Before 1851


	[Saint George] [History] [Before 1851]


	Updated August 4, 2004

(from the 1959 Dedication of St. George Church, October 10, 1959 by Rev. James A. McEnerney, S,J,)

The St. George Story

“And a great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon at her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.”

This was the vision recorded by St. John the Apostle in the Apocalypse. The woman is the Church, who is our spiritual mother. The sun is Christ, and the moon is the changeable things of the world. The stars represent the Apostles.

In reading the history of the Church, there are times when the glory of St. John’s vision is dimmed by the harsh facts of history. There are times, too, when the glory fades before the wonder of the reality revealed in the life of the Church.

Not being a visionary, the author is beset with the problem of portraying in a short space the vitality and the glory of the Faith as it has been lived for more than 100 years in the parish. It is no small task, and the author is aware that, at best, the reader will get only a general view of the whole, together with a glimpse into selected parts.

The life of the parish has reflected the great changes in the economic life of the nation. For example, it is difficult for one living in 1959 to understand the full meaning of the answer given Father John Scully in 1904 when asked one of his parishioners, “How much are you paid for a day of work?” The man answered, “Fifty cents a day, and you eats me, or $1 a day and I eats myself.” It is doubly difficult to understand, for the use of the word “eat” meaning “feed” has passed from the language. And mark this well: that 50 cents supported a man and his family for a day!

Viewing the whole panorama of the life of the parish, there is evidence of tremendous change, in customs, in travel, in finances, in the use of language, in the social life, and in the sphere of recreation. And yet the Catholic does not think it is unusual, when reading over the record, to find that the spiritual life of the parish followed the same pattern in 1851 as in 1951 and no doubt will do the same in 2051. While an outsider might consider this evidence of lack of progress, we of the Faith expect to find the same Mass, whether celebrated in an old manor house or in a modern air-conditioned church. The truths of the Faith preached by the priest who arrived on horseback after traveling a muddy road in the middle of the 19th century are the same as those preached by the priest who arrives after a drive over a modern macadam highway.

The beginnings of our parish can be said to date from the arrival of the Ark and the Dove in 1634. This is also true of every Catholic parish in the United States, except for those in the Deep South and the Far West. Our claim to antiquity comes from the fact that the Faith was given to us in direct line from Father Andrew White, S.J., and his courageous successors in the old Maryland Mission.

Less than a month after he led the pilgrims in prayers of gratitude for a safe voyage to a land of religious freedom, Father White sat in one of the larger Indian huts which had been vacated by the Yaccomoco chieftain and wrote, “You might call this the first chapel in Maryland, although its fittings are barely an improvement on what the house been as an Indian dwelling.”

That was the beginning of St. Ignatius Church in what is now St. Mary’s City. The primitive Indian hut-chapel was replaced by a brick church in 1636, on the same site. By 1704, however, it was a crime to say Mass, and priests were haled into court and imprisoned.

An Act had been passed in the Maryland Assembly to “prevent the growth of Popery and Prelacy,” and it was decided that the “use of the Popish chapel of the City of St. Mary’s ... is both scandalous and offensive to the government.” When Governor Seymour ordered the sheriff to lock the chapel, the Catholics of the area proceeded to take it apart, brick by brick and board by board, and transport the materials and equipment by barge to a site five miles to the south. There, in 1705, the people of the parish built a Manor House in which they could worship without interference. It was called St. Inigoes Manor, from the Spanish form of the name of Ignatius of Loyola, and it stood on land which had been given to Father White and his companions by Lord Baltimore.

In 1745, St. Inigoes Chapel was built in the field behind the Manor. It was a small brick structure that would scarcely hold 100 people. In 1785, Father Walton (a relative of John Walton, who designed and supervised the building of the new St. George) built the present St. Ignatius Church a mile from the old chapel, at the head of the Church Cove on St. Inigoes Creek. In 1942, when the Navy established the Patuxent Naval Air Station, the original chapel was demolished and its foundation sealed under the concrete air-strip at Webster Air Field.

It was due to the zeal of Father Joseph Carbery that the Faith was planted in Valley Lee. He was Superior of the Jesuits who worked from the Mission Center at St. Inigoes Manor from 1816 to 1849.

Father Carbery was born in Britton’s Neck on May 3, 1784. His brother was Capt. Thomas Carbery, Mayor of Washington, a gentleman who “was counted very wealthy for the period and princely in charitable donations.”

During his time as Superior, Father Carbery not only began the extensive renovations needed at St. Inigoes, but began to build suitable homes for the tenants on St. George Island and on the neighboring farms held by the Jesuits. He made so many converts that the area became known as “Father Carbery’s convert parish.” A tall marble monument honoring him still stands in the “Priest’s Plot” at St. Inigoes.

A description of the work done by a priest in the early period of Father Carbery’s pastorate tells of the hardships endured by both clergy and the people. This excerpt is from the 1829 records of St. Inigoes:

“Plan was to celebrate the last Mass at 11 o’clock and to preach once or twice each day, and to hear as many confessions as possible, even after all the other services, either in the church or at private houses where we stay overnight. The churches of St. Mary’s County, in general, are in open fields or surrounded by woods, without house or shelter of any kind close by. In the greater number of our churches, there are no benches, nor scarcely any chairs. The greater part, and sometimes all of those present are obliged to stand or kneel during the Mass and the sermon, that is to say, for a couple of hours at least, independent of the time they spend in church before and after services, and that, too, in the depth of winter in church exposed to the winds. The confessionals are just an angle in a corner of a church, screened off with counterpanes hung around. The penitent kneels upon the floor. Both priest and people are exposed to cold, which is at times quite sharp in a poorly heated church.”

During this time, religious life was manorial as well as parochial. The priest would come to the manor house for Mass. Often, he came in the evening, on horseback, with his equipment in a pack behind his saddle; or he might drive a buggy, if the roads permitted. Next morning, the head of the house would go into the fields on horseback and rouse the neighborhood, while the lady of the house would make the preparation. The best drapes would be hung around the table, where the Holy Sacrifice was to be celebrated. Sometimes, it was necessary to hear confessions in the kitchen.

After the Mass, there were baptisms and marriages to be performed, and the usual Sunday social events. The lady of the house was assisted by chosen young women in teaching the Catechism to the children.

On the map of John Smith, made in 1608 of Virginia and Maryland, the Valley Lee area was shown under the command of Powhatan, the Indian chief of Virginia. It was called “Monanauk.”

Valley Lee was named by Jeff Loker, who owned the land where the Post Office was opened on July 2, 1879. He called it “Lee” in honor of Gen. Robert E. Lee. The “Valley” of course, was suggestive of its situation.