Founded: 1978
Location: 27341 Camp Plenty Road, Santa Clarita
San Fernando Region: Deanery 8

Cardinal Timothy Manning's handwritten notes about parish names in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles offer both religious and historical insights --- including those on St. Clare of Canyon Country.

The saint --- the 13th century founder of the Order of the Poor Ladies (known today as the Poor Clares) in Italy --- was born Chiara Offreduccio in 1194, leaving the wealth of her father's home at age 18 to follow in the austere footsteps of St. Francis and establish the monastic order for women in the Franciscan tradition. She accepted the role of abbess at San Damiano at age 22 and continued in her life of poverty and prayer until her death at 59 in 1253. Three years later Pope Alexander IV canonized her as Saint Clare of Assisi.

(On one Christmas Eve, sick and unable to leave her bed, she heard singing and saw clearly on the wall the manger at Bethlehem. In 1958, Pope Pius XII declared her the Patron Saint of Television.)

Appropriately, in was on St. Clare's feast day, August 11, in 1769 when the Franciscan Friar, Fray Juan Crespi, the official diarist with the Portola Expedition, came upon the river and valley during the search for mission sites, and named both for the saint. Although earlier Indian tribes, the Chumash and Tataviams, had settled in the area and used the river to grow food crops, the Spanish explorers diverted the river to feed livestock.

The Santa Clara River and the eventual development of the Santa Clarita Valley north of Los Angeles form a perfect backdrop for the parish named for the saint whose name means "light." Until 1973, the only parish in the valley was Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Newhall, but neighboring Canyon Country was at the brink of intense growth and expansion.

That year, the Newhall pastor, Father Henry Banks, sent his assistant, newly-ordained Father Timothy Nichols, to the Canyon High School gym to celebrate Mass for the growing population. Every Sunday some 1,100 persons attended Mass in the gym. "Our Lady of Perpetual Help," a Tidings article stated, "is a corridor 40 miles wide and 60 miles long. Father Banks is responsible for souls in an area of 2,500 miles."

The Irish-born Father Banks headed the Newhall parish for 22 years. Before his death in 1976, property near Camp Plenty Road was purchased for the new mission of St. Clare of Assisi.

Construction --- at a cost of $285,000, paid in full by the parishioners of OLPH and St. Clare --- was completed that year, using architectural drawings of St. Francis of Assisi church in Fillmore that furthered the connection between the two saints. Father Edmond Renehan, another Irish born priest, was named administrator in 1977 and by February 1978, St. Clare became an official parish with 1,500 registered families. Soon Canyon Country and the neighboring communities of Newhall, Saugus and Valencia were joined to form the city of Santa Clarita.

Father Renehan, previously OLPH's associate pastor, came prepared for his new assignment at one of the largest parishes geographically in the archdiocese, where he estimated there were some 1,003 Catholic families. By 1989 a new church was dedicated serving some 3,000 families. The old church building was remodeled into a new parish hall dedicated to Father Banks.

At the dedication, Father Renehan said: "I appreciate all those numerous people, living and dead, who made this day possible by their abundant spiritual, moral and financial support over the years."

During his 30 years as St. Clare's pastor, he helped establish the parish mission of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in 1995, the first in the archdiocese named for the Native American Indian (and established as a parish in 1998, prior to which approximately 2,000 Catholics in the northern Santa Clarita Valley celebrated liturgies at Arroyo Seco Junior High School). Named a monsignor in 1995, he retired in 2008 and is now pastor emeritus.

The current administrator at St. Clare is Father Olin Mayfield, who was raised in Santa Clarita and attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help School. He holds a degree in literature from USC, was ordained in 1996 and served as a Naval chaplain on board the USS WASP and then with the Marines in Okinawa.