St. Peter's Church is a historic

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church at 60 S. Mulberry Street in

Mansfield, Ohio Mansfield is a city in Richland County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 47,534 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located approximately from Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, Columbus via Interstate 71, it i ...

History

The first Catholic mass was celebrated in Mansfield in 1850, and shortly after, Mansfield's Catholic community purchased its first building, a former Methodist church. The parish built its first church in 1870, which burned down in 1889. Shortly after the fire, an impromptu combination church-school building was built adjacent to the current building. By the early 20th century, though, the parish had outgrown its quarters, and land was acquired for a new church. Prolific church architect William P. Ginther was commissioned to design the church, and

Bishop of Cleveland The Diocese of Cleveland () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in northeastern Ohio in the United States. , the bishop is Edward Malesic. The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, located in Clevelan ...

John Patrick Farrelly laid the cornerstone on May 14, 1911. Ginther saw the

neo-baroque Neo-Baroque may refer to: * Neo-Baroque music * Neo-Baroque painting, a painting style used by Christo Coetzee and others *Baroque Revival architecture * Neo-Baroque film *the Organ reform movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' ...

St. Peter's as an "architectural cousin" to his

neo-romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

St. Bernard’s Church in

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

. Due to delays caused by the First World War, the church was finally dedicated on September 16, 1917. It has an ornate, baroque interior. The church was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979. The church falls under the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo The Diocese of Toledo (in America) () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or diocese, of the Catholic Church covering nineteen counties in northwestern Ohio in the United States. The diocese is a suffragan see of the metropolitan Arch ...

, whose current

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

is the Most Reverend Daniel Thomas. The parish also owns St. Peter's Catholic School, founded as a high school in 1958. As of 2024, the school has 228 students enrolled in K-12 classes.

References

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1911 Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Romanesque Revival church buildings in Ohio Mission Revival architecture in Ohio Churches in Richland County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Richland County, Ohio Churches in Mansfield, Ohio 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States {{Ohio-RC-church-stub