“From the Archives” Priests at Saint Mary – 1830s through 1850s (Part I)

Pastors at Saint Mary during the 1840s and 1850s were assisted by a number of interesting and colorful priests. Most, but not all, were Jesuits. Among them were:

Father James Curley, S.J. (served at Saint Mary in 1837), an Irish priest who came to the United States in 1817. He taught natural philosophy and mathematics at Georgetown, subjects he taught himself as a child. An astronomer, he built Georgetown’s observatory. He was a friend of President Abraham Lincoln, who once gave him a chair!

Father Anthony Rey, S.J. (served at Saint Mary in 1841), a native of Switzerland. During the Mexican War, President James K. Polk recruited chaplains to serve the U.S. troops, one-third of whom were Catholics. Father Rey was one of two faculty members from Georgetown who volunteered. He won praise for ministering to the troops at the Battle of Monterrey. Tragically, on his way to visit another Georgetown chaplain, he was accosted and killed by bandits.

Father John P. Donelan (served at Saint Mary in 1846 and 1856), a young Irish priest. He was named by Archbishop Samuel Eccleston to be the founding pastor of Saint Matthew, a new church located just a few blocks from the White House. It began as a poor, mostly Irish immigrant parish and is now the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Washington.

– Kitty Guy, Parish Historian