St. Matthew’s Parish, Hyattsville is celebrating its 209th year in 2020. It was carved from the former St. John’s Parish, which was one of the original 30 parishes established by the General Assembly of the Maryland colony in 1692.
St. Matthew’s Parish established its first church in Hyattsville in 1888, when the Parish constructed a memorial church named after its 7th rector, William Pinkney.
The Rt. Rev. Pinkney, rector from 1836 to 1857, was later elected as Bishop of the Diocese of Washington. When the congregation grew too large for the Pinkney Memorial Church, a new site was found for the Parish. St. Matthew’s has been at its present site since 1951, when the rectory was completed. Construction of the parish hall was finished in 1954 and the present sanctuary followed in 1962. A history of the parish from 1811 to 1961 was written by Betty and Neil Hotchkiss. Click here to read or download it (2.92 MB pdf).
On October 6, 2008 the Spanish congregation led by Fr. Vidal Rivas at St. Luke’s in Bladensburg became tenants of the church. On June 11, 2011 the Spanish and English congregations became one unified parish. The Spanish congregation from San Miguel y Todos los Angeles, also led by Fr. Vidal, united with St. Matthew’s as a community of faith as well on November 23, 2014.
Our Present
St. Matthew’s/San Mateo is now being served by Senior Priest, Father Vidal Rivas and Associate Priest, the Rev. Elena Thompson. We are part of the Northern Prince George’s Region of the Diocese of Washington. The Parish has enjoyed a long and illustrious history in the City of Hyattsville, in bringing its mission of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ to its community.
Our vestry consists of a Senior Warden (Idalia Enriquez), Junior Warden (Jose Ramirez), and twelve members elected to three year terms (Belqui Aleman, Veronica Ayala, Doris DePaz, German Fernandez, Solomon Jackson, Valerio Martinez, Jim Monsma, Mauricio Portillo, Dale Rose, Mirna Salamanca, Manuel Silva, and Rene Silva). The clerk of the vestry is Edith Montoya and the Treasurer is Christian Paylay.
Please join us in our journey and be a part of that history as we begin our 3rd century of worship and mission!
