Old St. Joseph's, Philadelphia

One of the key documents in the history of Catholicism in the United States recently came to be deposited in the Maryland Province Archives, stored in the Special Collections Division. A large handwritten indenture dated 1732, the fully-restored and very large document records the land transfer for the site on which in the following year was built Old St. Joseph's, home to the oldest surviving Roman Catholic congregation in the United States.

While the Jesuits in Maryland were prevented legally from building or preaching in proper churches, the Pennsylvania mission, in the hands of Father Joseph Greaton ton, was able to function openly, and Old St. Joseph's became the first permanent liturgical site established in the original 13 colonies.