Fire destroys rectory at St. Anthony Shrine in Emmitsburg; one seriously injured

A priest was injured in an early-morning fire Aug. 30 that destroyed the historic two-story rectory at St. Anthony Shrine in Emmitsburg.

Sarah Campbell, spokeswoman for the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services, said emergency responders from Frederick County Fire and Rescue were dispatched to the blaze at 12:36 a.m. In total, approximately 60 firefighters and EMS personnel from Frederick, Washington and Carroll counties in Maryland, and Adams, Franklin and York counties in Pennsylvania were involved in extinguishing the fire. Also aiding were several area fire companies.

Campbell said the fire is believed to be accidental and started on an exterior porch, causing an estimated $400,000 in damage.

Three people were in the rectory at the time of the fire: Father Mariano Vicchi, pastor; Father Andrés Ayala, associate pastor; and Andrew Boutross, a seminarian. All are members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (I.V.E.), the religious community that staffs St. Anthony.

Father Vicchi said he was awakened by the smoke alarm.

“When I came down, I could see through the windows that there was some fire outside,” he said. “So I got outside to check if I could contain it. When I realized that it was big, I couldn’t contain it myself, I went back up to my room and I called 911.”

Thinking everyone else was also awake, the priest called for everyone to leave and he ran downstairs. Outside, the pastor realized that only the seminarian had followed and Father Ayala remained in the building. The pastor said he then saw Father Ayala breaking the glass of the second-story window.

“He made it out,” Father Vicchi said. “At that time, I saw that the seminarian who was staying with us was bringing the ladder, and we put the ladder up. Thank God it was long enough for Father Andres to make it down. After that, I think at that time, the fire department was already here, but everything happened maybe 10 minutes the most.”

Father Ayala was taken by ambulance to the Maryland State Police Medevac Hangar in Frederick and then flown to a trauma center in Baltimore with “serious injuries.”

Crews remained on scene until about 9 a.m. Aug. 30 “for extensive overhaul and salvage, trying to make sure that we got everything mopped up,” Campbell said.

“Thankfully, due to the working smoke alarms, the occupants were awakened because those overnight fires are very scary and unpredictable,” Campbell said. “And that definitely played a huge part in them being able to get out safely.”

Representatives of the archdiocese – including Deacon Christopher Yeung, Archbishop William E. Lori’s delegate for the western vicariate; Tom Alban, director of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Office of Risk Management; and James Dimmer, loss control associate in the Office of Risk Management – visited the parish that same day to provide pastoral support and assess the damages.

Dimmer noted that the structure dates to the 1890s and is a beloved building in Emmitsburg.

“People are very distraught, I can tell you that,” he said. “There were a lot of parishioners coming in and out of the area, and they were saying their great-grandfather built this stonework in that rectory. It’s very tight with the community.”

Dimmer said parish leaders will need to assess whether they want to rebuild the structure. The entire building and its contents were lost, he said, with objects including porch railings melted.

“It was just incredible,” he said. “It will have to be gutted and then rebuilt, if that’s what they decide to do.”

The archdiocese needs to investigate if the building was on a registry of historic places.

“If it is a historic building, then we have to put it back exactly the way it was (should the parish move forward with construction),” Dimmer said.

In a written statement, Archbishop Lori said he was saddened to learn of the fire.

“I am grateful to the Lord that there was no loss of life,” he said. “My thoughts and prayers are with the Institute of the Incarnate Word whose members serve at St. Anthony’s. I also extend my prayers to the parishioners of the Shrine of St. Anthony in this moment of loss.”

The archbishop expressed his “deep gratitude to the Vigilant Hose Company, Frederick County Fire and Rescue, Rocky Ridge VFC, and all who assisted, for their swift response and for extinguishing the blaze.”

The archbishop will offer the 4 p.m. Mass Aug. 31 at St. Anthony Shrine. 

Tim Clarke, president of the Vigilant Hose Company, said his emergency responders were the first on the scene and the last to leave. They worked in conjunction with the many other regional responders to battle the blaze.

Clarke said the thoughts and prayers of the company are with those injured or displaced by the fire.

“We also have the St. Anthony Parish in our prayers,” he said. “Many members of our organization are current or past members of the congregation.”

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

Editor’s note: Due to inaccurate information provided by an archdiocesan official to the Catholic Review, the original version of this story incorrectly reported that the seminarian was also injured in the fire. He was not. This story was updated at 8 p.m. on Aug. 31, 2024, to correct that information and add comments from Father Vicchi. The names of the three occupants of the rectory, unavailable at the time this story was first published, have also been added.

Also see: Archbishop Lori offers support to Emmitsburg parish devastated by rectory fire

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