Newspaper Page Text
jj| Member of the National j|
ffij Catholic Welfare Con- -U
| Oft* Uulietiw 1
The Only Catholic jfW
News paper Between till
|§8j ference News Service \
1 Official Organ of the Catholic Laymens Associatkm/’Ceoigia 1
M TO BRING ABOUT A FRIENDLIER FEELING AMONG GEORGIANS. IRRESPECTIVE OF CREED" j|
Baltimore and New B-j
ij Orleans. ^
ten cents A COPY. VOL, xi. No. 5. AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, MARCH 8, 1930 ' issued semi-monthly—$2.00 a year
St. Petersburg’s New Church Dedicated
ST. MARY’S CHURCH, ST. PETERSBURG
ST, MARY'S PARISH
HAS MAGNIFICENT
NEWEOIFICE
Bishop Barry Officiates
at Formal Opening of
Structure Erected Under
Direction of Fr. O’Riordan
Architect's drawing ot the new St. Mary’s Church, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Fourth Street. It was dedicated January 26.
The church, now nearing completion, is located at Filth Avenue South and
FATHER O'RIORDAN
NOTED AS BUILDER
*
In Nine Years in St. Peters- ;
hurg He Has Erected Rec
tory, Two Churches and
Combination Buildin<r
1,500 Catholic Colonists
Came to Florida in 1768
Father Clavreul’s History of Catholicity in State Tells of
Their Coming Under Leadership of Rev. Dr. Petrus
Camps Fjve Years After Spain Ceded Florida to Eng
land
A short decade ago St. Petersburg
■was a mission served by the Jesuit
Fathers at Sacred Heart Church,
Tampa. Now it boasts of the beauti
ful new St. Mary's Church, next to
the Manhattan Hotel, St. Paul's
Church and school building, Twelth
Street and Nineteenth Avenue, North,
of which Rev. J. F. Enright is pastor,
and St. Joseph’s Church, at Lakeview
Avenue and Twentieth Street. It is
safe to assert that in no community
in the United States has the church
made more progress in that period
than in St. Petersburg.
The career of Rev. J. J. O’Riovdan,
S. T. L., as pastor of St. Mary's
Church, in many respects is that of
the development of the Church in St.
Petersburg. Father O’Riordan was or
dained in Rome at St. John Lateran
Cathedral March 22, 1913. He came to
Florida the following July and has
served here under three bishops,
Bishop Kenny, Bishop Curley, now
Archbishop of Baltimore, and Bishop
Barry. He was pastor at Sanford
when he was appointed pastor at St.
Petersburg October 1, 1920: he was
installed as pastor January 1. 1921.
But recently a struggling mission,
Father O’Riordan set to work to build
up the Church in the city. He found
the foundations solidly laid by the
Jesuit Fathers and their successors.
In the intervening ten years he lias
with the cooperation of his parish-
oners succeeded in erecting a spendid
rectory, St. Paul’s Church and school,
St. Joseph's Church and now the new
St. Mary’s.
The situation in St. Petersburg has
been a difficult one. In the summer
there were only a handful of Cath
olics; in tlie winter the Catholics
among the visitors had to have facili
ties to practice their religion There
was also a shortage of priests. The
reverses which hit Florida did not
spare St. Petersburg. But these were
but obstacles to be overcome, not dif
ficulties which' Father O’Riordan re
garded as insurmountable. It never
occurred to him that they could not
be overcome; they just had to be
conquered. As a result, St. Peters
burg, whose Catholic population is in
creased many fold in the winter sea
son, is now equipped with churches
to handle the situation. His work in
directing the erection of a rectory.
(Continued on Page Teh)
(From ‘‘Notes on the Catholic Church
in Florida”, by the late Rev. Henry
P. Clavrene.)
FROM THE ENGLISH OCCUATION
TO THE RETROCESSION
TO SPAIN, 1784
Havana having been taken by the
English in 1763, its restoration to
Spain brought about, the same year,
the cession of Florida to England,
leaving under the undisputed control
of the latter country the whole of
the Atlantic coast from Canada to
the Florida keys. When the British
landed at St. Augsutine (1764) Flori
da was practically what the Spaniards
had found it two hundred years be
fore, a wilderness, for no attempt
had been made to settle the coun
try. England pursued a different
policy. The first act of the British
governor was to invite, by the
proffer of lands, immigrants to set
tle, barring, however, Catholics. This
hostile attitude to a religion professed
by all who lived at tire time in St.
Augsutine, precipitated their depar
ture. They left in a body and with
them all vestige of Catholicity dis
appeared.
In God's providence, whqt ap
parently was to give the church her
death blow in Florida only prepared
the way for her maintenance and ex
tension. Among those who availed
themselves of the proffer of the gov
ernment was an Englishman, Turn-
bull, who brought from the Balearic
Islands and the coasts of Italy and
Greece fifteen hundred people under
the leadership of a priest of their
own nationality—Rev. Dr. Petrus
Camps. They landed seventy-five
miles south of St. Augustine, at a
point called Mosquito Lagoon, known
today as New Smyrna, in the month
of August, 1768. After nine years of
incredible hardships six hundred of
the survivors of the fifteen hundred
left, Noveipber, 1777. for St. Augustine
where they arrived on he ninth day
of the same month.
dated November 9. 1777, and written
in Spanish. The translation reads:
“On the ninth of November, 1777,
the Church of San Pedro has been
transferred from Mosquito to the
city of St. Augustine, with the same
colony of Mahones, who had settled
in said locality and the ame rector
and missionary. Dr. Don Pedro
Camps.”
When the New Smyrna refugees
arrived in St. Augsutine there were
yet standing two churches, the
Bishop’s residence and chapel, south
of the Plaza, but they remained
closed to tlie worthy priest and his
flock. Hence, in order to say Mass
for them, Father Camps was obliged
to hire a room in some private house
in the northern part of the city,
which had been assigned to his peo
ple. If there to be a thing which
appeals to common sympathy, it is
the spectacle of these six hundred
refugees who, destitute of all, even of
a place of worship, have no alterna
tive but to throw themselves upon
the hospitality, I will not say of
strangers, but of neopie manifestly
hostile to their faith.
records of the Church of San Pedro
give only the name of Rev. Dr.
Camps, it is known from common re
port that there was another priest
acting as his assistant. His name,
however, does not appear on the rec
ords.
RETROCESSION; 1784-1819
In 1784, with Catholic Spain once
more in power, we see St. Augustine
as twenty years before, with its par
ish priest, a chaplain at the garri
son, offiicals and a few settlers, all
Catholic. Father Hasset was parish
priest and Father Michael O’Reilly
assistant and military chaplain. Both
were of Irish birth, educated at the
University of Salamanca, Spain, and
consequently conversant with Span
ish and English. This condition had
been insisted upon for the sake of the
English speaking settlers along the
St. John’s and the St. Mary’s rivers.
The two churches which existed 20
years before were now in ruins, and
Mass was said in a private house un
til the upper story of the former
Episcopal house was turned into a
temporary chapel.
Tire work on The new church was
begun in 1791. The Spanish govern-
(Continued on Page 8)
(Special to The Bulletin)
i ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. —Rt. Rev.
| Patrick Barry, D. D., Bishop of St.
j Augustine, officiated at the dedico-
| tion here January 26 of the new St.
j Mary's Church in the presence of one
I of the largest congregations that has
j every attended a church ceremony
| in South Florida. Bishop Barry was
j assisted at the dedication ceremony
j by Rev. J. J. O’Riordan, S. T. L., pas-
j tor of St. Mary’s Church, who direct-
1 ed the erection of the church, and by
I a number of clergy of the Diocese.
Rt. Rev. Francis Sadlier, O. S. B.. D.
j D., coadjutor abbot of St. Leo Abbey,
was among those present at the dedi-
j cation.
I Long before the hour set for the
j ceremonies St. Mary’s Church, spa-
i cious though it is. was filled, and
j hundreds were unable to gain admri-
| sion. Among those attending were
! several local ministers, including
j Chaplain Evan Edwards, rector of
| St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Rev.
| Kerrison Juniper, pastor of the First
, Congregational Church. Hon. Arthur
| R. Thompson, Mayor of St. Peters
burg. and other city and state offi-
i cials had special places in the congre-
j gation.
In connection with the dedication of
j St Mary's, the cornerstone was put
in place by Bishop Barry. Bishop
Barry complimented the parish and
its pastor for their zeal and courage in
erecting the stately edifice, and he
expressed his pleasure also at its lo
cation and spacious grounds. Father
O'Riordan in his remarks recalled the
history of the palish and said he hop
ed to witness another ceremony five
years from now made possible by the
payment in full of the church debt by
that time.
The first Masses were said in the
new St. Mary’s Church the first Sun
day in February by Father O’Rior
dan, Rev. P. J. Bresnahan, also of St.
Mary’s, and Father Ares, Father
Canty and Father Sheedy, visiting
priests.
The laying of the cornerstone was
combined with the dedication of the
church because Bishop Barry found
it imposible to get to St. Petersburg
before this time, so crowded lias his
schedule been for the past several
months.
St., Mary's parish numbers about
3,000 souls in the winter and about
500 in the summer.
Madame Marguerite Sullivan Fon-
tresse, noted soloist, sang during the
ceremonies of dedication and the lay
ing of the cornerstone.
The secular program included an
address of welcome to Bishop by Dr.
E.. J. Melville in the name of the
members of the congregation, and one
by Mayor Thompson in the name of
the Cits’ of St. Petersburg.
So numerous are Catholic visitors
in St. Petersburg at this season of
the year that six Masses are said
each Sunday in St. Mary’s Church
alone, with regular Masses also at
St. Paul’s and St. Joseph’s Churches.
Father Enright Pastor of
St. Paul’s, Junior Parish
Bishop Barry Confirms Class
The first care of the worthy priest,
after landing at Mosquito, had been
to build a church and provide it
with all the necessities for Divine
worship, carefully recording every
baptism, marriage and burial.
A statement written and signed by
Father Camps refers to the exodus
of the New Smyrna refugees. It is
Father Camps died at St. Augustine
May 19, 1790. The record of his
death, given by Father Michael
O'Reilly, who signs himself Father
Camps’ unworthy successor, informs
us that the venerable priest was born
at Marcadel on the island of Minorca,
and that he was sixty years old at
the time of his death. His body was
removed in 1800 to a vault in the
church, now the Cathedral, where it
was found in 1887, when excavations
preparatory to the re-building of the
church were being made, after the
conflagration which destroyed the
church in the spring of that year.
Governor Zespedes at tlie time of
Father Camps’ death voiced the uni
versal sentiment when, in his of
ficial report, he spoke of him as
of an apostki absolutely devoted to
his people. We lcam that Dr. Camps
was offered a Canonry in his native
land. He was to receive a better
reward, having died before the
ecclesiastical preferment could be
conferred on him. The life of Father
Camps reflecting, as it does, the
abiding presence of the Holv Ghost
in His Church, explains better than
words can her undying life in the
history of the world. Although the
and Preaches
Petersburg’s New
gation
to St.
Congre-
During his visit to St. Petersburg
to dedicate St. Mary’s Church, Bishop
Barry paid an official visit to St.
Paul’s Church, Rev. J. F. Enright,
pastor, where he preached at the
Masses at 9:30 and 10:30 in the morn
ing and administered the sacrament
of Confirmation in the evening to a
large class. This was Bishop Barry’s
first official visit to St. Paul’s since it
was made a parish. The Confirmation
services in the evening closed with
Solemn Benediction, with Bishop Bar
ry celebrant, Father O’Riordan dea
con, Rev. T. A. Colreavy, pastor of
St Cecelia’s Church, Clearwater, sub-
deacon, and Father Enright master of
ceremonies.
Although one of Florida’s newest
parishes, St. Paul’s is already among
its most promising. Its building is a
combination of church and school
erected some time ago under the sup
ervision of Father O'Riordan. Since
coming to St. Paul’s Father Enright
has already through his wise direc
tion and guidance enabled the new
parish to begin to realize on the pros
pects that seemed to await it as a
mission.
Father Enright is an alumnus of
Maynooth College, Ireland, the alma
mater of so many illustrious priests
and prelates who have given distin
guished careers to the Church not
only in Ireland and the United States
but throughout the world. He made
his theological studies at St.' Mary’s
Seminary in Baltimore, and was or
dained June 16, 1927, by Archbishop
Curley in Baltimore.
Appointed assistant at St. Patrick's
Church, Miami Beach, in September,
1927, after having served three months
at the Cathedral in Baltimore, he also
taught in the high school at St. Pat
rick’s. He was named the first pas
tor of St. Paul's Church October 2.
1929. Already he has made arrange
ments for a parish school to be con
ducted by the Franciscan Sisters, to
be opened in September with nine
grades. In addition to the spacious
classrooms the school, which has
every modern convenience, has a spa
cious assembly hall, office and ex
tensive grounds. That St. Paul’s un
der Father Enright’s direction has one
of the brightest of futures is the
prediction cf all who know the par
ish, its people and its pastor.