Father John Carroll appointed first Bishop of Baltimore (1789)

In 1806, Bishop John Carroll laid the cornerstone of the new Basilica (from a stained glass window at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary shown at right).

On November 6, 1789, Pope Pius VI appointed Fr. John Carroll of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, the first Catholic bishop in the United States and selected Baltimore as the seat of the first diocese. When Bishop Carroll was consecrated on August 15, 1790 at Lulworth Castle in England, there was only one Catholic church in Baltimore, St. Peter's, located on the north side of Saratoga Street between Cathedral and Charles Street.

St. Peter's, resembling more a middle-class residence than a church, served as Bishop Carroll's pro-Cathedral until his death in 1815, although by 1806 he laid the cornerstone of the present Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Cathedral and Mulberry Street. Estimates vary on the number of Catholics in Maryland at the end of the Revolution, but the figure usually cited is 6,000. By Bishop Carroll's death, the Catholic population was 10,000.

The Premier See (1789 - 1823)

The boundaries of America's senior metropolitan see have changed many times in its history. When the Diocese of Baltimore was established, its boundaries were the same as those of the new Republic. In 1808, Baltimore was raised to the rank of archdiocese with suffragan sees at New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville). Until 1846, when the Archdiocese of Oregon City (now Portland) was erected, Baltimore was the only archdiocese and hence had the entire country for its province. The Archdiocese of Baltimore underwent further division during the intervening years with the establishment of sees at Richmond and Charleston (1820), the Vicariate Apostolic of Alabama and Mississippi (1823).

The creation of the Diocese of Wilmington in 1868 resulted in the separation of Maryland's nine eastern shore counties from the Baltimore Archdiocese. With the separation of the Archdiocese of Washington from Baltimore seventy- nine years later, Maryland's five southern counties were given to the newly independent see. As late as 1962, the province of Baltimore, with the exception of Washington, included the states of Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and the eastern section of Florida. When the province of Atlanta was established, the Baltimore province was restricted to the suffragan sees of Richmond, Wheeling, and Wilmington.

The First Bishops of Baltimore (1789 - 1851)

Prior to John Carroll's appointment as first bishop, Maryland Catholics were served by members of the Society of Jesus, even after the suppression of the Jesuits in North America. The first bishop and archbishop had been a member of the Society, as was his successor, Leonard Neale. Archbishop Neale, who served as the second Archbishop of Baltimore for eighteen months, had been appointed coadjutor to Archbishop Carroll in 1795, although he was not consecrated until 1800. Archbishop Neale in turn was succeeded by Archbishop Ambrose Marechal, a native of Lyons, France, and a Sulpician professor at St. Mary's Seminary, Paca Street.

The oldest Catholic diocese in the United States, the See of Baltimore has been administered by a number of archbishops whose names are well known in the history of the Church in our country. Likewise, Baltimore has been the scene of many important ecclesiastical gatherings that have left a permanent impression on the American Church.

The Synods and Councils of Baltimore (1791 - 1884)

Most significant have been the synods and councils of Baltimore. The first Baltimore synod was held in 1791 when twenty-two priests met with Bishop Carroll to draw up guidelines for the practice of the faith by the clergy and laity. Since Baltimore was then the only diocese, this synod took on a national character. Successive synods were held in 1831, 1853, 1857, 1865, 1868, and 1875. The last diocesan synod was held in 1886 under Cardinal Gibbons.

Following erection of suffragan sees at New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown in 1808, the bishops of these new dioceses, with the exception of Bishop Luke Concanen of New York who died before reaching America, met with Archbishop Carroll and Bishop Neale in 1810 and agreed on rules to guide the Church in the United States. The bishops intended to meet again later, but the War of 1812 and Archbishop Carroll's death precluded the convocation of a provincial council. Archbishop Neale's reign was too short to adequately prepare a council, and his successor, Archbishop Marechal, for a number of reasons, decided not to convoke a provincial council.

A year after the death of Archbishop Marechal, the new Archbishop of Baltimore, James Whitfield, called together the first provincial council which met in 1829. Archbishop Whitfield also presided over the council of 1833. The fourth archbishop, Samuel Eccleston, was the only Archbishop of Baltimore who was a convert. He served from 1834 until 1851, opened St. Charles College in 1848 and presided over the provincial councils of 1837, 1840, 1843, 1846, and 1849.

The first six provincial councils, like the synod of 1791, were national in character because Baltimore was the only archdiocese in the Republic. The council of 1849 and the provincial councils of 1855, 1858, and 1867 were regional in character, and their decrees were binding only on the Catholics of the Baltimore province.

Most memorable in the history of Baltimore were the three plenary councils presided over by Archbishops Kenrick in 1852, Spalding in 1866, and Gibbons in 1884. These, like the first six provincial councils were important to the entire United States Catholic population. At all the councils, significant rules were laid down covering such diverse questions as Catholic education, the Indian and Black apostolate, lay participation in secret societies, immigration and colonization, and the erection of new dioceses and missions.

At the council of 1852, the bishops named the Blessed Mother, under the title of Immaculate Conception, patroness of the United States. Another significant byproduct of the first plenary council was a decree by Pope Pius IX in 1858 conferring on Archbishops of Baltimore "prerogative of place," meaning the archbishop takes precedence over all other American archbishops in councils, gatherings, and meetings of the hierarchy regardless of seniority.

Archbishops of the Modern Era (1851-1998)

During the second half of the Nineteenth Century, the premier See of Baltimore was ruled by four colorful and individually unique prelates. In 1851, Bishop Francis P. Kenrick of Philadelphia was transferred to Baltimore following the death of Archbishop Eccleston. A prominent theologian and brother of Archbishop Peter Kenrick of St. Louis, he administered Baltimore during a period of intense national division both preceding and during the first two years of the Civil War.

Archbishop Kenrick died in July, 1863, and for the only time in its history there was no archbishop in Baltimore for almost a year. The federal government was particularly interested in a successor to Archbishop Kenrick who would hopefully be sympathetic to the Lincoln administration.

In May 1864, Bishop Martin J. Spalding of Louisville was named archbishop. A prolific writer, he served until his death in 1872 and is chiefly remembered for organizing the second plenary council of 1866 during which the Church, like the government, reconstructed itself following the Civil War. Remarkable was the complete union of the Catholic Church in the United States when the major Protestant denominations had split into northern and southern conferences.

The eighth Archbishop of Baltimore was James Roosevelt Bayley, Bishop of Newark, who was appointed in July 1872. He was a nephew of Mother Seton and a relative of the Presidents Roosevelt. Plagued by illness, he frequently absented himself from Baltimore, preferring to reside at Seton Hall College in Newark.

In May 1877, Bishop James Gibbons of Richmond became coadjutor-archbishop with the right of succession to the ailing Archbishop Bayley, and automatically succeeded at the latter's death on October 3, 1877. For forty-four years the native-born Archbishop Gibbons ruled the Baltimore see and in 1886 became its first cardinal.

His successor, Bishop Michael J. Curley of St. Augustine, Florida, was archbishop from 1921 until 1947. His later years were marked by blindness and suffering. In 1939, when the Archdiocese of Washington was erected, Archbishop Curley was chosen to administer it, thus becoming the only American prelate to occupy two archbishoprics simultaneously. His reputation as an administrator rests in part on the building program he adopted in Baltimore, particularly the establishment of new parishes and parochial schools. This reputation was inherited by the eleventh archbishop, Francis P. Keough, who was transferred from Providence, Rhode Island, to Baltimore in 1947. In October 1954, ground was broken for the new Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Dedicated in 1959, the contemporary Gothic structure was made possible by the late Thomas J. O'Neill (1849-1919) in a bequest to Cardinal Gibbons. Archbishop Keough, during his later years, gave special attention to the need for Catholic high schools and his administration ended shortly after the completion of Archbishop Curley and Cardinal Gibbons high schools. This program was carried on by Archbishop Keough's successor, Archbishop Lawrence J. Shehan, who succeeded to the see on December 8, 1961, and became Baltimore's second cardinal on February 22, 1965. Cardinal Shehan was succeeded by Archbishop William Donald Borders who became the thirteenth Archbishop of Baltimore in April, 1974. Archbishop Borders reorganized the administrative structure of the Archdiocese and greatly encouraged the development of a collegial approach to pastoral ministry.

Archbishop Borders retired in April, 1989 and was succeeded by Most Reverend William Henry Keeler, until then the Bishop of Harrisburg. From November 1992 through November 1995, Archbishop Keeler served as President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States. In November, 1994, Archbishop Keeler was elevated to the College of Cardinals by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, making him Baltimore's third cardinal archbishop and only the second cardinal to serve as President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Role of Baltimore in American Church History

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is rich in historical associations. The first priest ordained in the United States, Stephen Badin, was ordained by Bishop Carroll at St. Peter's in 1793. Two years earlier, a group of French Sulpicians established the first American Seminary on Paca Street.In 1809, Mrs. Elizabeth Bayley Seton arrived in Baltimore and took up residence in a house on Paca Street where she established a small academy, and made plans for the beginning of a religious community of women. At Emmitsburg, Mount St. Mary's Seminary and College was established by Fr. John Dubois in 1808.

But the Archdiocese is more than an historic relic - it is a living, growing entity of the Universal Church. Today, more than two hundred years after its founding, the Archdiocese has over one-half million Catholics and over 250 active Diocesan Priests. Under the leadership of Cardinal Keeler, the premier see enjoys a position of importance in the American Church as a leading center of ecumenical, social and civic progress, along with being one of the prime locations for priestly formation in the United States. For the first time in the history of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, on October 8, 1995, the Holy Father, His Holiness Pope John Paul II, celebrated Mass in the Archdiocese at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and visited both the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption.