BNHA Mother Seton House
Affiliations
Authentic Baltimore
Baltimore City Landmark
National Register of Historic Places
Interpretive Framework
Gaining Freedom for All: African American Heritage and the Struggle for Equality
Seeking Prosperity on the Chesapeake: Baltimore History from Colonial Times through the 1800s
Resource Type
Points of Interest
600 N Paca St
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
The strength of Old West Baltimore’s community-based fabric springs from the practice of faith. In 1791, at the invitation of Bishop John Carroll — the first American bishop — Sulpician priests came to Baltimore from France to found Saint Mary’s Seminary, the nation’s first Catholic seminary.
The seminary site is closely associated Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born American saint. She took her vows in Saint Mary’s Seminary Chapel on March 25, 1809. The chapel is adjacent to the Mother Seton House where she lived while in Baltimore. The two-and-a-half story red brick house is typical of other small homes built in the early 1800s for the predominately French community nearby. After Mother Seton’s departure from Baltimore, the building was used as a work house.
The chapel and Mother Seton House are now part of the campus of the Saint Mary’s Spiritual Center.