At the beginning of the twentieth century Catholics of Montgomery County, which was in the Diocese of Wheeling, WV, were served by visiting priests.  When a priest was not available, people met in homes for prayer and worship.
 
The first mention of Blacksburg appeared in the 1911 Catholic Directory as a station of St. Mary’s Mother of God Church in Wytheville also in the Diocese of Wheeling.  During World War I, when Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) became a student Army Training Corps, the need for more worship space became more necessary.  Blacksburg began to grow and the need for a Catholic church was very evident.  Bishop Patrick Donahue of Wheeling authorized the purchase of land on Wilson St. and a small wooden church was built and dedicated as St. Mary’s on the first Sunday of June in 1924.  It held about 135 people. Several years later in 1937 the house across the street was purchased to serve as a rectory. 
 
St. Mary’s grew quickly and on September 1, 1938 became an official parish within the Wheeling Diocese with Fr. George Walter as pastor.  When the war ended the influx of veterans attending VPI and new industries in the county quickly put a strain on the little church.  The property across the street where the rectory was located became the site of a bigger church building which was designed to connect to the existing rectory.   The new St. Mary’s was finished in 1948, with Fr. Leo Fohl as pastor and the old wooden church became the parish hall.  With the increasing number of Catholics in the area Fr. Fohl saw that he needed help and in 1958 Fr. Edward Sadie was appointed assistant pastor.  Fr. Sadie was reassigned in 1963 and Fr. Paul Gallagher was the next assistant pastor.  After 16 years of service to St. Mary’s Fr. Fohl was reassigned to Parkersburg, WV.
 
The next pastor was Fr. Bert Valdes who was only at St. Mary’s for about a year and was followed by Fr. Joseph Mascioli who was the pastor from 1968-1971. During his tenure five acres of land on Harding Avenue was purchased from a long time parishioner’s estate and years later became the site of  the next new church.
 
Fr. William Gardner succeeded Fr. Mascioli as pastor in 1971.  Then three years later in 1974 the transfer of Montgomery County and all of southwestern Virginia to the Diocese of Richmond occurred, placing St. Mary’s under the jurisdiction of Bishop Walter Sullivan.
 
By 1975, the number of parishioners had grown to the point where the church could support a unit of the Knights of Columbus.  A new council was started and remains active today.  In March 1976, Fr. Gardner left and Fr. Thomas Miller became the new pastor.  A study done in 1978 determined that the needs of the parish could not be met without more space. Plans were drawn and the building of a new church on Harding Avenue began.  It was dedicated on October 25, 1986 and the Progress St. church sold to the St. Francis Anglican Church and parish hall on Wilson St. became the Odd Fellow’s Lodge.
 
In May of 1983, Fr. Paul Gallagher, the former assistant pastor from 1963, was reassigned as St. Mary’s new pastor and Fr. Miller moved to Roanoke.  Fr. Gallagher retired from active ministry in 1991 and Fr. James Burge came to St. Mary’s from Hopewell, VA, but tragically died unexpectedly after only two months in Blacksburg.  Fr. Donald Lemay came to St. Mary’s in 1991 after serving as the assistant pastor in Roanoke.
 
St. Mary’s was privileged to have its first permanent deacon arrive in Blacksburg in 1992.  Deacon Dr. Mike Ellerbrock, his wife Sue and two young children moved from Texas and joined St. Mary’s parish.  Dr. Ellerbrock is a full-time professor at Virginia Tech in addition to his duties as deacon.  Sue became very instrumental in developing and organizing religious education programs at St. Mary’s and is currently the Director of Religious Education, Youth Ministry and Adult Faith Formation. 
 
In 1993, Fr. Remi Sojka came to St. Mary’s as the parish’s first seminarian.  Another seminarian from China was there for the summer of 1996 and taught the congregation about the Church in China.  Jim Curran was at St. Mary’s from 1997 until 1998 on a pastoral assignment.  His studies continued and he was ordained a priest in 1999.
 
Fr. Lemay was transferred to St. Edward the Confessor in Richmond, VA in 2000 and St. Mary’s new pastor became Fr. James Arsenault.  By then the need for a larger facility was becoming more evident as the parish had grown to about 700 families.  After much searching, 35 acres of land and a house was purchased on Old Mill Road and again construction of a new church building was underway.  Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo dedicated the St. Mary’s current church in 2008.
 
In June 2009, Fr. Arsenault was transferred to Richmond and Fr. Remi Sojka returned to St. Mary’s as its new pastor. Fr. Sojka was originally from Poland, but studied in the U.S. and became a Diocesan priest in 1995.  The house on the property was scheduled for demolition and plans for a new rectory put in motion by Fr. Sojka.
 
On October 17, 2015 a very dedicated parishioner, Richard L. Furman, was ordained a permanent deacon and was assigned to St. Mary’s.  He lives in Blacksburg with his wife, Irene, who teaches elementary school and they have grown children who live throughout the world.  Deacon Rick is the RCIA coordinator at St. Mary’s in addition to his other deacon duties.
 
Fr. Sojka moved in July 2016 and Fr. John Asare became St. Mary’s pastor.  Fr. Asare’s home Diocese is the Archdiocese of Kumasi in Ghana, Africa.  Fr. Asare was previously at St. Bede in Williamsburg as the parochial vicar.
 
 St. Mary’s parish remains diverse a community of retirees; Virginia Tech professors and students and many lifelong residents where a deeper sense of worship and faith is continually fostered through Sunday liturgies, ongoing formation and community outreach.