Maryland History Lecture Series

History of St. Mary’s Church in Annapolis during the Civil War

Robert Worden’s forthcoming book, Soldiers of the Cross: Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos and the Catholic Community in Annapolis during the Civil War, goes into great detail about the impact of the war on Annapolis and specifically on the priests, brothers, seminarians, and parishioners of St. Mary’s Church. In this talk, he will present “untold stories” about some heretofore-obscure members of the Catholic community, including both free and enslaved African Americans, European immigrants, and long-time residents. Dr. Worden is the long-time archivist and historian of St. Mary’s Parish.

For more than 35 years, The Maryland History Lecture series at St. John’s College has presented a wide variety of topics on Maryland subjects and events. Sponsored by the Anne Arundel County Trust for Preservation the lectures are free and open to the public and held in the Francis Scott Key Auditorium.

From 1999 to 2017, Willard Royal Mumford, as director of the Anne Arundel County Trust for Preservation, stewarded these lectures with great enthusiasm, bringing to the St. John’s campus engaging storytellers and important authors, historians and politicians. This year, we honor the late Will Mumford with three topics he found interesting: Annapolis during the Civil War, African American history in Anne Arundel County, and the Chesapeake Bay.