Interior of St. Leo Church in 1970

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered semi-regularly in the city of Winston-Salem by the late 1880's. Benedictine Abbot Leo Haid of Belmont Abbey purchased land in 1891on which was constructed a small wooden church for the Catholics in the city. Almost 30 years later, Mr. Zaffaroni Angelo donated the land on which the current St. Leo Church was constructed. The cornerstone for the church was laid on January 9, 1928. One of the inscriptions on the cornerstone read U.I.O.G.D. - an acronym for Ut in Omnibus Glorificetur Deus (That in all things God may be glorified). This particular Scripture verse as well as the patron saint of this first church in Winston-Salem was influenced by the Benedictines who had staffed the parish for over 40 years.