St. Francis Xavier Church (Baltimore)

St. Francis Xavier Church
St. Francis Xavier Church
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

v t e Ethnic history of Baltimore
Groups	African Americans Africans Appalachian Americans Asian Americans Caribbeans Czechs Ethiopians French Germans Greeks Hispanics and Latinos Irish Italians Jews Koreans Lithuanians Native Americans Poles Romani Russians Syrians Ukrainians White Americans
Ethnic enclaves	Chinatown/Little Ethiopia Corned Beef Row French Town Greektown Koreatown Little Appalachia 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 Russian Night School 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 Times Baltimore Wecker Czas Baltimorski Der Deutsche Correspondent Latin Opinion Telegraf Where What When)

v t e Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore
Churches and parishes	List List of churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore Cathedral Cathedral of Mary Our Queen Co-cathedral Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Pro-cathedral St. Peter's Pro-Cathedral Parish churches St. Alphonsus Holy Cross Holy Rosary St. Elizabeth of Hungary St. John the Evangelist 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 Archbishop Spalding Bishop Walsh School Calvert Hall College Cristo Rey Jesuit Loyola Blakefield Maryvale Preparatory School Mercy Mount de Sales Academy Mount Saint Joseph Notre Dame Preparatory School Our Lady of Mount Carmel St. Frances Academy St. John's Catholic Preparatory Saint Maria Goretti St. Mary's The Catholic High School of Baltimore The John Carroll School Closed educational institutions Cardinal Gibbons School Institute of Notre Dame Seton Keough High School Towson Catholic High School Woodstock College
Ordinaries	Archbishops 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 William Edward Lori Auxiliary bishops Dominic Laurence Graessel Alfred Allen Paul Curtis Owen Patrick Bernard Corrigan Thomas Joseph Shahan John Michael McNamara Lawrence Shehan Jerome Aloysius Daugherty Sebastian Thomas Austin Murphy Thomas Mardaga F. Joseph Gossman Philip Francis Murphy James Stafford William Clifford Newman John Ricard, S.S.J. Gordon Bennett, S.J. W. Francis Malooly Mitchell T. Rozanski Denis J. Madden Mark E. Brennan Adam Parker Bruce Lewandowski
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

History

See also

References

External links