St. Ignatius Church (Baltimore)

St. Ignatius Church
St. Ignatius Church
	St. Ignatius Church Location in Baltimore
	39°17′55″N76°36′48″W / 39.2985°N 76.6133°W
Location	740 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
Country	United States
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Religious order	Society of Jesus
Website	http://www.st-ignatius.net/
History
Founder(s)	John Early
Consecrated	15 August 1856
Architecture
Years built	1853–1856
Clergy
Priest in charge	James A. Casciotti, S.J.
Assistant priest(s)	William J. Watters, S.J.

Last updated September 03, 2024

St. Ignatius Church is a historic Catholic church in Baltimore, Maryland within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Established and administered by the Society of Jesus, the church is dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the order's founder. It is located at 740 N. Calvert St in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood, north of downtown Baltimore, and is considered the city’s center of history and culture.

History

In 1852, the new Archbishop of Baltimore, Francis Kenrick, asked the local Jesuit Provincial to open a new college in response to petitions from the newly elected, anti-Catholic Know Nothing party to ban Catholic teachings from public schools in Maryland. As a result, Loyola College opened its doors in 1852 and moved to its former location on Calvert and Madison streets in 1855. St. Ignatius Church was originally built to accompany the adjoining Loyola College, at 700 N Calvert, prior to the college’s move in 1922 to an Evergreen Campus in North Baltimore. John Early founded and served as the first pastor of the church.^[1]

The church opened on August 15, 1856 on the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary. On 20 September 1857 the chapel of St Peter Claver was dedicated, where Masses were provided for the black population.^[2] This congregation in 1864 obtained its own parish church, St. Francis Xavier.^[3]

Major renovations were carried out in 1870, the transparent glass windows replaced with new stained glass. New pews to seat about six hundred people were added. A ceiling painting of the Assumption of Mary by Wilhelm Lamprecht was added. The following year, the newly renovated church was decorated for the public celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Pius IX's election to the papacy; gaslight illuminations were installed for the occasion but could not be used because of adverse weather.^[4]

In 1968 a series of protests in support of the Catonsville Nine was held at the church.^[5]

After World War II the church had seen a sharp drop in the number of parishioners as many city residents moved to the suburbs. This led the church to “refashion their mission and ministry” in the 1990s to bring Catholics back to Mt. Vernon. In 1991, the church underwent a $1.7 million renovation to separate the sanctuary from the entrance to give parishioners a place to gather before and after mass.

Architecture

St. Ignatius Church was built by Louis L. Long, a prominent Baltimore architect, from 1853 to 1856 with the assistance of Henry Hamilton Pittar. The building is in the Italianate style featuring Ionic columns, heavy modillioned cornicing and a broken pediment. The base of the building is rusticated while the rest of the exterior is brick with tall, frosted glass arched windows along with blank brick arches. The top of the church is adorned with a golden cross.

The interior of the church is modeled after the mother church of the Jesuits, the Church of the Gesù in Rome, taking on a similar late Renaissance/Baroque style. It features multicolored ornamental trimmings, Corinthian columns and stained glass windows of 17 different colors added during the 1870 renovation to replace the original frosted glass.

Ornate ornamental plasterwork tops Ionic columns originally painted by Italian immigrants. The plaster was restored to hues similar to those used in the mid-to-late 19th century during an extensive restoration of the church in 1999. This renovation, supervised by Michael V Murphy of Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects, cost $1.7 million and took six months.^[6] The restoration used a gradient effect on paint colors complementing the stained glass so as to draw the eye up to the ceiling.

Featured art

Saint Ignatius church has a free standing altar built by a South Baltimore company featuring hand-carved wood Ionic columns mirroring the external architecture. Behind the main altar, the church features a painting of St. Ignatius' mystical experience outside Rome at La Storta by Constantino Brumidi.

The church’s ceiling was painted by Wilhelm Lamprecht, a German artist, and depicts the Assumption of Mary. Two paintings are displayed on the wall of the church opposite the stained glass, both by a Mexican Jesuit priest. The paintings are of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the Patron Saint of Youth, who died of the plague in 1591, and Our Lady of the Way, Madonna della Strata. On each side on the altar, there is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Ignatius.

The entrance of the church contains a lifesize crucifix that was removed from the sanctuary after Vatican II.

The pipe organ was built and installed by W. B. D. Simmons, a Boston firm, in 1857 and was restored in 1987.^[7] In 2010, it underwent of full renovation, rebuild, and restoration by Patrick J. Murphy and Associates. The historic organ was played in recital during the Organ Historical Society Convention in July 2024.^[8]

Community services

Saint Ignatius Church strives to connect with the community on a spiritual, emotional, and physical level. Members facilitate ministry groups for young adults, young couples, LGBT community members, and interfaith/ecumenical dialogue. In 1991, Saint Ignatius opened a tuition-free middle school for boys in the Baltimore area. Originally, Saint Ignatius Loyola Academy was connected to the church but it moved to Federal Hill in 2011. The church also sponsors a community outreach program called "Elizabeth’s Closet" that collects and distributes maternity clothing to expecting mothers. Saint Ignatius partners with various programs in the Baltimore community to promote peace and justice.

List of pastors

John Early (1852–1858)^[9]
William Francis Clarke (1858–1859)^[9]
Joseph O'Callaghan (1859–1863)^[9]
Anthony F. Ciampi (1863–1866)^[9]
John Early (1866–1870)^[9]
Stephen A. Kelly (1870–1877)^[9]
Edward A. McGurk (1877–1885)^[9]
Francis A. Smith (1885–1891)^[9]
John A. Morgan (1891–1900)^[9]
William P. Brett (1900–1901)^[9]
John F. Quirk (1901–1907)^[9]
W. G. Read Mullan (1907–1908)^[9]
F. X. Brady (1908–1911)^[9]
William J. Ennis (1911–)^[9]

Related Research Articles

The Church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a Catholic religious order. Officially named Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù, its façade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture. The church served as a model for innumerable Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in the central Europe and then in the Portuguese colonies. Its paintings in the nave, crossing, and side chapels became models for Jesuit churches throughout Italy and Europe, as well as those of other orders. The Church of the Gesù is located in the Piazza del Gesù in Rome and is one of the great 17th century preaching churches built by Counter-Reformation orders in the Centro Storico.

St Francis Xavier's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Salisbury Street, Everton, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active parish church in the Archdiocese of Liverpool and the Pastoral Area of Liverpool North.

Madonna della Strada is a chapel on the campus of Loyola University Chicago in the neighborhood of Rogers Park, Chicago: it is named after a painting of the Virgin Mary, known as Madonna Della Strada, enshrined at the Church of the Gesù in Rome, the mother church of the Society of Jesus.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist is a Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica near Lafayette Square at 222 East Harris Street, Savannah, Georgia, in the United States. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah.

The Basilica di Sant'Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine is a titular church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to St Apollinare, the first bishop of Ravenna.

John Early was an Irish-American Catholic priest and Jesuit educator who was the president of the College of the Holy Cross and Georgetown University, as well as the founder and first president of Loyola College in Maryland. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United States at the age of nineteen. Upon his arrival, he enrolled at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland and entered the Society of Jesus, completing his education at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church was a historic Roman Catholic church building in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It served as the parish church for St. Joseph's Parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile.

Saint John the Baptist Church is a baroque, Catholic church in the city center of Târgu Mureș, Romania.

The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola is a Catholic parish church located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, administered by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). The parish is under the authority of the Archdiocese of New York, and was established in 1851 as St. Lawrence O'Toole's Church. In 1898, permission to change the patron saint of the parish from St. Lawrence O'Toole to St. Ignatius of Loyola was granted by Rome. The address is 980 Park Avenue, New York City, New York 10028. The church on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 84th Street is part of a Jesuit complex on the block that includes Wallace Hall, the parish hall beneath the church, the rectory at the midblock location on Park Avenue, the grade school of St. Ignatius's School on the north midblock location of 84th Street behind the church and the high school of Loyola School at the northwest corner of Park Avenue and 83rd Street. In addition, another Jesuit high school, Regis High School, occupies the midblock location on the north side of 84th Street. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1980.

The church of Santa Maria Assunta, known as I Gesuiti, is a religious building in Venice, Italy. It is located in the sestiere of Cannaregio, in Campo dei Gesuiti, not far from the Fondamenta Nuove.

The St. Francis Xavier Cathedral is a historic Catholic church in Vincennes, Indiana, under the Diocese of Evansville. Named for Francis Xavier, the 16th-century Jesuit missionary, it is located opposite George Rogers Clark National Historical Park at 205 Church Street, within the Vincennes Historic District.

St Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. It is situated on Regent Road in the centre of the town. It was originally built by the Society of Jesus in the late 1840s and it is now administered by the Diocese of East Anglia. The architect was Joseph John Scoles who also designed the Anglican St Mary's church in the Southtown area of Great Yarmouth and it is a Grade II* listed building.

The Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic church at 46 Grove Street, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by architect Jack Hennessy, junior, and built from 1929 to 1936 by Concrete Construction (QLD) Limited. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 12 July 2005.

Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart, often shortened to Dahlgren Chapel, is a Roman Catholic chapel located in Dahlgren Quadrangle on the main campus of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The chapel was built in 1893, and is located in the historic center of the campus.

The Chiesa del Gesù is a Catholic church located in Alcamo, in the province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy. It is the second largest church in Alcamo, after the basilica di Santa Maria Assunta.

Saint-Louis Church, often referred as Lycée Corneille's Chapel, was a Roman Catholic church in Rouen, Normandy, France. The building was formerly the chapel of the nearby Lycée Corneille. In 2016, it was turned into an auditorium.

The St. Canisius's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in the 9th District of Vienna, Alsergrund.

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Frederick, Maryland, part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Founded in 1763, after the repeal of the British penal laws, as the first Catholic church in Frederick County, the parish occupied two former buildings before the completion of the present Greek Revival church in 1837. At the time of its opening, the church was the largest parish church in the United States and was the first Catholic church to be consecrated in the Diocese of Baltimore. Today, the church remains the tallest building in the city of Frederick.

John Dunning Whitney was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of Georgetown University in 1898. Born in Massachusetts, he joined the United States Navy at the age of 16, where he was introduced to Catholicism by way of a book that accidentally came into his possession and prompted him to become a Catholic. He entered the Society of Jesus and spent the next twenty-five years studying and teaching mathematics at Jesuit institutions around the world, including in Canada, England, Ireland, and around the United States in New York, Maryland, Boston, and Louisiana. He became the vice president of Spring Hill College in Alabama before being appointed the president of Georgetown University.

William Francis Clarke was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who held several senior positions at Jesuit institutions in Maryland and Washington, D.C. Born in Washington, he descended from several early colonial families of Maryland. He was educated at Gonzaga College and its successor institutions during the suppression of the Society of Jesus, followed by Georgetown College. After his entrance into the Jesuit order, he taught for several years at Georgetown, and became the pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Baltimore, where he took uncommon measures to integrate black Catholics and Italian immigrants into parish life.

References

Citations

↑ Ryan 1907 , p. 1
↑ Diane Batts Morrow, Persons of Color and Religious at the Same Time: The Oblate Sisters of Providence, 1828-1860 (University of North Carolina Press, 2002), p. 253.
↑ Harold Mcdougall, Black Baltimore: A New Theory of Community (Temple University Press, 1993), p. 27.
↑ The Grand Demonstration, in Baltimore and Washington D.C., in honor of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Election of Pius IX to the Chair of St. Peter (Baltimore, 1871), pp. 26-27.
↑ Shawn Francis Peters, The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 166-168, 210-213.
↑ Edward Gunts, "Divine intervention at St. Ignatius Church", Baltimore Sun , December 19, 1999.
↑ Lois Zanow and Sally Johnston, Monuments to Heaven: Baltimore's Historic Houses of Worship (2011), p. 43.
↑ The Pipe Organs of Baltimore July 21-25, 2024 OHS 67th Annual Convention. (Villanova: Organ Historical Society, 2024), pg. 94
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 The Catholic Church in the United States of America 1914 , p. 67

Sources

Ryan, John James (1907). Chronicle and sketch of the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Baltimore, 1856-1906. Baltimore, Maryland: A. Hoen & Co. OCLC 2075876 . Retrieved August 8, 2023– via Internet Archive.
The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. Vol. 3. New York: Catholic Editing Company. 1914. Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020– via Google Books.