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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
Historical Sketches of the Parish
of St. John the Baptist,
Savannah
By VERY REV. JOS. D. MITCHELL, V. G.
VIII.
The continuation of the Parish Story.
Father le Mercier remained in charge of the lit
tle flock in Savannah from October 1796 to Janu
ary 1802. During these years he organized the con
gregation, obtained from the City sufficient land
on which to erect a Church, and dedicated the edi
fice to the service of God under the patronage of
St. John the Baptist. Only one other priest has
left any records during that period, with the ex
ception of the Rev. John le Moine whose funeral
record appears on the cover of the old register,
and who died in Savannah in 1794.
This other priest, whose signature appears twice
under date of the 8th of December, 1799, was Pierre
Pabade, a French Sulpician father, then on his
way from Havana to Baltimore. Father Babade
officiated at Mass in the house of Pierre Joseph
Mirault on Sunday, December 8th, and after Mass
he baptized two negro slaves belonging to Gabri
el Yvonnet.
Pierre Babade was a member of the Society of St.
Sulpice in Paris, who had fled from France to
Spain during the Revolution. Finding no en
couragement for the work of his Society in Spain,
he resolved to migrate to the West Indies, in the
hopes that he might establish a School or Semin
ary on the Island of Cuba. He was warmly receiv
ed by the old Spanish families of Havana, and for
a time things looked hopeful for a successful in
stitution. But the government of Spain, distrust
ful of French influence, so hindered the work that
M. Babade was forced to relinquish the project
and determined to join his confreres in Balti
more. Accordingly, he left Havana, bringing with
him several boys from San Domingo, among them
Denis and Achille Cottineau who, with their com
panions, became the first students of St. Mary’s
Academy. These two boys were the sons of Cap
tain Denis Cottineau and the nephews of Jean
Berard Montalet of Sapelo and Jean Baptiste Wil
liam Polycarp Montalet, owner of the “Hermitage”
near Savannah. The party landed in Savannah
on their way from the West Indies, and it was on
the Sunday during their stay here waiting for an
opportunity to proceed to Baltimore that M. Ba
bade said Mass and performed the two baptisms
mentioned, thus leaving his signature on the old
record book to tell the story.
In Baltimore he became the spiritual director
of Mother Seton’s school for girls, and the little
community held him in the highest affection and
esteem. His career in Baltimore, which lasted un
til 1820, was that of a saintly priest of God, and
his name is still held in veneration among the
Sulpicians in the United States. He taught both
French and Spanish at the College, and assisted
at times on the various missions.
From the Annals of the Sulpicians we learn that
he was born in Lyons, came to the West Indies in
1796, arrived in Baltimore in December, 1799, and
remained until after 1820 when he returned to
France and died in his native city in 1846.
The Incorporation of the Parish
In 1801 an Act of Incorporation of the Trustees
of the Roman Catholic Church of the City of Sa
vannah was passed by the State Legislature, and
the following gentlemen were named in this Act
as the first Trustees:
Don Emanuel Ringel, Thomas Dollaghan,
Thomas Callaghan, John Shaw, Francis Roma,
Bartholomew Coquillon and John Mocquet Mon
talet. In this act it was provided that the trus
tees should hold office during the term of one
year, three being subject to removal annually at
the option of the congregation; and on the first
Monday in January annually, “between the hours
of ten and twelve o’clock at the meeting house of
said church” the congregation should assemble
for the purpose of electing three trustees, “discreet
and virtuous men,” to hold office for one year
aforesaid. The Act is signed by David Meriwether,
Speaker of the House of Representatives; John
Jones, President of the Senate protempore, and
Josiah Tattnall, Governor of Georgia.
The full text of this Act of Incorporation has
been preserved and will be published complete
when the entire history of the Parish is printed
in book form.
A Change of Rectors and Father le Mercier's
Return
On Saturday, January 16, 1802, Father le Mercier
records the baptism of Lewis Thomas, son of Lew
is Nicholas Allard, late of San Domingo, which he
has performed “with special license of the Rev
erend felix-mac-carthy, Rector of the said church;”
and he signs this record:
Le Mercier priest
ex-rector of st. john’s church.
Felix MacCarthy, whose name indicates his na
tionality, remained in charge of the congregation
until the following May, his signature several
times occuring as follows:
Felix MacCarthy
R. C. Rector of St. John’s Church, Savannah.
From the 27th day of May until Sunday, Febru
ary 6th, 1803, there was no priest in Savannah to
exercise the ministry here.
We can find nothing concerning the Rev. Felix
MacCarthy, nor do we have any record of why he
remained so short a time. From the history of
Charleston and other places in the South (Augus
ta especially) we know that there was already at
that early date some dispute between the French
and English speaking Catholics regarding the
language to be used in Church announcements
and sermons, but Savannah seems to have been
free from such factionalism. The trustees were
chosen from the various nationalities represented,
as appears from the Act of Incorporation men
tioned above, and the records show a friendly
feeling existing among all classes. However, the
following, taken from the pages of the old book
and written in the beautiful hand of Thomas De-
chenaux, would indicate that even in the old Sa
vannah parish, “the course of true love did not al
ways run smooth:”
BE IT PUBLICLY KNOWN BY THESE
PRESENTS:
That on Sunday the Sixth of February, one
thousand eight hundred and three; at the re
quest of a large number of the congregation—
I, Francis Roma, one of the trustees of the
Roman Catholick Church in this city, wait
ed on the Reverend Oliver Le Mercier, formerly
Rector of said Church (and lately returned to
this place) for the purpose of performing Di
vine Service. On his politely receiving my re
quest, he asked for the keys of the Church.
On my waiting on several of the trustees whom
I knew to have them in their possession, I
found none of them at home; I of course in my
private name and public capacity as a trus
tee, the only one present, broke open the win
dow of the vestry room, entered the Church,
and opened the door inside in the presence
of Thomas Dechenaux and John Dillon, both
(Continued to page 15.)