Sacred Heart Church (Bowie, Maryland)
Sacred Heart Church in Bowie, Maryland is a Catholic Church established in 1729.
Sacred Heart Church had been better known as White Marsh after the long stretch of sandy loam between the church and the Patuxent River and marsh. This soil contains a significant amount of mica which appears sparkling white.
Beginning with the Protestant Revolution in Maryland in 1689, Catholics were prohibited to worship publicly and the Catholic Church was not allowed to own land.
The original patent to the "White Marsh" property was granted by the authority of Charles Calvert II in 1722 to James Carroll. On February 12, 1728, Carroll bequeathed 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of White Marsh, then known as Carroll's Burgh, to the Jesuits at St. Thomas Manor in the vicinity of Port Tobacco, Maryland.
During this time, while Catholics could not worship publicly, they could do so privately and were able to build private chapels on privately held land. To facilitate the construction of a church, Carroll left the land to the individual Jesuits. That allowed them to construct the Mission of Saint Francis Borgia on the property, which is considered the founding of Sacred Heart Church. However, the Jesuits did not take up permanent residence at White Marsh until about 1741, when a chapel was constructed.
The old chapel is the only Catholic church built before the American revolution in Prince George's County.
The building was built on a hill circa 1741 and is constructed of undressed stone, with a gable roof. In 1853, a fire destroyed the interior of the building but left the stone walls standing. The interior was rebuilt by 1855. In 1876 a wood-frame bell tower was added to the church at the east end of the gable.
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