The Maryland Tradition in American Catholicism

Maryland was the birthplace of Catholicism in the English colonies. On this day in 1634, some two hundred or so people landed at St. Clement’s Island to form the new colony of Maryland. Actually, it was a proprietorship belonging to the Calvert family. The majority of the new settlers were Catholic, and the colony’s leadership would be Catholic for many years to come. But Maryland wasn’t founded to be an exclusively Catholic enclave. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, (seen here) envisioned a community where Catholics and Protestants could live together in peace. Out of this vision came what historians call the Maryland tradition in American Catholicism, a tradition that stressed interfaith harmony, public service, and an attachment to such American principles as religious liberty and separation of Church and State. In 1649 Maryland passed an “Act of Toleration,” which legislated religious tolerance for all (Christian) denomination. It was the first law of its kind passed in the English colonies.