AUEagle  December 8, 2025

Fitzgerald Plaque Ceremony at the Basilica of St. Mary.  

On St. Patrick’s Day in 1788, COL John Fitzgerald accepted George Washington’s donation to build the first Catholic Church in Virginia.  

The sculpture was comissioned and paid for by the generousity of the Irish Culture Center of Virginia, Inc., and the Virginia Ancient Order of Hibernians.  

The plaque was blessed by the Very Rev. Edward Hathaway on the grounds of the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria, VA, the 1st Catholic Church in Virginia.  Several state and divisional Hibernians and families attended this special dedication.  PSP and Irish Culter Center CEO BIll Halpin and sculpture Thomas Marsh expressed their apprciation for the dedication.