St. Mary of the Assumption, Hockessin, DE

In 1772, the superior of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, Father Matthias Manners, purchased 207 acres from Samuel Lyle, seven miles west of Wilmington in Mill Creek Hundred. Three years later, the Jesuits build a residence which doubled as a church at least until 1790, at which point Father John Roseter, an Irish Augustinian priest, built the first church, a log chapel, at the site of a cemetery that had existed for several years. In 1823, Saint Mary of the Assumption was completely renovated.

With Father Kenny's death in 1840 and with the founding of Saint Joseph on the Brandywine in 1841, the Coffee Run church was only used intermittently. Populations shifted back to the Coffee Run area and required the log cabin church to be replaced with a new and larger church, the parish's second, on the same site.

Another population shift in 1880 necessitated another move. The parish's new center would be Saint Patrick in Ashland. Its cornerstone was laid on September 24, 1880, and in 1882, the parish built an additional church, Saint John the Evangelist in Hockessin. These were the parish's third and fourth churches.

Where in the 1940s, the parish only counted 100 families, by the late 1950s, there were 400 families as the growth of Wilmington spread to the Hockessin area. The two churches of Saint Patrick and Saint John were becoming too small. This led to Most Reverend Edmond J. Fitzmaurice, fourth Bishop of Wilmington, and his coadjutor, the Most Reverend Michael W. Hyle, to decide to purchase a tract of land for future building and expansion. On August 10, 1960, the Catholic Foundation purchased just over 14 acres for this purpose.

In 1963, Bishop Hyle gave permission for the construction of a new church and rectory to be named Saint Mary of the Assumption, reviving the name and continuing the history of the original log cabin mother church built at Coffee Run. This new building would be the parish's 5th church. The site was blessed and ground was broken on September 29, 1964, and construction began the next month.. On Sunday, August 15, 1965, the patronal feast of the parish, Bishop Hyle laid the cornerstone and the first Mass was offered in the new church. At this time, Saint Patrick in Ashland and Saint John Evangelist, with its rectory, were sold.

The congregation continued to grow and now counts over 2,000 families. With this growth came the expansion of the parish's facilities. In 1990, the Most Reverend Robert Mulvee, seventh Bishop of Wilmington, blessed the daily Mass chapel, classrooms, preschool facility, parish hall, and offices.

As part of the Sustaining Hope for the Future Capital Campaign, Saint Mary of the Assumption achieved one of the plans of the 1965 church, replacing the colored glass with stained glass. The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and the Wedding at Cana line the nave while images of Saint Mary of the Assumption, Saint Patrick, and Saint John the Evangelist watch over parishioners from the transept and main nave windows.