Richard Coale, Sr., a Catholic living in Liberty and in possession of considerable means, earmarked a portion of his land for a church, in or about 1821.  Over the next two years, he constructed the original stone building, which would be consecrated in September 1823. Jesuit records reflect that the building of St. Peter’s 1st church was initially overseen by the Jesuit pastor of Frederick, Fr. Francis Maleve.  When Fr. Maleve died in October 1822, his successor, Fr. John McElroy, S.J. stepped in to oversee the completion of Liberty’s Catholic church, writing the following after visiting Liberty on November 12 and 13, 1822:   “Went to Liberty town for the first time, lodged with Mr Cole a respectable and wealthy Cath: gentleman who has built a neat stone church at his own expense this last summer & intends finishing it next season. Said Mass in Mr Cole’s house & had 15 commts [communicants].  Gave an Exhortation & returned same day” [1] .  Like all construction projects, l

Richard Coale, the original benefactor of St. Peter’s, was born in 1760, in northeastern Anne Arundel County (now Columbia, Maryland in Howard County), the son of a third generation William Coale. In 1783 John Young, the owner of a 633 acres of land known as “Duke’s Woods” renamed the land “Liberty Town”, some say due to the fervor that followed the Revolutionary War victory, and then laid out the town into 246 lots for sale.  Richard, who had recently settled in Liberty, purchased one such lot on the corner of Main and Walnut streets, building a house soon after, which would become known as “Coale Mansion”. Local histories relate that Mr. Coale befriended Mr. Young, who had no family, and as a result, Mr. Young transferred much of his land holdings to Richard Coale, which included large portions of Liberty Town.  St. Peter’s would be a become a beneficiary of a portion of this land in the years which followed. Richard Coale married Catharine (“Kitty”) McSherry of McSherrystown Pennsyl

In the late 1890’s Fr. William H. “Ironsides” Reaney, pastor of St. Peter’s, approached Sallie Sappington, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Coale Sappington and granddaughter of Richard Coale who built the 1 st  St. Peters, about building a school.    Sallie agreed to donate the land – 7 acres, and with her brother Dr. Sidney Sappington and their nephew, James M. Sappington of G., they covered the cost of the construction of the combined school and convent building.      In May 1893 Frederick paper,   The Daily News , reported that Fr. Reaney returned to Liberty (he had been re-assigned to a post in the US Navy by this time) and “ …   on Ascension Day had the happy pleasure of celebrating the first mass that has been said in the chapel of the academy.  Master Sidney Trundle served at the mass .” The school was staffed by the Baltimore based School Sisters of Notre Dame, who opened the doors of their academy to 17 students on September 12, 1892, across the road from St. Peter’s church.  Tui

 In 1649, the Maryland General Assembly had the distinction of being the first colony in the New World to pass the Toleration Act, a law encouraging religious tolerance and granting freedom of conscience to all Christians, including Catholics.  42 years later in 1692, an Act of Religion was passed whereby all the  penal laws  of  England  existing at that time against the  Catholics  were declared to be in force in the colony.  No longer could a Catholic house of worship be built and it was a crime for the Catholic religion to be practiced openly.  Catholics in Maryland were not allowed to hold public office, practice law, vote, celebrate Mass in public or provide religious education for their children.  The legislature installed laws and customs that excluded Catholics from all aspects of public life for nearly a century. It wasn’t until 1776, when the Declaration of Rights was passed – Maryland’s first constitution allowing freedom of religion for all Christians - that Catholics woul

Welcome to the first of a series of bicentennial features that will run through the September 2023 celebration of the bicentennial of the completion of the first church building for St. Peter the Apostle – Libertytown.     Much has happened in our parish since September 1823, and we plan to share with you stories about the events and people that have shaped the parish community that we enjoy today.   Did you know that the first known memorial to victims of the sinking of the Titanic is on our parish grounds? Do you know why there is a year-round nativity scene in front of our church, and why it is topped by Joan of Arc? Would you guess that Sappington Hall was once known in Libertytown as the Opera House, the site of plays, theatre productions and movies? Did you know that two priests who formerly served St. Peter's later became military chaplains; as one of the first officially commissioned Catholic chaplains in the Army and the other, as chaplain of the Navy, serving under Admira