1600 to 1700 The first Catholic presence in the original British colonies in the United States was the proprietary colony of Maryland, established by
Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore in 1634. A Catholic himself, Calvert intended the colony to be open to English Catholics facing persecution at home. In 1689, members of the growing
Puritan population in Maryland staged a
takeover of the colonial government and effectively outlawed Catholicism. In 1691, alarmed at the violent conflicts in Maryland, the British Crown took over the colony from the Calvert family.
1700 to 1789 The new royal governor in Maryland imposed less sweeping restrictions on Catholics than those of the Puritan regime. These restrictions would stay in place until after the end of the
American Revolution. During the British colonial period, the small Catholic communities in the American colonies were under the
ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the
Apostolic Vicariate of the London District in England. The first Catholic church in Baltimore, St. Peter's, was dedicated in 1770. In November 1783, after the end of the Revolution, the Catholic clergy in Maryland petitioned the Vatican for permission to nominate a priest as
superior of the missions for the United States. The superior would have some of the powers of a
bishop and be in charge of the American Catholic Church. After receiving papal approval, the clergy nominated Reverend
John Carroll to become superior.
Pope Pius VI in June 1784 confirmed Carroll as superior of the missions. This papal act established an American
hierarchy, removing the American Catholic Church from the authority of the British Catholic Church In November 1784, Pius VI erected the
Prefecture Apostolic of the United States encompassing the entire country. Since Maryland had the largest Catholic population,
Pope Pius VI placed the prefecture see in Baltimore and appointed Carroll as its first prefect apostolic.
1789 to 1800 Four years later, Pius VI elevated the prefecture into the Diocese of Baltimore, making it the first diocese solely within the United States. St. Peter's, the only Catholic church in Baltimore, was designated as the
pro-cathedral (temporary cathedral). The new Diocese of Baltimore covered the entire nation. To train priests for his new diocese, Carroll asked the
Fathers of the Company of Saint Sulpice to come to Baltimore. They arrived in 1791 and started the nucleus of
St. Mary's College and Seminary in that city. Also in 1791, Carroll convened the first diocesan
synod in the United States. Twenty-two priests attended the synod, setting national policies for
baptism, confirmation,
penance, the celebration of the
liturgy in the
mass,
anointing of the sick, and mixed marriages. The Vatican in 1795 appointed Reverend
Leonard Neale as
coadjutor bishop in Baltimore to assist Carroll. In 1798, Carroll won a civil case in Pennsylvania that acknowledged his position as leader of the American church. In 1806, Carroll started construction of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Baltimore As the Catholic population of the United States grew, the Vatican saw the need to create more dioceses. In 1808,
Pope Pius VII erected four new dioceses from what now became the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The pope named Carroll as the first archbishop of Baltimore. Maréchal believed that his most pressing problem was a shortage of priests. It was aggravated by parish trustees who thought they had the power to assign these priests. In some Irish parishes, the trustees would demand Irish priests, even if they were not qualified. In 1820, Bishop
Flaget of Bardstown warned Maréchal about a man claiming to be a priest who wanted to practice in the archdiocese. This individual produced positive letters of introduction from his bishop. However, when he was observed celebrating mass, it became clear that the so-called priest was incompetent. Maréchal later advised the Propaganda Fide (now the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples) in Rome about this problem.
1821 to 1850 Maréchal dedicated the incomplete Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral in May 1821. He convened a
synod for the diocesan clergy in 1831 and the
Second Provincial Council of Baltimore in 1833. Throughout his tenure, Whitfield worked for the welfare of the
African American community.
Pope Gregory XVI in March 1834 appointed Reverend
Samuel Eccleston as coadjutor archbishop to assist Whitfield. When Whitfield died in October 1834, Eccleston automatically succeeded him as archbishop. Eccleston encouraged religious orders to establish
mother houses in his diocese, particularly those orders that could provide social services to the growing number of Catholic immigrants in the industrializing cities. The
Sisters of the Visitation increased the number of their academies in the city and the archdiocese, the
Brothers of St. Patrick opened a
trade school near Baltimore, and the
Redemptorists provided services for
German-speaking immigrants. The
Brothers of the Christian Schools founded
Calvert Hall School in 1845 in Baltimore. In 1847, Eccleston was planning to disband the Oblate Sisters of Providence, but was dissuaded by Redemptorist Father Thaddeus Anwander.
St. Charles College was established in 1848 in
Howard County on land donated by the planter
Charles Carroll. Between 1837 and 1849, Eccleston held five
provincial councils in Baltimore. He also started several new parishes during his administration. Eccleston died in 1851.
1850 to 1866 The Vatican continued to erect new dioceses and vicariates out of the Archdiocese of Baltimore through the 19th century as the church evolved and grew in the United States. Following the death of Eccleston, Bishop
Francis Kenrick of Philadelphia was named the sixth archbishop of Baltimore by
Pope Pius IX in 1851. He presided over the
First Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1852. As archbishop, Kenrick expanded parochial schools throughout the archdiocese. Under his tenure, parochial schools were free for all students, and were supported directly by the parishes. Kenrick died in 1863. The next archbishop of Baltimore was Bishop
Martin Spalding from the
Diocese of Louisville, appointed by
Pope Pius IX.
1866 to 1900 In 1866, Spalding founded
St. Mary's Industrial School in
Baltimore, a boys
reformatory. Spalding conducted a visitation of the archdiocese, during which he reportedly administered
confirmation to 8,000 people. Spalding recruited priests for the archdiocese from
All Hallows College in Ireland and the
American College at Louvain in Belgium After the end of the
American Civil War in 1865, Spalding raised $10,000 in the archdiocese for relief efforts in the former
Confederate States of America. He also took a special interest in the spiritual welfare of the African-Americans who had just been freed from slavery. Writing to Archbishop
John McCloskey, Spalding said, "Four million of these unfortunates are thrown on our charity, and they silently but eloquently appeal to us for help." After Spalding died in 1871, Pius IX appointed bishop
James Bayley from the
Diocese of Newark as the next archbishop of Baltimore in 1872. He convened the Eighth Provincial Synod in 1875 and enacted new regulations on clerical dress, mixed marriages, and church music. Bayley consecrated the cathedral in 1876 and retired a large amount of archdiocesan debt. In May 1877, Pius IX selected Bishop
James Gibbons of Richmond as coadjutor archbishop to assist the sick Bayley. After Bayley died in October 1877, Gibbons succeeded him as archbishop of Baltimore. In 1884, Gibbons founded the House of the Good Shepherd in Baltimore, a reformatory for female criminals.
1900 to 1940 After the end of
World War I in 1919, Gibbons supported American participation in the new
League of Nations. He was initially opposed to the
women's suffrage movement in the United States. However, when the
nineteenth amendment to the
US Constitution passed in 1920, allowing women to vote, Gibbons urged women to exercise that right, describing it "...not only as a right but as a strict social duty." Gibbons died in 1921 Bishop
Michael Curley of the Diocese of Saint Augustine was the next archbishop of Baltimore, named by
Pope Benedict XV in 1921. His arrival in his new city was described in the press as "one of the greatest welcomes ever tendered a new citizen of Baltimore." During his tenure in Baltimore, Curley established 66 schools, placing the importance of constructing schools over churches. In 1926, he declared, "I defy any system of grammar school education in the United States to prove itself superior to the system that is being maintained in the Archdiocese of Baltimore." He also established diocesan offices for
Catholic Charities in 1923 and for the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1925. The pope selected Curley to serve as archbishop of Washington. The two archdioceses now shared the same archbishop. Curley used the title of Archbishop of Baltimore-Washington during this period, although the two archdioceses were separate entities.
1940 to 1989 After Curley died in 1947, Pius XII appointed Monsignor
Patrick A. O'Boyle as archbishop of Washington and Bishop
Francis Keough of the
Diocese of Providence as archbishop of Baltimore. In July 1961,
Pope John XXIII named Bishop
Lawrence Shehan of the
Diocese of Bridgeport to assist Keough as coadjutor archbishop. When Keough died in December 1961, Shehan automatically succeeded him as archbishop of Baltimore. Shehan was a strong supporter of the
American Civil Rights movement. He banned
racial segregation in all of the archdiocesan institutions in 1962 and participated in the 1963
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Shehan also maintained good relations with the Jewish and
Eastern Orthodox communities in the archdiocese. Following Shehan's retirement in 1974, Pope Paul VI named Bishop
William Borders of the
Diocese of Orlando as the 13th archbishop of Baltimore that same year. During his 15-year tenure in Baltimore, Borders divided the archdiocese into three
vicariates and appointed his
auxiliary bishops as vicars over them. He reorganized the Archdiocesan Central Services, naming cabinet-level secretaries to carry out the administrative work of the archdiocese. Borders clarified and strengthened the role of the archdiocesan pastoral council, and combined the board of consultors and the priests senate to form the priests' council. He initiated a Department of Pastoral Planning and Management, an Office of Fund Development and an evangelization effort. Borders became what
Baltimore Magazine called the "king of the
soup kitchens". While he was archbishop, the budget for
Catholic Charities grew from $2.5 million a year to $33 million a year, and its staff expanded from 200 to over 1,000. Borders retired in 1989.
1989 to present Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop
William H. Keeler from the
Diocese of Harrisburg as the next archbishop of Baltimore in 1989. Keeler was responsible for the restoration of the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After Keeler retired in 2006, John Paul II replaced him with Archbishop
Edwin O'Brien from the
Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. In 2008, O'Brien dedicated the Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden in Baltimore, which he called a "sanctuary in a suffering city." In 2011, he became grand master of the
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in Rome. In 2012, Bishop
William E. Lori of Bridgeport was appointed archbishop of Baltimore by
Pope Benedict XVI. In 2019, Lori released
The Journey to Racial Justice: Repentance, Healing and Action. The document acknowledged
racism in the Catholic Church and suggested measures to combat it. That same year, Lori instituted an initiative for reporting allegations against any bishop in the archdiocese. The policy was drafted by the archdiocesan independent review board. As of 2026, Lori is the current archbishop of Baltimore.
Plenary councils of Baltimore The
Plenary Councils of Baltimore were three national meetings of American Catholic bishops in the 19th century. • First Plenary Council (1852) – The First Council published a decree requiring priests immigrating to the United States to provide letters of reference from their previous bishops before they could practise ministry in this country. The council also passed a requirement that Catholic engaged couples publish
marriage banns. • Second Plenary Council (1866) – The Second Council advocated the
churching of women, a ceremony blessing women after childbirth, and setting age 10 as the age for
first communion. • Third Plenary Council (1884) – The Third Council set six
holy days of obligation for Catholics and appointed a commission to draft a
catechism.
Sexual abuse In July 1995, John Merzbacher, a teacher at Catholic Community Middle School in south Baltimore, received four life sentences after being convicted of raping Elizabeth Ann Murphy at the school in the 1970s. At the time, prosecutors also found evidence that Merzbacher sexually abused 13 other male and female students when he taught there. In 2016, the archdiocese confirmed that it had paid a total of $472,000 to settlements to 16 former students of Archbishop Keough High School. The plaintiffs claimed to have been
sexually abused as children by Reverend
A. Joseph Maskell from 1967 to 1975. After the archdiocese removed Maskell from ministry in 1994, he fled to Ireland. He was never charged with any crimes." The archdiocese was featured in the 2017
Netflix documentary
The Keepers, which investigated sexual abuse by clergy at
Archbishop Keough High School and the murder of Sister
Catherine Cesnik in 1969. A report released by Pennsylvania Attorney General
Josh Shapiro in August 2018 singled out Cardinal
William Keeler for criticism. When Keeler was archbishop of Baltimore, he allowed Reverend Arthur Long to transfer from the Diocese of Harrisburg to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Long had been accused of sexually abusing children during his time in Harrisburg when Keeler was bishop there. After the grand jury report was released, the archdiocese canceled plans to name a new elementary school after Keeler. In February 2019, Maryland Attorney General
Brian Frosh launched an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against the archdiocese. Archbishop Lori provided Frosh with over 50,000 pages of internal documents dating back to 1965. In March 2019, Lori banned former Auxiliary Bishop
Gordon Bennett, then residing in the archdiocese, from practicing any form of ministry in the archdiocese or the suffragan
Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston. Bennett had been accused of sexual abuse in 2006. In April 2019, the archdiocese added the names of 23 deceased clergy to a list of accused clergy which the archdiocese published in 2002. Long, a Jesuit, was among those added to the list. and its report was released in April 2023. At the same time as the release of the report, the
Maryland General Assembly passed a bill to end a statute of limitations on abuse-related civil lawsuits. This bill was signed into law by Governor
Wes Moore in April 2023. On September 29, 2023, the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy to evade large anticipated financial losses in upcoming lawsuits permitted by the
Maryland Child Victims Act starting on October 1. ==Episcopate==