The Groundbreaking Ceremony

At 4:00 in the afternoon of Sunday, October 10, 1954, Archbishop Francis P. Keough presided at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Cathedral. He was joined by his secretary, the Very Reverend Porter J. White, and a sizable group of priests, seminarians and laity.

His Excellency spoke briefly to the attentive crowd:

The event we are about to witness will be brief like all important events, but its significance is great. The construction of the magnificent edifice which we have planned and which, if it be God's will, shall rise on this land, will begin with this first shovel of earth. It is a historic and momentous event in the long history of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. On this land a great new cathedral, the new Mother Church of this ancient see will rise to the glory of God and the honor of our heavenly Mother. I wish publicly to affirm my supreme gratitude to my Divine Master for permitting me to see this day, one of the great desires of my heart since coming to Baltimore ...

Doubtless, too, there is one in heaven who looks down with joy upon what we will here begin ... the one whose munificence and profound faith made it all possible: Mr. Thomas O'Neill. Well knowing he would never see with earthly eyes the results of his magnificent generosity, he gave his great fortune to the One who gave him earthly life and the promise of eternal life. When the spires of this cathedral rise into the heavens, they will point out the way to what one merchant saw was the greatest bargain in the universe-the dross of earth for the gold of eternity! May God be good to his great and immortal soul.

In the name of the most blessed and eternal Trinity, for the glory of God and the perpetuation of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, to the honor of Mary Immaculate, Assumed into Heaven and Queen, we shall now dedicate and consecrate this ground.

The next day, Pope Pius XII issued a world-wide decree that affected the naming of the Cathedral. - more