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Baltimore County:
Historical Reflections and Favorite Scenes
Churches & Cemetaries
Baltimore County has such an abundance of beautiful churches that a little book like this can never do justice to them all. Factors affecting selection include my own Episcopal upbringing, esthetic and historical considerations, and pure serendipity. First, let's look at the background.
The history of religion in Maryland is one of both conflict and accommodation. The lords proprietary of the province came from a Catholic family. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, was born around 1587, in Good Queen Bess's time. In those days, Englishmen still shuddered at the memory of religious persecution under Bloody Mary. The attempted invasion of England by the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the famous cruelty of the Spanish Inquisition strengthened the association of Catholicism with foreign tyranny. In this climate, the Calverts found it prudent to represent themselves as Protestants to avoid persecution and to position their son to advance up the social ladder. The strategy succeeded. Young George went to the right schools and ingratiated himself with the right people. He also worked hard. By the time he was in his late 30's, he was clerk of the Privy Council-- the king's inner circle-- and protégé of the powerful Lord Cecil, earl of Salisbury. Knighted by James I in 1617, he continued in the king's favor and succeeded Lord Cecil as secretary of state in 1619. All the while, George Calvert was in heart and conscience a Roman Catholic.
When James I died in 1625, George Calvert made a bold move. Knowing that the new king, Charles I, was disposed to be harsher with Catholics, but also trusting that his long service deserved reward, Calvert made a public confession of his Catholic faith and resigned as secretary of state. The king was generous, making Calvert the baron of Baltimore, with a large manor in Ireland. He also awarded him two successive grants of land in the New World. The first, located in Newfoundland and romantically named Avalon, looked good in summer but proved to be an uninhabitable frozen wasteland in winter. Calvert and his colonists barely escaped with their lives. Not shy about asking for royal favors, Calvert requested something better. The second grant, the colony of Maryland, came on June 20, 1632, two months too late to be of any use to him. Weakened by the cold winter in Avalon and still grieving his wife's death by shipwreck, the first Lord Baltimore died April 15, 1632.
George's son Cecil, named after Lord Cecil, inherited all his father's holdings, including the newly chartered Maryland colony. A canny courtier and a skillful planner, he sent his brother Leonard with the first group of settlers in two tiny ships, the Ark and the Dove. But Cecil already had an adversary in Maryland. William Claiborne had set up a trading post on Kent Island and saw the new proprietor as a threat. With other influential Virginians, Claiborne wrote to the Privy Council to argue against the Calverts' charter. The core of their argument was that Lord Baltimore was a papist who would ally himself with the dreaded Spaniards to take over the English colonies. Even as his ships sailed out to confront contrary winds at the mouth of the Thames, Cecil Calvert knew that he would have to stay close to the center of power in London if he wanted to hold onto his lands. It was his destiny never to set foot in Maryland. But two Jesuit priests quietly stole aboard at the Isle of Wight, to carry his faith to America...