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BLESSING THE PAREHONERS-His Eminence Lawrence Cardinal Shehan, center, is shown giving his blessing at the recessional at the rededication ceremonies marking 100 years of St. Peter's Catholic Church in Libertytown. On the left is the Rev. Edward T. Sargus,former pastor of St. Peter's and now at St. Stephen’s Church, Bradshaw. On the right is the Rev. Richard C. Mitchell, former assistant pastor erf St. John's Church, Frederick, now at Ressurection erf our Lord parish in Maryland City, Anne Arundel County. (Photo by Cedric Smith)AFTER THE CEREMONIES—The Rev. Herbert R. Jordan, former pastor of St. John's parish in Frederick and now at St. Edward's in Baltimore, Is shown mingling with the guests following the rededication of the 100-year-old St. Peter's Catholic Church in Libertytown. Father Jordan delivered the jubilee sermon at the ceremonies June 21. (Photo by Cedric Smith)St Ji wlt;R slt;St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Libertytown• i _Celebrated The Centennial Of DedicationSt. Peter’s Catholic Church in dbertytown celebrated the een-ennial of the dedication erf the resent church building at an mniversary Mass at 4 p*m. Sun-lay June 21, with his Eminence ^awrence Cardinal Shehan, Archbishop of the Baltimore Dio-:ese as celebrant. Chief con-:elebrants were the Rev. Edward r. Sargus, former pastor of St. Peter's and now at St. Stephen’s ;hureh, Bradshaw, and the Rev. Uchard C, Mitchell, former assistant pastor of St. John’s in Frederick, now at Ressurection rf Our Lord parish, Maryland Dlty in Anne Arundel County. The lev. Herbert R. Jordan, former pastor of St. John's in Frederick, and now pastor of St. Edward's in Baltimore, deliver-sd the jubilee sermon.Following the celebration at the church, dinner was served to the many dignitaries and parishioners and friends at the Libertytown Fire Hall,The origins of St. Peter's parish most likely go back to almost two hundred years ago, around the time of the American Revolution. While no Catholic Church tod been established, the community was served by priests, who might be called missionaries, who went on horseback through . the countryside, saying masses in people’s homes.There is evidence that mass was said in the Coale Mansion in Libertytown, which is stillstanding. There was a priest's room reserved for visiting priests who rode down the road from Frederick.Libertytown itself, first known as “Duke’s Woods,” had been selected as the Frederick County seat in 1739; a later plan set up the boundaries erf the town in 1782 and a year later the town was named Libertytown to honor the “Sons of Liberty,” men of the area who had organized themselves prior to the Revolution in opposition to the British Stamp Act.The first church In the Libertytown parish, near where the* present church stands, was a; stone church that served for over fifty years to the Catholics In the Libertytown area.The tract of land upon which the present church stands was given by Richard Coale, and thechurch building was started. This church was to replace the stone one built 50 years earlier.The new church was dedicated by James Gibbons, a native of Baltimore serving as Bishop of Richmond, Va., and was named in honor erf St. Peter the Apostle. Bishop Gibbons had just returned from the first Vatican Council in Rome where he was one of the youngest bishops present.St. Peter’s was served by the Jesuits of Frederick until 1882 when the first resident pastor was assigned to serve the people of Libertytown, the Rev.J, Henry Conway, who served for three years*There are no available records of those priests erf the Society erf Jesus who had served the pastoral needs, of the parishon-ers from the opening of the original stone church in 1821 until Father Conway's appointment. Their work must have been deeply appreciated since itinfluenced so greatly the religious background of many ancestors of today’s parishoners.in 1885 Father EugeneS. Gwynn became the pastor and built the parish rectory through the generous donation of Miss SallieSappington.Father William H. Ironsides Reany replaced Father Gwynn and though he only served three years, left perhaps the deepest impression of being a most remarkable person. Stories are told of Father Reany competing in the annual jousting tournaments and it was said he was such an expert rider, he could lean from the horses back while the horse was at a full gallop, and pick a handkerchief from the ground. It was during his pastorate that the school, Notre Dame Academy, was begun, here again through the generosity of Miss Sallie Sappington. hi the cemetery, Father Reany built a small grotto to the “tombless dead.” Shortly before he left to assume a chaplaincy in the Navy in 1892* he had begun several projects for the welfare of the Negroes in the area.The next four pastors served short periods of time but in 1992 the Rev. Samuel J. Kav-anagh began a pastorate that was to last all his priestly life. He served the longest period of time in the parish and was the onlypastor to die here* He had many improvements done to the parish including the installation of a marble altar and stained glass windows. He also used the stones from the original church to build the foundation of the parish hall. He had erected at the gates to the cemetery a Calvary statuary group in memory of the passengers of the ill-fated Titanic. In 1914 he built on a hill overlooking the cemetery, a replica of the Lourdes grotto. Another memorial he had dedicated was to the only parishioner killed during WW I.The pastors since Father Kav-anaugh were the Revs. Martin McNulty, Philip Farrell, John L. Collins, Thomas Haggerty, Michael W. Hyle, Stephen Chy-linski, John Mountain, Edward T. Sargus, Martin W. Flahaven, and and the present pastor, the Rev. Francis Morrison.The past century has brought about many changes to the world but the strong faith of the Libertytown parish of St. Peter's church is far from changed as they have the same faith and strong will as did their forefathers over 100years ago,
Newspaper Details
News
Frederick, Maryland, US
Sat, Jun 27, 1970
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Frederick C.
MD, USA 19 Aug 2022
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