BALTIMORE, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – The metropolitan see of the United States of America, it was for the country almost the cradle of Catholicism and the center of ecclesiastical organization. For this reason, the Holy See granted it in 1858 preeminence over all other archdioceses in the North American republic. At present, its territory extends over 4,801 sq. km., with a Catholic population of 265,394 out of a total of 1,409,694. It has 116 parishes, 254 diocesan priests, and 327 religious.
Under the colonial regime (1634–1776), the Catholics of the English possessions in America first depended on English archpriests, then on 6 November 1665 passed under the jurisdiction of the Vicar Apostolic of London, represented by a vicar general. After the American colonies were constituted into an independent federal republic from England (4 July 1776), the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda dealt with establishing the ecclesiastical hierarchy in the United States, until on 6 November 1789, accepting the wishes of the country’s clergy, Pius VI erected Baltimore into a diocese immediately subject to the Holy See, naming as its first bishop the minister John Carroll, a personal friend of Franklin.
At that time, the diocese included not only Maryland and the District of Columbia but all the federal states of the American republic and also the territories that were not yet constituted as states. Thus, following the annexation of Louisiana to the United States (30 April 1803), the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas passed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Baltimore.
Baltassar – The Banquet of B. by Mattia Preti (17th cent.) – Naples, National Museum.
On 8 April 1808, Pius VII, by the brief *Pontificii muneris*, elevated Baltimore to a metropolitan see, assigning it as suffragans the four new dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville, Kentucky). Other divisions followed, but the most important occurred with the separation from Baltimore of the city of Washington and the District of Columbia, which formed the immediately subject archdiocese of Washington (constitution *Supremae*, 22 July 1939), initially united with that of Baltimore, then separated on 15 November 1947 by the apostolic constitution *Universi Dominici gregis* (AAS, 40 [1948], p. 100).
Baltimore remained the only metropolitan see of the American republic until the erection of St. Louis as an archdiocese (20 July 1847). Subsequently, Baltimore saw the birth of 19 other ecclesiastical provinces and currently has as suffragans the dioceses of Charleston, Raleigh, Richmond, St. Augustine, Savannah, Atlanta, Wheeling, and Wilmington.
The American Church owes much of its development, its current organization, and legislation to the bishops (especially the first two) and to the Councils of Baltimore. The first diocesan synod took place in 1791. In 1829, the series of provincial councils began, held almost every three years until 1869. There were 10 in total, but only the first 7 are considered plenary (1829–49), since the first Plenary Council, held in 1852, recognized them as such. The second Plenary Council was held in 1866, the third and last in 1884, under the presidency of the celebrated Archbishop Gibbons. – See Plate XLIX.