History of St. Michael Parish
Fort Loramie, Ohio
St. Michael Parish was founded in 1838, but the Catholic faith in this area dates as far back as 1749 when the French explorer Pierre-Joseph Celoron and his detachment of 246 men made camp along what is now known as Loramie Creek. It was at this place that the Chaplain and geographer for the expedition, Father Joseph Peter Bonnecamps, offered the Holy Sacrifice of Mass during their encampment here, from September 13 to 21, 1749. It has been suggested that St. Michael Parish could conceivably be the scene of the first Mass said in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
In 1769 Pierre Louis Lorimier, usually referred to as Pierre or Peter Loramie, opened a trading post along Loramie Creek. Accounts vary as to whether Pierre Loramie was a Jesuit Priest, but his influence over the native people is not in doubt. In 1782 George Rogers Clark destroyed the trading post and in 1793 General Anthony Wayne built Fort Loramie at the same place. These events along with the construction of the Miami Erie Canal brought more families to the area, and by 1838 a Catholic Church was becoming a necessity.
In 1838 a log church was erected, and occasionally a priest from Minster would arrive to read mass, baptize children, solemnize marriages and inter the dead. Also in 1838 Bishop John Baptist Purcell appointed Rev. Louis Navarron as the Cincinnati Archdiocesan delegate in what are now Darke, Shelby, Auglaize, Mercer and Allen Counties. Rev. Navarron would travel throughout the area and would often stay with the James Pilliod family when he served at St. Michael.
