Welcome!

The community of St. Anthony’s was named a mission parish in the Diocese of Cleveland in 1887 by Bishop Richard Gilmour. At this time there was not yet a church building so Mass was being celebrated in people’s homes. For obvious reasons the people petitioned the Diocese to purchase land which was approved in 1898. An anonymous donor provided the lot for the new parish. The foundation for St. Anthony’s Church was laid in 1899. The original church was pure Gothic style and seated 220 people. The earliest migrant community of St. Anthony’s consisted of a variety of ethnic communities, including Irish and German. However, for various reasons the Irish and German Catholics relocated, many to Painesville, and St. Anthony’s was then built by the Hungarian and Slovak Catholic community. As the debt began to accumulate from the building of the Church, the Hungarian community agreed to assume responsibility for it and in return Bishop Horstmann promised to send them a Hungarian priest. On January 5, 1903 St. Anthony’s received its first Hungarian pastor Fr. Anthony Hegyi (hedge-eye) and the parish was declared a Hungarian National Parish to meet the needs of the Catholic Hungarians, not only in Fairport Harbor but in the neighboring areas as well. During those early years the community continued to grow and in 1926 the parish was able to build a school which was staffed by the Sisters of the Divine Redeemer. In 1926 when the school was built the initial attendance was 273 children in a parish of only 240 families. Every family in the parish, it seems, had enrolled their students in the new school. Unfortunately due to rising expenses and declining enrollment, St. Anthony’s School closed in 1986 with a debt of over $130,000 owed to the diocese. Today the school building is still being used for religious education serving students in grades K-8. The Sisters retired in 1997 which left the convent building vacant. Today the convent building is rented to Harbor Care which is an assisted living facility. 

Over time the original gothic style church building began to deteriorate and was eventually unable to be used. It was torn down in the early 1940’s. Prior to that time the parish had been worshipping in the church that was built within the school building, which is still in use today. The church and school building have gone through many renovations over the years. 

St. Anthony’s remained a Hungarian National parish until 1947 when the Diocese declared it a territorial parish which means every Catholic, Hungarian or otherwise, living with the territory outlined by the Diocese is considered a member of St. Anthony’s. For many years the territorial boundaries were strictly enforced and in some ways the parish struggled financially because the territorial boundaries for St. Anthony’s are very limited affecting the viability of the parish. Today, we still recognize territories but Catholics have the freedom to go to any parish they choose and they do - which is a good thing for St. Anthony’s because our current roster of over 600 families largely consists of parishioners from outside of the Fairport Harbor territory. 

We have so many active ministries.  So many individuals who share their time, talent and treasures to keep St. Anthony alive and thriving.  We work together for the betterment of the parish community, of Fairport, and our neighboring communities.

We invite you to join us in prayer, get involved in our ministries and immerse yourself in the life of St. Anthony.  We might be small but we are mighty!