History

The first priest to reside in Charleston, Rev Matthew Ryan, was sent from Dublin in 1788.  A parish began to be organized, but Fr Ryan left the next year due to ill health.  His successor, Rev Dr Thomas Keating, came from Philadelphia.  He named the parish Saint Mary of the Annunciation.  The property Fr Ryan had been using was purchased during this time by parishioners who served as trustees.  Father Keating soon fell ill and returned to Philadelphia.  Father Simon Felix Gallagher, also sent from Dublin, was the third pastor; his leadership enabled the parish to erect a brick building in place of the original wood one.  It was completed in December 1806, having taken five years to complete.  By this time, in addition to the Irish, many French began to arrive as well.  They came mainly from Santo Domingo, which at this time was under French control but was politically unstable.

In 1810, the trustees rebelled and enacted rules that overruled the authority of the pastor.  In 1816, Fr Gallagher was replaced with Father Pierre J. de Cloriviere with the hope the issue could be resolved, but the trustees refused to cooperate with him as well.  The church was placed under canonical interdict, prohibiting its use as a place of worship.  Fr Cloriviere found an alternate site to provide the Sacraments to the faithful parishioners.  He resigned in 1818 and was replaced by Father Benedict Fenwick, S.J. and his assistant, Father James Wallace, S.J.  It took until 1824 for full reconciliation to take place and the church to be reopened.

In April 1838, the Great Fire swept through the city, destroying nearly two-thirds of it.  Saint Mary and its neighbor across the street, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue (a historically important Jewish congregation), were among the buildings that were totally destroyed.  Both buildings were immediately rebuilt; the cornerstone for St Mary's was fittingly laid on the Feast of the Assumption that same year, August 15, 1838.  It was reopened just under a year later, on June 9, 1839, and is the current church building.  During the Civil War,  although the organ was destroyed along with some gravestones, the remainder of the damage was relatively minor.  Fortunately, Saint Mary subsequently escaped three additional noteworthy natural disasters with only minor damage: the 1886 Charleston earthquake, the 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane, and Hurricane Hugo of 1989.