St. Francis Xavier Church (Baltimore, Maryland)

St. Francis Xavier Church
St. Francis Xavier Church
Coordinates: 39°18′26″N 76°35′53″W / 39.307128°N 76.597947°W / 39.307128; -76.597947
Location	1501 E. Oliver Street, Baltimore, Maryland
Country	United States
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	St. Francis Xavier Church
History
Founded	1863 (1863)
Founder(s)	Black San Domingo refugees and the Sulpician Fathers
Dedication	Francis Xavier
Dedicated	February 21, 1864 (1864-02-21)
Consecrated	()
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	For African-American Roman Catholics
Architectural type	Church
Groundbreaking	()
Completed	()

St. Francis Xavier Church is a parish church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore located in Baltimore, Maryland. The church was popular with the elite class of African-Americans in Baltimore and it claims to be the "first Catholic church in the United States for the use of an all-colored congregation."^[1]

History

The St. Francis Xavier Church was purchased on October 10, 1863, and dedicated on February 21, 1864. The founders of the church were Black Catholic refugees from San Domingo, along with the Sulpician Fathers. The Sulpician Fathers had fled France in 1790 as refugees of the French Revolution and were affiliated with St. Mary's Seminary. On July 11, 1791, six ships from the French fleet arrived at Fell's Point, Baltimore, bringing a large number of Black Roman Catholic refugees from Cape Francois in the French colony of San Domingo. There were between 500 and 1,000 Black refugees, both slaves and free. The majority of the free Black refugees were educated and wealthy. When the Black refugees first settled in Baltimore they attended Mass in the basement of St. Mary's Seminary. Both the Sulpicians and the Haitian refugees spoke French. In 1828, Haitian women refugees founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a Catholic religious institute for African-American women. The Oblate Sisters were the first all-Black order of Roman Catholic nuns.^[2]

St. Francis Xavier's remains an African American parish and is affiliated with both the Jesuits and the Josephites.^[3]

References

↑ Gatewood, Willard B. (1990). Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite, 1880-1920. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 306. ISBN 1-55728-593-4. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
↑ Smith, Jessie Carney (2006). Encyclopedia of African American Business, Volume 1. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 474. ISBN 0-313-33110-3. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
↑ "Archdiocese of Baltimore National Parishes" (PDF). St. Mary's Seminary and University. Retrieved 2012-08-23.

External links

Ethnic history of Baltimore

Groups	African Americans Czechs French Germans Greeks Hispanics and Latinos Irish Italians Jews Koreans Lithuanians Native Americans Poles Russians Ukrainians

Ethnic enclaves	Chinatown Corned Beef Row French Town Greektown Koreatown Little Bohemia Little Italy Little Lithuania Little Poland Little Ukrainian Village Otterbein Spanish Town

Institutions	Baltimore American Indian Center Baltimore Hebrew University Bohemian National Cemetery Christ United Church of Christ Concordia Hall Grand Lodge Č.S.P.S. of Baltimore Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation Hebrew Orphan Asylum Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church Holy Rosary Church Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church Jewish Museum of Maryland Lithuanian Hall National Great Blacks In Wax Museum National Slavic Museum Oblate Sisters of Providence Otterbein Church Our Lady of Pompeii Church Polish Home Hall Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture Royal Theatre St. Alphonsus Church St. Casimir Church St. Elizabeth of Hungary St. Francis Xavier Church St. Leo's Church St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church St. Peter the Apostle Church Sts. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church St. Vincent de Paul Church St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore Transfiguration of our Lord Russian Orthodox Church Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association Building Zion Lutheran Church

Events	Baltimore riot of 1968 2015 Baltimore protests

Media	Ethnic press in Baltimore (Baltimore Afro-American Baltimore Jewish Times Baltimore Wecker Latin Opinion Telegraf Where What When)

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore

Churches and parishes	Cathedral Cathedral of Mary Our Queen Co-cathedral: Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish churches St. Alphonsus Holy Cross Holy Rosary St. Elizabeth of Hungary St. Leo St. Vincent de Paul St. Wenceslaus Our Lady of Pompeii Chapels and shrines National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Catholic education	Seminaries Mount St. Mary's Seminary St. Mary's Seminary Higher education Loyola University Maryland Mount St. Mary's University Notre Dame of Maryland University St. Mary's University High schools Archbishop Curley High School Archbishop Spalding High School Bishop Walsh School Calvert Hall College High School Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Institute of Notre Dame Loyola Blakefield Maryvale Preparatory School Mercy High School Mount de Sales Academy Mount Saint Joseph High School Notre Dame Preparatory School Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School St. Frances Academy St. John's Catholic Preparatory St. Maria Goretti High School St. Mary's High School The Catholic High School of Baltimore The John Carroll School The Seton Keough High School

Ordinaries	Past John Carroll, S.J. Leonard Neale, S.J. Ambrose Maréchal, P.S.S. James Whitfield Samuel Eccleston, P.S.S. Francis Patrick Kenrick Martin John Spalding James Roosevelt Bayley James Gibbons Michael Joseph Curley Francis Patrick Keough Lawrence Shehan William Donald Borders William Henry Keeler Edwin Frederick O'Brien Present William E. Lori (Auxiliaries: Mitchell T. Rozanski Denis J. Madden)

Miscellany	Plenary Councils of Baltimore The Catholic Review

Suffragan dioceses	Diocese of Arlington Diocese of Richmond Diocese of Wilmington Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston

Catholicism portal Maryland portal

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St. Francis Xavier Church (Baltimore, Maryland)

History

See also

References

External links