Philadelphia’s First Catholic Cathedral
Old St. Mary’s traces its history to 1763, when a second church was needed for the growing number of Catholics in the city. Built on land originally bought to serve as a cemetery for Old St. Joseph’s, Old St. Mary’s was referred to as “Mission Number 1” as St.
Liturgical Music and Peter LaManna
Dr. Peter LaManna was born in Reading, PA on August 15, 1930. He became one of the youngest church organists in Reading when he accepted the position of organist at Saint Anthony’s Lithuanian Catholic Church at age 16. Years later, in 1964, he became director of the Reading Choral Society,
Friendly and Adopted Sons
On St. Patrick’s Day in 1771, a group of Irish immigrants met to form a social group, Members included, Stephen Moylan (later secretary to George Washington), Thomas Fitzsimmons (one of only two Catholics to sign the Constitution), and George Meade (banker and trustee of Old. St. Mary’s).[1] The group was
St. Peter Claver
On March 26, 1889, Archbishop Patrick Ryan wrote to Mother Katharine Drexel to inform her that he had secured a priest to minister to the Black Catholics in Philadelphia.[1] There had been a growing need for a dedicated ministry for some time. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Black Catholics