The priest who saw to the completion of the first St. Peter’s church was one very busy Jesuit. He was also responsible for building other local Catholic churches and schools before moving onto important roles from Mexico to Massachusetts. John McElroy came to the US from his native Ireland as a young man in 1803. He was ordained a priest in 1817 at the age of thirty-five. He was sent to Frederick in 1822 to aid the ailing pastor of St John the Evangelist Church, Fr. Francis Maleve, S.J. the successor to Fr. John Dubois, S.S. After arriving, Fr. McElroy, S.J. stayed with Fr. Maleve until he passed away a few days later, on Oct 3, 1822. Fr. McElroy was subsequently named pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church. St. Peter’s was a mission of St. John’s, as was St. Joseph’s on Carrollton Manor. While here, Fr. McElroy continued to build the church in our community…both figuratively & literally. Fr. McElroy’s journal notes that he made his first visit to Liberty on Nov. 12, 1822, and...

Bishop Jean (John) Dubois was born in Paris in August 1764. In 1791 he escaped the massacre of clergy during the French Revolution, by fleeing to America with the assistance of forged papers from classmate Maximilien Robespierre. Upon his arrival in Norfolk Virginia, he presented letters of commendation from Lafayette (whose wife was once one of Dubois’ parishioners) to prominent Virginians, including James Monroe with whom he resided briefly. He is reputed to have learned English from Patrick Henry; was a confidante of Thomas Jefferson; offered Mass in the Virginia statehouse and founded Mount St. Mary’s College (now University) and Seminary in Emmitsburg. He also helped Elizabeth Ann Seton establish the Sisters of Charity (known today as the Daughters of Charity) and became the third bishop of New York. In 1792, in the middle of those interesting if not impressive chapters of Dubois’ life, Bishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States, appointed him to Frede...

Similar to Frs. Monteverde, McNulty and Farrell, none of these three priests were assigned to St. Peter’s for very long.   Combined, their pastorates at St. Peter’s totaled only 9 years; each serving about three years as our Pastor.   While Fr. White and Fr. Norton pre-date today’s parishioners, it is very likely that a number of today’s parishioners will recall Fr. Sargus, who was at St. Peter’s in the late 1950’s. Fr. John Paul White was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1860.   He graduated from Mill Hill College in England and was thereafter ordained by Cardinal Herbert Vaughan.   Cardinal Vaughan established St. Joseph College of the Sacred Heart in Mill Hill in 1866 and in 1870 the Mill Hill missionaries were directed by the Pope to do mission work in the United States with especial emphasis of service to the recently freed enslaved persons.   Here, in 1893, the Josephite Order was established. Fr. White was sent as a Mill Hill missionary priest to Loui...

The Reverend Monsignor Don Luigi Sartori was born in 1843 in the Tyrol region of Italy. His was possibly the shortest pastorate at St. Peter’s in Libertytown, but that is not to say that there was not something dramatic about his overall priestly career. To begin with, he was a cousin of Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarro, more commonly known today as Saint Pope Pius X (1903-1914). He emigrated to the U. S. and entered the seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1875 in Wheeling, West Virginia. He was attached to the Archdiocese of Baltimore and was assigned to a two-parish circuit in western Maryland, St. Patrick’s in Cumberland and St. Patrick’s at Fifteen Mile Creek in Allegany County, in 1879. After this short assignment, he was assigned to another two-parish circuit which he led for many years, St. Francis de Sales in Abingdon and St. Stephen’s in Kingsville/Upper Falls/Bradshaw (1880-97). This was the longest pastorate in the first 100 years of St. Stephens. The 1880 US Census shows h...

“Your church is on fire.” This is not the account of our parish staff learning of the terrible June 3, 2004 blaze that destroyed our second St. Peter’s church. Those same words were spoken that morning in the rectory kitchen at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Essex by pastor Monsignor Robert Hartnett to associate pastor Fr. Jason Worley who had walked in. Msgr. Hartnett had just heard on Baltimore radio about the Libertytown fire and knew that Fr. Jason was to transfer here in a few weeks. Those plans would change. Jason Worley was born April 24, 1966 in Baltimore, the seventh of the eight children of Herbert and Margaret Worley. He started school at Woodhome Elementary, but his parents wanted their children to experience a Catholic education, so he transferred to his parish school at St. Michael the Archangel in Overlea. He would later graduate from Towson Catholic High School. While a teenager, he was very active in his parish, serving St. Michael’s as a sacristan, a cantor, in th...

Fathers Thomas Monteverde, Martin McNulty and Phillip Farrell each served but a short time at St. Peter’s. Combined, their pastorates at St. Peter’s totaled only 15 years which may explain why there is a relative lack of information about their time at St. Peter’s. Father Monteverde was only 45 when he died and Fr. Farrell, who succeeded Fr. McNulty, was not ordained until nearly 45 years of age. Fr. Thomas J. Monteverde was born in Baltimore in January 1860. His parents had emigrated from Genoa, Italy. He attended St. Leo’s parochial school and St. Charles College. He then entered St. Mary’s Seminary and was ordained by Cardinal Gibbons. He first served at St. Peters, Libertytown, and like his predecessors, he also served the faithful at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mechanicstown (Thurmont). The Frederick News specially noted that he said his first sermon at Libertytown on November 13, 1892, and his first at Mechanicstown would be November 20. During his short stay at St. Peter’s, ...

A rocking chair, a VCR and a TV. Those were gifts that friends of Fr. Eugene Nickol gave him upon his assignment as pastor of St. Peter’s in 1985, along with good-natured ribbing that his move to Libertytown was akin to semi-retirement in the countryside. After all, what could there be for this city boy to do, way out there? In reality, Fr. Gene doesn’t think he ever had time to use that rocker or the video cassette recorder. Born in Baltimore April 25, 1947, he was the middle of the three children of Andrew and Marian Nickol. He attended the city’s Shrine of the Little Flower School, the elementary school affiliated with his home parish of the same name. Father Gene says his priestly discernment began in the eighth grade. He was one of 108 ninth graders enrolled in St. Charles College High School and its six-year seminarian studies program….108 young men thinking about the priesthood. To this day, Fr. Gene stays in touch with dozens of those classmates. Besides holding a virtua...

Father Stephen J. Chylinski was born on October 29, 1897, in Baltimore, Maryland. Graduating from Loyola High School and Loyola College, he began his studies for the priesthood at Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan. He thereafter transferred to St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He was ordained on June 14, 1928, by Archbishop Michael J. Curley. His first assignment was to Holy Rosary Church in Baltimore. Father Stephen J. Chylinski was transferred from All Saints Church, Baltimore, to St. Peter’s Church in Libertytown as pastor, to be effective July 12, 1946. Shortly after his arrival at St. Peter’s, he was present at the picnic and tournament held at Pine Mountain Park on Wednesday, August 7, which was the largest in several years, and included the first jousting tournament held in several years. This event also celebrated the 125th anniversary of the founding of the parish in 1821. Hundreds of people lined up for the lunch and dinner meals. Fr. Michae...

Fr. Samuel Kavanagh was much beloved by the parish and by the community during his pastorate at St. Peter’s Church, which encompassed 21 years, virtually his entire priestly career. He was born on September 10, 1862, in Kildare, Ireland. He emigrated to the United States in the latter part of the 1880’s and became a naturalized U. S. citizen. It is stated that he was from Washington, D. C., and received some of his education in the local parish schools. He went to St. Charles College in Howard County where he received a classical education and then studied for the priesthood at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, where he was ordained on December 21, 1901. The Baltimore Sun reports on December 24, 1901, that Fr. Kavanagh was to be assigned to St. Peter’s Church, succeeding Rev. John Norton. One of the first things that he did was to ask Bishop Alfred Allen Curtiss, Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore, formerly Bishop of Wilmington DE, to come out to Libertytown to consecrate the Church. C...

John Augustine Dietzenbach was born on December 9, 1951 at West Union, Iowa, the second of six children. He grew up on a family farm near Fort Atkinson, Iowa and attended St. Luke Church and school in St. Lucas, Iowa. After graduating from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 1974 with a BA double major in Business Administration and Philosophy, he attended St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park, Baltimore, MD. He graduated with a Masters of Divinity in Theology from there in December of 1978 and during his last year in the seminary, he sought incardination (the official acceptance by one diocese of a clergyman from another diocese) with the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Fr. John was assigned to All Saints Parish on Liberty Road in January 1979, where he remained through his deaconate ordination on May 24, 1980 and his ordination to the priesthood on November 29, 1980. In the summer of 1981 he was assigned to St. Elizabeth Parish on Baltimore Street where he remained for 5 ye...

Fr. John Leo Collins was born on August 29, 1886, in Tyrone, Dungannon, Ireland. According to the Irish census of 1901, he was residing at 3 Chapel Road, Dungannon, Tyrone, Ireland, with his parents and three sisters. This region of Ireland is currently known as Northern Ireland, by which name it has been known since the remainder of Ireland gained its independence from British rule in 1922. John Leo Collins, aged 21, departed Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland and arrived in New York City on August 30, 1907. He was described as being 5’8”, with dark complexion, black hair, and brown eyes and his occupation was noted as laborer. He indicated that his final destination was Baltimore and that his sponsoring individual in the US was a cousin, Rev. John. E. Wade, in 1905 a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and pastor of the church of Saints Philip and James in Baltimore, and that he had $25 in his possession, which would be worth about $800 in 2023 dollars. In the US census of 1910...

Paul Iaia (pronounced “yaya”) started his pastorate at St. Peter’s on February 21, 1973. The road that brought him to us was long. He was born in New Britain, CT on December 16, 1930, and there attended St. Mary’s School. His studies for the priesthood took him to St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, CT, St. Bernard’s Seminary in Rochester, NY, and St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, MD. He was ordained on May 26, 1956, at the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore, by Archbishop Francis P. Keough. Fr. Iaia was first assigned as associate pastor to Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Middle River; All Saints Parish, Baltimore; St. Patrick’s, Havre de Grace; and St. Charles Borromeo, Pikesville. He was appointed pastor of St. Peter’s in Libertytown on February 21, 1973. He was an active achiever (perhaps an overachiever) at St. Peters. In the religious education program he began the St. Peter’s Youth (SPY). He wrote a brief history of health care at St. Peter’s, which he observed had bee...