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History of the Churches
Saints
Peter and Paul Church - 1868
1632
- Calvert Family starts Maryland as an enclave for Catholics.
1640
- Oliver Cromwell's revolt against King Charles I instigates an
overthrow of the Maryland Government and elimination of Maryland's
Act of Religious Toleration. English Penal Laws against Catholics
become law of Maryland for next 150 years.
1649
- Private (home) chapels like "Rich Neck Manor" on Tilghman
Point in Easton Bay (near Claiborne)
1680's
-1690's - Doncaster (or Wye-Town) Chapel located where the
Wye East River meets Eastern Bay. (Colonial town of Doncaster
is now under water). Priests at Doncaster included: Nicholas Gulick,
Francis Pennington, John Matthews, Thomas Barton, William Hunter,
Fr. Plunkett, Fr. Hubbard, John Hall and Robert Brook. Fr. Barton
was arrested in 1693 for saying Mass in Queen Anne County.
1600's
- Era of Henrietta Maria Lloyd was a staunch, outspoken Catholic
and one of the most famous people of colonial Talbot County.
1755
- A boatload of French Catholic Acadians, exiled from Nova Scotia,
was dumped at Oxford - they were harshly treated and eventually
settled in Catholic Louisiana.
1756
- Fr. James Beadnall, S.J. was arrested. One of the indictments
reads for "Officiating Mass" in the homes of David Jones
(Easton Landing) and Thomas Browning (Island Creek Neck); and
though obligated to post bond, the case was dropped.
1764
- Fr. Joseph Mosley, S.J. was assigned to start a new mission;
and on March 18, 1765, Fr. Mosley bought the plot of land from
Parson Miller and his wife, and Sara Millington, which became
Saint Joseph's in Cordova. For the next twenty-two years Fr. Mosley
served Talbot, Queen Anne, Kent, Caroline, and Dorchester counties
in Maryland, and Kent and Sussex counties in Delaware from St.
Joseph.
1830
- Fr. Richard D. Hardey, S.J. wrote of the possibility of starting
a church in Easton.
1840
- Fr. James F.M. Lucas, S.J. rented a hall in Easton and furnished
it for Mass, and in 1842 he started a Catholic Total Temperance
Society.
1840's
- 1850's Fr. George King, S.J. served the area. Born in Laurel,
Delaware, Fr. King was a widower whose son entered the Jesuits.
Many other Jesuits served the area from St. Joseph's. Mention
must be made of Fr. Edward Henchy who served from 1867 -1870 as
a Jesuit and from 1874 -1878 as a diocesan Priest. (Fr. Henchy
is buried at St. Peter's in Queenstown.) August 26, 1868 Fr. Henchy
started the St. Joseph's Jousting Tournament. The first winner
was S. W. Hopkins of Wye Mills.
Early
1860's Baltimore Archbishop John Martin Spalding sent the Redemptorists
from Annapolis to Easton. Fr. William Gross, C.S.S.R. was designated
as first "Pastor." In December 1866 under Redemptorist
direction a church was started in Easton with the help of Howes
Goldsborough (whose name appears on the border of our present
altar) and Col. Henry May - the church was completed in 1868.
1874
- When the Jesuits left St. Joseph's, it became a mission of St.
Peter's in Queenstown until placed under the direction of Saints
Peter and Paul in Easton, under Fr. William Temple in 1898. St.
Joseph's in Cordova is the second oldest Catholic Church on the
Eastern Shore (St. Francis Xavier, Old Bohemia, Warwich was started
in 1704) and is the oldest Catholic Church in continuous use.
Bishop
Thomas A. Becker, first bishop of Wilmington, set up a committee
of Easton residents; Howes Goldsborough, Michael Nichols and Dr.
Pierrre O. Charbonnier - to make arrangements for a resident priest
at Easton and in September of 1878 newly ordained Fr. Edward L.
Brady was appointed as a Pastor. Fr. Brady was the second Pastor
(Redemptorist Fr. Gross later became Bishop of Savannah, Georgia).
1884
- Fr. John D. Carey, Pastor of Easton, started the first regular
church services at Secretary, Maryland at Sherman's Institute.
(St. Elizabeth's at Denton was started in 1831 by priests from
St. Joseph's.)
1888
- 1889 Fr. Francis J. Connelly was Easton Pastor.
1889
- Fr. Edward G. Mickle rebuilt the church in Easton.
1889
- 1893 Fr. George L. Ott served Easton.
1893
- 1897 Fr. Thomas Francis Waldron was Pastor of Easton; he
built the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Secretary, and the
Church of St. Mary, Refuge of Sinners at Cambridge while in Easton.
1898
- 1904 Fr. William G. Temple a great preacher was the Easton
Pastor and enlarged St. Jeseph's in 1903. Fr. Eugene Richard Murphy,
1909-1925, who served Oxford and St. Michaels from Easton, 1905-1909-
succeeded Fr. Charles P. McGoldrick, 1904-1905, and Fr. James
C. Comiskey. Fr. Murphy died at Emergency Hospital, Easton, at
the age of 45 on March 8, 1925.
1925-1936
& 1938-1969 - Easton was served by Rev. Msgr. Joseph H.
Irwin, Pastor for 42 years. During Msgr. Irwin's term Saints Peter
and Paul Elementary and High Schools were started in 1955 and
1958, and the Chapel of St. Michaels in St. Michaels was completed
in 1969 (from 1964 until 1967, Mass was held at St. Michaels Firehouse;
1967-1969, at Christ Episcopal Church in St. Michaels).
During
the two-year break in Msgr. Irwin's pastorate, 1936-1938, Fr.
Leonard A. Regan was Pastor.
Fr.
John J. Farrington succeeded Msgr. Irwin from 1969-1972. From
1972-1985, Fr. Howard T. Clark, former diocesan superintendent
of schools, was Pastor followed by Fr. John J. Kavanaugh, Pastor
from 1985-1987. From October of 1987 to June 1988, Fr. Paul F.
Jennings, Jr. served as administrator of Saints Peter and Paul
and was appointed Pastor in June 1988.
Fr.
Farrington and Fr. Jennings were both Maryland State Police Chaplains.
In
the early 1900s, the elementary school was doubled in size
and a new high school building was erected.
In
1998, property was secured for a new church in Easton.
Groundbreaking for the new church is scheduled for June 2003.
The
present pastor is Fr. Robert E. Coine.
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