Mill Hill Fathers Arrive in Baltimore, 1871

On this day in 1871, a group of priests from the English-based Missionary Society of St. Joseph, known as the Mill Hill Fathers, came to Baltimore on a special mission. They were to work toward the evangelization of African-Americans, a big concenr of Church authorities in the years following the Civil War. The Mill Hills were the first group to launch such a project. In the following years, as more Americans joined, they formed a separate community, the Josephites, which continues the same work to this day.