St Alphonsus Church, Baltimore

St. Alphonsus Church is a historic Roman Catholic church complex located in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The complex consists of the church, rectory, convent, and halle, and is also known as St. John Neumann Shrine and "Baltimore's Powerhouse of Prayer." The church complex was constructed between 1842 and 1845 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 of St. Alphonsus Church reaches a height of 50 ft (15 m), and the ornate steeple rises 210 ft (64 m) above the three-level bell tower. A 12 ft (3.7 m) gold cross caps the steeple, making it a prominent landmark in the area. The church was the first major design by Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long Jr.

From its founding until 1917, the parish was overseen by the Redemptorist Fathers, who came to Baltimore to minister to the growing German immigrant community. John Neumann, who later became Bishop of Philadelphia, was one of the early pastors of St. Alphonsus. 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. Both Neumann and Seelos have been canonized and beatified, respectively.

By 1917, many of the German immigrants who lived in the area moved elsewhere, and St. Alphonsus became a parish for the Lithuanian immigrant community. The church complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Since 1992, St. Alphonsus has held regular Tridentine Masses. Since 2017, the parish has been administered by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), while remaining officially part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. St. Alphonsus Church remains a significant landmark in the area, and its history is an important part of the city's cultural heritage.