Mystery of the Altar Stone

A rare object that might have been used in the 17th-century brick chapel at St. Mary's City is being examined by HSMC researchers. In September 2004, Father Damian Shadwell, the pastor of St. Cecilia's Church in St. Mary's City, received a package from WMCRP Architects of Landover, MD, the firm that designed the church over 30 years ago. While cleaning out a closet, a WMCRP employee found an envelope containing a flat marble stone. The envelope displayed various names and the words "Altar Stone, St. Cecilia's Church, St. Mary's City”. The St. Cecilia's stone measures precisely 7 ½ inches by 10 inches and is slightly over 5/8ths of an inch thick. Its upper surface has a small Greek cross carved near each corner and another cross in the center. Near one edge is a small niche covered with black slate. This niche contains the relic of an unknown saint. Faint writing on the back of the stone and the envelope provided vital clues, which eventually led to an account of the dedication of St. Cecilia's in 1974, "… the altar stone believed to have been used in the St. Inigoes Manor House chapel and...possibly used in the [1667 brick] chapel at St. Mary's City...was presented… " Altar stones are tablets that are consecrated by a bishop and typically contain the relic of a saint. They are set into wooden altars in churches but also serve as portable altars for missionaries or traveling priests. The form and decoration of the stone dates back centuries and the St. Cecilia's specimen is very similar to other venerable altar stones curated in the archives of Georgetown University. While we cannot prove that this was the actual stone used in the Brick Chapel, one very similar to it was unquestionably in the original altar. After 350 years, a Jesuit legend that this object was the centerpiece of the St. Mary's altar is the strongest evidence we can hope to find.