St. Ignatius Church is a historic

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

within the

Archdiocese of Baltimore The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore () is the archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in northern and western Maryland in the United States. It is the metropolitan see of the Ecclesiastical Province of Baltimore. The Archd ...

. Established and administered by the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

, the church is dedicated to

Saint Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basques, Basque Spaniard Priesthood in the Catholic Church, Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six compa ...

, the order's founder. It is located at 740 N. Calvert St in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood, north of downtown Baltimore, and is considered the city’s center of history and culture. Saint Ignatius Church Baltimore

History

In 1852, the new Archbishop of Baltimore,

Francis Kenrick Francis Patrick Kenrick (December 3, 1796 or 1797 – July 8, 1863) was an Irish-born Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Philadelphia (1842–1851) and Archbishop of Baltimore (1851–1863). Kenrick grew up in Ireland, where he received ...

, asked the local Jesuit Provincial to open a new college in response to petitions from the newly elected, anti-Catholic

Know Nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Nativism in United States politics, nativist political movem ...

party to ban Catholic teachings from public schools in Maryland. As a result, Loyola College opened its doors in 1852 and moved to its former location on Calvert and Madison streets in 1855. St. Ignatius Church was originally built to accompany the adjoining Loyola College, at 700 N Calvert, prior to the college’s move in 1922 to an Evergreen Campus in North Baltimore.

John Early John Early may refer to: *John Early (educator) (1814–1873), Irish-American Jesuit educator * John Early (politician) (1828–1877), Lieutenant Governor of Illinois *John Early (bishop) (1786–1873), American Methodist prelate *John Early (comed ...

founded and served as the first

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

of the church. The church opened on August 15, 1856 on the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary. On 20 September 1857 the chapel of St

Peter Claver Peter Claver (; 26 June 1580 – 8 September 1654) was a Spanish Jesuit priest and missionary born in Verdú, Spain, who, due to his life and work, became the patron saint of slaves, Colombia, and ministry to African Americans. During the 4 ...

was dedicated, where Masses were provided for the black population. This congregation in 1864 obtained its own parish church,

St. Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

. Major renovations were carried out in 1870, the transparent glass windows replaced with new stained glass. New pews to seat about six hundred people were added. A ceiling painting of the Assumption of Mary by Wilhelm Lamprecht was added. The following year, the newly renovated church was decorated for the public celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of

Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

's election to the papacy; gaslight illuminations were installed for the occasion but could not be used because of adverse weather. In 1968 a series of protests in support of the

Catonsville Nine The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968, they took 378 draft files from the draft board office in Catonsville, Maryland, and burned them in the parking lot. List of th ...

was held at the church. After World War II the church had seen a sharp drop in the number of parishioners as many city residents moved to the suburbs. This led the church to “refashion their mission and ministry” in the 1990s to bring Catholics back to Mt. Vernon. In 1991, the church underwent a $1.7 million renovation to separate the sanctuary from the entrance to give parishioners a place to gather before and after mass. Saint Ignatius Church Stained Glass

Architecture

St. Ignatius Church was built by Louis L. Long, a prominent Baltimore architect, from 1853 to 1856 with the assistance of Henry Hamilton Pittar. The building is in the Italianate style featuring Ionic columns, heavy

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a Cornice (architecture), cornice which helps to support them. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally transl ...

ed cornicing and a broken pediment. The base of the building is rusticated while the rest of the exterior is brick with tall, frosted glass arched windows along with blank brick arches. The top of the church is adorned with a golden cross. The interior of the church is modeled after the mother church of the Jesuits, the

Church of the Gesù The Church of the Gesù (, ), officially named (), is a church located at Piazza del Gesù in the Pigna (rione of Rome), Pigna ''Rioni of Rome, rione'' of Rome, Italy. It is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (best known as Jesuits). Wi ...

in Rome, taking on a similar late Renaissance/Baroque style. It features multicolored ornamental trimmings, Corinthian columns and stained glass windows of 17 different colors added during the 1870 renovation to replace the original frosted glass. Ornate ornamental plasterwork tops Ionic columns originally painted by

Italian immigrants The Italian diaspora (, ) is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There were two major Italian diasporas in Italian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Unification of Italy, and ended in the 1920s ...

. The plaster was restored to hues similar to those used in the mid-to-late 19th century during an extensive restoration of the church in 1999. This renovation, supervised by Michael V Murphy of Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects, cost $1.7 million and took six months. The restoration used a gradient effect on paint colors complementing the stained glass so as to draw the eye up to the ceiling. Saint Ignatius Church Baltimore Ceiling

Featured art

Saint Ignatius church has a free standing altar built by a South Baltimore company featuring hand-carved wood Ionic columns mirroring the external architecture. Behind the main altar, the church features a painting of St. Ignatius' mystical experience outside Rome at La Storta by

Constantino Brumidi Constantino Brumidi (26 July 1805 – 19 February 1880) was a Greek-Italian painter and a Naturalization, naturalized American citizen, best known and honored for his fresco work, ''The Apotheosis of Washington, Apotheosis of Washington'', in the ...

. The church’s ceiling was painted by Wilhelm Lamprecht, a German artist, and depicts the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...

. Two paintings are displayed on the wall of the church opposite the stained glass, both by a Mexican Jesuit priest. The paintings are of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the Patron Saint of Youth, who died of the plague in 1591, and Our Lady of the Way, Madonna della Strata. On each side on the altar, there is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Ignatius. The entrance of the church contains a lifesize crucifix that was removed from the sanctuary after Vatican II. The pipe organ was built and installed by W. B. D. Simmons, a Boston firm, in 1857 and was restored in 1987. In 2010, it underwent of full renovation, rebuild, and restoration by Patrick J. Murphy and Associates. The historic organ was played in recital during the Organ Historical Society Convention in July 2024.The Pipe Organs of Baltimore July 21-25, 2024 OHS 67th Annual Convention. (Villanova: Organ Historical Society, 2024), pg. 94 Saint Ignatius Church Baltimore Alter

Community services

Saint Ignatius Church strives to connect with the community on a spiritual, emotional, and physical level. Members facilitate ministry groups for young adults, young couples, LGBT community members, and interfaith/ecumenical dialogue. In 1991, Saint Ignatius opened a tuition-free middle school for boys in the Baltimore area. Originally, Saint Ignatius Loyola Academy was connected to the church but it moved to Federal Hill in 2011. The church also sponsors a community outreach program called "Elizabeth’s Closet" that collects and distributes maternity clothing to expecting mothers. Saint Ignatius partners with various programs in the Baltimore community to promote peace and justice.

List of pastors

(1852–1858) # William Francis Clarke (1858–1859) # Joseph O'Callaghan (1859–1863) # Anthony F. Ciampi (1863–1866) #

(1866–1870) # Stephen A. Kelly (1870–1877) # Edward A. McGurk (1877–1885) # Francis A. Smith (1885–1891) # John A. Morgan (1891–1900) # William P. Brett (1900–1901) # John F. Quirk (1901–1907) # W. G. Read Mullan (1907–1908) # F. X. Brady (1908–1911) # William J. Ennis (1911–)

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