Eight honorary pallbearers who are descendants of 17th century Marylanders carry the pine coffin bearing the remains of eight young children from colonial-era Maryland at the beginning of a procession on Sept. 20, 2025 from the reconstructed State House of 1676 in Historic St. Mary’s City to the rebuilt 1667 Brick Chapel about one-half mile away. At the chapel, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori presided at a reinterment rite, marking the return of the remains of those eight young children at the site. In the early 1990s, the remains of 65 early Marylanders buried near the foundation of the original chapel were removed so they would not be damaged during the construction of the rebuilt chapel. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)
Members of the St. Maries Citty Militia wearing colonial garb walk in a procession on Sept. 20, 2025 for a reinterment ceremony for the remains of eight young children from colonial-era being brought back to the site of the rebuilt 1667 Brick Chapel in Historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)
Two Clydesdale horses pull the hearse bearing the remains of eight young children from colonial-era Maryland at the beginning of a procession on Sept. 20, 2025 from the reconstructed State House of 1676 in Historic St. Mary’s City to the rebuilt 1667 Brick Chapel about one-half mile away. At the chapel, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori presided at a reinterment rite, marking the return of the remains of those eight young children at the site. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)
The hearse bearing the remains of eight young children from colonial-era Maryland arrives at the rebuilt 1667 Brick Chapel in Historic St. Mary’s City on Sept. 20, 2025 after being pulled by two Clydesdale horses in a procession from the reconstructed State House of 1676. Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, who presided at a reinterment ceremony at the Brick Chapel, can be seen in the background waiting at the chapel’s entrance. The Brick Chapel stands as a landmark of faith that symbolizes Maryland’s status as a birthplace of religious freedom in the United States. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)
Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, at center, blesses the pine coffin holding the remains of eight young children from colonial-era Maryland during a reinterment ceremony at the rebuilt 1667 Brick Chapel in Historic St. Mary’s City on Sept. 20, 2025. The remains of 65 people buried near the foundation of the original chapel were disinterred in the early 1990s so they would not be damaged while the chapel was being reconstructed at the site. The reinterment rite marked the return of their remains at the site of the rebuilt chapel. At left is Father James Bors, Archbishop Lori’s priest secretary, and at right is Jesuit Father William George, a Southern Maryland native who served as the chairman of the Historic St. Mary’s City Commission. Both Father George and then-Father Lori had participated in the disinterment rite at the chapel site in 1992. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)
During a reinterment ceremony at the rebuilt 1667 Brick Chapel in Historic St. Mary’s City on Sept. 20, 2025, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori holds a pectoral cross of his predecessor, Bishop John Carroll, who in 1789 was named as the first Catholic bishop of the United States, leading the new Diocese of Baltimore which then included the territory of the 13 original states. Archbishop Lori presided at the reinterment rite on Sept. 20 for the remains of eight young children from colonial-era Maryland who were among 65 early Marylanders buried at the Brick Chapel site whose remains had been disinterred in the early 1990s so they would not be damaged while the chapel was being reconstructed at the site of the first permanent Catholic church building in the English colonies. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)
Carlton Hoskins – a descendant of Richard Nevitt, who was among the first Marylanders to land in the new colony in 1634 – served as an honorary pallbearer at a reinterment ceremony on Sept. 20, 2025, when the remains of eight young children from colonial-era Maryland were reinterred in a burial vault of the rebuilt 1667 Brick Chapel in Historic St. Mary’s City. In the photo above, Hoskins is joined by his son, Carlton Hoskins Jr., and his daughter, Catherine Calvert Hoskins, in viewing the vault after the reinterment ceremony. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)
Historical archaeologist Dr. Henry Miller visits with Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori after the reinterment ceremony for the remains of eight young children from colonial-era Maryland that were brought back to the site of the rebuilt 1667 Brick Chapel in Historic St. Mary’s City on Sept. 20, 2025. Archbishop Lori presided at the reinterment rite. Miller, a Maryland Heritage Scholar and the Senior Research Fellow at Historic St. Mary’s City, spoke at the ceremony, describing how the remains of 65 colonial-era Marylanders buried near the foundation of the original brick chapel were carefully removed so the reconstructed chapel could be built at the site. The reinterment rite marked the return of the remains of those early Marylanders to the site where they had been buried. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)
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