Margaret Brent, Savior of Maryland

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

History, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

King Charles I of England established the colony of Maryland in 1634 as a haven for Catholics. The colony was created at the request of, George Calvert, the first Baron Baltimore. But he died before his dream could be realized. So his son Cecil Calvert, the second Baron Baltimore, took on the task of settling the colony. He sent his brother, Leonard, over as governor. Four years after the colony was established, three member of the Catholic Brent family sailed over to aid in settling and growing the new Catholic colony. But the English Civil War of the 1640s brought conflict to the shores of Maryland. Margaret Brent, who was one of the largest landowners in the colonies at the time, stepped up in a big way to save the colony from destruction. For her efforts she was denounced by Lord Baltimore to the colonial legislature (who defended her actions), but the opposition from Lord Baltimore was enough for Margaret and her siblings. They all pulled up roots and moved to land they had acquired in Virginia, right across the Potomac River, where they established the first Catholic settlement in that colony. At the time of her death, Margaret Brent controlled a large portion of northern Virginia along the Potomac, including modern-day Old Town Alexandria, Mount Vernon, and Fredericksburg. A 15-foot-high bronze crucifix stands as a marker near the site of the Brent homestead and cemetery in Stafford County, Virginia.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic History. If you like our podcast, be sure to rate us and give us a review wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Newell Hester Crowe. And I'm Tom Crow.
0:17.2	Today we're talking about Margaret Brent, the woman who saved Maryland.
0:23.0	Yeah, but considering how Marylanders drive, is that really a good thing?
0:26.8	Hey now, let's not start off by insulting a good number of our listeners.
0:31.9	Yeah, you're right. I kid, I kid. I spent three years living in Maryland when I was a seminarian at Mount St. Mary's in
0:37.8	Emmetsburg. I have very fond memories of Northern Maryland, its mountains, and its vistas.
0:42.9	And we have a pilgrimage itinerary that goes down into Southern Maryland to a lot of the
0:48.2	sites where the action of today's episodes happen. Right. Maryland has so much history and it is a beautiful state. The mountains
0:56.8	in the north and the west, the land around the Chesapeake Bay, Annapolis, the shores of the Potomac.
1:02.3	It really is a blessed place once you leave the freeways. But let's move back to our topic.
1:08.0	Yes, good idea. Back to Margaret Brent and how she saved Maryland.
1:13.1	Maryland, of course, was founded in 1634 as a colony where English Catholics could live their
1:19.2	faith in freedom. This was needed because about a hundred years prior to the foundation of
1:23.7	Maryland, King Henry VIII declared himself the supreme head of the church in England,
1:28.5	thus founding the Anglican Church and putting English Catholics in a rather difficult position.
1:34.7	Yes, Catholics were required to accept Henry and his successors as the supreme head of the church.
1:41.3	Those who didn't face serious consequences, very often including death.
1:45.9	About 600 English Catholics were executed during the 16th and 17th centuries, and a great
1:52.3	many of those deaths were in horrible, gruesome fashion. Yeah, really. Perhaps the most famous martyr
1:58.6	from the era was Thomas Moore, the former Chancellor of England, now of course St. Thomas More.
2:03.5	He had been a special confidant and advisor to King Henry, but he could not accept the split with Rome,
2:09.5	for his refusal to acknowledge Henry as the head of the church he was beheaded.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Noelle & Tom Crowe, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Noelle & Tom Crowe and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.