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The group that was to become The Church of the Holy Angels began with meetings in the homes of members. There was no priest in this area, so one or two priest rode horses from town to town to perform Mass for believers. Considering the number of towns, the lack of priests and the fact that they were transported by horse, they only arrived to perform Mass once a month.
By 1852, the church members had purchased a 20’x60’ building on the site of the current Senior Center.
In 1855, the Know Nothing Party used a keg of powder to blow up the building.
According to ohiohistorycentral.org, the Know Nothing Party members “strongly opposed immigrants and followers of the Catholic Church. The majority of white Americans followed Protestant faiths. Many of these people feared Catholics because members of this faith followed the teachings of the Pope. The Know-Nothings feared that the Catholics were more loyal to the Pope than to the United States. More radical members of the Know-Nothing Party believed that the Catholics intended to take over the United States of America. The Catholics would then place the nation under the Pope’s rule. The Know-Nothing Party intended to prevent Catholics and immigrants from being elected to political offices. Its members also hoped to deny these people jobs in the private sector, arguing that the nation’s business owners needed to employ true Americans.”
The first church was built, facing East-West, as was the custom. This followed the path of the sun, which was thought to be a representation of the Resurrection. Masses were performed with the priest facing east, as well. This means his back was to the congregation.
The school was separated from the sanctuary by a partition. There is no record of the number of students.
In 1876 a brick building was built to the west of the church to serve as a schoolhouse. The Sisters of Charity came to Sidney to serve as teachers at the school and resided in a building to the north of the church. This building served as the convent until 1911 when a new building was built on the corner of Water and Main streets. The former convent served as a rectory until 1970.
In 1882 the membership stood at 160 families. The membership was growing. The church needed to grow, as well.
In response to this growth, the current building was built and had a capacity of 800. The building was consecrated by the Most Reverend Archbishop William Henry Elder, D.D. In order for a church to be consecrated, it had to be debt-free.
In 1936 fire destroyed the grade school, and it was moved to its current facility in 1937. This building was also used to house the high school.
The church and the statues were repainted in 1941. New lighting and a loudspeaker was installed, and a large cross was hung in the nave. The Sorrowful Mother Shrine was erected in 1942.
In 1955, the current high school was erected with a capacity of 450 students. The old high school on S. Main was torn down and a playground and parking lot was constructed.
During Rev. O’Connor’s service, Kindergarten was made available in the grade school in 1975. Then in 1976, the grade school and church roofs were replaced.
1977 saw the Mother Seton sculpture added to the sanctuary.
In 1983, the church was completely restored. This restoration included the paintings behind Mary and Joseph being covered and all statues being spray painted brown in order to keep people from praying to the statues and not paying attention to the priest.