A Very Historical Weekend In Philadelphia!

We went to my wife’s family wedding last weekend in Philadelphia at the Old St. Mary Church in Philadelphia. And we went to The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul for our weekly Sunday Mass. I was so excited learning the history of both places!

History Of the Old St. Mary Church and The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul:

In June 1784 the prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, Cardinal Leonardo Antonelli, issued a decree establishing the Catholic Church in the United States as a distinct administrative area. In 1789 Father John Carroll was appointed as the first Bishop of Baltimore with jurisdiction over what was then the entire United States.

On April 8, 1808, Pope Pius VII established Baltimore as the first archdiocese in the United States and created four new dioceses: Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Bardstown, Kentucky. On the same date the first bishop of the Diocese (the entire State of Pennsylvania, the entire State of Delaware, and half of the State of New Jersey) of Philadelphia, was named. The Diocese of Philadelphia as established comprised about 43,000 square miles. The pastor of Saint Mary’s Church, Father Michael Egan, O.S.F., was appointed the first Bishop of Philadelphia and was ordained a bishop in October 1810. Saint Mary’s (4th Street near Spruce) would serve as the cathedral, and there the bishop would serve as pastor. Old St. Mary Church became the first Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Philadelphia in 1810 to 1837. Bishop Egan died in 1814 and his body was buried in the church yard of Saint Mary’s.

Old St. Mary’s was built in 1763 at 252 S. 4th Street. The church was prominent in the life of Colonial and Revolutionary Philadelphia. Old St. Mary’s Church was the site of the first public religious commemoration of the Declaration of Independence.

Many prominent figures of Colonial Philadelphia and the Revolution frequented this historic church. Members of the Continental Congress attended services here on four occasions from 1777 to 1781. George Washington, in an ecumenical spirit, worshipped here on at least two occasions. Puritan John Adams came here too and wrote to his wife Abigail: “the music, consisting of an organ and a choir of singers, went all the afternoon except sermon time, and the assembly chanted most sweetly and exquisitely. Here is everything that can lay hold of eye, ear, and imagination, everywhere which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant, I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell.” – Provided By US Library of Congress!

The Church has a Cemetery:
Cemetery Image 1: Follow the brick and cinder walkway to enter into the early history of Philadelphia and these United States. Opened as a burial ground for Catholics, one can follow the progress of liberty and charity from those entombed here. The first burial was the infant Ann White, the great granddaughter of James White, the ninth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Commodore John Barry, the Father of the American navy and his family lie close to such illustrious patriots as Thomas Fitzsimons, a signer of the Constitution, Stephen Moylan, Gen. Washington’s aide-de-camp, the French Maj. General Phillippe du Coudrey, Matthew Carey, prominent publisher and pamphleteer, and the local soldier Emanuel Holmes.

Cemetery Image 2: The cemetery also contains the remains of prominent Philadelphians, such as George Meade, Michael Bouvier, James Campbell, the Civil War Hero Maj. Henry C. Whelan, children from St. Joseph’s Orphanage, started in 1797, innumerable victims of the dreaded yellow fever plagues of the last decade of the 18th Century, as well as various early foreign dignitaries such as Don Juan Bernabeu of Spain and Manuel Torres of Columbia.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul:

The head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is located at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on the east side of Logan Circle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built from 1846-1864 and was designed by Napoleon LeBrun – from original plans by Reverends Mariano Muller and John B. Tornatore – with the dome and Palladian facade designed by John Notman and Rev. John T. Mahoney added after 1850. The interior was largely decorated by Constantino Brumidi.

The cathedral is the largest Catholic church in Pennsylvania, and was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1971. In 1979 Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at the cathedral.

For All The Church History visit: http://www.cathedralphila.org/about/about-the-cathedral#history

Take A Quick Tour: