WARWICK, Md. — More than 225 years of wear and tear have taken a toll at St. Francis Xavier Shrine, and now the mother church of the Diocese of Wilmington is in need of some major renovations — close to seven figures’ worth — in order to ensure it will be there for the next generations of Catholics in Delaware and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Located a few miles west of Middletown, Del., St. Francis Xavier — also known as Old Bohemia — holds a special place in the history of the diocese. It was in 1704 that Jesuit Father Thomas Mansell established the 1,200-acre plantation as the earliest permanent Catholic presence on the Delmarva Peninsula. Through a time when Catholicism was not tolerated by the British, the Jesuits masqueraded as farm managers while celebrating Mass. Several members of the Society of Jesus are buried behind the shrine, which was built in 1792 and completed five years later.
“St. Francis Xavier Shrine at Old Bohemia is certainly notable because it is the site of one of the earliest Jesuit outposts serving the needs of Catholics of the area going back to the early 1700s,” said Bob Krebs, communications director for the diocese.
Modern-day Jesuits continue to visit St. Francis Xavier, but Mass and other events will not be possible unless major restoration is completed to make the building safe for occupants. It has a new roof, but much of what’s underneath needs some sort of repair.
Marla Dill-Palmer, a longtime volunteer at the shrine and vice president of the Old Bohemia Historical Society, said the society’s efforts to draw attention have helped accentuate the need for work.
“We worked very diligently the past couple years to get more people in,” she said. “The irony of that is that the more people we had coming through here, the quicker things started to degrade.”

Dialog photo/Joseph P. Owens
Everything started with the floor. Below the surface, there is about six-to-eight inches of clearance. The cornerstones are beginning to degrade, and the wood that sits on top of those stones is rotting. Shifts in the walls have become noticeable. The choir loft is separating from the walls, which have bowed out. The molding around the shrine is shifting, and there are cracks.
The shrine is very special to Dill-Palmer. A member of St. Joseph Parish in Middletown, she was married at the shrine. Her grandfather was on the first board of directors of the historical society and took care of the cemetery, where he is buried. Her grandmother and mother also cared for the cemetery. Dill-Palmer took over after her mother’s death in 2015.
“It’s a labor of love,” she said. “This church has always been part of my life.”
Ginny Swyka, a member of St. Basil Ukrainian Catholic Church in Chesapeake City, Md., is the president of the historical society. She said the shrine used to host first Saturday Mass each month, holiday services, a Christmas service and other events. She recalled that the Christmas service in 2022 was “overflowing.” But with the condition of the building, all of that has come to a stop. The pews and other fixtures are now covered with plastic.
“We could see changes that were happening,” she said.
The historical society has consulted with diocesan officials, she said. St. Francis Xavier Shrine and other buildings, along with the property, are owned by the Diocese of Wilmington Foundation. The historical society is responsible for maintenance and upkeep, including the cemetery, according to the diocese.
Once the historical society decided to stop holding events, the group set out to figure out just what was happening and how to remedy the problems. Rich Beckwith oversees buildings and grounds for the society.
Beckwith, a member of St. Rose of Lima Church, said the new roof is good because it is keeping everything under it dry. The plan would be to remove everything from the church, pull up the floor and re-evaluate the situation “because there’s going to be some discoveries,” he said.
The plan would be to put down a surface of stone and concrete, then replace the underpinnings with modern material, subject to conditions as they unfold, he said.
Swyka estimates that once work begins, it will take six months to a year to complete.
One of the worries, the board members acknowledge, is that changing the church will affect its character. But, they note, the interior does not look the same today as it did in 1792. At one point, the pews went from one side of the room to the other, with no center aisle. That changed after a fire in 1912. There also have been changes to the altar and the roof, among others. Swyka said the weight of the old slate roof was pushing down on the walls, so it was replaced around 1994.
Dill-Palmer said change is easier to accept when looked at from a different perspective.
“It’s not as hard when you see that happening and you know that everything that’s being done is to preserve it. If you look at the old pictures, there are differences,” she said.
Swyka said the society has a proposal from EDiS Corp. for $810,000, which is far beyond what the group has on hand, “so we are in desperate need of money. We need some help. We need funds from whatever resources are available.”
Father Mark Kelleher, the pastor of St. Joe’s in Middletown, of which the shrine is part, has been a big supporter of their efforts, Dill-Palmer said. The pastor of St. Joseph’s is always on the historical society board of directors, but it makes a big difference when the priest is on board “when it comes to getting things done.”
Anyone interested in learning more or donating can contact the historical society at oldbohemiahs@gmail.com.