Website: https://stmary.church/

History 

The Catholic community of Saint Mary of Milan was established in 1868 and the first building was constructed in 1882. The church's foundation is rooted in the Irish settlers of Ohio and Indiana, who in the 1850s migrated to the green hills of northern Missouri, driving the need (by 1860 to 1865) to construct a place of worship and seek a priest to care for their spiritual needs. Father John J. Hogan (later Bishop Hogan) celebrated the first recorded Mass in Sullivan County on May 19,1868, at the farm home of Dennis Ryan just east of Milan.  The parish celebrates its 150th anniversary during the summer of 2018.

For the first several years, Mass was celebrated in the homes of Catholic families. In 1871, a church, also dedicated to Saint Mary, was built in Unionville by J.J. Kennedy and he cared for the Catholics in the Milan area from Unionville. He was succeeded by Father Francis Smith, who started the construction of a church in Milan in 1881. Fr. Smith died of smallpox the following year, after having ministered to a family stricken with the disease. During the 1880s there were several interim priests.

A large part of the Milan economy is now pork production, supporting a local processing plant employing more than 1,100.  With that evolution, MIlan became a culturally diverse community. Saint Mary is now a multi-lingual parish of Spanish, English, and French speakers.  Regular weekend masses are celebrated in both Spanish and English.