About Us

In the year 1844, Rev. John Otto Bredeick, a priest from Osnabrueck, Hannover, Germany, crossed the ocean with a large number of his countrymen and established a colony in the Northwestern part of Ohio. As soon as he learned of the Miami and Erie Canal, he secured government land on the spot where the city of Delphos now stands and thus laid the foundation for this flourishing town and parish. He induced settlers to locate there, to clear away the forests and to transform the swampy wilderness into a habitable locality. The colony grew, due to the industry of the pioneers, but due also to the fatherly care and devotion of Father Bredeick.

About this time a few German families settled seven miles north of Delphos along the banks of the Canal. All these were Catholics who had come from various parts of Germany: Alsace, Baden, Wuertemberg and Westphalia. Naturally during the early years of their pioneer life, the immigrants were obliged to attend to their religious duties at Delphos. This entailed many hardships not only upon the men and women, but upon the children as well, who under the adverse conditions of travel, had to walk to Delphos to receive their religious instruction in preparation for First Holy Communion. To obviate these difficulties, Father Bredeick decided to establish a new parish in their place of settlement.