Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal

Today marks the death of Ambrose Maréchal (1768-1828), third Archbishop of Baltimore. Born in France, he joined the Sulpicians, a community of priests dedicated to seminary work. Ordained in Paris at the height of the French Revolution, he went to America, where he joined the faculty of St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. Founded in 1791, St. Mary’s is the oldest seminary in the United States. He also taught at Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. In 1803 he was recalled to France, where he spent nine years teaching. When he returned to the United States, he resumed his teaching duties at St. Mary’s. He was later ordained a coadjutor bishop to Leonard Neale, Baltimore’ second Archbishop. When Neale died in 1817, Maréchal succeeded him. One of the biggest problems he faced as archbishop was trusteeism. In places where there were no priests, lay trustees established and controlled the temporal goods of churches. As time went on and more priests arrived, they were often loath to relinquish control. Maréchal had to deal with schisms that rose from these conflicts. An efficient administrator and a supporter of the American experiment, he died in Baltimore in 1828.