St. Anthony the Abbot Church
Established 1892
Though mass was first celebrated for Brooksville Catholics at the Hope residence on Easter Sunday 1874 by Bishop Augustin Verot, a formal Catholic mission was not established until 1892. At that time Fr. Roman Kirchner, the Benedictine Pastor of St. Anthony of Padua would regularly travel on horseback up from San Antonio to celebrate mass at the home of Linn B. Sanders. In 1908, the Catholic Women’s Guild was formed to raise funds for a church, which would be constructed that same year at 61 Olive Street adjacent to a private cemetery – land no other residents were willing to build on. As the number of area Catholics grew, a new provisional church and school were built on US 41 in 1964. By the end of the decade the parish was once again moved, this time to its present location.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of Cortez Boulevard (Florida Route 50) and Hope Hill Road, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
