St. Francis Xavier Church (Warwick, Maryland)

St. Francis Xavier Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of Maryland Show map of the US
Location	1445 Bohemia Church Road, Warwick, Maryland
Coordinates	39°26′16″N 75°48′12″W / 39.43778°N 75.80333°W / 39.43778; -75.80333Coordinates: 39°26′16″N 75°48′12″W / 39.43778°N 75.80333°W / 39.43778; -75.80333
Area	123.8 acres (50.1 ha)
Built	1792 (1792)
NRHP Reference #	75000884[1]
Added to NRHP	October 10, 1975

St. Francis Xavier Church, or Old Bohemia, is a historic Roman Catholic church located at Warwick, Cecil County, Maryland, United States.

History

Beginning in 1704 the Society of Jesus bought a farm and initiated missionary activities on the site, thereby establishing a second mission in Maryland half a century after the foundation of the Newtown Manor mission in St. Mary's County, Maryland.^[2]

A school here taught many distinguished early American Catholic leaders, including future archbishop John Carroll and his cousin, founding father Charles Carroll. Priests assigned to this mission evangelized in the Delmarva Peninsula, including the modern Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Diocese of Wilmington. Perhaps the most famous grave in the graveyard is of Catherine ("Kitty") Knight (1775-1855), credited for saving an elderly neighbor, a church and much of Georgetown, Maryland during the War of 1812, although her own house burned to the ground.^[3]

Structure

The most historic properties on the site are a brick church, constructed shortly after the American Revolutionary War and dedicated in 1797, and an early-19th-century brick rectory connected by a one-story hyphen. The church consists of a four-bay-deep by three-bay-wide brick structure, with a 3-story brick tower added on the southwest facade of the church subsequent to its original building in 1792. The rectory is a five-bay-long,  2 ¹⁄₂-story brick building with a two-bay-long hyphen on one end and a two-bay-long kitchen on the other. Also on the property is a public graveyard, as well as a relatively modern barn and farmhouse. A fire gutted the church's interior in 1912, but the church was rebuilt within the old walls. Regular services discontinued in the 1920s, but resumed in modern times. The Old Bohemia Historical Society, begun by a Catholic, a Quaker and a Methodist in 1954, bought the property's core 120 acres and now maintains the site.^[4][5]

The St. Francis Xavier Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.^[1]

See also

Joseph C. Cann, History of Saint Francis Xavier Church and Bohemia Plantation, Now Known as Old Bohemia, Warwick, Maryland (Old Bohemia Historical Society, 1976)

Mary DeVine Dunn, Lillian DeVine, St. Francis Xavier Church, Warwick, Maryland, "Old Bohemia": Its History, the Burial Register : Historical Notes (DeWitt Publishing, 1966)

References

• Bohemia 1704–2004: A History of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Shrine in Cecil County, Maryland. By Thomas J. Peterman. (The Bohemian Historical Society, Devon, Pennsylvania: William T. Cooke Publishing Co. 2004).

External links

• St. Francis Xavier Church and Rectory, Cecil County, including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust
• History of St. Francis Xavier Shrine, Old Bohemia, 1704–2004, by Rev. Thomas J. Peterman; St. Dennis Church website
• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. MD-241, "St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, Warwick & Church Roads, Warwick, Cecil County, MD", 12 photos, 7 measured drawings, 4 data pages

Diocese of Wilmington
Bishops	Thomas Albert Andrew Becker Alfred Allen Paul Curtis John James Joseph Monaghan Edmond John Fitzmaurice Michael William Hyle Thomas Mardaga Robert Edward Mulvee Michael Angelo Saltarelli William Francis Malooly
Coadjutor bishop	Hubert James Cartwright
Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of St. Peter Parishes St. Joseph's Church, Greenville, DE St. John the Baptist Church, Newark, DE St. Joseph's Church, Middletown, DE St. Peter's Church, Queenstown, MD St. Francis Xavier Church, Warwick, MD Resurrection Church, Wilmington, DE St. Anthony's Church, Wilmington, DE St. Catherine of Siena Church, Wilmington, DE St. Hedwig's Church, Wilmington, DE St. Joseph's Church, Wilmington, DE St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church, Wilmington, DE St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Wilmington, DE
Education	High Schools Archmere Academy, Claymont, DE Padua Academy, Wilmington, DE Saints Peter and Paul High School, Easton, MD St. Elizabeth High School, Wilmington, DE St. Mark's High School, Wilmington, DE St. Thomas More Preparatory, Magnolia, DE Salesianum School, Wilmington, DE Ursuline Academy, Wilmington, DE Primary Schools Mount Aviat Academy, Childs, MD St. Edmond's Academy, Wilmington, DE Former College St. Mary's College
Priests	John Barres Benjamin Joseph Keiley
Catholicism portal

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Allegany Anne Arundel Baltimore County Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Harford Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George's Queen Anne's Somerset St. Mary's Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester
Lists by city	Baltimore: (Central North and Northwest West and Southwest East and Northeast South and Southeast)
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Portal:National Register of Historic Places