St. Wenceslaus Church, Baltimore

St. Wenceslaus was founded in 1872 in a neighborhood of East Baltimore that was then known as Little Bohemia. The parish was created primarily to serve the Bohemian (Czech) community in Baltimore.[1][2] As suggested by parish records, a significant number of early attendees came from the area south of Nepomuk, especially Pačejov and Myslív.[3] Church services were originally held in both the English and Czech languages.[4] The present church was built in 1914, and at that time the church had 7,000 Bohemian Catholic members. By 1920 the church was the fourth largest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In recent years, the ethnic character of St. Wenceslaus parish has undergone a gradual change from a majority Czech parish to one that is multicultural and multiracial, first as many Poles and Lithuanians moved into the neighborhood, and then as the neighborhood shifted to having an African American majority.

St. Wenceslaus was founded and staffed by priests and lay brothers of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, until 1999. Since then, it has been administered by friars of the Franciscan Third Order Regular.

The building's overall design is in the Italianate style.

Births and baptisms 1868-1892

Marriages 1872-1978

Deaths and burials 1880-1979

• History of the Czechs in Baltimore
• Roman Catholicism in the Czech Republic

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Wenceslaus Church (Baltimore).

• Archdiocese of Baltimore website
• St. Wenceslaus Roman Catholic Church Website
• Image of the church
• St. Wenceslaus evangelization still knocking
• Faith keeps broken neighborhood together

St. Wenceslaus Lyceum, June 2014.