St. Mary's Seminary is the first Roman Catholic seminary in the nation: rich in tradition while focused on priestly preparation for the 21st-century.
These pages provide information on the history, personnel, environment, and formation (in the Sulpician tradition) at St. Mary's.
The three pages in this section of our site touch on the very basics of the formation process.
A major part of priestly formation is intellectual formation, accomplished through the pursuit of academic degrees.
Desiring to assist in the strengthening of Hispanic ministry and recognizing the need for well-prepared priests dedicated in-part or in-full to this ministry, St. Mary’s Seminary and University has established a specialized track in Hispanic ministry.
St. Mary’s Propaedeutic Stage implements the vision of the Program for Priestly Formation (6th edition). It takes place in a revitalized and expanded structure on the historic grounds of the original St. Mary’s Seminary in downtown Baltimore. The McGivney House welcomes candidates from all dioceses and is not limited to candidates destined to enter St. Mary’s Seminary & University, but is the recommended program for those who will come to St. Mary’s.
St. Mary’s Ecumenical Institute (EI) was founded in 1968 by St. Mary’s Seminary & University, America’s oldest Roman Catholic seminary, in cooperation with ecumenical leaders. St. Mary’s is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The Ecumenical Institute encourages people of all denominations to explore theological studies in a serious, open-minded, and supportive environment. All EI programs are available wherever you are - on campus in Baltimore, and on-line.
The Ecumenical Institute invites people of all denominations into theological study that pursues excellence and promotes ecumenical understanding and respect. All EI programs are available wherever you are - on campus in Baltimore, and on-line.
St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute has a rolling admissions policy. Students may apply at any time for admission by submitting the appropriate materials.
The Ecumenical Institute offers accredited graduate theological programs for two master’s degrees, several graduate certificates, and introductory explorations.
The post-master’s Certificate of Advanced Studies in Theology (CAS) is designed for individuals who possess a master’s degree in theology (e.g., MAT.), ministry (e.g., MACM), divinity (e.g., MDiv), or a related field and who desire to continue their theological education with a general or focused program of study.
The Doctor of Ministry program roots ministry in the mission of God, the ways God is working in your context, in your ministry, and in you.
Students have a host of resources available to support their theological education, from free parking and a great library to writing assistance and advising.
St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute offers accredited graduate theological education that is intellectually rigorous, personally enriching, and professionally empowering.
More than 750 alums of St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute are making a difference in Baltimore, in Maryland and D.C., West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and around the world.
General communication and individual contacts
It is the mission of the Center for Continuing Formation to encourage bishops, priests, deacons, and lay ecclesial ministers to engage in human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral growth and to enable processes of growth that are ongoing, complete, systemic, and personalized.
Conference space rentals include a large room that will seat as many as 58 and smaller rooms that will seat from 4 to 30.
St. Mary's Center for Continuing Formation offers and hosts a variety of continuing formation programs for priests in the spirit of the Bishops' new Basic Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests.
St. Mary’s Seminary & University’s Pinkard Scholars is the cornerstone of Youth Theological Studies at SMSU.
For more information about any of our conference facilities or space rentals, please contact our offices directly.
The Marion Burk Knott Library of St. Mary’s Seminary and University is the largest specialized theological library in the Baltimore area, with additional materials in the areas of philosophy, psychology, pastoral counseling and church history, among others. The library receives over 390 periodicals and maintains a collection of 20,000 volumes of bound periodicals. Other holdings include newspapers, microfilm, and audio-visual materials.
The Associated Archives at St. Mary’s Seminary & University opened in the spring of 2002. Located on the campus of the nation’s first Roman Catholic seminary, this program brings together the archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore (est. 1789), St. Mary’s Seminary & University (est. 1791), and the Associated Sulpicians of the United States (U.S. Province est. 1903), making it one of the most significant repositories for records relating to the early history of the Catholic Church in the United States.
Click here for more information about hours and visitor policies.
This section was created to provide researchers with a brief description of the open collections in the archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, St. Mary's Seminary & University, and the Associated Sulpicians of the United States.
The Associated Archives at St. Mary’s Seminary & University has developed a genealogical policy responsive to individuals researching their Catholic roots.
We facilitate personal integration of the human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral dimensions necessary for authentic priestly witness and service in the image of Jesus Christ.
This exhibit has been created to introduce visitors to some of the holy people who are members of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s community of faith. The power of their witness still speaks to us. May the example of their lives continue to inspire those who are evangelizers in today’s world and serve as a guide to those who are seeking the “door of faith” (Acts, 14:27).
Rev. W. Howard Bishop, G.H.M. (1885-1953) Founder, Glenmary Home Missioners
Missionary. Priest. Born in Washington, D.C., to Francis and Eleanor Knowles Bishop. One of six children, his was a lively household that was memorable for its visitors, which included members of Congress and Supreme Court justices, a reflection of his father’s position in society as a respected physician, and family dinners were often filled with talk of politics. These years were not without challenges, however. A severe case of pneumonia nearly claimed his life as a young boy and a curvature of the spine he developed in his teen years remained a source of pain and discomfort for the rest of his life. Despite these health issues, he attended public schools with his siblings, where he honed his writing skills as editor of the high school newspaper. Upon graduation, he enrolled in Harvard University with an interest in pursuing a career in journalism. His life changed course when he discerned his vocation to the priesthood during a break from his studies. He entered St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore to begin his priestly training and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1915. After completing graduate studies at The Catholic University of America, he was assigned to the now Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Mount Washington, Baltimore, where he remained for two years. He was next transferred to St. Louis Church in Clarksville, at that time a farming community. Here he developed a passion that would define the rest of this life when he became convinced that ministering to families in rural America should become a priority for the U.S. Church. He soon dedicated his life to the evangelization of these areas, first in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and then nationally. Beginning with the League of St. Louis (1922), organized to raise funds for the needs of his parish, this program grew into the League of the Little Flower (1934), that funded catechetical programs and parochial education in the Archdiocese’s rural parishes. To promote awareness of the needs in these areas, he published and edited several newsletters. He became active on the national stage as a founding member and later president of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (1923). His efforts to designate this work as a specific ministry of the Church, what he termed the “home mission,” culminated in 1939 when he founded the Glenmary Home Missioners, a society of priests and brothers dedicated to serving the spiritual and material needs of people in regions of the country where the Church was underrepresented or not represented at all. Together with the Glenmary Sisters and lay coworkers, they continue to serve throughout Appalachia and the South to evangelize the unchurched, nurture Catholics, foster ecumenism, and work for justice.
Bishop Simon Bruté de Remur (1779-1839) Servant of God
Missionary. Priest. Educator. Bishop. Born at Rennes, France, in 1779, his childhood was marked by loss and turmoil with the death of his father in 1785 followed by his country’s descent into chaos with the start of the French Revolution in 1789. Despite the persecution carried out against the Catholic Church during this period, Simon’s family remained faithful. The example set by his mother later influenced his decision to become a priest. Upon completing his medical training, he entered the Sulpician Seminary in Paris and was ordained in 1808. He was accepted into the Society of St. Sulpice at this time and assigned to teach theology at the Sulpician Seminary in Rennes. Responding to a plea for missionaries, he left for the United States in 1810, where he labored for the rest of his life. At St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, he taught philosophy and was assigned to serve Catholics on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He was transferred to the Sulpician seminary in Emmitsburg, Mt. St. Mary’s, in 1812, where he taught on the faculty and ministered to the Catholics of Frederick County. It was during this period that he also became the spiritual director of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), foundress of the Daughters of Charity in the United States. He returned to Baltimore in 1815 when he was appointed president of St. Mary’s College (1799-1852). He served in this position until 1818 when he was sent back to Emmitsburg. In 1824, when Mt. St. Mary’s became an independent institution, he left the Society of St. Sulpice, but remained close to his former confreres. In 1834 he was appointed the newly created Diocese of Vincennes (now Indianapolis), where he labored until his death in 1839.
His cause for canonization was introduced by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in 2005. He is known as a “Servant of God.”
Rev. James Dolan (1814-1870) Apostle of the Point
Priest. Born to Richard and Brigid O’Donnell Dolan of Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland. His father’s success as a merchant provided the family with a comfortable life and allowed the young James to pursue his education to the college level. The death of his father in 1825, followed by his mother several years later devastated the family and likely influenced his decision in 1834 to immigrate with a group of Irish settlers bound for Texas, at that time still a province of Mexico. The experience was a harrowing one for Dolan that would alter the course of his life. Over half of the party died enroute from disease and hardship, including several relations. Difficult conditions once they reached Texas persuaded the remaining members of the party to abandon the settlement they had hoped to found. Dolan made his way to Philadelphia, where a cousin helped restore him to health. Soon after he made the decision to enter St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. Upon ordination in 1840, he was assigned to St. Patrick’s Church in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, where he remained for the rest of his life. Pastoral activities took him into the neighborhoods surrounding the church to visit families, many of whom were recent immigrants employed by the maritime industries supported by the nearby Port of Baltimore. He enlarged the church, paid off its debt, and opened a school for boys and a home for orphans. He also became an active member and chaplain of the Hibernian Society of Baltimore, an organization dedicated to serving the needs of Irish immigrants. In the early 1840s, the Irish community in Maryland was small with members represented in nearly all sectors of society. This would change dramatically with the arrival of the first famine ships in the spring of 1847. The Irish who arrived were refugees from the Great Famine, an event that would claim the lives of over one million people and force another two million to emigrate. The majority of those who arrived in Baltimore were destitute, ill, and malnourished. Pastor of the Catholic church closest to the Port of Baltimore, Rev. Dolan was among the first to visit these ships and recognize the gravity of the situation. The Hibernian Society of Baltimore took the lead in providing emergency shelter, medical care, and food. Rev. Dolan was singled out for his heroic efforts in meeting the spiritual and material needs of the refugees. He dedicated the rest of his life to assisting Irish immigrants by raising funds, finding employment, and founding schools, orphanages, and benevolent societies. In time he became known as the Apostle of the Point.
Artist: Rev. Peter Wm. Gray, PSS
Mother M. Theresa Maxis Duchemin, I.H.M. (1810-1892) Foundress, Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Religious. Educator. Foundress. Born in Baltimore to Anne Marie Maxis, a free woman of color and Haitian refugee, Almaide was raised by her mother’s guardians, the Duchemin family. She was immersed in the French language and culture of the Haitian refugee community and worshipped at St. Mary’s Seminary Chapel. She received an education uncommon to most women of the time, which included attending the school operated by Elizabeth Lange and Marie Magdaleine Balas in the Fells Point neighborhood of the city for free children of color. There she became a favorite pupil who shared her teachers’ vocation to religious life. At age 19, she became a founding member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first congregation of women religious of color in this country, taking the religious name of Marie Theresa. The Oblate Sisters opened St. Frances Academy (1828), the first Catholic school for children of color in the United States. Their duties soon expanded to caring for orphans and nursing the sick. Over the next sixteen years, she was involved in all of the community’s ministries, including one term as superior general, 1841-1844. In 1845 she left the Oblates and set out for Monroe, Michigan, with the Redemptorist priest Louis Florent Gillet to serve the area’s French-speaking Catholics. They established the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a teaching community dedicated to the education of girls and young women. In 1858 she accepted Bishop John Neumann’s invitation to serve in the Diocese of Philadelphia. The first school was opened in Susquehanna. A request for a second school led to the division of the community into two foundations: Monroe and Philadelphia. A third foundation was later established at Scranton. Mother Duchemin was living at the Philadelphia community’s motherhouse in West Chester at the time of her death in 1892.
Over their history, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary have opened private academies and colleges and staffed parochial elementary and highs schools around the country. In recent years, the community’s ministries have become more diverse, to include pastoral care in health care facilities, parish and prison ministries, and social outreach programs to serve the poor and marginalized.
Mother Caroline Friess, SSND (1824-1892)
Religious. Missionary. Educator. The second of five surviving children born to John George and Catherine Chapoulard Friess in Choisy-le-Roi, France, on August 21, 1824, she was christened Mary Josephine. The family returned to Lauingen, Germany in 1828, where the success of the family business provided the Friess’s with a comfortable life. Josephine was placed in the care of her uncle, Rev. Michael Friess, and paternal grandmother, so that she could attend the finest schools. She was qualified to teach upon completing her education at the age of 15, but Josephine had already discerned her religious vocation. She applied to the newly-established School Sisters of Notre Dame (1833), whose chief work was to teach in parochial schools, and entered their convent at Neunburg vorm Wald in 1840. She was given the religious name Mary Caroline when she was accepted into the novitiate and made her religious vows in 1845. She was teaching at their boarding school in Munich when the congregation made a decision that changed the course of her life: a commitment to establish a foundation in the United States. Immigrant families had been making pleas for German congregations of religious women to send members to open schools for their children. Sr. Caroline volunteered to join the congregation’s founder, Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger, and four others to form the first band of sisters to undertake the mission. The sisters departed in the summer of 1847 and were destined for St. Mary’s, Elk County, Pennsylvania. The Redemptorists had been visiting this small rural farming community made up of Bavarian immigrants and had invited the School Sisters to staff a school. Although the sisters were not to remain long at St. Mary’s, the experience marked the beginning of a close collaborative relationship between the two congregations. The sisters made their way to Baltimore, where the Redemptorist provincial superior, St. John Neumann, had identified a property to establish a mother house. Within the year, the sisters were in charge of the schools at the city’s three German national parishes: St. James the Less, St. Michael the Archangel, and St. Alphonsus Ligouri. St. John Neumann then invited Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger and Sister Caroline to accompany him on a tour of Redemptorist parishes around the country to help identify other places where the sisters might serve. Sister Caroline could not have known at the time that this experience would prepare her well for what lay ahead. Upon return from their journey, Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger made plans to return to Germany and placed Sr. Caroline in charge of the congregation in the United States, a role she would hold until her death in 1892. Over the next forty-four years, the original band of six sisters grew to over two thousand who staffed nearly three hundred parochial schools and had established sixteen orphanages and eleven private academies in sixteen states and twenty-nine dioceses. The original mission to German immigrants had been abandoned. The sisters went where they were needed. Mother Caroline had travelled tens of thousands of miles to coordinate the activities of her congregation and provide leadership to her sisters. In the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the School Sisters have staffed parish schools across the state of Maryland, operated six private academies, and founded the first Catholic women’s college in the country, Notre Dame University of Maryland (1895).
Rev. Demetrius Gallitzin (1770-1840) Servant of God
Missionary. Priest. The Apostle of the Alleghenies was born of a Russian Prince-diplomate and a German countess in The Hague, Netherlands, on December 22, 1770. The family was well-known in the royal courts of Europe and moved in the highest social circles. Although baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church, his religious education was neglected until his mother Amalie von Schmettau Gallitzin, returned to the Catholic faith in 1786. Demetrius followed soon after, choosing Augustine for his confirmation name. As was custom at the time for families of his rank, he was sent abroad on a grand tour to visit foreign lands when he came of age. He arrived in the United States in 1792, traveling under the assumed name of Augustine Schmet or Smith to avoid the expense of traveling as a Russian prince. He would use this alias until 1809, when he returned to his family name. Moved by the needs of the Catholic community he encountered here, he made the decision to become a priest. He entered St. Mary’s Seminary founded at Baltimore just the year before by the Sulpician Fathers, who were themselves refugees from the French Revolution. Three years later, he applied and was accepted as a member of this community and was ordained by Bishop John Carroll on March 18, 1795, becoming the first priest to receive all minor and major orders in the United States. He was assigned to a territory that extended from Conewago, Pennsylvania, where he was stationed, to Martinsburg, now West Virginia. A sick call that took him to the mountains of west central Pennsylvania inspired the idea of founding a Catholic colony in the Allegheny mountains. In 1799, using his own personal funds, he purchased land in Cambria County and christened his colony Loretto, after the place of Marian devotion in Italy. Loretto became a flourishing center of Catholicism in northern Pennsylvania, which is now part of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Rev. Gallitzin remained at Loretto for the rest of his life, eschewing Episcopal appointments to remain with his community. He ministered to the Catholics of the region until shortly before his death in 1840 and is buried there.
Rev. Gallitzin was also a noted apologist and pamphleteer, publishing a number of works including his Defense of Catholic Principles, A Letter on the Holy Scriptures, and An Appeal to the Protestant Public.
His cause for canonization was introduced by the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in 2005. He is now known as a “Servant of God.”
Venerable Mary Lange, O.S.P. (c. 1794-1882)
Religious. Educator. Foundress and first superior of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Born in Cuba to a free woman of color and a French merchant, she came to the United States when she was a young woman, eventually settling in Baltimore. She lived in the Fells Point neighborhood of the city, where she opened a school for free children of color with her good friend, Marie Magdaleine Balas. A devout Catholic, she was active in her parish, St. Patrick’s (est. 1792), and a member of a confraternity founded by the Sulpician Fathers at St. Mary’s (est. 1791), the seminary they had opened in Baltimore. In 1828 she was introduced to the Sulpician Father James Hector Joubert (1777-1843), who at that time was directing the seminary’s special ministry to the Haitian refugee community. He was interested in opening a school for the daughters of this community. Elizabeth and Marie Magdaleine were recommended as teachers by one of his Sulpician confreres. He met with the two women and was deeply impressed with their learning and piety. As they discussed plans for the school, he proposed founding a new religious community that was dedicated to teaching children of color and they confided in him their desire to become religious women. Within the year, Elizabeth, Marie Magdaleine, and two other women, Rosine Boegue an immigrant from Haiti, and Almaide Duchemin, who had been Elizabeth and Marie Magdaleine’s student at their Fells Point school, were living in community at a house they rented near St. Mary’s Seminary. Here they began their formation as religious and opened a school, St. Frances Academy. The following year they received permission to form the first religious community for women of color in the United States. Two years later Pope Gregory XVI approved the community as an apostolic order dedicated to the education of African American children on October 2, 1831. Elizabeth took the religious name of Mary and was appointed the first superior general. Committed to serving where they were most needed, the community soon expanded their ministries to include caring for orphans and elderly widows. In time, they were conducting home visitations, serving as nurses during Baltimore’s yellow fever epidemics, operating a night school for adults, and offering spiritual direction, bible school, and vocational training to members of Baltimore’s African American community.
Over their history, the Oblates have established foundations across the United States, as well as in Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Africa. St. Frances Academy, the original school opened by the community in 1828, continues to educate young men and women today.
Mother Lange’s cause for canonization was introduced In 1991. She is now known as a “Servant of God.”
Rev. Narcisse L. Martin, PSS (1845-1923)
Priest. Educator. Born and raised in Aire-sur-las-Lys, France, he was one of six children born to Porphyre and Vedastine Denain Martin. He was educated at the College of St. Omer and the seminary of the Diocese of Arras before transferring to the Seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris in 1867. He entered the Society of St. Sulpice at that time and was ordained a priest in 1869. He was assigned to the seminary of the Diocese of Rodez, where he remained for ten years serving on the faculty and as superior of the philosophy students. In 1880 he requested a transfer to the Sulpician seminary in Montreal, where he taught dogmatic theology for two years. It was during his time in Montreal that he authored a treatise on the Blessed Sacrament based on the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas that established his reputation as a respected Thomist scholar. In 1882 he became a member of the Sulpician community in Baltimore. He lived in residence at St. Mary’s Seminary (est. 1791) for the next eleven years, during which time he served as chaplain to St. Agnes Hospital. Called to pastoral work, he volunteered to serve at St. Peter’s Church, Waldorf, in 1894. A small rural parish in southern Maryland, the families that comprised the congregation were made up of former enslaved people and their former enslavers. Over the next twenty-nine years, Rev. Martin dedicated himself to meeting not only the spiritual and material needs of the community but addressing the deep racial tensions that had divided the families. He became involved in the lives of his parishioners through his program of evangelization, which included catechetical programs and home visitations, and charitable efforts, such as finding work for the unemployed, providing assistance to those in need, and caring for orphans and the sick. The fruits of his labors were reflected in the growth of the parish, among whom were counted a number of converts and lapsed Catholics. He used his personal funds to help restore and refurbish the church and build a rectory and established a mission at Baden, which became St. Michael’s Church. His cause for canonization is under consideration.
Fanny Montpensier
(c. 1794-1880)
Fanny Montpensier was born in Haiti about 1794 and given the name Jeanne Marie, although she would be known by her nickname for much of her life. She identified as being of African and European descent, spoke French, and was literate. Details about her family and life in Haiti, including whether it was free or enslaved and how the former French colony’s declaration of independence in 1791 impacted it, have not survived. We do know that Fanny was among the thousands of Haitians who fled to the United States in the period of violence and upheaval that followed. It is likely that she was brought to this country as a child, but when and where she arrived, who she travelled with, and what her legal status was are not known. The close relationship she maintained with a first cousin, Juliette Noel Toussaint (1781-1851), and a circle of mutual friends, suggests that Fanny may have first gone to New York before settling in Baltimore. She lived in what is known today as the Seton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, but back then was referred to as Frenchtown, where Haitian refugees had created a thriving community that was shaped by the country they left behind, shared a common language, culture, and religion, and was comprised of both free and enslaved persons. The spiritual home of this community was the chapel at St. Mary’s Seminary (est. 1791), staffed by the French Sulpician Fathers.
The first record that documents Fanny’s presence in Baltimore is her marriage to Jean Marie Auguste Montpensier Deniau. Bride and groom were identified to be free people of color and the ceremony was performed on July 28, 1808, by the Sulpician priest Jean Tessier (1758-1840), who would play an important role in Fanny’s life as her spiritual director. A son, Gustavus, arrived soon after, but he would live just three weeks before being taken from Fanny and Jean. He was the only child born to the couple before Jean’s death from consumption in 1815. Finding herself a widow at the age of 21, Fanny’s life up to that point had been one shaped by pain, separation, and loss. Now, on her own in a city where slavery was legal and prejudice and discrimination a part of her daily life, Fanny would have to make her own way. Relying on a resourcefulness she perhaps didn’t realize she had, Fanny found a way to support herself over the next six decades by finding employment as a domestic, a street vendor, and a confectioner.
Surviving records for St. Mary’s Seminary reveal the central role that the chapel played in her life. She and her husband continued to worship there after their marriage. When Jean succumbed to his illness, the community responded by taking up collections to assist in paying for expenses and burial costs. They also tell us that she became increasingly involved in the chapel’s activities, performing good works and enrolling in its three confraternities. The membership lists for these confraternities include the names of a remarkable group of women, who would not only influence the direction of Fanny’s life, but the development of the Church in Baltimore. Elizabeth Charles Arieu, a wealthy free woman of color, took Fanny into her home when she was hired as a domestic and undoubtedly served as her role model. Madame Charles, as she was known, was a person of deep faith who dedicated herself to supporting the Church and serving the poor. She played an important role in helping to raise funds and operate the hospital that Rev. Tessier had opened to provide medical care and pay the funeral costs for poor members of Baltimore’s black community. Later, when fellow confraternity members, Elizabeth Clarisse Lange (c. 1794-1882), Marie Magdelaine Balas (d. 1845), and Rosine Boegue (d. 1871), made the commitment to found the Oblate Sisters of Providence (est. 1829), the first religious community for women of color, Madame Charles provided critical financial support and employed her fundraising skills to solicit additional funds from the larger community. Fanny, who had assisted Madame Charles in her charitable works, also initiated her own effort to support what she referred to as “our convent.” Records maintained by the Oblate Sisters show that Fanny not only made regular donations from her own modest funds for over forty years but went out into the community to collect supplies for the school and orphanage the community operated and raise money to help pay their expenses. Fanny also wrote to her friends and relations in New York to solicit funds, including her cousin, Juliette Noel Toussaint, whose husband was Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853). It was due to Fanny’s efforts that the Toussaints became benefactors of the Oblate Sisters.
Fanny’s death was announced in the Baltimore Sun on April 5, 1880, but the historical record is silent on where she lived the final years of her life and was laid to rest. I’d like to think that she ended her days in the care of the Oblate Sisters, the community she had dedicated so much of her life to supporting.
St. John Neumann (1811-1860)
Priest. Missionary. Bishop. Saint. Born in Prachatice, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) on March 28, 1811, he knew as a young man that he wanted to dedicate his life to God. He received his training at the diocesan seminary of Budweis but was unable to find placement with a diocese. He turned his attention to the United States, where the Catholic community was in great need of priests. When he departed his home in early 1836, it was with the knowledge that his return was unlikely. Shortly after his arrival, he was ordained for the Archdiocese of New York and sent to the western part of the state to serve the German immigrant population. It was a territory known as the Niagara Frontier and stretched from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania. He ministered to the families of this region until 1840 when he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), a religious community that had a special ministry to German-speaking immigrants in this country. Upon entering the novitiate, he became the first priest to make his profession as a Redemptorist in the United States. Two years later in Baltimore he took his religious vows as a member of the congregation. He went between Baltimore and Pittsburgh over the next nine years, including assignments at St. Alphonsus Church and St. James the Less Church, Baltimore, and St. Augustine Church, Elkridge. In 1847 he became Provincial Superior for the United States, a position he held for the next five years. Of special significance to the Archdiocese of Baltimore during his term as Provincial Superior are the arrangements he made for the School Sisters of Notre Dame to come to Baltimore. They founded the Institute of Notre Dame (1847-2020) and went on to staff and found schools across the Archdiocese. In 1852 he was appointed fourth bishop of Philadelphia. A promoter of Catholic education, he is credited with establishing the first unified diocesan school system in the United States and authoring two catechisms that were adopted by diocese across the country. A gifted linguist, he was fluent in six languages, which allowed him to minister more effectively among the different immigrant groups represented in his diocese. During the seven years he served as bishop of Philadelphia, eighty-nine churches were built and hospitals and orphanages opened to serve the needs of the Catholic community. He was canonized in 1977.
Blessed Francis X. Seelos (1819-1867)
Priest. Missionary. One of nine surviving children born to Mang and Frances Schwarzenbach Seelos in the Bavaria region of Germany, he was named for the great sixteenth-century Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier. His was a devout household, which included daily Mass and spiritual reading. The young Francis grew particularly close to his mother, as poor heath confined him to home for much of his childhood. These were issues he struggled with throughout his life. To help him cope, his mother instilled in him the necessity of maintaining a patient and cheerful attitude, qualities he became known for as an adult and why he is referred to as the Cheerful Ascetic. He discerned his vocation to the priesthood at an early age. With the assistance and encouragement of the parish priest, he was sent to Augsburg in 1832 to begin his studies and sent to the diocesan seminary at Dillengen in 1842 to complete his training. A visit to a nearby Redemptorist monastery in Altötting would change the course of his life. After learning about the community’s work in North America among German-speaking immigrants, he made the decision to enter the Redemptorists to serve with them as a missionary. He departed for the United States in early 1843 where he entered the community’s novitiate, then located in Baltimore. He made his profession of vows in May of the following year and was ordained to the priesthood at St. James the Less Church, Baltimore, in December of 1844. After serving in Pittsburgh for ten years, he returned to Baltimore in 1854, when he was appointed pastor of St. Alphonsus Church, Baltimore. He remained in Maryland for the next nine years, with assignments to SS. Peter and Paul Church, Cumberland, and St. Mary’s Church, Annapolis, before being assigned to a mission band in 1863. He travelled across the country conducting parish missions until he was transferred to Detroit in 1865. The following year he was sent to St. Mary’s Church in New Orleans where he died while caring for victims of a yellow fever outbreak in the fall of 1867. Wherever he served, he became known for his dedication to the poor, sick, and neglected. His reputation for holiness has drawn many to visit his grave, a number of whom have sought intercession from their “Blessed Father Seelos.” Stories of prayers answered and aid obtained have been numerous. He was beatified in 2000.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821)
Wife. Mother. Widow. Convert. Foundress. Saint. Born in New York City to a prominent family, she was raised in the Anglican tradition and educated at home. She married William Magee Seton in 1794 with whom she had five children. When her husband contracted tuberculosis, the couple traveled to Italy in 1803 to seek a cure. William, however, died at Pisa on December 27, 1804, and she was left a widow at the age of 31. It was during this trip that Elizabeth was first exposed to Catholicism by the Filicchis, the family she stayed with while in Italy and remained close to for the rest of her life. She received instruction and entered the Catholic Church in 1805, not long after she returned home to New York. Ostracized by her family and with few resources to provide for her children, she came to Baltimore in June 1808 with the support and encouragement of Rev. Louis William DuBourg (1766-1833), a Sulpician priest, and Archbishop John Carroll (1735-1815). She took up residence with her children in a house located near the seminary operated by the Sulpicians, St. Mary’s (est. 1791). Here she opened a school for girls, became active with the local Catholic community, and received spiritual direction from the Sulpicians. Over the course of the next year, she discerned her religious vocation and desire to found a community of religious women. Others soon joined her and together they took the first step in this process when they pronounced their first vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience before Archbishop John Carroll on March 25, 1809 in St. Mary’s Seminary Chapel. The title of “mother” was conferred on Elizabeth by Archbishop Carroll at this time and she and her followers began to appear in public wearing the habit she had chosen for them. They departed for Emmitsburg several weeks later, where they formally established the religious community of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s on July 31, 1809, the first community of religious women to be established in this country. The Sisters of Charity were founded as an apostolic women’s religious community devoted to serving the poorest of the poor and were soon involved in the founding and staffing of schools, hospitals, orphanages, social outreach and pastoral programs. Mother Seton remained in Emmitsburg until her death on January 4, 1821. She was canonized in 1975, the first native-born American to be proclaimed a saint.
Welcome to the Chapel of St. Mary’s Seminary and University which is dedicated to Mary’s Presentation in the Temple, the patronal feast of the Society of St. Sulpice.
This page will give you a deeper appreciation of the architectural beauty of the chapel and its detailed spiritual symbolism. It is the very center of the life of the seminary.
The Christological, Marian and Priestly motifs adorning the chapel, as well as the many Latin inscriptions within it, were all chosen by the Sulpician Faculty of St. Mary’s, under the leadership of Father James A. Laubacher, P.S.S., who was rector at the time of its construction and completion in 1954.
When St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park was dedicated on November 5, 1929, the chapel had not yet been built. A drive to raise funds was immediately initiated by Father John Fenlon, P.S.S., Provincial of the Sulpicians and President of St. Mary’s. The Boston architectural firm of Maginnis and Walsh, which had designed the main seminary building, was commissioned to design the chapel in an Italian Renaissance style. However, the stock market collapse and subsequent Depression halted any building efforts. For the next twenty-five years, the community of seminarians at St. Mary’s worshipped in a temporary chapel which was later called the Prayer Hall. In 1989, its name was changed to Laubacher Hall.
In 1941, St. Mary’s was ready to commence construction of the new chapel. Ground was broken during the summer and construction of the foundation proceeded rapidly over the next few months. On November 6, 1941, Archbishop Michael Curley of Baltimore presided over the laying of the cornerstone which was held during the joint celebration for the tercentenary anniversary of the Society of St. Sulpice’s founding (1641) and the sesquicentennial anniversary of the arrival of the Sulpicians in the United States (1791). A month later, construction on the chapel ceased with America’s entrance into the Second World War. Another twelve years passed before work again resumed in January 1953. The chapel was finally completed a few days before its formal dedication on Alumni Day, November 23, 1954. Its fiftieth anniversary was appropriately observed on Alumni Day, October 21, 2004.
The shape of the chapel is cruciform. The nave constitutes the long axis while the main sanctuary, linked to the Mary Chapel and St. Joseph Chapel, are the cross arms. The internal space is composed of cast stone with terrazzo marble floors and marble columns. The nave contains twelve major stained glass windows above six banks of oak pews in a classic choir arrangement. Lighting is with recessed nave lights and bronze chandeliers. The choir loft has a stone balustrade reminiscent of that on the main building. Above and on either side of the sanctuary are two small galleries for visitors. The nave ceiling is stenciled with a green Greek key design and the ribs of the vault are decorated with ornamental alternating square and rectangular gold leaf figures.
The exterior of the chapel is made of Indiana limestone. It has a pitched main roof over the nave and sanctuary, and a second flat roof over the colonnaded side aisles and side chapels. Two large bell towers above the galleries had originally been planned, but never completed.
Top
The SEDES SAPIENTIAE (Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom) statue is the focus of attention in the chapel’s atrium with its dramatic skylight, terrazzo marble floor and ornamental recessed oak ceiling. The statue itself is the most recognized and beloved symbol of St. Mary’s Seminary. It is, in fact, a replica of the original located at the Sulpician Seminary in Angers, France. Henri Bouriché, a prominent French sculptor, was commissioned in 1860 to carve a statue of the Blessed Mother for the seminary in Angers under her title as the Queen of the Sciences. The regal dignity and maternal love expressed by the statue radiate peace throughout the space. This particular statue was soon embraced by the entire Sulpician community and can now be found in Sulpician institutions in France, Canada, and the United States.
St. Mary’s SEDES SAPIENTIAE statue was installed in the atrium in November 1937, long before the chapel itself was actually completed. It was a gift of two priest alumni: Rev. John S. Cuddy (Class of 1905) and Rev. Michael J. Cuddy (Class of 1923) in memory of their aunt, Winifred Cuddy. The statue, made of Champville marble, and the pedestal, made of Botticino marble, were both executed in the Daprato studios in Italy. Over the side doors of the atrium are two Latin eucharistic inscriptions, CALIX NOVI TESTAMENTI (Chalice of the New Covenant) and PANIS VIVUS DE COELO (Living Bread from Heaven), with the corresponding images of the chalice and ciborium.
In the 1990s, four large oil paintings, previously on display in the Prayer Hall and Refectory, were hung in the atrium. Two were gifts to St. Mary’s of the Maryland Historical Society in 1937, a copy of Titian’s Martyrdom of St. Peter Martyr (1852), and a copy of Domenichino’s Last Communion of St. Jerome (1853). Two other paintings, both by Enrico Bartolomei di Fuligno, Capranicus’, St. Nicholas of Tolentino in Ecstasy (1758), and Vision of St. Augustine (n.d.), Italian school, seventeenth century, were originally given in 1824 by Cardinal Joseph Fesch, prefect of Propaganda Fide, as a gift to Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal, S.S., of Baltimore to decorate the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They were later donated to St. Mary’s Seminary.
The flags placed in the atrium are the colonial and current flags of the United States of America, the Papal flag, and the flags of St. Mary’s Seminary and University, the State of Maryland, and the City of Baltimore.
Over the three doorways leading into the chapel proper are three coats of arms and three titles of Mary. The coats of arms from left to right are of Pope Pius XII, with the Latin inscription REGINA PACIS (Queen of Peace); St. Mary’s Seminary and University with the Sulpician motto, AUSPICE MARIA (With Mary as Protectress); and Archbishop Francis P. Keough of Baltimore with the inscription REGINA CLERI (Queen of the Clergy). The arms of the Pope and Archbishop indicate when the chapel was completed.
The vestibule between the atrium and the chapel nave is known as the narthex. On the far left is a small stained glass window that sets the theme and purpose of the chapel: the priesthood of Jesus Christ. This striking image comes from the Letter to the Hebrews where Christ is described as the Great High Priest. The large panel depicts Christ in gold and green priestly vestments for Mass. The small panel employs images of grapes and sheaves of wheat, symbols of the Eucharist.
Above the central entrance to the chapel is a stone panel dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Composed of a large circle with two internal triangles, the panel includes symbols for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together with the Hebrew letters for the Holy Name of God in the Old Testament, Yahweh, and the Greek letters Alpha and Omega to denote Christ in the New Testament. Encircling these symbols are the Latin inscriptions UNA DEITAS GLORIA TIBI (Glory to you the one God), AEQUALIS TRINITAS (Equal Trinity). At the bottom are the words TE DEUM LAUDAMUS (We praise you God). The panel corresponds to the mural on the far sanctuary wall which completes the TE DEUM LAUDAMUS motif with images of Christ and the saints.
The small statues of carved wood of the four Evangelists, originally in the Our Lady of the Angels Chapel of St. Charles College, were also located in the narthex.
On the wall just to the left of the chapel entrance is a bronze plaque commemorating the visit of Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) to St. Mary’s Seminary on October 8, 1995. The pew in which the Holy Father prayed privately is marked with a small plaque and a Latin inscription.
Above the three sets of doors leading back from the narthex into the atrium are three coats of arms. On the far left is the shield of Archbishop Michael Curley (1879-1947), in the center, St. Mary’s Seminary and University (1791), and on the right, the coat of arms of Archbishop John Carroll (1735-1815). They recall the foundation of the seminary under Archbishop Carroll and the building of St. Mary’s, Roland Park, under Archbishop Curley. To the right, is the door leading to the organ and choir loft.
The nave of the chapel is forty-eight feet wide and fifty-seven feet high. The walls are of cast stone and the pillars of Missouri marble. The six banks of oak pews are arranged in choir style to facilitate the recitation of the Divine Office and antiphonal chant. The two rows of pews facing forward in the back of the chapel were for seminary faculty. The distance from the entrance to the chapel to the first step of the sanctuary is one hundred feet six inches. The chapel can accommodate 400 persons.
Each bank of pews in the nave is framed at the top by two marble pillars and with a view of a private chapel. Two large marble pillars also frame the exit from the chapel. The fourteen stations of the cross are
located on the walls between the stained glass windows and on the rear wall of the chapel. The carved marble stations were commissioned by the firm of Galassi-Hutton of Brighton, Massachusetts, which also did other work in marble for the chapel.
In the first side chapel on the right is a small confessional.
Inscribed above the lintel on leaving the chapel are the words from the Emmaus Story in the Gospel of Luke MANE NOBISCUM DOMINE (Remain with us, Lord). Inscribed on the great arch at the end of the nave and marking the entrance to the sanctuary proper are the words ELEGIT EUM DOMINUS SACERDOTEM SIBI AD SACRIFICANDUM ET HOSTIAM LAUDIS (The Lord chose for Himself a priest who would offer to Him a sacrifice of praise).
The chapel contains altogether eighty-one stained glass windows designed and executed by the Max Ingrand studio in Paris and are the first examples of his work in the United States. Later, Ingrand also designed the windows for the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen completed in 1959. Most of the windows are visible from the main body of the chapel, but nine smaller windows can be found in the sacristy and others in the three staircases and two galleries.
The twelve windows in the nave, Palladian in shape and comprising four elements, all emphasize the life and ministry of Christ as well as the ministry of the priest. In each window, the large central panel depicts a familiar scene from the New Testament. This is flanked on side panels by figures and symbols from the Old Testament which prefigured these realities. The small panels at the bottom depict corresponding scenes from the ministry of the priest which are bordered by symbols supporting the overall theme.
The extraordinary symbolism in the large stained glass windows begins by the sanctuary on the right and envelops the chapel to the sanctuary on the left. The windows recount the narrative sequence of major episodes from the Gospels and Acts beginning with the Nativity of Christ and concluding with the birth of the Church at Pentecost. What is unique and most unusual about them is the parallelism between the biblical figures in the large panels and corresponding motifs in the life and ministry of priests in the lower panels.
I. The Nativity Window depicts the Christmas scene with Mary and St. Joseph as well as the shepherds visited by an angel. The prophet Micah, who prophesized a Messiah to be born at Bethlehem, and St. John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the Lord, are depicted on either side. In the lower panel, a priest instructs children.
II. The Epiphany Window depicts the magi from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem and offered their gifts to the newborn King. On each side are the prophets Haggai and Malachi. The lower panel emphasizes the priest’s role in evangelization. It features two famous missionary priests from the first part of the twentieth century with connections to St. Mary’s and the Archdiocese of Baltimore — Father Howard Bishop, who founded the Glenmary Home Missioners, and Bishop James Walsh, co-founder of Maryknoll. They stand beside a globe with the cross, the symbol of mission work.
III. The Wedding Feast of Cana Window reflects the story of the miracle of the water changed into wine at Cana in the Gospel of John. On either side are the prophet Hosea and Sarah, the wife of Abraham The ruby abundance of wine is dramatically illustrated. At the top are two rings and the Greek letters Chi-Ro (X R), the symbol of Christ, superimposed on the bands of marriage. In the lower panel a priest bestows the nuptial blessing.
IV. The Calling of the Apostles Window shows Jesus choosing James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who became his first followers, two among The Twelve, and the origin of the ministerial priesthood in the New Testament. On either side panel are Samuel and Aaron, priests of the Old Testament. Above the scene are two signs of the priesthood, the stole and chalice. The lower panel is a priestly ordination scene.
V. The Christ and Lazarus Window depicts the raising of Lazarus from the dead in the Gospel of John. On either side are Tobias and Elisha, Old Testament figures associated with resurrection. The oil vessel in the top panel emphasizes the anointing of the sick. The lower panel shows a priest anointing the sick.
VI. The Transfiguration Window spectacularly captures the glory of the Transfiguration recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels. In an anticipation of the resurrection, Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. On either side are Moses and Elijah, figures of the Law (two tablets) and the Prophets (fiery chariot) respectively, who appeared with Christ on Mount Tabor. The lower panel shows the priest reading the Divine Office, symbol of his life of prayer.
VII. The Giving of the Keys Window records the famous scene in Matthew 16 when Jesus bestowed the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven on Peter and the power of binding and loosing. On either side panel are Judah (lion) and David, judges and kings in the Old Testament. In the lower panel, the priest raises his hand in absolution as part of the sacrament of reconciliation.
]
VIII. The Last Supper Window shows the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist with its intrinsic link to the ministerial priesthood. On the side panels are the Old Testament figures of Melchizedek and Abel, figures of the priestly office and sacrifice. In the lower panel is a scene depicting a priest distributing communion at Mass.
IX. The Crucifixion Window dramatically portrays the death of Christ on the cross. In this act, as the liturgy says, Christ is both priest, altar, and the lamb of sacrifice. On either side panel are Jeremiah and Isaiah, prophets who wrote of innocent suffering. Also depicted is a symbol of this sacrifice, the chalice containing the blood of Christ. The lower panel shows the priest celebrating Mass representing the sacrifice of the cross in the form of bread and wine.
X. The Resurrection Window depicts the scene of Easter and the appearance of the Risen Christ to the disciples. Above Christ are the lamb and the banner, symbols of his victory, while on either side panels are the prophets associated with the conquest of death, Jonah and Enoch. In the lower panel, the window connects the resurrection to the priest’s administration of Baptism.
XI. The Commissioning of the Apostles Window recalls the New Testament scene of Jesus’ final commissioning of his apostles after the Resurrection to “Go teach all nations.” Above the scene are the symbols of apostolic teaching, the Book and the Lamp. On either side panel, two prophets look on, Ezekiel (temple) and Daniel (lion). In the lower panel, we see the priest carrying out the mission of Christ by preaching and the ministry of the word.
XII. The Pentecost Window recounts the Feast of Pentecost and the birth of the Church when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and Mary in the form of tongues of fire. On either side panel are Joel and Amos, prophets of the out-pouring of the Spirit. In the lower panel the Sacrament of Confirmation is represented thus completing the threefold sacraments of initiation into Christ.
The organ was designed and executed by the Casavant Frères Organ Builders of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada. Altogether over two thousand pipes comprise the full tonal range of the organ. The pipes measure in width from a fraction of an inch to over eight inches. The longest pipe is sixteen feet. These pipes, some made of wood, allow the organ to produce the sounds of almost any musical instrument – a harp, viola, flute, trumpet, clarinet, and oboe. It also contains an exceptionally beautiful set of mellow chimes. Father John Selner, S.S. (1904-1992), who served as the seminary’s organist for many years, worked closely with Casavant Frères to create the organ for St. Mary’s.
The sanctuary is elevated by four steps from the main aisle with its distinctive chevron design.
The High Altar. The high altar is of Botticino marble carved with lilies at each end. In the center, the words are inscribed and highlighted in gold leaf OBLATUS EST QUIA VOLUIT (He was offered because He willed it). The tabernacle is of bronze and made in Italy. In front it bears the inscription ECCE AGNUS DEI (Behold the Lamb of God) and with two cherubim bowing in adoration. On the sides are the inscriptions SANCTUS (Holy). The main crucifix of carved wood is from the Irving & Casson Studio in Boston. The cross arms contains the classic symbolic representations of the Four Evangelists – Matthew as the Man; Mark as the Lion; Luke as the Ox; and John as the Eagle.
The altar is surrounded by four large columns of imported Rouge de Neuville royal marble which support a carved wood baldachino, or canopy, over the altar. At the summit of the baldachino, a crown (symbol of Mary as Queen of Heaven) rests on the white shield with the seminary’s emblem of two superimposed letters — AM — for AUSPICE MARIA (With Mary as
Protectress). The Latin words MAGNIFICAT ANIMA MEA DOMINUM (My soul gives glory to the Lord) from Mary’s canticle in Luke are inscribed with gold leaf on the baldachino directly over the point where the main cross is suspended.
Altar and Ambo. In 2002 an altar of sacrifice and matching ambo were designed by William Gaudreau and placed in the chapel. They recall the repeating lily design in the railings of the two galleries above and on either side of the sanctuary as well as those carved in the marble high altar. The new altar and ambo are made of white marble to complement the high altar. A new presider’s chair and accompanying furnishings were added at the same time.
Mural. The mural on the wall behind the high altar reflects the hymn, the TE DEUM, a hymn of praise to God sung as part of the liturgy and which is also evoked in the emblem at the entrance of the chapel. At the summit of the mural, surrounded by adoring angels, is Christ vested as High Priest with the cope and stole. He is raising one hand in blessing, while in the other hand he holds the orb of the world, the sign of his kingship. The images of the saints are arranged in three descending rows on either side and were chosen to match the categories of figures indicated in Latin hymn, TE DEUM.
The top row – Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus (The glorious chorus of Apostles praises you) – On the left side: (l to r) St. James, St. Matthew, and St. John; On the right side: (l to r) St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Andrew.
The middle row – Te martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus (The white-robed army of martyrs praises you) – On the left side side: (l to r) St. Lawrence, the early Roman deacon, St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the great Fathers of the Church, and St. Agnes, the virgin-martyr; On the right side: (l to r) St. Maria Goretti, the Italian martyr of chastity, St. Isaac Jogues, the Jesuit missionary to North America, and St. John Fisher, the English Bishop of Rochester who was martyred under King Henry VIII.
The bottom row – Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia (The holy Church gives witness to you throughout the whole world) – On the left side: (l to r) St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans and alongside him the wolf of Gubbio, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and patroness of immigrants,
St. John Bosco, patron of youth work, with one of his protègés, St. Dominic Savio, who died at age 15, and St. Elizabeth, the Queen of Hungary, who amidst the splendor and riches of court life, led a life of charity, prayer, and mortification; On the right side: (l to r) St. Louis Grignon de Montfort, a French priest who dedicated his ministry to promoting the rosary and Marian devotion, St. Charles Borromeo, the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, noted for his work of Church reform, the foundation of seminaries, and for his life of charity, poverty, and penance, St. Thomas More, patron saint of lawyers, layman and chancellor of England who was martyred under Henry VIII, and St. Isidore the Farmer, patron saint of rural life movements, shown here with his plow and the legendary angel who is supposed to have helped him with his work.
This whole mural emphasizes the universality of the grace of Christ, who has called and drawn to himself individuals from all ages, conditions of life, and vocations as saintly witnesses and servants in the Church.
On the lower left side of the sanctuary is the cornerstone inscribed with the date ANNO DOMINI MCMXLI (A.D. 1941) and with a verse from St. Paul identifying Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone for the church.
Above and on either side of the sanctuary are two small galleries for private participation in the Mass. For many years one was used by the Sisters of Divine Providence, who staffed the seminary kitchen and laundry for over seventy years. It contains three stained glass windows, one of which is dedicated to the sisters. Alongside it, a smaller window contains the image of a hearth and kettle. The other gallery contains three small windows dedicated to art, architecture, and building crafts. The central window depicts the Basilica of the Assumption.
The Latin inscriptions carved in stone beneath the galleries on either side of the sanctuary are phrases taken from the ordination rite for priesthood and form part of the instruction of the bishop to the ordinandi: On the left, AGNOSCITE QUOD AGITIS (Know what you are doing) and, on the right, IMITAMINI QUOD TRACTATIS (Imitate what you handle).
Two side aisles, with marble and stone colonnades, run alongside the nave of the chapel and open onto fourteen side chapels. Prior to Vatican II, which restored the ancient practice of priestly concelebration, each side chapel was assigned to a Sulpician faculty member for private daily Mass while the rector celebrated Mass at the high altar for the seminarians. The theme of the priesthood is exemplified in the side chapels in their dedication, inscriptions, other designs, and stained glass windows.
The side chapels, beginning from the left and surrounding the nave to the right begin with the Mary Chapel and end with the St. Joseph Chapel.
Both larger chapels are identified by portraits on wood panels of Mary and Joseph.
1. Chapel of the Blessed Mother. The first chapel on the left side of the sanctuary is dedicated to the motherhood of Mary. The Latin inscription over the painting, SALVE SANCTA PARENS, (Hail Holy Mother) expresses that theme. The altar contains a bronze fleur de lis with a crown symbolizing Mary’s Queenship. The chapel was completed in 1954, the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and four years after the definition of the Assumption in 1950. The painting was done by Mr. Bernard Keyes of Boston. The window on the left shows Mary in her appearance to St. Bernadette at Lourdes, while the window on the right depicts the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, the Sulpician patronal feast. The lower sections of the windows show the main façade of Roland Park and the chapel of the old seminary on Paca Street, emphasizing the continuity of the two campuses. Two small plaques memorialize parents of benefactors, Annita France and Anne Merrick.
Shrine to the Pieta. Next to the chapel of the Blessed Mother is a small niche with a statue of the Pieta and the Latin identification. ALUMNIS PRAETERITUS TAM VIVIS QUEM DEFUNCTIS QUI MUNIFICENTIA SUA HOC SACELLUM EXERGERUNT (This shrine is given through the generosity of alumni both living and dead).
2. Chapel of St. Peter. The chapel is dedicated to St. Peter, the first of the Twelve Apostles and the first Pope. The sign of the papacy is shown on the altar (tiara and crossed keys), while the windows show St. Peter holding the keys of the kingdom of heaven and preaching in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost.
3. Chapel of St. John. The chapel is dedicated to St. John the Divine, the name of the Evangelist and the author of the Apocalypse. On the altar is the eagle, the symbol of St. John. The windows depict him traditionally standing with the chalice on the left and on the right composing his visions for the Apocalypse with the figure of Mary and her Child in view.
4. Chapel of Western Doctors. The chapel is dedicated to the doctors of the Western Church. St. Augustine of Hippo, the patron saint of theologians, and St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of Catholic schools and universities. Augustine’s DE CIVITATE DEI (City of God) and Thomas’ SUMMA THEOLOGIAE (Summa of Theology) are indicated. The front of this altar shows the book symbolizing learning and the words IN MEDIO which are the opening words of the Introit of the Mass of Doctors (In the midst of the Church He opened His mouth and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom).
5. Chapel of Martyrs. This chapel is dedicated to all the martyrs who since the beginning of the Church have given their lives in witness to their Christian faith. The inscription on the front of this altar is taken from the divine office and the Book of Wisdom for the feast of many Martyrs QUASI HOLOCAUSTA ACCEPIT EOS IN AETERNUM (As holocausts Thou hast received them into eternal life) The windows of this chapel show, on the left, St. Stephen, the first martyr, and on the right, the names of the Sulpician martyrs who died during the French Revolution. The Sulpician martyrs were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1926. The lower panel of each of these windows shows the palm, symbol of victorious martyrdom.
6. Chapel of St. Sulpice. The chapel honors the Priests of St. Sulpice. The window on the left depicts St. Sulpice, a seventh century French bishop known for his holiness and charity. He is holding a miniature of the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris from which the Suplicians take their name. The window on the right depicts Jean-Jacques Olier, S.S, founder of the Sulpicians, together with Jacques-Andre Emery, S.S., the Superior General who sent the first group of Sulpicians to Baltimore in 1791, and François Nagot, S.S., the leader of that band and first superior of St. Mary’s. Father Nagot is shown holding a replica of the One Mile Tavern, which served as the first home of the seminary. Beneath both windows are found the symbols for France (the rooster), the United States (the eagle), and the Society of St. Sulpice (Sulpician coat of arms), emphasizing the connection between France and America through the Society of St. Sulpice. On the front of the altar is an inscription taken from the opening words of the Pietas Seminarii Sancti Sulpitii, a set of principles drawn up by Father Olier for the piety that was to characterize priestly training in his seminary VIVERE SUMME DEO IN CHRISTO JESU (To live fully for God in Christ Jesus).
7. Chapel of the Missions. The chapel is dedicated to the missionary saints of the Church. The patron saints of the Missions, St. Francis Xavier and St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. St. Francis is pictured with a ship that symbolizes his missionary journeys to India, Japan, and China. St. Thérèse is shown with roses, symbol of her love for the world. Beneath the saints there is the symbol of world missions: the globe with a superimposed cross. On the front of the altar is an inscription taken from the writings of the great missionary apostle, St. Paul, which summarizes the motive of every missionary, UT EVANGELIZAREM ILLUM IN GENTIBUS (That I may make Him known among the Gentiles).
8. Chapel of Priestly Charity. The chapel is dedicated to those saintly priests who have emphasized the ministry of charity in their lives. St. Vincent de Paul and St. Camillus de Lellis were chosen to represent them. St. Vincent was the founder of the Daughters of Charity, the Ladies of Charity, and the Congregation of the Mission, all of which are dedicated to the work of caring for those in need. St. Camillus was the founder of the Camillan Fathers, a religious community dedicated to operating hospitals and nursing the sick. St. Camillus is also the patron saint of nurses. The inscription on the altar is taken from one of the hymns in the divine office, FLAMENESCAT IGNE CARITAS ASCENDAT ARDOR PROXIMOS (May our charity flame like fire; may its heat warm our neighbors). Beneath each window there is a symbol of fraternal charity — the flaming heart with superimposed crutch.
9. Chapel of Model Priests. The chapel is dedicated to the model priests of modern times exemplified by the saints pictured in the two windows: St. John Vianney, the Curè of Ars, and Pope Pius X. St. John Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests, noted for his zeal as a humble pastor and for his compassionate ministry as a confessor to which he devoted his life. St. Pius X is honored for his dedication to the Eucharist and frequent communion. He was canonized in 1954. Under the window of each saint is a symbol of priestly life: the book, the chalice, and the host. The inscription on the altar is taken from the Gospel of John, VENIUT VITAM HABEANT ET ABUNDANTIUS HABEANT (I am come that they may have life and have it more abundantly).
10. Chapel of Confessor Bishops. This chapel is dedicated to the honor of all those saintly bishops who by the holiness of their lives bore witness to Christ. They are exemplified by the two saints in the windows: St. Francis de Sales (left) and St. Martin of Tours (right). St. Francis was the Bishop of Geneva, Switzerland, who is the patron saint of the Catholic Press. St. Martin was the Bishop of Tours, France. The inscription on this altar brings out the ideal of the priestly life, SACERDOS MAGNUS QUASI IGNIS EFFULGENS ET THUS ARDENS IN IGNE (A high priest burning like a glowing fire and like incense burning in a fire).
11. Chapel of the Eastern Doctors. The chapel is dedicated to the doctors of the Eastern Church. St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria and theologian at the Council of Nicaea, and St. John Chrysostum, an early patriarch of Constantinople, were chosen to represent them. Beneath the figures are the symbols of the eastern doctors: the book (symbolic of their learning and writings) and the dove (symbol of the Holy Spirit). On the front of the altar is a group of symbols in oriental form: the book, the eastern star, the priestly stole, and the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha and omega).
12. Chapel of St. John the Baptist. The chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist whose message was repentance in anticipation of the Messiah. In the left window St. John is shown preaching repentance, while the right window recalls the scene of the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan. On the front of the altar is the lamb, the symbol for Christ given by John the Baptist in the Gospel of John, a shell (with which the waters of baptism were poured), and the word ECCE, the first word of the identification ECCE AGNUS DEI (Behold the Lamb of God).
13. Chapel of St. Paul. The chapel is dedicated to the great missionary saint, the Apostle to the Gentiles. He preached the gospel throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, and is the canonical author of fourteen letters in the New Testament to individuals or to various churches he founded. In the left window, he is shown holding the traditional symbols, the book for writing and the sword by which he was martyred. In the right window, Paul is shown writing one of his letters. On the front of the altar are repeated the symbols of his life: the book and the sword.
Shrine to the Good Shepherd. This niche and shrine has a statue of the Good Shepherd with the carved Latin inscription for the pastoral ministry of priests, PRESBYTERI QUI OLIM IN HOC SEMINARIO STUDIUM OPERAMQUE NAVARUNT IN PASTORIBUS BONIS FORMANDIS (Priests who have gone through study and work in this seminary to be formed in the model of the good shepherd).
14. Chapel of St. Joseph. The last of the side chapels is dedicated to St. Joseph, Mary’s husband and patron of the Universal Church. He is depicted as a carpenter in the painting by Bernard Keyes. The inscription reads ECCE FIDELIS SERVUS (Behold, the Faithful Servant). The bronze lily, symbol of St. Joseph, is represented here superimposed on a carpenter’s tool. The window on the left portrays the Flight into Egypt. The other window shows St. Joseph as the model of purity. Beneath the windows are featured the foundresses of two women’s religious communities with close connections to St. Mary’s, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), who founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, now the Daughters of Charity, and Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange (c.1784-1882), who founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first religious community for women of color in this country.
The main sacristy is located behind the sanctuary and high altar. It is beautifully executed in oak with fifteen vesting cases, large drawers, and cabinets which hold the liturgical vestments, books, and other articles used in the liturgy. The millwork is extraordinarily rich and detailed. There is a large skylight over the main vesting case. On either side of the main sacristy are two small work sacristies.
The sacristy contains nine stained glass windows with many symbols of the Priesthood, Mary, and the Eucharist. One window contains the famous image of the pelican, symbol of Christ feeding his people with his own blood. The symbols represent many titles of Mary drawn from the litanies — Mary as Ark of the Covenant, Seat of Wisdom, Gate of Heaven, Refuge of Sinners, Vessel of Devotion, Queen of Martyrs, Queen of Prophets, and Queen of All Saints. In the main sacristy, Mary is portrayed as Queen of the Clergy. The lower parts of the sacristy windows portray the various minor orders, with the priesthood occupying the center window.
The outside walls of the chapel contain four inscriptions relating to the priesthood. All are taken from the Gospel of John and Jesus’ lengthy address to the apostles following the Last Supper. On the west side of the chapel are the words: SANCTIFICA EOS IN VERITATE (Sanctify them in the truth). On the east side are the words: SERVA EOS IN NOMINE TUO (Serve them in your name). On the large south wall of the chapel is the inscription: (top) EGO ELEGI VOS ET POSUI VOS UT EATIS ET FRUCTUM AFFERATIS ET FRUCTUS VESTER MANEAT (I have chosen you, and appointed you that you may go fourth and bear fruit and that your fruit will remain). On the external wall of the small apse in the sacristy are the words: IAM NON DICAM VOS SERVOS VOS AUTEM DIXI AMICOS (I no longer call you servants but friends).
The Chapel of St. Mary’s is a beautiful, uplifting and enduring tribute to the love for Christ, Mary, and the Priesthood that has animated the traditions, life, and ministry of the Priests of St. Sulpice. It is the spiritual soul and architectural heart of St. Mary’s Seminary & University.
AUSPICE MARIARobert F. Leavitt, P.S.S.President-RectorAlumni DayOctober 19, 2006
Next, Student Life…