Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian is a Black Catholic parish in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

established in 1966 by the merger of the predominately

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

St. Cyprian Catholic Church (est 1893) and the predominantly

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

Holy Comforter Catholic Church (est 1904). The church is located at 1357

East Capitol Street East Capitol Street is a major street that divides the northeast and southeast quadrants of Washington, D.C. It runs due east from the United States Capitol to the DC-Maryland border. The street is uninterrupted until Lincoln Park then cont ...

in the

Hill East Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States, are distinguished by their history, culture, architecture, demographics, and geography. The names of 131 neighborhoods are unofficially defined by the D.C. Office of Plann ...

neighborhood. It is near

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

and the Eastern Market and Stadium-Armory metro stations.

History

Background

Holy Comforter

Builders broke ground on Holy Comforter on July 31, 1937, at Fourteenth and East Capitol Street. The plans anticipated a budget of $200,000 and construction timeline of ten months. Archbishop Michael J. Curley of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

and Washington dedicated the Holy Comforter on December 3, 1939, at an event attended by 1,200. Cardinal Gibbon presided over a second dedication of the completed building on March 18, 1906. The architect, B. Stanley Simmons, reportedly found inspiration from the Spanish Mission style design in an old mission house in San Diego, California.

St. Cyprian

In 1890, a group of African-American Catholics living on Capitol Hill convinced the Archdiocese of Baltimore to build St. Cyprian after being discriminated against by St. Peter's church which had segregated them from the rest of the congregation in the basement. St. Cyprian church was originally built at 13th and C streets SE in 1893, named for St. Thaddeus Cyprian, an African bishop and martyr.

Merged parish

In the 1950s in Washington, DC, a great number of affluent white people moved from the District to the suburbs, causing the congregation of Holy Comforter to diminish and causing St. Cyprian's congregation to flourish. In 1966, with little regard for St. Cyprian's wishes, Cardinal Patrick O'Boyle, the Archbishop of Washington, merged St. Cyprian and Holy Comforter. According to Fr Robert M. Kearns, the merger had made the members of the church feel "raped or emasculated. There was nothing left," because "they weren't consulted properly." St. Cyprian was given two weeks to vacate the church and it was torn down to build houses and a small park. After the merger, Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian's congregation was 95% former St. Cyprian members. During the conflict the merger created, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

began to allow Masses in languages other than

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

following the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. The Latin chants were quickly replaced with "the hearty rhythms and hand clapping of a gospel choir, making the church more akin to its Baptist and Methodist brethren," allowing the congregation to express their African-American heritage. During this period, the church was administered by the Josephites, a religious community serving

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

. Due to decreasing church attendance in the United States, rapidly changing demographics in DC, and an aging congregation, church attendance and membership have been steadily decreasing since the 1960s. The church's gospel choir, started during the 1960s, at the 11am services maintains a pivotal role in the church's community and spirit.

Gospel choir

The choir has become well known around the country, and has recorded a number of albums, including the "Mass of St Cyprian" (1999) composed by the parish's music director, the late Kenneth W. Louis. The parish also released an album in 2012, "We Offer Praise".

Parish life

Holy Name Society

The

Holy Name Society The Society of the Holy Name, formally known as the Confraternity of the Most Holy Name of God and Jesus, is a Roman Catholic confraternity of the laity and is one of several which are under the care of the Dominican Order. It is open to all C ...

is a group of laymen dedicated to the praise and respect of the most Holy Name of God.

Ladies of Charity

The Ladies of Charity was organized in May 1932 and provides services to the community "who are in need of food and clothing, especially shoes for the children." They are also related to St. Vincent de Paul.

School

On September 16, 1892, a group of

Oblate Sisters of Providence The Oblate Sisters of Providence (OSP) is a Catholic women's religious institute founded by Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, and Father James Nicholas Joubert in 1829 in Baltimore, Maryland for the education of girls of African descent. It was th ...

, an order of black nuns, met with Miss Mary Atkins who had promised to donate land to establish a school on the corner of 8th and C Streets. The school doors opened on October 2, 1892, under the patronage of St. Ann.

Pastors

* Fr James Mathews (St. Cyprian: 1893) * Fr Joseph McGuire (Holy Comforter: 1904) * Msgr. Charles R. O'Hara (Holy Comforter: 1936–1939) * Fr

John Ricard John Huston Ricard, S.S.J. (born February 29, 1940) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee from 1997 to 2011 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore from 1984 to 1997. Ricard was elect ...

, SSJ (1975–1979) * Fr Robert M. "Rocky" Kearns, SSJ (1979–1983) * Msgr. Charles Pope (?–present)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Parish Website
Roman Catholic churches in Washington, D.C. African-American Roman Catholic churches Josephite churches in the United States Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart Hill East East Capitol Street