46]

Negro Catholics living in East Washington and worshippers at St.
Peter's and St. Joseph's churches, desirous of having a church of
their own, were responsive to the labors of Father James R. Matthews,
assistant pastor of St. Peter's. He was a native of Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, had studied at St. Charles College and St. Mary's
Seminary in the diocese of Maryland, and was ordained a priest in
1886. He worked so assiduously and energetically for the new
congregation here at Washington, which was then known as St.
Benedict's, that a site for their building was purchased on the corner
of 13th and C Streets, Southeast, about the middle of April, 1893. The
work of excavation was begun on the last day of July and the corner
stone was laid on the 24th of September of that year. Less than eight
months afterward the church was complete and ready for public worship.
An imposing parade, participated in by uniformed white and Negro
Catholic societies of Baltimore and Washington, was a feature of the
occasion. Cardinal Gibbons dedicated the Church as St. Cyprian.[47]

JOHN W. CROMWELL

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This dissertation was written from facts obtained from these
churches and their pastors and verified by reference to books and
newspapers. The most important source was the _Special Report of the
U. S. Commissioner of Education on the Schools of the District of
Columbia_, pp. 197 _et seq._

[2] _Special Report of the United States Commissioner of Education on
the Schools of the District of Columbia_, pp. 195-197.

[3] _Special Report of the United States Commissioner of Education on
the Schools of the District of Columbia._

[3a] After the Civil War "Little Ebenezer" entered upon a new career.
The white pastors who up to this time had been serving this
congregation were replaced by ministers of color, the first one being
Noah Jones. About 1874 the property of the church was transferred from
the white church to the local organization. Placed upon this
advantageous basis, the success of this congregation soon entitled
that church to rank among the leading Negro churches of the city. C.
G. Keyes built the first church edifice. Under C. G. Walker, who came
later, there were added so many more new members that a new building
was necessary to accommodate the congregation. Then came W. H. Draper,
Alexander Dennis, and finally Dr. M. W. Clair. Using the plans devised
by Dr. M. W. Clair, now