Ambrose Maréchal

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Most Reverend Ambrose Maréchal, S.S. (August 28, 1764 - January 29, 1828) was the third Archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland, Maryland.

Motto: Auspice Maria; "Under the protection of Mary."

Ambrose Maréchal was born at Ingres near Orléans, France, on August 28, 1764. He studied for the legal profession, but later entered the Sulpician seminary at Orléans, where he received tonsure towards the close of 1787.

France was in such a chaotic condition that he left Paris for Bordeaux, where he was ordained in 1792. On the day of his ordination, and at the risk of his life, accompanied by Abbés Richard, Martignon, and Cicquard he sailed for America and arrived at Baltimore on June 24, 1792 where he offered his first Mass.

Father Maréchal was sent on the mission in St. Mary's County, and later to Bohemia on the eastern shore of Maryland. In 1799, he was teaching theology at St. Mary's College, Baltimore and in 1801 he was on the staff of Georgetown College.

Later, he returned to St. Mary's, which was then in the hands of the Sulpicians, of which order he was a member. Civil government having been restored in France under Napoleon, Father Maréchal was summoned by his superiors to teach at Saint-Flour, Lyon, Aix and Marseilles. His pupils at Marseilles presented him with the marble altar which now stands in the Cathedral of Baltimore and Louis XVIII also testified his regard by presenting him with several paintings, which also remain in Baltimore Cathedral.

In 1812 he was teaching in Baltimore and in 1816 he was nominated Bishop of Philadelphia but at his request the nomination was withdrawn and on July 24, 1817, he was appointed coadjutor to Archbishop Francis Neale of Baltimore, and Titular of Stauropolis. The Brief of appointment had not reached Baltimore when Archbishop Neale died, and the Titular of Stauropolis was consecrated Archbishop of Baltimore by Bishop Cheverus of Boston, on December 14, 1817.

He soon had to face serious dissensions over the claim by the laity to a voice in the appointment of clergy; he induced his flock to yield, and established the right of the ordinary to make all such appointments. The building of the Baltimore Basilica, America's first Catholic Cathedral, which had been begun under Archbishop John Carroll in 1806, was now resumed and completed and was dedicated May 31, 1821.

Also in 1821, Archbishop Maréchal went to Rome on business of his diocese, and in connection with the White Marsh plantation which the Archbishop claimed as Diocesan property, but which had been devised to the Jesuits on February 17, 1728, and was claimed by them as property of the Society to be employed in the interests of the Church of Maryland. The archbishop secured from Rome a Bull in his favour.

In 1826 Archbishop Maréchal made a journey to Canada, and on his return fell ill. His coadjutor, Rev. James Whitfield, who succeeded him as Archbishop, had not yet been consecrated when death came. His writings consist almost entirely of letters and documents scholarly in style and are to be found in "The History of the Society of Jesus in North America" by Hughes.