Corpus Christi Catholic Church - Baltimore MD - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

From their website below:

"The Beginning
On January 1, 1891, Corpus Christi Church was consecrated. The magnificent church building was built for the wealthy community of Bolton Hill, then known as Bolton Depot. Its consecration was a major social and liturgical event that began at 6:30 a.m. and lasted more than 14 hours. Baltimore’s Cardinal James Gibbons presided, along with six bishops from across the country and all the clergy of Baltimore. The carriages of the wealthy wound in long lines up the hill.

Work on the church began in 1885. The parish had been founded in 1880, with the congregation meeting on the top floor of a school building across the street (near where the rectory is now). The rectory, across Lafayette Street, was built in 1894. The church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. This was the first church in the United States to be named Corpus Christi, and it was the first church in Baltimore to be built entirely of granite. Corpus Christi was originally called the Jenkins Memorial Church, and was one of very few “memorial” Catholic churches in the United States dedicated to an individual or family. The Jenkins family was one of Maryland’s oldest families, prominent in business, philanthropy, church affairs, and the arts. The building’s origin began in 1882, when Louisa Carrell Jenkins, a few days before her death, called her five children together and asked them to erect a church in memory of their father, Thomas Courtney Jenkins, who had died the previous Christmas Eve. The children decided to make the church the most magnificent in Baltimore, and to dedicate it to both their parents. Thomas and Louisa are buried in a crypt below the St. Joseph chapel and several of their children are buried below the St. Thomas Aquinas chapel.

The style of the church is decorated Gothic, a style dating back to the 13th century. As with the original Gothic cathedrals of Europe, the ornate decoration is meant to both instruct and inspire. In the case of Corpus Christi, which means “Body of Christ” in Latin, the recurring themes throughout the church are wheat and wine. One can see these themes played out on the marble floor, the mosaics, the stained-glass windows, and the altars. Many of the mosaics and stained glass windows at Corpus Christi are considered some of the finest examples in the world. The Apse, for instance, contains five Florentine mosaics on glass depicting the life of Christ. The only other places where mosaics of this style and quality are found are at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice and at the Vatican. You are welcome to tour the church to learn more about its rich history and its fine works of art."

FIRST - Classification Variable: Item or Event Date of FIRST: 01/01/1891 More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   09/09/2021 Don.Morfe visited it