Irish Place Names: St. Patrick, MO
In the northeast corner of Missouri, 150 miles north of St. Louis and three miles west of the intersection of Highway 61 and State Route Z, an oak grove marks the turnoff to St. Patrick, a small unincorporated community with a rich Hibernian back-story. There, a stonework Irish round tower interrupts an otherwise verdant horizon. It belongs to the Shrine of St. Patrick, a 56-year-old medieval-inspired church. This may be the heart of Irish middle America.
The area was first settled as North Santa Fe in the early 1830s by Irish immigrants, who erected the first Church of St. Patrick from local timber in 1834. By 1857, the town was called St. Marysville and had grown large enough to warrant its own post office. This meant another name change because there was already a St. Marysville in Missouri. The priest at the Church of St. Patrick had emigrated from Donegal and suggested naming the town after the church, perhaps in an effort to highlight the parallel that, just as Catholicism had been brought early to Donegal by St. Patrick, Irish immigrants like himself had pioneered its presence in western America.
One hundred years later, the modern Shrine of St. Patrick was modeled after St. Patrick’s Church of Four Masters in County Donegal. Along with a reputation for St. Patrick’s Day reverie, the shrine has a grand central rose window depicting St. Patrick and the four provinces of Ireland, 37 other stained glass windows inspired by the Book of Kells, a relic of St. Patrick lain in the altar, and a flagstone from Croagh Patrick embedded in the floor of the altar. A statue of St. Patrick keeps vigil on a grassy knoll just outside the door.
The shrine owes its existence to Fr. Francis O’Duignan, who, local legend has it, upon arriving in St. Patrick in 1935, drove through the town before realizing he had passed his appointment. The town had replaced its original wood church with a more permanent brick structure in 1860, but by 1935 when Father Francis O’Duignan had to make a U-turn, it was barely standing.
Born in County Longford in 1901, Fr. O’Duignan was familiar with grander churches and resolved that instead of simply repairing the existing building, he would construct a veritable shrine to the town’s namesake. He would honor St. Patrick’s Irish heritage and capitalize on its familiar name, continuing the tradition of entrepreneurial Irish immigrants.
Fr. O’Duignan knew that St. Patrick residents would not be able to afford such a construction project alone, so in 1936 he created a novel fundraising scheme. He and the postmaster created a new church seal and post office cancel stamp bearing a shamrock and the words, “St. Patrick Missouri: The Only One in the World,” and personally mailed 500 St. Patrick’s Day greetings and requests for assistance by thumbing through phone books of major American cities and addressing the cards to people with Irish surnames. It took 20 years, but the campaign finally generated enough money, and on St. Patrick’s Day 1957, the Shrine of St. Patrick was officially dedicated with Fr. O’Duignan officiating.
While St. Patrick currently has a population less than 20, St. Patrick’s Day brings an influx of visitors, and the month of March inundates the little town’s post office with thousands of letters from those wanting to participate in the 75-year long tradition of the shamrock cancel. St. Patrick had to receive special permission from the federal government to use the non-standard cancellation stamp, and it is only allowed between March 1 and 31.
Last year, 8,000 requests passed through the post office, and in previous years as many as 50,000 have arrived during March’s 31 days, according to Missouri’s Columbia Tribune. Thus, by the virtues of transcendental contact, the Shrine of St. Patrick in rural Missouri becomes one of the best attended St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the United States.
If the cancel made St. Patrick, MO famous, the shrine made it a destination. The stained glass windows, manufactured specifically for the Shrine by the State Glass Company in Dublin, are a wonder, and St. Patrick’s Day brings leprechauns, prizes, Irish music, and traditional beef dinners to this special corner of rural Missouri.
There are many more churches named for St. Patrick around the world (more, even, than there are churches named for St. Peter), but St. Patrick, Missouri is the only town in the world named for the patron saint of Ireland. And for the month of March, the history and traditions of Ireland and the U.S. converge on this sliver of the heartland.
To receive your own hand-canceled letter, with the seal of the Shrine of St. Patrick and Fr. O’Duignan’s cancel, send a self-addressed, stamped, envelope to Postmaster, St. Patrick, MO 63466 any year before March 31. ♦
_______________
More from Irish America’s “Irish Place Names” series:
This is the most interesting article i have found on St. Patrick. Thank you.
My maternal grandmother, Clara McDonnell was born in St. Patrick, daughter of Dennis Joseph McDonnell. I am a direct descendant of a Revolutionary War Soldier, James Ellison who was my 5th great grandfather through the McDonnell/Fetter/Ellison line and a member of the DAR. I wish my mother and grandmother had lived to know this as I traced my lineage from Navan Ireland to St. Patrick, Mo. McDonnells and Fetters are buried in St. Patrick Cemetary.
I too am related. I am interested what sources you used to trace the family back to Ireland. I believe I have a DNA match to the Mc Donnell family. Also to the Mc Dermott’s, Shuman’s, And Ford families.
My Mother’s maiden name is Shuman. James Shuman and Mary Anne Riney are my great grandparents. We are hosting a Schutte – Shuman reunion at the Shrine basement hall next month – October 14 & 15,2017.So far, over 120 signed to attend.
Dennis, James Shuman and Mary Anne Riney are two of my great aunts- Mary Ann Ford and Ellenor (Ellen) Ford husband’s parents. I am researching The Ford family. James and Ann Ford. Their children were George, Frank, Ellen,and Mary Anne. All of them are buried in the area. George and his wife Sallie McDermott are buried in Ellison Cemetery. All the others are buried in the Saint Patrick Cemetery. Do you know anyone that could find some records in the area? My tree is on Ancestry.
My great great grandfather Ford and wife Ann settled next to the Ellison’s in 1843. They immigrated from Ireland. My great grandfather married Sarah (Sallie) McDermott, daughter of James and Ann McDermott.
My grandfather, Wilbur Long grew up in St. Patrick, MO, was a decendent of David Long that came from Ireland to settle in St. Patrick, MO. Wilbur Long raised 14 children and passed away in 1970.
My relatives for Generation back to mid 1800’s are all buried at St.Patrick Cemetery my great great Grandfather Logsdon my Grandfather Frederick wife Clara Logsdon my Father Russell Mother Fern Logsdon Uncle’s and Aunts Carl Wife Mary Logsdon Frank wife Luella Logsdon Norla Logsdon husband Bill Boudreau an many more makes St.Patrick,Missouri My Home.
I have Logsdon family in my tree. All ties in Clark and Lewis Counties.
My relatives their at the same time.
My Patron Saint Name is Patrick, so on Saint Patrick’s Day, I was curious if there were cities, towns, or villages named after Saint Patrick.
Saint Patrick, Missouri, why are there so few residents? Is it expensive to live there? Does the Church of Saint Patrick still have a priest in residence?
Hi! I don’t know for sure about the Church of St. Patrick or whether or not there is a priest. But I do know that the most likely reason for there to be such a small population is because there just really isn’t much there. My family grew up in the area. Really all that is there is the church and the post office. There used to be a school but it was torn down.