Our Parish History

St. Athanasius parish was established June 19, 1959, at the direction of His Excellency John 1. Mitty, D.D., Archbishop of San Francisco to serve Catholics of Mountain View and Palo Alto. The founding pastor, Father Leonard W. Bose, was born January 16, 1917, to William A. Bose and Babete C. Schimmel- Bose, of San Francisco. After attending Saint Joseph's Seminary, Mountain View he went to Saint Patrick's Seminary Menlo Park, and was ordained March 20, 1943, by Archbishop Mitty in Saint Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco. Father Bose was first assigned to Burlingame. He served as associate pastor of Saint Catherine's Church until June, 1954. He also taught theology there. Two of his students were Sisters of Mercy who would aid him years later in Saint Athanasius. From Burlingame Father Bose went to Saint Brigid's in San Francisco and then to St. Mary's parish, Vacaville. He came to Saint Athanasius in June of 1959. Father Bose celebrated the first Mass in Saint Athanasius on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, 1959. He said the Mass in Latin with his back to the people, so they used missals, and those who happened to be sitting by the walls rested their missals on exposed two-by-fours. There was no kneeling, for the pews, beautiful old oaken benches that Father had salvaged from a warehouse in Burlingame, were too close together. They were filled, and people were standing. No heat, and there wouldn't be for several weeks. As Christmas drew near, it got cold, so when a heater was installed the same heater that now hangs in the corner of the multi-purpose room) there were many appreciative comments. With the cold came rain, and the onetime orchard, still unpaved, was churned into a sea of mud. Mass was offered in that modest structure for sixteen months.