File:Connie Koenig, Distinguished Citizen 1987 (8).jpg

Summary

Distinguished Citizen 1987

Pair of churches are documented in book Patti S. Borda Frederick News-Post Staff, Jan 10, 2010

(Key Words:  Connie Koenig, St Francis Catholic Church)

The real history of St. Francis-St. Mary Catholic Church in Brunswick is a story of whites and blacks, some slaves, some slave owners, some neither, said author Connie J. Koenig. Her recently published hardback edition of "As It Was in the Beginning, Is Now, and Can Be" contains the story of two churches. It documents the interwoven, if not integrated, lives of Catholic blacks and whites in the Brunswick area in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Koenig's volume sends that message by being printed in black and white. The cover photo features a black servant holding her white employer's toddler in her lap. "It's a story that needs to be told, but not in an accusatory way," Koenig said. "This is how it was." What started out for Koenig as a simple summary of church history for a parish directory took her on a hunt for documents kept by Georgetown University's Jesuits in Washington. The more Koenig researched locally repeated history, the more she found that was wrong, she said. As an experienced researcher of historical information, she dug deeper. What she produced has been deemed archival quality by Georgetown University. Its Jesuit founders were instrumental in the start of St. Mary Church in Petersville. Thomas Sim Lee, governor from 1779 to 1782 and 1792 to 1794, owned a plantation in the Petersville area. Before the practice of Catholicism was allowed in the Colonies, aristocrats like Lee had chapels in their home, Koenig said. Lee's estimated 200 slaves practiced Catholicism with his family. Lee died in 1819 and left money specifically to build a church on his property for free blacks and slaves. Built by slaves in 1826, that is what became St. Mary Church. "It was essentially a black Catholic church," Koenig said. What stands on the site today is a renovated, mostly different church rebuilt in 1873. Only the bell tower remains from the original 1826 structure, Koenig said. By 1895, St. Mary had its own permanent pastor. Three miles away, at about that same time in downtown Brunswick, railroading and canal construction led to a surge in Irish immigration. Koenig said the laborers caused Brunswick's population to go from 300 to 3,000 from 1890 to 1896. The population and demographic changes led to the construction of St. Francis Church and school in Brunswick, first on Seventh Avenue, then on First Avenue. St. Francis started as a mission church to St. Mary. By 1907 it was the other way around. These days, the St. Mary site, just off Md. 180 in a rural setting, occupies 5.3 acres. That includes a history-filled cemetery, where Koenig was photographed for her book. The site is used for services and as a multipurpose center. The simple knowledge of those facts was not possible to acquire for a long time, Koenig said. Her research stumbled over reprints of incorrect statements and writings, and published material that omitted unpleasant realities. Writings referred almost exclusively to the prominent white landowners associated with St. Mary Church and not to the black Catholics who built it and worshipped and studied there. Her job was to find original information, such as letters between people who knew what really went on. "You have to document with primary documents," she said. "You piece those pieces together." At one point she found a reference to a new St. Mary church having been built in 1842. "Turns out that was a total fabrication," Koenig said. "There was no new church in 1842; I've proved it." Another discovery was the existence of five letters written in 1849 between Jesuits in Frederick and Georgetown. "I was so excited," Koenig said, until she learned that four of the letters were written in Latin and one in German. She managed to find a German translator for the one, but is still looking for someone to translate the Latin. As tedious as the work could be, Koenig said she wanted her book to be aesthetically pleasing and historically accurate. She chose important symbols, art and themes to emphasize throughout the book's 164 pages. Hundreds of photographs illustrate the times and the places in a way that has not been done before. The history had been sugarcoated before, Koenig said. "It had to be told like it was."