Provincial Councils of Baltimore

The Provincial Councils of Baltimore were ten conferences of Roman Catholic priests and bishops in Baltimore, Maryland, during the first half of the 19th century. The first council convened in 1829 and the tenth council in 1869. The purpose of these councils was to set up standardized policies, rules and procedures for the growing Catholic Church in the United States. Their decrees covered topics such as the conduct of priests, the ownership of churches. the powers of bishops and the conduct of parishioners.

Although technically, the decrees issued by the provincial councils only applied to the Province of Baltimore, they were widely adopted within the new provinces being formed in the United States in the early 1800's. The first seven provincial councils served as models for the national Plenary Councils of Baltimore, which started in 1852. With the start of the plenary councils, the decrees from the last three provincial councils only applied to the Province of Baltimore.