Philadelphia’s First Bishop
...adelphia. After Egan’s appointment as bishop, Saint Mary’s became the diocesan procathedral (an existing parish church used as a cathedral). Engraving of Old St. Mary, n.d. Michael Egan was named the first bishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia in April 1808, although political conditions in Europe and slow communications from
American Federation of Catholic Societies
...o the constitution of the group declaring that it would not engage in partisan politics nor endorse any candidates.[6] However, some members of the clergy were nervous that this would give rise to anti-Catholic sentiment that the Church had experienced in the mid-1800s. Despite these concerns a number of archbishops
Philadelphia’s First Catholic Cathedral
...races 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. Joseph’s was seen as
Mary Brackett Willcox and Catholicism in the Suburbs
...e growth and struggles of the Catholic Church. One letter from a priest in Texas spoke of the missionary work there, while a letter from 1844 refers to the danger of being Catholic during the Nativist riots in Philadelphia.[13] St. Thomas the Apostle Church When she passed away at the