Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE 6^-THE BULLETIN, April 28, 1962 U. S. Devotions Top Factor in Canonization Of Blessed Martin, Priest-Author Says (N C W C NEWS SERVICE) Public devotion to Blessed Martin de Porres in the United States contributed largely to the decision for the canonization of the Peruvian mulatto scheduled May 6 in St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. Father Leo C Gainor, OP, author of “Life of Blessed Mar tin,” said the devotion was spread by the Blessed Martin Society in Chicago throughout this country and to foreign na tions. The Dominican Brother was declared blessed in 1837, Father Gainor said, but the devotion to him was slow in getting started in the United States. The first public recog nition of Blessed Martin occur red in the wake of the War Between, the States in 1866 when Father Felix Barotti came to Washington, D C., from Rome to serve as a missioned among Negroes in the nation’s capi tal. Father Barotti established a small chapel on Seventh Street in the southwest section of the city and named it in honor of Blessed Martin. The chapel served Negroes of the city until 1874 when a church was built The church was located on Fif teenth Street, Northwest, a half dozen blocks from the White House. Since a church should not be dedicated to a blessed it was named for St Augustine, Father Gainor said. St. Augus tine’s still is a thriving parish in the downtown sector of the city. Father Gainor said after St. Augustine’s was established, interest in Blessed Martin waned for some years but was revived byMsgr. John E Burke, who died in 1925 at the age of 73. He is remembered as a great apostle among the nation’s Negroes. Msgr. Burke first learned of Blessed Martin from the Do minicans while a student for the priesthood in Rome, Father Gainor said. He was ordained about 1878 on the feast of St. Dominic, August 4, in Rome. He espoused the cause of Bles sed Martin and on his return to this country became the first volunteer pastor of the first church for Negroes in New York City in 1883. The church was dedicated to St. Benedict the Moore, Father Gainor related. There Msgr. Burke opened the first home (St. Benedict’s) for destitute Negro children in 1886. The home was staffed by Dominican nuns but now is absorbed into New York Catho lic Charities. When the new St. Benedict the Moor church was opened on West 53rd Street in New York one of the stained glass windows was dedicated to Blessed Martin in memory of Msgr. Burke. The Monsignor had the first medals of Blessed Martin cast and distributed in this country, Father Gainor said. He also composed a prayer to Blessed Martin, which was approved and indulgenced by Pope Leo XIII in 1904, and still is in popular use today, Father Gainor re lated. Msgr. Burke later work ed in Washington and among Negroes throughout the South. He wrote magazine articles and ministered to Negroes until his death, always with great devo tion to Blessed Martin. The year after Msgr. Burke’s death, the cause for canoni zation of Blessed Martin was reopened formally in Rome. This gave an impetus to devo tion to Blessed Martin in the United States. The devotion was of a private nature until 1935 when the first novena in Blessed Martin’s honor was offered by Dominicans. Father Gainor said: “This public devotion came about in an unusual manner.” He re called that Father Thomas Mc- Glynn, O P , a talented sculp tor and writer and son of Frank McGlynn, the actor famous for his portrayals of Abraham Lin coln, became interested in mis- fecr MARIETTA rr*r Sljr- OWENS FLOWER SHOP I k A 1180 ATLANTA ROAD ■ • A : v . ; .7 W: ; ' MARIETTA, GEORGIA . if., S’..' I ...• ; t m, ( •VK-rr i: '.pft.- V . -t' 'T- PVF AlS ' ■ ■ V- • .. ,i : VT/v.r , & '-v.-L.; ;': L - v ; yf ‘ ! ■-->v : ■■ r ro c n f rrt r Tt o b i to * r i j ft, j,v. g;.. • 1 fJ.vV,.; -' ’■■ ,V ■ ' 4i' " . : '• • 7 ■ 5..,... , . TRADE.MARK REG. V. 3. fAT. Off.. ■ ft ;• * m i • ■ . 1 m . •*.. v : ' ' v BOTTLING COMPANY •A . ■ ■ A.y ... ■ ■ ■A ■" v'" - 506 ROSWELL STREET MARIETTA, GEORGIA '‘■-""■""'I' ' % * >' '■ A' MAYES WARD FUNERAL HOME FUNERAL DIRECTORS Ambulance Service Marietta, Ga. 408 Church Street DIAL 428-1511 DEVOTION TO BLESSED MARTIN DE PORRES by Catholics in the U. S. has been hailed as one of the primary factors in the coming (May 6) canonization of the Peruvian mulatto. Father Thomas McGlynn, O.P. (above), famed sculptor and writer, executed a statue of Blessed Martin in 1930 and later conceived the idea for a novena to Blessed Martin for the students at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Ill. in 1935. The Dominican priest’s statue and novena gave worldwide recognition and impetus to the devotion to Blessed Martin.—(NC Photos) sion work among Negroes while a student at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington. Father McGlynn executed a statue of Blessed Martin and wrote a stage play dealing with racial relations. While con tinuing studies in Rome after his ordination, Father McGlynn conceived the idea of a novena to Blessed Martin for students at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Ill. The idea of the novena stem med from a talk which Father McGlynn had with Eugenio Car dinal Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, Father Gainor related. The cardinal visited Father McGlynn’s studio and they spoke of devotion to Bles sed Martin. The Cardinal re quested prayers by Dominicans for his brother, Francis Pacelli, a lawyer, who was ill, and urged that the prayers seek the intercession of Blessed Martin. The Cardinal predicted at that time that a great de votion to Blessed Martin would arise, Father Gainor said. Father Gainor said the first group novena to Blessed Mar tin among Dominicans in the U. S. resulted. He said it was a “mail order novena.” He de tailed that Father McGlynn wrote to Father Norbert Georges, OP., a professor at the River Forest house of studies, urging him to interest the students in the novena. Father Georges, who has be come a Blessed Martin devotee by translating Stanislaus Fum- et’s “Meet Blessed Martin” from the French, encouraged the students to write to relatives and friends to join in the novena to Blessed Martin for the re covery of the Cardinal’s broth er. Thus came the first re corded novena to Blessed Mar tin in the U S. The Students mimeographed copies o f Father McGlynn’s letter, mailed them to parents, relatives and friends. The no vena began on January 28, 1935 and concluded on February 5. ’ The novena was apparently a failure in its purpose for Francis Pacelli died,” Father Gainor related. “But in another way the novena was a wonder ful success for it gave a world wide impetus to the devotion to Blessed Martin. There were no public services for this no vena. It was conducted in the cloisters of the Dominicans, but the cloisters did not keep the letters out. ‘ ‘The news of this novena and favors granted to relatives of the students spread like wild fire,” Father Gainor continued. ‘ ’Soon letters began to pour into the students about favors re ceived through intercession to Blessed Martin. The movement was under way. Newspapers were quick to pick up reports of a new colored ‘saint’ and of the white devotion to him — a new devotion launched in quite an unexpected way.” At this time Father Edward L Hughes, OP, joined the move ment. Father Hughes then was editor of the Torch magazine published in New York. He filled the magazine with stories about Blessed Martin’s life. Thepub- lication became a clearing house in recording favors re ceived, Father Gainor said, and Father Hughes made the Torch the dispenser of Blessed Mar tin literature and information. He founded the Blessed Martin Guild and organized the first public novena to the mulatto Brother. The first public novena to Blessed Martin took place in the Blue Chapel of the Domini can Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary in Union City, N. J., Father Gainor said. It open ed on October 28, 1935 and concluded on November 5, Bles sed Martin’s feast day. The Novena attracted much attention among Religious and the laity and began a long series of de votions to Blessed Martin in the chapel. Father Gainor said the chapel became associated with favors granted through the inter cession of Blessed Martin. Do minican tertiaries ' made the first public pilgrimage to the chapel on March 29, 1936 and took part in devotions to Bless ed Martin. The pilgrims came from the New York-New Jersey area. Father Georges became offi cial promoter of Blessed Mar tin’s cause in the United States. He also traveled extensively to other countries, particularly Peru, to advance devotion to Blessed Martin. When Father Georges was transferred to Chicago in 1941, he established the devotions to Blessed Martin in the Domini can parish of St. Pius where they have been conducted for more than 20 years on Monday nights. He also organized the Blessed Martin Society which now has thousands of members. BRUMBY FURNITURE COMPANY COMPLETE HOME FURNISHERS TELEPHONE 8-1581 MARIETTA, GEORGIA PHONES 428-2686 — 428-2687 RALPH E. MARLER, Owner Marler Oil Company GASOLINE and OILS WHOLESALE and RETAIL Distributors: U. S. Royal Tires ATLANTA ROAD MARIETTA, GA. Nun-Educator Warns Library Convention Delegates Against Restricting Range (By John G Deedy, Jr. N C W C. News Service) PITTSBURGH -- A renowned nun-poetess cautioned dele gates at the 38th annual Catho lic Library Association con vention here against imposing restrictions on range of interest. ‘ Although we identify ours as a Christian civilization, we do not and cannot, even in our libraries, limit our areas of thinking and serving to the Christian era, ” said Sister M Madeleva, president emeri tus of St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind. In a keynote address, the Holy Cross nun declared that ’ ‘although th e calendars of the world are the Julian calendars, and our history bears the mark ‘Anno Domini, the year of Our Lord,’ our intellectual activi ties include all times, all cul tures, all prevailing forms of existence.” She made the observation in exploring the possibilities of intellectual unity in the world. Intellectual unity is possible under the fewest and most basic principles, Sister Madeleva commented, adding that these must be “mutuallyacceptable.” ‘The natural law is such a principle,” Sister Madeleva stated, “possibly the only one. The refusal of two great peo ple and their satellites to ac cept this right of man, a pos sessor of his own home, the creator and protector of his family, a worshiper of his God, makes both a free world and in tellectual unity in it impossible. “But for the Christian world and the non-Christian peoples believing in the integrity of Other countries established devotions to Blessed Martin. They were spread in the Carib bean area by Irish Dominicans; in Ireland, where there is a Blessed Martin Center in Dub lin; in England, where Father McGlynn recently executed a statue of Blessed Martin for St. Dominic’s church in Lon don, and in Peru, where Bless ed Martin was declared patron of all social justice in 1939 on the 300th anniversary of his death in Lima. “Today Blessed Martin is known extensively throughout the world, especially in the United States,” Father Gainor said. ‘ It didn’t take his clients long to realize Blessed Martin has a gift basket for the sick, infirm and the needy: that Mar tin does not recognize nor ob serve any color lines. “In St. Peter’s Square at the canonization ceremonies in the hugh throng expected there will be three Dominicans from the United States -- Fathers Mc Glynn, Hughes and Georges, who labored so effectively to pro mote the event and to hear the solemn words of Pope John XXIII pronounce Martin de Porres a saint of the Church,” Father Gainor said. the individual and his rights, unity is not only a possibility but a bond,” she continued. ‘ This bond can be exercised eminently through our worlds of books, through our careful theological, philosophical, eco nomic studies, of world unity, honest thinking and unselfish action.” Sister Madeleva told the li brarians that they could ‘ ‘no longer dare to be tongue-tied in our own English speech.” “We must learn and read and speak at least two other modern languages,” she com mented. “I say we must and I mean exactly that. It may be a bit late for us to begin but we are training young li brarians. Facility in language is imperative in this training. Beyond all diplomatic tech niques and summit conferences a speaking knowledge of other languages provides the key to international understanding and a free world. * ‘Every librarian should oblige himself to read some thing in two modern languages beyond English every week,” Sister Madeleva said. “Let it be a newspaper, a magazine, a book of essays or short arti cles. Better not try poetry or novels. "And doTt let us worry about the words we do not know. We all read innumerable articles in English on science, industry, medicine, filled with words we do not know, ideas that we do not perfectly understand. But our limitations do not prevent our reading of what we can understand. ” Sister Madeleva concluded with a salute to “four great Catholic libraries” founded within the past five years: Pius XII Library, St. Louis Univer sity; Marillac College Library, Normandy, Mo.; the library at the College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minn., and “the li brary of heroic dimensions” under construction at Notre Dame University. “With such vitality in the world of Catholic libraries we can anticipate the best that books can provide for intellectual unity in a free world,” Sister Madeleva pre dicted. *5 Don’t laugh at other’s mis takes- it may be your turn next. — m One way to show a fine com mand of language - say nothing. Italian Restaurant .Spring at North Ave., N.W. TR. 6-9666 10:30 A.St. •til Midnight Italian and .American Antipasto — Spaghetti Brasciole — Pizzas Venetian Chicken Baked Lasagna Free Parking at ad jacent Gulf Station Take-out Orders , A' Phone 428-5252 Marietta Unique Knitting Company Manufacturers Of English Rib & Sport Hosiery ACWORTH, GEORGIA