CELEBRATING 200 YEARS!

On June 13, 1828, thirty-five years before President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Venerable Mary Lange, then Elizabeth Clarisse Lange (1794-1882), a young black woman of Haitian heritage born in Cuba, was encouraged by a Sulpician priest, Fr. James Joubert, SS, from Saint Mary’s Seminary, to establish a school that would provide a “Christian education to colored children.” She recognized the need for education for African-American children and opened a school in the Fells Point area prior to starting Saint Frances School for Colored Girls in 1828. That school began in a rented house on Saint Mary's Court next to Saint Mary's Seminary on Paca Street. The school was established with the mission to help girls learn their catechism.

Today, Saint Frances Academy remains the oldest, continually operating Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Additionally, it is the oldest historically African-American institution in the country. The Oblate Sisters of Providence used Mother Lange’s personal wealth, as well as money raised by the order, to build its historic facility in 1871. The chapel was later built in 1907. The original building and chapel are still daily functioning parts of the high school.

Currently, Saint Frances Academy is well known for its spiritual development, rigorous academic program, and nationally ranked sports programs including men’s and women’s basketball and football. We pride ourselves on promoting the values of faith, scholarship, opportunity, and character.

The order was well named. Only Divine Providence could have sustained Mother Lange’s efforts as she faced legal prohibitions, social opposition, financial hardship, and even painful resistance from the Church she loved, but she persisted, fueled by her faith in God and her purpose. Nearly two centuries later, Saint Frances Academy remains a “Miracle on Chase Street.”