Our History

St. Gregory Parish, also known as St. Gregory Nazianzen, is a Catholic parish of the Diocese of Green Bay. Its historic parish church, dedicated to Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, is located at 214 Church Street in the village of St. Nazianz, Wisconsin. The congregation was organized by the founder of the community, Fr. Ambrose Oschwald, who left Germany in 1854 with 113 followers to establish a religious colony in America. He developed his own religious rule for the community, wherein everything was to be shared in common and all would work without pay. The community called itself the Association of Oschwald Brothers and Sisters, or simply The Association.

The cornerstone for the stone church was laid on June 9, 1864 by John Henni, first Bishop of Milwaukee. The structure was constructed of locally quarried fieldstone and finally completed in 1868 and dedicated by Henni on November 10 of that year. The church was extensively remodeled in 1926, but the Great Depression put a halt to further improvements to the properties for some time. The church suffered severe interior damage in a fire on May 2, 1955. It was remodeled in 1958, and the destroyed spire replaced with a cross. In 1982, the entire complex of St. Gregory's Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places. "The Storm of 2000," took the steeple off the church. Officially a windstorm, many say it was a tornado. After the storm, St. Gregory received a new steeple to resemble the original.

In 2000, the diocese undertook a massive reorganization intended to address demographic changes and the priest shortage. St. Gregory now shares a priest with Holy Trinity Parish in School Hill.