St. Thomas the Apostle Church
Incorporated in 1896
The parish of St. Thomas the Apostle of Corcoran was incorporated under the laws of the State of Minnesota in 1884. It is assumed that the name, St. Thomas the Apostle, was chosen because it was the patron saint of the bishop of the diocese, Bishop Thomas Grace. The original church burned in 1886, and the new church was built on its present site and completed in 1896. The story of the parish is more than the history of this one building. The St. Thomas parish has evolved from the founders of the Catholic communities in the Corcoran area, who, in the face of many adversity, joined together in faith and love of God to serve and worship as a community.
The church of St. Mary was built to the northwest of today's St. Thomas site, off County Road 117 and Bechtold Road. A young priest named Father Daniel Hayeswas contacted to say the opening Mass on June 21, 1881. Unfortunately, the night before the church's opening Father Hayes was killed in a fire believed to be started by a kerosene lamp exploding. Fire was to be the cause of another tragedy as the church of St. Mary burned shortly after it was built. Rumor has it that the ghost of Father Hayes roamed the area until the present St. Thomas the Apostle Church was built in 1896. The bell that hangs in the bell tower of the current church was originally cast for St. Mary's.
On December 3,1881 the parish of St. Jeanne de Chantel was established. It was located just a few miles west of the present St. Thomas site. The official incorporation papers used the American name St. Jane. However, most of the parishioners used the French version, St. Jeanne de Chantel.
The church of St. Patrick of Maple Grove was incorporated on December 12, 1882. When the church burned down in the late 1800's, orders came from the Archdiocese that there was to be just one church in the local area, which would be in Corcoran. Around 1894, Father Adam Coyle was sent to Corcoran by Bishop Ireland to consolidate the parishes of St. Thomas and St. Patrick, and build a new church. The new church was incorporated on March 11, 1895, Father Adam Coyle signed the incorporation papers. The first mass was held in the new church on Christmas Day, 1896. It wasn't until nearly a century later that the Parish of St. Patrick was legally dissolved.
The Corcoran community suffered a devastating tornado on June24, 1952. The church of St. Jeanne de Chantel was destroyed. Only the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus survived. The statue now sits in a place of honor in the St. Thomas Parish Center. A decision was made to consolidate the parishes of St. Jeanne's and St Thomas after the tornado. On October 6, 1992 the three parishes of The Church of St. Jeanne de Chantel, The Church of St. Patrick and St. Thomas the Apostle merged into a single legal entity.
Over the years, many individuals as well as many parishes have come together to create the one community that we can be proud to call The Parish of St. Thomas the Apostle.
The above information is a summary from "From Mary...One" a published history of St. Thomas the Apostle Church to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the building of our church. Click on the below picture of our patron to view our stained glass windows. | 
