Old St. Mary's Church, Tempe

The following is drawn from the historic panel that hangs in the entryway of Mary College at ASU, a partnership between the University of Mary and Arizona State University, which is housed in Old St. Mary's Church in Tempe, Arizona.

In 1866, while waiting to ford the unpredictable Salt River in Arizona, Charles Trumbull Hayden climbed the towering butte that would later bear his name and looked across the broad valley to the south. Hayden, who would one day prove instrumental in the founding of the city of Tempe and Arizona State University, is rumored to have muttered, “Probably this is fertile soil if a man could get some water onto it. This valley could become an agricultural empire!”

In 1881, the Mexican and Yaqui inhabitants of San Pablo, nestled at the foot of the butte amongst their cultivated fields, constructed an adobe church and dedicated it to Our Lady under the name “Nuestra Señora del Carmen” (Our Lady of Mount Carmel). For the next decade, the faithful of the area were served by the first priest to be ordained in Arizona Territory, Rev. Edward Gerard. Care of the church passed into the hands of the priests of St. Mary’s Church in Phoenix in 1891, and the church at the foot of the butte became known as St. Mary’s Mission Church. In order to care for the increasing population of the area, Rev. Severin Westhoff, OFM, oversaw the construction of a new, red brick church on the corner of College and Eighth (now College and University). Construction of this church was begun in 1902 and completed in 1903. The church was dedicated in January 1904.

In 1932, the Bishop of Tucson, Daniel J. Gercke, established a parish to serve Tempe, fittingly naming it Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The ‘Old Church’, as it has become affectionately known, was the parish’s home until new facilities were constructed at a different location. With the parish’s move, the Diocese turned the church over to the care of the Newman Club at Arizona State University in 1962. Today, the All Saints Catholic Newman Center is based in facilities adjacent to the Old Church, providing the sacraments in a chapel first opened on Ash Wednesday in 2013. The Old Church currently serves as the campus of Mary College at ASU, an institute for Catholic Studies formed in partnership between the Diocese of Phoenix, All Saints Catholic Newman Center, Arizona State University, and the University of Mary.

The Old Church bears the distinction of being the longest standing church in the Valley, predating Arizona’s admission as the 48th state in the Union (1912), the dedication of the storied St. Mary’s Basilica in Phoenix (1915), and the establishment of the Diocese of Phoenix (1969). Although it has endured to see the vast mission territory it was built to serve transform into the thriving community Hayden once imagined, the church has faithfully adapted to a new mission, that of serving the spiritual needs of the students of Arizona State University and the surrounding community. From the foot of Hayden Butte, the red brick church has stood as an unmistakable symbol of the labor of countless Catholics and a reminder of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit throughout the fertile valley of Tempe, which has flowered into a thriving community of faith.

The structure, which is an example of Territorial Victorian Romanesque Revival architecture, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Constructed from bricks fired nearby with clay from Fort McDowell, the church is adorned with twelve stained glass windows (five on each side under the steep gable roof and two on the façade). The bell tower, rising above the double-door entrance, houses a bell forged especially for the church in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1903. Corinthian columns line the interior, supporting plastered vaults. A 2019-2020 renovation undertaken by the University of Mary, in conjunction with the All Saints Catholic Newman Center, added a new paint scheme to accentuate the beauty of the church’s interior. An image of Our Lady of Guadalupe crowns the interior, emblazoned with the words ¿No estoy yo aquí, yo que tengo el honor de ser tu Madre? (Am I not here, I who have the honor to be your mother?), echoing Our Lady’s consoling question to St. Juan Diego. As visitors exit the church, they pass under two of its original features: an image of a victorious lamb and an abbreviation of the phrase Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Ruega por Nosotros (Our Lady of the Rosary, Pray for Us), rededicating themselves to the mission and protection of Our Lady.