The origins of Washington DC

Father Andrew White S.J., "the Apostle of Maryland", was the first priest to visit this region: in 1639 he established a mission at Kittamaquund, a few miles below Washington, and, with solemn ceremony, baptized the tayac, or "Emperor of Piscataway". He also carried the Gospel still nearer to a Washington. The "Annual Letter" for 1641 mentions that the King of the Anacostans was a most promising candidate for baptism. The tribe from which the Anacostia River (eastern branch) is named, dwelt in the immediate neighbourhood, and on the site of the national capital: so that the history of Catholicism in the District is traced back to the earliest days of Lord Baltimore's Colony. As settlements advanced up the country from lower Maryland a fair proportion of those who acquired land in what is now the District were Catholics. In 1669 "a parcell of land. . .called Rome. . .was layd out of Francis Pope. . .extending to the south of an inlet called Tiber"; this gentleman, "Pope of Rome on the Tiber", was sheriff of Charles County, and, in all probability, a Catholic. The well-known familiesof Carroll, Digges, Queen, and Young were the possessors of extensive landed estates before the American Revolution. There was no church in the region during the early decades of the eighteenth century, as the public exercise of Catholic worship was prohibited by the laws of Maryland: the faithful depended for spiritual aid on the Jesuits from White Marsh, Prince George's County, or St. Thomas' Manor, Charles County. Stations were visited and Mass was celebrated in private houses, a room being set aside for the purpose, the neighbours being invited. An interesting collection of vestments, altar furnishings, chalices etc., relics of those stations and memorials of the old Jesuits missions, is preserved in the museum of Georgetown College. The independence of the United States ensured religious liberty, and new era for the Catholic Faith began in Maryland. Father John Carroll, having returned to America in 1774, resided at Rock Creek, from which he made missionary excursions to all the neighbouring region, including what is now the District. In 1784, he has appointed superior of the American Church, and his consagrations at Lulworth Castle, England, in 1790, to the Sea of Baltimore coincided with the selection of Washington as the seat of government. The District of Columbia has always been included in the Diocese of Baltimore. In 1789 Bishop Carroll had already taken steps for the establishment of Georgetown Collegewhere, on 4 May, 1912, a bronze statue to his memory as founder was erected by the Alumni Association, with imposing ceremonies and addresses by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the rector of the university, the attorney--general representing the president, Cardinal Gibbons, the Ambassador of Austria-Hungary dean of the Diplomatic Corps, and the speaker of the House of Representatives.

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