St Alphonsus Church & Shrine

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St. Alphonsus Church, Rectory, Convent and Halle, also known as St. John Neumann Shrine and "Baltimore's Powerhouse of Prayer," is an historic Roman Catholic church complex located within the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.DescriptionThe church is based on the design of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and follows a basilica floorplan. The structure is constructed of red brick with limestone accents in the Gothic Revival style. The nave reaches a height of 50ft and the ornate steeple rises 210ft above the three-level bell tower. A 12ft gold cross caps the steeple.The Halle is a -story brick structure also in the Gothic Revival style opposite the church across Saratoga Street. It features a center entrance housed in projecting square bay topped by a gable. The adjacent three-story convent and the four-story rectory simple Georgian townhouses of brick. The complex was constructed between 1842 and 1845 and was the first major design by noted Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long, Jr.. From its founding until 1917, the parish was overseen by the Redemptorist Fathers whose members came to Baltimore to minister to the growing German immigrant community. John Neumann was one of the early pastors of St. Alphonsus prior to becoming Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. He was canonized June 19, 1977. Neumann's assistant pastor, Francis Xavier Seelos, served as pastor after his departure and later worked in areas from Connecticut to Illinois and New Orleans. Seelos was beatified on April 9, 2000.