Sacred Heart Church (Bowie, Maryland)
Encyclopedia
Bowie, Maryland
Bowie is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 54,727 at the 2010 census. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County, and the fifth most populous city and third largest city by area in the state of...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
is a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
Church established in 1729.
Historical background
Sacred Heart Church had been better known as White Marsh after the long stretch of sandy loam between the church and the Patuxent RiverPatuxent River
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between...
and marsh. This soil contains a significant amount of mica which can appear in places to be colored sparkling white.
Beginning with the Protestant Revolution in Maryland in 1689, Catholics were prohibited to worship publicly and the Catholic church was not allowed to own land.
The original patent to the "White Marsh" property was granted by the authority of Charles Calvert II
Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore
Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, 3rd Proprietor and 17th Proprietary Governor of Maryland, FRS was a British nobleman and Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland...
in 1722 to James Carroll
Carroll family
The Carroll family of Maryland is a prominent political family in the History of the United States, or, more correctly, a group of distantly related families...
. On February 12, 1728, Carroll bequeathed 2000 acres (8.1 km²) of White Marsh, then known as Carroll's Burgh, to the Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
at St. Thomas Manor
St. Thomas Manor
St. Thomas Manor is a historic home and church complex located near Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. It is a two story, seven-bay, brick structure of Georgian architecture, of Flemish bond construction. Connected to the manor house stands a two-story brick wing that incorporates a former...
in the vicinity of Port Tobacco, Maryland.
During this time, while Catholics could not worship publicly, they could do so privately and were able to build private chapels on privately held land. To facilitate the construction of a church, Carroll left the land to the individual Jesuits. That allowed them to construct the Mission of Saint Francis Borgia
Francis Borgia
Saint Francis Borgia, 4th duke of Gandía, 3rd Father General of the Jesuit Order, Grandee of Spain, was a Spanish Jesuit and third Superior General of the Society of Jesus. He was canonized on 20 June 1670.-Early life:He was born Francesco Borgia de Candia d'Aragon within the Duchy of Gandía,...
on the property, which is considered the founding of Sacred Heart Church. However, the Jesuits did not take up permanent residence at White Marsh until about 1741, when a chapel was constructed.
The chapel and church building
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
in 1876, and a much larger, modern church, built in 1969 to accommodate the growth of Bowie due to the Levitt and Sons
William Levitt
William Jaird Levitt was an American real-estate developer widely credited as the father of modern American suburbia. He came to symbolize the new suburban growth with his use of mass-production techniques to construct large developments of houses selling for under $10,000...
development, "Belair at Bowie", where most of its current congregants live.
General Chapters organizing the Catholic Church in the US
After the American revolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Catholics in the newly created United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
enjoyed freedom to worship
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
. The Jesuit Fathers, led by John Carroll
John Carroll (bishop)
John Carroll, was the first Roman Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United States — serving as the ordinary of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He is also known as the founder of Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the United States, and St...
and five other priests, began a series of meetings at White Marsh beginning on 27 June, 1783 called the General Chapters that organized the Catholic Church in the United States.
They held a second meeting 6 November, 1783, and a third on 11 October, 1784, at the same place, when they formulated the draft of the regulations binding all the clergy of Maryland. It was decided at these meetings every priest was maintained and given thirty pounds a year, and each priest agreed to offer ten Masses for every priest who died there. It was at this same meeting that those assembled voted John Carroll's name to be included in a petition sent to the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
requesting Carroll's appointment to an office that ultimately resulted in Carroll becoming the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.