St. Mary Catholic Church

Front: This Carpenter Gothic church, dedicated in 1914, is the oldest Catholic church in Clarendon County. Established as a mission of St. Ann Catholic Church in Sumter, it grew out of masses held in the homes of Lebanese immigrants who came to Summerton beginning in 1899. Members of the Shaleuhy, Joseph, Nimmer, and other Catholic families organized this congregation in 1913 and acquired this lot for their new church. Reverse: This church was dedicated in 1914 by Bishop H.P. Northrop and blessed by Bishop W.T. Russell in 1917. Its columned front porch was enclosed when the church was expanded in the 1950s. The founders of St. Mary were members of the Maronite Church, an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic Church. The stained glass window above the altar honors St. Sharbel Makhlouf (1828-1898) of Lebanon, a Maronite monk and hermit.