Happy New Year! This is the last of a series of articles done on the churches in Montezuma. St. Michael's Catholic Church was organized about 1865, with some fourteen families. Meetings were first held in the private homes conducted by priests from neighboring villages. The first church was a simple framed structure built with contributions of $1,400.00 and was located in the northern end of the village.

The first pastor was Reverend James Leddy, who like his successors until 1903, was stationed in Weedsport, and visited the Montezuma parish about once a month.. In the late 1870s, during the pastorate of the Reverend Charles Horan, negotiations were begun to acquire a building lot for another church. In 1881, land was purchased on Auburn Street (now Route 90) for $300 from Eliza Jacobs by trustees William Nugent and John Maroney.

At the same time the Methodist Episcopal pastor and congregation in town were raising money to build a new church to replace their original church built in 1848. St. Michael's purchased the original 1848 M.E. church and moved it to the lot where the building still stands today. It's interesting to note that in the neighboring village of Union Springs, an 1870 Episcopalian church was also purchased by the Union Springs St. Michael's church in 1974.

The Montezuma parish records for 1882 recorded a congregation numbering 52 men, 43 women and 80 children. In 1903 the Rev. John J. Cosgrove, an eminent known speaker during his day, became the first resident pastor.

Like those who succeeded him, he also served the “mission church,” St. John's Catholic Church in Port Byron.

The following year a house across the street, a short distance from St. Michael's was purchased from Sophronia White for use as the parsonage.

During Father Cosgrove's pastorate the church edifice was dedicated by Rochester's first bishop, the late Bishop McQuaid in 1908. St. Michael's also expanded the size of the church lot with the 1903 purchase of a narrow strip of land which ran from behind the church east, to the edge of the old Erie Canal.

Probably the most remembered priest that served St. Michael's was the Rev. John A. Guy, a native of Clyde. He was a devout and scholarly priest who first arrived in the middle of the depression. He served from 1937 to 1967, and by the end of his term he was baptizing the offspring of the children he baptized when he first came to Montezuma.

He traveled throughout the countryside between Montezuma and Port Byron often stopping to visit families of his congregation. Father Guy died March 25, 1970.

Following Father Guy were the Rev. Robert Kress, and the Rev. Bernard Kuchman.

In June 1984, the Rev. Robert Downs was appointed administrator of the Montezuma and Port Byron Catholic churches, and acted as their pastor while staying at the Weedsport parsonage.

In 1985, the Rochester Diocese, prompted by a lack of priests, initiated a cluster ministry plan to serve the area.

The northeast quadrant of the diocese was divided, and the Montezuma church became part of Cluster II, consisting of St. John's in Port Byron, St. Joseph's in Weedsport and St. Patrick's in Cato. The last Mass in Montezuma was held on June 23, 1985.

Today, the historic church building is now a private residence.

It remains a distant reminder of a time it served the Catholic congregations of Montezuma and Port Byron, whose deep seated faith was reflected by the large numbers that attended Sunday Mass, meetings of the Rosary and Holy Name Societies and League of the Sacred Heart.

Historic research of St. Michael's compiled by Marianne Neal. 1985.

Cheryl Longyear is historian for the town of Montezuma. She can be reached at 776-8632 or e-mail: cml115@tds.net