Category Archives: Baltimore

July 23, 2014 · 9:14 am

New acquisition and two special visitors

Bryan and Anna Russell examine the architect's drawing of the Villa St. Michael Baltimore with Provincial Archivist Dee Gallo

Bryan and Anna Russell examine the architect’s drawing of the Villa St. Michael in Baltimore with Provincial Archivist Dee Gallo (used with permission of the Lynch and Russell families and the Daughers of Charity Provincial Archives)

The Provincial Archives had two very special visitors yesterday: Bryan and Anna Russell, the great grandchildren of William J. Lynch, Jr., a Construction Consultant for many of the building projects that housed the work of the Daughters of Charity across the United States. Bryan and Anna brought with them the architects’ drawing of the former Villa Saint Michael in Baltimore, a retirement facility for senior sisters until 1972 when that ministry was transferred to the current Villa Saint Michael here on the campus in Emmitsburg. Together with Provincial Archivist Dee Gallo, Bryan and Anna carefully studied the details of the drawing; of special interest were the cars and the trees! The Provincial Archives thanks the Lynch family for their generous donation of the rendering. Archives will put it to good use as we continue to document the legacy of the Daughters of Charity in the United States.

Another view of the architect's rendering of the Villa St. Michael in Baltimore (used with permission of Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives)

Another view of the architect’s rendering of the Villa St. Michael in Baltimore (used with permission of Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives)

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Filed under Baltimore, Emmitsburg, Health Care, Ministries

October 1, 2013 · 11:19 am

Ministries – Baltimore Infirmary, 1823

(Passage from the Provincial Annals of 1823 used with permission of the Daughters of Charity Archives)

On this first day of October we recall the first group of Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s who began the work of the Baltimore Infirmary in October of 1823. The Provincial Annals for that year recorded the beginning of the mission:

“In October of 1823, the Professors of the Medical Infirmary, Baltimore, offered the charge of this Institution to our Sisters. This was our first mission to take care of the sick. Sister Joanna Smith was appointed Sister Servant and as her companions, Sisters Ann Gruber, Adele Salva and three, not yet professed, namely Sisters Ambrosia Magner, Appolonia Graver and Veronica Gouch. As may be supposed our dear Sisters labored under many trials and difficulties. Everything was new to them, the Infirmary, at that time, and indeed for years, was small and inconvenient. But what cannot the love of God achieve, when it burns in the heart, as it did in these dear Sisters? And the consolation they experienced was so great, that these hardships were esteemed as pleasures.”

The Sisters served at the Baltimore Infirmary until 1876.

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July 30, 2013 · 7:41 pm

Daughters of Charity and Baltimore

Paca Street House

Mother Seton House on Paca Street in Baltimore


(Image of Paca Street house used with permission of the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives)

Today marks the 284th birthday of the city of Baltimore, founded on July 30, 1729.

In June of 1808, Elizabeth Ann Seton and her three daughters came to Baltimore from New York City to establish a boarding school for girls. The house in which they lived, located on Paca Street, can be seen today as part of St. Mary’s Spiritual Center and Historic Site.

During her year in Baltimore, Mother Seton made her decision to take religious vows, making her first profession of vows on March 25, 1809, the Feast of the Annunciation. On June 22, 1809, Mother Seton and four young women who took vows as postulants that Spring, left Baltimore for Emmitsburg, where Mother Seton founded a permanent school for girls.

Members of Mother Seton’s community, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, returned to Baltimore in 1821 to start St. Mary’s Free School and Asylum, the first of many ministries in Baltimore sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, and later, the Daughters of Charity.

Today the Daughters of Charity’s ties to Baltimore remain strong. Current ministries in Baltimore include St. Agnes Hospital, St. Elizabeth Rehabilitation Nursing Center and Caroline Center.

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Filed under Baltimore, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Paca Street