Annapolis, Maryland

There’s no day like Independence Day to reflect on the religious freedoms we enjoy in these United States. And there’s no better church in which to do the reflecting than St. Mary’s in Annapolis, Md.

Catholics didn’t always have it so easy in this country. In Maryland, a state founded by Catholics in 1634, the Catholic faith was suppressed for decades. “Papists” were persecuted and discriminated against, as only members of the Protestant majority were allowed to hold elected office.

There were even regulations against public worship by Catholics. During this time, wealthy Catholic landowners built private chapels on their estates in order to practice their faith. One was Charles Carroll the Settler (1660-1720).

In 1695, when the state capital was moved to Annapolis, Charles Carroll the Settler bought a small tract of land in the city. He wanted to be close to the seat of government, where there would be a chance of regaining religious rights for Catholics. 

His Annapolis home, which included a house chapel, is believed to be the site of the first Catholic worship in the area. And this house would be the place his grandson — Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence — would live until the 1820s.

In 1853, a group of 23 Redemptorist Fathers obtained the Carroll property and settled in. They accepted responsibility for the spiritual care of the Catholic minority in the Annapolis area.

The Carroll property was in need of much repair and it did not take long for the community to see the need for a new church. Interestingly, St. John Neumann, a Redemptorist who was then bishop of Philadelphia, traveled to Annapolis in May of 1858 to bless the cornerstone of the new church to be built.

Two years later, the church was completed and dedicated to the Blessed Mother.

Redemptorist Revival

The new St. Mary’s was Gothic in design. It could seat close to 1,000 people. Its spire reached 180 feet into the sky and its bell tower contained four bells, the heaviest of which weighed more than a ton. Clearly a statement was being made along with a spiritual home.

In 1862, Father Francis Xavier Seelos, who was beatified in 2000 by Pope John Paul II, arrived in Annapolis. An American immigrant who’d been born in Bavaria, Father Seelos served as rector and prefect of students for the growing Redemptorist seminary community. He arrived in the midst of the Civil War.

Annapolis served as a key military railroad route during the war between the states. Seminarians would often accompany their Redemptorist priests as they administered the sacraments to the soldiers who were stationed at nearby camps just outside the city.

Before his departure, Father Seelos saw to the establishment of the parish’s parochial school. After the Civil War, it was run by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. It served 80 students in its first year.

The School Sisters also took over  St. Mary’s Catholic Colored School, which was a free public school for black children of any religion. This school would serve until 1949. That year, a new church and school were built to accommodate the area’s growing black community.

Since the 1840s, Annapolis has been synonymous with the U.S. Naval Academy. This venerable military institution provides undergraduate education for officers in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. While the arrival of the Redemptorists in Annapolis closely coincided with the founding of the academy, it was not until 1929 that the Navy asked that a St. Mary’s priest serve as its Catholic spiritual director.

Before Mass was regularly offered at the main Naval Academy Chapel, it was common to see midshipmen marching in formation to Sunday Mass at St. Mary’s. The servicemen served on the altar and had their own choirs. Numerous weddings and funerals were held at St. Mary’s for military men, and the parish has continued its close ties with the Naval Academy.

Colonial Catholicism

Several things caught my attention during my visit. First was the sky-blue ceiling high overhead, painted full of stars. I’d never seen a Catholic church with a celestial ceiling. I learned later that the constellations on the ceiling replicate the formation of the stars on the night the church was dedicated in January 1860.

Just as interesting is the intricate altarpiece on the back wall of the sanctuary. Five beautifully lit statues of saints, installed in 1885, are enshrined in their own Gothic columns. (I must confess that I could only name three of them.) At the center of this altar piece is the patron the Church, Mary, the Immaculate Conception. On her right stands St. Alphonsus Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorists, and St. Joachim, father of Mary. To the Blessed Mother’s left are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Ann, the mother of Mary.

For centuries, the Redemptorists have honored the Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. On the right side of the church fresh flowers sat in vases below a magnificent side altar dedicated to her.

The tall arches and thick marble columns of St. Mary’s give the church the feel of a cathedral. The worn, wooden pews creak as you sit in them, reminding you of the church’s age. Brilliant stained-glass windows line the nave.

In 1996, perpetual Eucharistic adoration was begun. It’s held in a chapel behind the church. To get to there I had to walk outside the church and go through a quaint garden area dedicated to the Blessed Mother.

One final impression of St. Mary’s during my visit was the buzz of activity there. In 1946, St. Mary’s became only the second parish in the Archdiocese of Baltimore to have its own parochial high school. Today, it enrolls more than 500 students and sits next to the church on the parish grounds.

Even with all the trappings of a modern Catholic parish, St. Mary’s has not lost its place as a spot first and foremost to spend time with God. In fact, the parish seems to have struck the perfect balance as a house of prayer and a place of ministries and activities.

St. Mary’s has also retained its historic charm in the heart of Maryland’s capital. Its storied background as house chapel, its holy priests who have ministered to soldiers and sailors since the Civil War — all are reminders to us of our rich heritage as Catholic Americans.

Happy Independence Day — and may God continue to bless America through St. Mary’s in Annapolis.

Eddie O’Neill writes from

Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Information

St. Mary’s Catholic Church

109 Duke of Gloucester St.

Annapolis, MD 21401

(410) 263-2396

stmaryschurch.org

Planning Your Visit

Sunday Mass is celebrated at 7, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., and at 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. Daily Mass is offered at 6:45 a.m.; there’s a second Mass, at 8 a.m., on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed for perpetual adoration in an adjacent chapel.