Catholic Church in the Thirteen Colonies

The Founding of Maryland (1634) depicts Father Andrew White, a Jesuit missionary (on the left) and colonists meeting the people of the Yaocomico branch of the Piscatawy Indian Nation in St. Mary's City, Maryland, the site of Maryland's first colonial settlement.[1]

The situation of the Catholic Church in the Thirteen Colonies was characterized by an extensive religious persecution originating from Protestant sects, which would barely allow religious toleration to Catholics living on American territory. Nonetheless, Catholics were a part of colonial history from the beginning, especially in Maryland, a colony founded by Catholics, and Rhode Island, a colony founded explicitly for religious toleration. The situation was complicated greatly by the evolving role of the English Crown, which acted as both Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the Head of State of the thirteen colonial governments in almost all periods of colonial rule.

  1. ^ Archaeology, Narrative, and the Politics of the Past: The View from Southern Maryland, p. 52, UPCC book collections on Project MUSE, Julia A. King, Publisher, Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2012, ISBN 9781572338883