Peek Inside America’s First Cathedral—The Baltimore Basilica | Catholic Destinations

Anti-Catholic sentiment was widespread in the U.S. when efforts to build the first Roman Catholic cathedral began. Nevertheless, the Baltimore Basilica (formally called The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) was completed in 1821 and quickly became the seat of Catholicism in the U.S. Step inside and find out how this historic basilica came to be and why it continues to thrive today! Quick facts: -In the Archdiocese of Baltimore, home of the Basilica, Mother Mary Lange founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence—the first order of African-American Religious. -Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, was ordained at the Basilica in 1877. -The Basilica hosted the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884, which was the largest meeting of Catholic bishops held outside of Rome since the Council of Trent. From this council came the well-known Baltimore Catechism. Behind-the-scenes fun: The CatholicTV crew filmed another episode of Catholic Destinations at the Baltimore Basilica in 2004, before its full restoration was complete. That was the summer that the 17-year cicadas known as Brood X infested large swaths of the country. Host and producer Kevin Nelson was pleased to report that the crew encountered no cicadas in Baltimore when they came back in 2018 to film this episode. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/31Ceiuu Donate to CatholicTV: https://www.catholictv.org/donate CatholicTV website: http://bit.ly/2KlLFuX Like us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2LWw1tm Follow us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/31eG1lf Follow us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/339rEAf