Masses in the new church.

When St. Anthony's became a parish in 1917, its responsibilities included St. Mary's Mission in Lathrop and St. Patrick's Mission in Atlanta.

Church life continued in that vein as the year of 1917 began. In late May, a five-day Mission was conducted at St. Anthony's. Father Flanagan, a Society of St. Vincent de Paul priest, was the nightly speaker and an Italian-speaking priest was present for confessions. As the months of the year turned to autumn, the most significant event to date was soon to occur. Archbishop Hanna was about to appoint the first pastor for St. Anthony's and officially establish the parish.

The month of October, 1917, was a pivotal one for St. Anthony's Church. In the early days of the month, the church officially became a parish with the arrival of Father John Marchisio. The 35-year-old priest, a native of Italy, found the beautiful little church with no rectory, or "priest's house", as it was called.

Fortunately, local businessman Achille Baccilieri offered the use of a cottage in the Oak Street area, rent free. Father Marchisio lived there for the next nine months. He also got a part-time job at the Fuller Lumber Company to help support himself. The local newspaper commented, "The new priest has entered work with a fine spirit."

The new parish boundaries were: on the west, the San Joaquin River and the Lincoln Highway (now Interstate 5); on the north, French Camp Road; on the east, Jack Tone Road; and on the south, the Stanislaus River. It took in the mission at Lathrop (a part of St. Bernard's Parish in Tracy) and St. Patrick's Church in Escalon, a mission of Stockton's St. Mary's Church. Masses would continue to be held on a monthly basis at Lathrop for the next six years.

Plans were now being worked out by a committee of Catholics to build a rectory for their new pastor. Arguably the first parish group to be organized at St. Anthony's was the Catholic Ladies. Their activities, over and above work around the church, included providing dinners for local groups an early form of catering. At the Grand Opening of Lucky McFall's Garage in early February of 1917, the Catholic Ladies served a dinner for 50 cents a plate. Along with providing dinners at the community's regular weekend dances, this group became popular for its frequent bazaars.

On November 25, 1917, the first baptism was recorded at St.Anthony's. Father Marchisio baptized Martin Aloysius Borovich. Around the same time, parish members purchased a 90-foot lot just east of the church from Dr. R. H. Goodale, the town's physician-who also dabbled in real estate to build a parish house. The contractor was Dan Baysinger, the same person who had built the church. The house was a two-story frame building and contained 10 rooms. Father Marchisio moved in during the summer of 1918, leaving the cottage on Oak Street which had been provided to him, rent-free, by Achille Baccilieri when Father arrived in Manteca.

That summer, August 31 to be exact, the first marriage at St. Anthony's took place. Father Marchisio joined Manuel V. Marciel and Emilia J. Rose in Holy Matrimony.

Parish life continued to thrive at St. Anthony's. In May, 1919, the organization "Festa do Divino Espirito" held its first meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Antone Regello. One of the objectives of this Portuguese group was to perpetuate devotion to the Holy Ghost just as their forefathers had done.

In 1920, the first parish bazaar was held. It became famous throughout the surrounding area and went on to be a yearly event. That year also saw the death of Sister Mary John. The former Sarah O'Malley had entered the Dominican Sisters at San Rafael in the 1890's. She was the daughter of the O'Malley family of the Atlanta/Escalon district and was the first person in the South County to enter the religious life.

In 1924, more room was needed in the church so the building was extended 30 feet and made cruciform. It would now seat 400 people. Father Marchisio did not lead a lonely life during his nine years as pastor in Manteca. Nearly every year a visiting priest would spend several months living in the parish house and assisting Father with his duties. In 1921 and 1922, Father John Connoly was here. Father John McGarr spent the summer of 1923 helping out. Father Aloysius Sciocchetti visited for three months in 1925, while Father Leonard Maddock spent the summer of 1926 in the parish house.

October, 1926 saw the departure of Father Marchisio from St. Anthony's. During his nine years in Manteca, he had seen many changes in the community. Manteca was incorporated as a city in 1918 and four years later, a new high school was built across the street from the church. It would be 51 years before another priest would equal the nine-year stay of Father Marchisio at St. Anthony's.

He was quickly replaced by Father Egisto Tozzi. The 44 year-old priest, like Father Marchisio a native of Italy, had been ordained at the age of 23-two years underage- by special dispensation of Pope Pius X. Possessed of a wonderful singing voice, Father Tozzi would often sing hymns at his own Sunday Masses or even at Requiem (funeral) Masses. In later years, parishioners still remembered Father Tozzi, with his walking stick, taking an early morning hike out to Calla Corners.

In 1929, the colorful Father Tozzi made plans to install a bell in the existing bell tower. Local contractor Julius Palm had prepared the tower for housing the 700-pound bell. With Miss Arleen Borges and local banker George Williams as its sponsors, the bell was dedicated and installed. This bell, saved in a 1960 fire, is the same bell we now hear being rung before Masses on weekends.

On May 11, 1930, Bishop John McGrath arrived in Manteca for a busy day of ceremonies. Assisted by Father Tozzi and nine area priests, a large class of 300 was given the sacrament of Confirmation and another 125 received their First Communion in the morning. Father Charles Hardeman, a native Californian, arrived at St. Anthony's on July 1, 1930 to replace the departing Father Tozzi. The 42 year-old Father Hardeman's appointment was his first as a pastor. He found a growing parish that was in good financial condition. That was significant as Manteca and the rest of the country were in the midst of the Great Depression. His stay in Manteca was relatively brief as three years later, he was transferred to St. Anne's Church in Lodi.

Fr. Morris Redner was installed as our pastor in 1933. Several young men from St. Anthony's were ordained during Father Redner's eight years as pastor here. Father John Wagner was the first, being ordained in 1934. Others followed over the succeeding years, including Fathers Daniel Sheehan and Robert Stadler. In later years, William Killian, Donald Cefalu, Gary Luiz, Stephen Macedo and Timothy Erwin were ordained. The young women from our parish who have entered the religious life have included Marion Gatto, Jill Mainwaring, Barbara Triglia, Margo Young and Margaret Meredith. Sister Margo joined the Precious Blood Sisters, later going on to medical school and earning her M. D. degree. Sister (Doctor) Margo was recently inducted into the Manteca Hall of Fame.

On February 23, 1961, the permit was issued for the construction of the new church and rectory at the northwest corner of North St. and Fremont Ave.   Monsignor William Burke officiated the Ground-Breaking Ceremonies on April 30, 1961.

Father Denis Glennon came in to serve another three-year pastorate until 1947, when Father Phillip Ryan arrived.

It's interesting to note that an effective religious education program has existed at St. Anthony's since 1945 when two Holy Family nuns began traveling from Modesto to Manteca each Saturday morning to teach Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes, with the assistance of several local mothers.

Father Ryan was in Manteca until 1951 when he was replaced by Father Thomas Garrigan. It was Father Garrigan's first pastorate, but his stay at St. Anthony's was to be brief. He served only a year before Archbishop John Mitty assigned him to be the founding pastor of a new parish in Richmond.

Father John Curtin, a native of San Francisco, arrived in February, 1952, to replace Father Garrigan.

As the parish continued to grow, plans were laid in 1954 to build a school on church property on East North Street. The original plans called for four classrooms, a convent and a hall (later to be our cafeteria). At about that time, Father Curtin was forced to return to San Francisco because of ill health. The archdiocese assigned Father Robert Adams to serve as parish administrator for a few months.

The building project was completed in 1955 and that year was to become a pivotal and exciting time for St. Anthony's Parish. Even though the school construction project was finished in 1955, the school could not be used because of a lack of an adequate teaching staff. In August of that year, it was decided to lease the school building to the Manteca Elementary School District, which was experiencing a classroom shortage. The decision was met with general community gratitude with the local newspaper commenting, “We think the members of St. Anthony Parish deserve a word of thanks. This may seem like a small thing, but it is mighty fine gesture.”

In the same year, the priests of the Society of the Precious Blood arrived to take over the parish. Father Raymond Halker, C.PP.S was the new pastor, with Father Bernard Ganger, C.PP.S. assistant. Also, the St. Vincent DePaul Society was formed and now, over 50 years later, it continues to help the needy and homeless, regardless of race or creed.

August of 1956 saw the arrival of the first Sisters of the Precious Blood to teach at St. Anthony School. Sister Mary Juanita, who was to serve as the first principal, and Sister Mary Dolorita were given a "royal welcome" as they settled into the new convent. The first day of school was on September 11, 1956 with 102 students in four grades. On September 24, Auxiliary Bishop Hugh Donohoe of San Francisco presided at the dedication of the new school and convent.

In 1957, the Sisters of the Precious Blood assumed this ministry. That same year, the school needed to be enlarged. So, a campaign to raise funds for a four-room addition was begun. John R. Machado and Frank Marchitelli were co-chairs of this campaign. The money was raised and the additions were completed almost two years later.

In 1958, Father Peter Brickner C.P.P.S. and Father Clinton Farabaugh C.P.P.S. were assigned to the parish, replacing Fathers Halker and Ganger.

On September 12, 1960, a hot Sunday afternoon, fire destroyed St. Anthony Church. Father Farabaugh rushed into the burning building and rescued the tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament. The next day when the two priests together tried to move the tabernacle, surprisingly, it was very difficult to do so. The cause of the fire was never determined, but arson was suspected. Masses were transferred to the school hall and to the two Portuguese halls. Plans were immediately started to build a new church.

In February, 1961, plans for the construction of a church and rectory at the corner of North Street and Fremont Avenue were approved.

On Sunday, May 8, 1962, the new St. Anthony Church was formally dedicated by Bishop Hugh Donohoe, the first bishop of the newly organized Diocese of Stockton.

In May of 1965, Father Brickner, who had seen the church on Yosemite Avenue burn down and who had watched the new St. Anthony's rise, left Manteca for Ohio. He was replaced by Father Aloys Selhorst, C.PP.S. Shortly after his arrival, Father Selhorst had a thorough parish census taken and it was learned that the parish had over 1,700 families. He then set up a plan to visit every family in the parish.

The following month saw Father Foltz being appointed Parish Administrator, pro tem. In 1968, Father Bernard Ganger, C.PP.S., returned to St. Anthony's after a 10-year absence to become the new pastor. Father Ganger arrived at St. Anthony's from St. Mary's Church in Blackstone, Virginia and was installed as our pastor on January 21, 1968. The installing priest was Father Eugene Shea of St. Bernard's Church in Tracy. At the same time, Father William Donohoe replaced Father Ganger in Blackstone. Continuing the Precious Blood Society's procedure of assigning assistant pastors in its parishes, Father Thomas Stang, C.PP.S., filled that position at St. Anthony's. Father was the first priest in Manteca to be fluent in Spanish, having recently studied in Puerto Rico. However, his stay in Manteca was relatively brief as Precious Blood Fathers Virgil Will and Kenneth Bubb were to follow here.

The Precious Blood Sisters, who had staffed the faculty at St. Anthony's School since its opening in 1956, announced that they were leaving Manteca at the end of the 1969-70 school year. This presented a serious problem for the parents of the students. While the nuns were teaching here, tuition was only $10 per month. Paying a staff of lay teachers would require a major increase in that expense. Several parent meetings took place, brain-storming and exploring different strategies with Father Ganger. Diocesan Superintendent of Schools Monsignor James Cain wanted to close the school and Father Ganger saw no other way out.

After much discussion and planning, miraculously, St. Anthony's School remained open. The school year began on September 10, 1970 with 180 students in grades one through six and with a faculty of six lay teachers.

The United States Bi-centennial Year of 1976 saw some positive changes in our parish.

A beautiful new gymnasium was opened at the corner of Fremont Avenue and Sutter Street. Its facilities provided for meeting rooms, a small kitchen, restroom areas, receptions and banquets, as well as the usual Catholic Youth Organization volleyball and basketball contests. Father Ganger, a strong supporter of Catholic schools, spearheaded a new project. As St. Anthony School began its 21st school year in September under the direction of Principal Mary Ellen Groznik, a Kindergarten class was organized. A new classroom was built between the two wings of the school and 14 different businesses and individuals donated new furniture, floors, cabinets and other services to the effort.

Parishioner Adolph Kuhn, an experienced carpenter, served as a daily "overseer" of the construction. Seventeen kindergarteners began the school year with Tina Risso as their teacher. Meanwhile, the pastoral staff welcomed Father Caspar Bonifas, C.PP.S., and Precious Blood Brother Lawrence Convery. "Brother Larry", as he was affectionately known, served as the church sacristan. Father Ganger was transferred the following year, to be replaced by Father Anthony Vollmer, C.PP.S.

After a six-year stay as St. Anthony's pastor, Father Vollmer left in 1983, to be succeeded by Father William Delaney, C.PP.S., who had been an associate pastor here for a few years. He was the same young priest who had given the eulogy at the funeral Mass for Father Selhorst in 1967.

Father Delaney, the son of a North Dakota house painter, was serving with Father Vollmer and Father Matthew Bader, C.PP.S. Recently ordained Father Wayne Maro, C.PP.S., now joined the St. Anthony's staff. With these three priests, our parish could now offer six Masses on the weekends with one in Spanish. Once, during Father Delaney's tenure in Manteca, a columnist for the local newspaper wrote a sarcastic and disrespectful comment about the consecrated wine we use in the Eucharist. The usually soft-spoken Father Delaney fired off a sharp letter to the newspaper's editor in response.

In 1987, Father William Beuth, C.PP.S., arrived at St. Anthony's. He had spent the last 25 years as a missionary priest in Peru. This was the same year that the parish's St. Vincent DePaul Society got its own building to better serve the community's poor people. A generous donation from an anonymous Bay Area financier enabled the construction of the building.

Over a six year period of time, St. Anthony's saw six different pastors sading our parish. Father Delaney, the quiet, smiling priest who injoyed his walks around town wearing his Western boots, left in 1990. His order transferred him to an inner-city Los Angeles parish staffed by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Father Beuth then stepped into the pastor's shoes. Within two years, he requested that he be returned to his beloved missions in Latin America. Specifically, he was sent to Guatemala.

Father Marvin Steffes, C.PP.S., arrived to take Father Beuth's place in Manteca in 1992. He left the next year.

For the first time in 38 years, diocesan priests returned to our parish as Father Lawrence McGovern came here from the Church of the Presentation in Stockton in 1993. He was joined by Fathers Joseph Illo, Armando Vergara and John Bosch, C.PP.S. Father Bosch was the last remaining Precious Blood priest in the parish. He retired in 1995 and moved to his order's retirement home in Ohio.

Our new pastor, Father McGovern's arrival signaled a major change was about to occur. Within a short time, a building project would be planned for St. Anthony's. A remodeling of our worship facility was going to happen. During Father McGovern's seven years as our parish pastor in the late 204 century, associate pastors Fathers Illo and Arboleda departed and were replaced by Fathers Alex Pacheco and Gilbert Arango.

Word was received later in those years that the Church was going to require renovations to the interiors of parish churches to provide an area for the tabernacles. The tabernacles were, in most instances, going to be removed from the sanctuaries. This would apply to those churches where the change of location would be feasible. By providing a special location for the tabernacle away from the sanctuaries, it was felt that more emphasis would be placed on the importance of the altar. As the altar is where the Holy Sacrifice is celebrated, it was felt that it should be "the centerpiece" of the Mass.

Discussion groups were organized by Father McGovern in our parish, consisting of parishioners to explore ideas on architectural design input. These ideas would be sent on to the diocesan offices in Stockton. Some internal features, such as the traditional altar rails, would disappear in order to move the altar closer to the assembly. That met with resistance from some of the faithful. At the same time, the Church was recommending changes in the posture for receiving Holy Communion while standing and with the Host being received in our hands. These renovation discussion groups continued as the '90's came to a close and, with that, Father McGovern's tenure as pastor here was completed.

With the departure of Father McGovern, back to his former parish in Stockton, Father Richard Morse OSFS arrived in 2000 as our new pastor. Father Morse was not a diocesan priest, but a member of the oblates of St. Francis deSales. A local parishioner asked a friend who lived in Father Morse's previous parish what kind of priest we could expect at St. Anthony's. The friend replied, "Look up the definition of a priest in the dictionary and there you will find Father Morse's name. Soon after the arrival of our new pastor, discussions on the design of the remodeling of our church's interior were completed.

The contract with Huff Construction was signed in early 2002. During the construction period, Masses were held in the gymnasium. At least one Catholic wedding ceremony was held in the nearby Methodist church, with Father Pacheco officiating. The construction was going forward during the 2002 Harvest Festival and a proud Father Morse was conducting tours of our church's new interior. The project's completion came a few months later. The result was what we now have: a newly-designed glass-walled vestibule, an impressive new sanctuary, a new devotional chapel where the tabernacle is now located and handicap ramps to access the sanctuary.

Associate Pastor Father Gilbert Arango departed in 2005, to be replaced by Father Jorge Arboleda, to assist Father Morse. The following year, Father Dante Dammay took the place of Father pacheco. For a year or two during this time, Father John Lindsay OSFS was a resident at our rectory and helped with the Mass schedule. He also taught at Central Catholic High School in Modesto.

In 2007, Father Morse, the happy pastor with the widely recognizable laugh, was transferred to his order's St. Pius X Parish in Toledo, Ohio. The parishioners at St. Anthony's gave him and his pet collie a heartfelt send off. He was replaced by Father J. Patrick Walker, who came from St. Michael's Parish in rural Stockton where he had been serving as its pastor.

A native of Stanislaus County, Father Walker was raised in Oakdale, the eldest of 10 children of a car salesman. He had graduated from California State University, Stanislaus and was a public school teacher for a few years before entering the seminary. He was joined by Father Alvaro Lopez, who soon replaced Father Arboleda as a parochial vicar. As we entered the second decade of the 21st century, St. Anthony's growth continued. More families were registering in the parish and the seven weekend Masses were always full of worshippers.

After nine years of service at St. Anthony's, Father Walker was transferred to Turlock's Sacred Heart Parish. He was replaced by Father Chad Wahl, who came to us from St. Bernard's Church in Tracy and was installed in his first pastorate. 

Beginning with Father John Marchisio and about 100 families, St. Anthony's was named a parish in October of 1917. One hundred years later, we have over 5,600 families registered in our parish, with 41 year-old Father Chad Wahl as our 21st pastor. On October 7, 2017, Fr. Jairo Ramierz, a popular priest among the parishioners of the Hispanic community collapsed and died while attending a Hispanic dinner dance at Modesto’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

Two new priests entered our parish. With the death of Fr. Jairo, and the transfer of Fr. Dante, the Bishop assigned Fr. Gilbert Arango and Fr. Chris Varghese to our parish. 

One large change during this year was with our Harvest Festival. After years of relying on volunteers to put up covers to block the sun, we started to have a large tent professionally installed each year. It covered most of the grounds.

On March 13, 2020, the United States Government ordered all churches to close their doors due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Priests are able to celebrate Mass, but parishioners were not allowed to attend in person. Our parish was the first parishes in the diocese to start filming Mass and posting online, allowing parishioners to celebrate Mass in their homes. Recordings took place each day and were posted online after they were edited. Faith Formation classes were also switched to virtual learning.

During that year, we were unable to have a harvest festival. A gracious donor gave the church $100,000 to cover what the church would have lost due to not having the festival.

The stained glass windows were created by Carl Huneke, Century Stained Glass Studio, San Francisco.  The windows are grisailles quadrille based on designs, which originated in fourteenth century English cathedrals.  The themes for the windows were selected by the parishioners who donated them. Click here to go to see their work