Every North American Catholic can trace his roots to Baltimore.
In 1789, Pope Pius VI chose Baltimore as the site of the first cathedral and Marylander John Carroll as America?s first bishop.
“That meant whatever state you lived in, Baltimore was your diocese and Carroll was your bishop,” said Mark Potter, executive director of the Baltimore Basilica.
The sacred space tells a story of “a minority rising from the shadows to build one of the most beautiful churches in the world,” Potter said.
St. Peter?s of North America, a symbol of religious freedom, is known today as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Archbishop John Carroll commissioned the building in 1806. Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the architect of the Capitol, presented to Carroll neoclassical and Old English Gothic designs for the cathedral. The archbishop chose neoclassical “to let people know Catholics were American as everyone else,” Potter said.
The building?s exterior structure is marked by two Saracenic towers, a Sexton?s lodge, a large portico with fluted columns and porch, and the great dome with 24 skylights.
“Every afternoon through the skylights little rainbows travel up the dome,” said Deborah Holly, a docent for the Basilica.
Internal features include a crypt for the archbishops of Baltimore, 19th century French bells ? the largest weighing 3,500 pounds ? and four paintings from 1865 that were recently unearthed during restorations.
The building underwent a massive restoration from 1999 to November 2006. “[The Basilica] is an awesome space in the truest sense of the word,” said Steve Reilly, the architect for the restoration.
The main dome ? the final manifestation of Latrobe?s work ? “is clearly the most sophisticated dome or for that matter building constructed at that time,” Reilly said. “It?s exemplary of [Latrobe?s] capacity as an engineer and architect.”
Church leaders created the catholic school system, Catholic University, Georgetown and catechism on the Basilica?s grounds. “The cathedral really set the foundation for what we do, how we learn our faith and how we worship,” Holly said. Religious historians believe close to 30 anointed saints or holy souls waiting to be canonized prayed in the Basilica.
“The responses [from visitors] have been so emotional,” Holly said. “It?s a real treat to see how they [the building?s features] have held up over 200 years.”
