The two new vicariates in the Archdiocese of Baltimore have been named after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Neumann, the archdiocese announced.
The archdiocese had said in September it would restructure the vicariate system from three vicariates to two. Bishop Denis J. Madden will serve as vicar for the St. John Neumann vicariate, comprising the parishes of Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Harford County. Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski is vicar of the Elizabeth Ann Seton vicariate, covering Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick, Carroll, Howard and Anne Arundel counties.
Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien said in a news release that the two-vicariate system will allow parishes continued access to a vicar bishop, as pastors wanted, and enable him to complement his two auxiliary bishops in celebrating the sacrament of confirmation throughout the archdiocese.
In 1975, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton became the first person born in the United States to become a canonized saint. She is widely recognized for laying the foundation for the U.S. parochial school system and led the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s. She came to Baltimore in 1808 and founded a school and the order of nuns and moved both to Emmitsburg in 1809.
St. John N. Neumann was a Redemptorist missionary to the United States who became the fourth bishop of Philadelphia and the first American bishop to be canonized. He took the vows to enter the Redemptorist order at St. James parish in Baltimore in 1842 and founded the first Catholic diocesan school system in the United States.