St. Mary’s Seminary Chapel, Baltimore

The historic chapel of St. Mary’s Seminary & University (est. 1791) was dedicated in 1808 and built on the original campus of the seminary in what is now the Seton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore City. The seminary was established by the Sulpician Fathers, an apostolic society of diocesan priests dedicated to the formation of priests for the Catholic Church, who arrived in this country from France in 1791. The seminary remained at this location for the years 1791-1969. Over its history, the chapel served the seminary and college communities located on the campus, as well as the families in the surrounding neighborhood. It was also home to a special ministry that had been established for Baltimore’s community of French-speaking Haitian refugees over the period, 1796-1833. Members of this community were of European and African descent, free and enslaved. This dataset documents individuals from St. Mary's Centralized that were identified to be enslaved from the Confraternity Membership and Easter Duty lists.