The Catholic faith was first brought to the peninsula that lies between
the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays in the seventeenth century by Jesuit
priests who rode circuit from the Maryland colony, offering Mass and bringing
the sacraments to private homes. As the country grew, so too did the Catholic
community on Delmarva, and many new churches and missions were founded.
From the earliest established church--St. Francis Xavier Mission in Cecil
County, Maryland, founded in 1704--to Salesianum School, the first high
school in Delaware to be racially integrated, from the...