Basilica of the Assumption of Mary Our Queen

Maryland Historical Society

The original Roman Catholic Cathedral (or bishop's church) of Baltimore on the 400 block of Cathedral Street, Baltimore, was raised by Pope Pius XI to the dignity of a minor basilica (an honorary papal church) in 1937. It was named for the feast day on which John Carroll was consecrated bishop in 1790.

When Pope Pius VI appointed John Carroll, a cousin of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, first Bishop of Baltimore, he gave Carroll the task of building a cathedral to replace St. Peter's Chapel, the first Catholic church in Baltimore. This was a house-church built in 1770 to circumvent anti-Catholic, colonial restrictions.

Interior of the Basilica

Maryland Historical Society

Carroll asked an amateur architect, William Thornton, to submit a design. When Thornton offered a Gothic plan, Carroll had Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Sr., the first professional architect in the U.S., review the proposal. Though the bishop preferred the Gothic drawing, Latrobe took time out from his work on the national capitol to persuade Carroll to accept a classical design. He felt it better reflected the freedom and openness of the new republic in which it would stand. He even offered his professional services gratis. Ultimately, Latrobe worked through seven sets of plans.

Carroll laid the cornerstone in 1806, but wars, embargoes, and chronic shortages of funds delayed the opening until 1821 when the third Archbishop, Ambrose Marechal, dedicated the structure. Even so, the portico and other features came to completion only in the 1840s and beyond. In 1876, when the debt was paid off, Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley solemnly consecrated the cathedral.

During the nineteenth century the Baltimore cathedral hosted seven provincial councils, ones in the period when Baltimore was the only U.S. archdiocese, and three plenary, or national, councils in 1852, 1866, and 1884 (that, among other decisions, produced the famous Baltimore Catechism). The cathedral also served as the site for a number of memorable occasions: the consecration of many earlier bishops, the centenary of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy in 1889, the recognition of Archbishop James Gibbons as Baltimore's first Cardinal, and even the 1989 bicentennial of the American hierarchy.

Archbishop Carroll

Maryland Historical Society

Over nearly two centuries the Basilica has undergone many renovations. It has been said that each archbishop in preparation for a council tried to renew the appearance of the church. Cardinal Gibbons enlarged the sanctuary area and put in etched glass windows that darkened with age. His successor, Archbishop Michael Curley, in 1946 gave the interior a new brightness, but his stained glass windows tended to counteract the light. Now in preparation for its 200th anniversary, Cardinal William Keeler is in the midst of a major renovation to bring back the lightness and openness of Latrobe's original design.

When the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on North Charles Street was consecrated in the autumn of 1959, the Basilica of the Assumption became the co-cathedral of the Archbishop of Baltimore. In 1972 it was declared a National Historic Landmark, and in 1993 the National Conference of Catholic Bishops officially declared it a National Shrine.

Hanley, Thomas I., S.J., ed. The John Carroll papers (3 vols.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1976.

[Riordan, Michael]. Cathedral Records from the Beginning of Catholicity in Baltimore to the Present. Baltimore: The Catholic Mirror, 1906.

Spalding , Thomas W., C.F.X. John Carroll Recovered. Baltimore: Cathedral Foundation Press, 2000.

_____. The Premier See: A History of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.