Maryland officials reinterred 65 of the state's earliest settlers in a powerful ceremony more than 300 years after the settlers' first burials.

The reinterment was held at Historic St. Mary's City, a colonial town off the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, on Sept. 20. Earlier this year, the site drew national headlines when it opened up a reconstructed 17th-century Catholic church. 

The Brick Chapel was the center of Catholic worship in Maryland until 1704, when the Protestant governor of Maryland shuttered the building's doors. 

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The recent reinterment marked the chapel’s most meaningful use yet. Henry Miller, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at Historic St. Mary's City, spoke to Fox News Digital about the observance.

Sept. 20 marked the day the 65 individuals were finally returned to a new burial vault after their remains had been respectfully studied and preserved.

The event, attended by Archbishop of Baltimore William E. Lori, included a procession, a chapel blessing and the reburial.

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Miller painstakingly planned all the period-accurate details, he said, such as the horse-drawn hearse, the cannon salute and the inclusion of "Salve Regina," a hymn that settlers would have known well.

"Having the archbishop was important, as these [settlers] were almost all Catholics," he said. 

"The parts were all planned to create a dignified, memorable and honorable ceremony to return these people to their resting place."

Miller said it took six hours to place all the remains in the vault. To save time, the public ceremony focused on what he called "the most forgotten" — the babies left out of historical records.

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"We placed the remains of eight of them in small black boxes wrapped with black ribbon and a sprig of rosemary attached," he said. "They were in the coffin [we carried]." 

He went on, "I found eight pallbearers who are descendants of 17th-century Maryland immigrants …. Once the coffin was brought into the chapel with an honor guard, the archbishop blessed their remains, and each pallbearer was given a box to carry to the burial vault for interment."

Miller added, "I named the pallbearer and their ancestor, and then said what we could about the little baby they were holding." 

All of the details, down to the coffin, were as accurate and respectful as possible, he said.

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"The coffin itself is a precise reconstruction of one we excavated at the site," Miller said. "We also carefully measured the locations and orientations of all the nails and the soil stains from the coffin wood, so that it was possible to fully and accurately reconstruct it.

"My goal was to honor these long-forgotten men, women and children, showing them dignity and respect at the place they had been buried over three centuries ago," he added. 

Miller also said, "As an archaeologist who helped excavate them, I felt both a professional and personal obligation to see them properly reinterred. It was the proper and respectful way to treat them."

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Before the burial, researchers studied the remains and gleaned insights on everything from chronic illnesses and dental care to lead ingestion and diet in colonial America — something that Miller says will be the subject of a future book.

He also said the event could serve as a model for how excavated remains are treated elsewhere in the U.S., noting that respecting ancestors "is a deeply seated human tradition."

"I feel we honored them as the founders of Maryland, and as individuals who sacrificed much to do that, giving up all they knew to try for a new life in an unfamiliar land," he said. 

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"All of them have been forgotten for centuries, except by a few historians, and this has allowed us to return them to memory."

Beyond Maryland's history, the archaeologist also used the event to deliver a national message about tolerance and coexistence.

The call came just 10 days after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot in Utah, a stark reminder of how political violence continues to divide the U.S.

"[Marylanders] learned that people with different viewpoints can live together without violence," Miller said in his speech. "That is a legacy as important in late 2025 as it was in the 1600s."

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Overall, Miller said that St. Mary's City should be recognized as much as Jamestown and Plymouth, considering the colonial settlement's role in pioneering religious liberty.

"These people set the precedent in North America, beginning in 1634, for a core part of the American experience as expressed in the First Amendment, [meaning] no established church and the free exercise of religion," he said. "The first North American introduction of these ideas happened at St. Mary's City."

"That should place St. Mary's on a par with Jamestown and Plymouth as founding places of the American experience."

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears delivered a blistering one-two punch this weekend, saying Democratic AG candidate Jay Jones has disqualified himself from office after texts emerged in which he wished for the death of a Republican rival’s children.

The coordinated condemnations marked the most aggressive escalation yet in a controversy that has thrown Virginia politics into a fever pitch heading into the nationally watched 2025 election.

"Jay Jones has shown he’s reckless, biased, and willing to trade away his integrity," Miyares wrote in an open letter to Virginians, posted to social media late Saturday. "This conduct is disqualifying."

Hours later, Sears took the stage to deliver remarks and accused Democrats of being "consumed with hate."

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"The enemy is among us, devouring us in Virginia and in America today," Sears said in a fiery speech. "Jay Jones fantasizes about murdered little children lying lifeless in their mother’s arms. And yet he runs for attorney general, our chief law enforcement officer."

The uproar followed the publication of private 2022 text messages in which Jones, then a rising Democrat star, said he hoped former Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert’s children would die. When challenged, Jones doubled down, saying that such grief might be "a good thing" if it advanced his politics.

Jones has since apologized, calling the remarks "embarrassing and shameful," and said he had reached out personally to Gilbert and his family.

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But Virginia Republicans said the damage is irreversible. Miyares, who has served as attorney general since 2022, wrote that as a prosecutor he has "sat with crying victims and grieving families" and heard "the cries of a parent who has lost a child." He said no one, "least of all a candidate for Virginia’s top law-enforcement office, should ever treat such pain as a political tool."

Miyares’ letter put the race's stakes in plain language. "If you believe it is okay to wish death upon a political opponent — vote for my opponent," he wrote. "If you believe it is worth the death of children to advance your political goals — vote for my opponent. If you want to give a green light to violent lunatics — vote for my opponent."

The attorney general said his own oath of office obligates him to protect every Virginian, "regardless of whether they are a Democrat or Republican." He added: "I cannot imagine someone running for this job who advocates for violence."

Sears broadened her criticism beyond Jones, tying his comments to a culture of what she called Democrat "rage politics." 

"The leadership of the Democrat Party is inciting violence as a strategy to win power," Sears said. She noted that gubernatorial candidate Rep. Abigail Spanberger urged her supporters to "let your rage fill you."

"Well, words have meaning," Sears continued. "Rage is defined as violent, uncontrolled anger." She warned Virginians to take notice, citing past threats and attacks on Republicans nationwide, from the 2022 attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s life to school shootings targeting Christians.

"The unstable pull the triggers," Sears added, "but they are inspired by the hate tolerated and encouraged by the leadership of the Democrat Party."

Both Republicans framed the controversy as a turning point in the 2025 election. 

"Prior to this week, this race was about competing views on public safety," Miyares wrote. "Now it’s about basic fitness for public office."

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Sears closed her speech with a plea for unity and faith: "As an immigrant, I have seen what happens when leftists destroy the foundations of freedom." 

"Let each of us act to protect our beloved Commonwealth of Virginia and the gift from God that is the United States of America," Sears concluded.

Fox News Digital did not receive responses on requests for comment from Sears, Miyares or Jones at the time of publication.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman, Danielle Wallace and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.