In consequence of the
threatening aspect of affairs in France, Rev. J. A. Emery, Superior-General of the
Sulpicians, deemed it prudent to found a house of their institute in some foreign country, and at the suggestion of Cardinal Antonio Dugnani, nuncio at Paris, the United States was chosen. Negotiations were opened with the recently consecrated
Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, Maryland, and after some delay Rev.
Francis C. Nagot, S.S., was named first director of the projected seminary. With him were associated
Michael Levadoux as treasurer, MM. Tessier, Gamier, and Montdésir, together with several seminarians. The Sulpicians, fleeing the French Revolution, sailed from Saint Malo on 8 April 1791. Also on board was
François-René de Chateaubriand. They arrived in Baltimore on 10 July. They purchased the One Mile Tavern on the edge of the city, dedicated the house to the Blessed Virgin, and in October opened classes with five students whom they had brought from France. This was the beginning of St. Mary's, the first American seminary. With the help of Bishop John Carroll and others, the Sulpicians were able to purchase additional property adjoining the One Mile Tavern and build St. Mary's College and Seminary on North Paca Street at the developed northwest edge of the newly incorporated city.
St. Mary's Seminary Chapel was built. St. Mary's was additionally chartered as a civil college by the State of Maryland in 1805 (1806?). It was operated until 1852 by the
Sulpicians religious order and graduated hundreds of young men and formed an important educational role in the growing city during the first half of the 19th century. St. Mary's was established as a theological seminary in 1822 by
Pope Pius VII, when it was authorized as the first
ecclesiastical faculty in the
United States with the right to grant degrees in the name of the
Holy See. The seminary continued to be operated by the Sulpicians. In addition, it maintains an ecclesiastical faculty today. The under-graduate secular St. Mary's College closed in 1852 and
Archbishop Kenrick asked the Jesuits to oversee the formation of a school. Construction of
Loyola High School began on Charles Street in early 1852, and on September 15, 1852, the school enrolled its first students. That same year saw the opening of
Loyola College in two small rented townhouses on Holliday Street, between East Lexington and East Fayette Streets. The influence of the St. Mary's Seminary increased in the late 19th century under the leadership of
Alphonse Magnien, who served as superior of the school from 1878 to 1902. St. Mary's Seminary and now University moved to a large 40-acre, park-like campus at the southwest intersection of Roland and Belvedere (later Northern Parkway) Avenues in the
Roland Park section of northern Baltimore City in 1929, with the construction of its present
Beaux ArtsClassical Revival style, central main building, designed by the firm of
Maginnis & Walsh of
Boston, which is set far back to the west from Roland Avenue across a great grass lawn. The lawn was used as a helicopter pad for leaving to the local airport following the several days of the 1995 Baltimore visit by
Pope John Paul II. During his famous visit to the "Premier See" of Baltimore in 1995, the first by any
Bishop of Rome, Pope
John Paul II, visited briefly and prayed at the Seminary Chapel and used the spacious front lawn to lift off in a helicopter, ending his tour of the
Archdiocese of Baltimore. The chapel contains a Casavant Frères pipe organ, originally built in 1954, at a cost $27,000. It had thirty-seven speaking stops. The instrument was played in recital during the Organ Historical Society Convention in July 2024. Father Robert F. Leavitt retired as long-time president/rector in spring 2007, having served at that position for 27 years—the longest tenure of any president/rector in the school's history. The Seminary's alumni have gone on to reach
bishop's positions and form leading teaching roles in various theological seminaries of the Church in many cities and towns of the United States. ==Architecture==