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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
5
JANUARY 3, 1931
Fr. Walsh Attending \ r J’f xe Acadiatis Return Home
Los Angeles Meeting -
Spring Hill College President |
Is Secretary of Jesuit |
Education Body
James T. Vocelle of Florida, Former Georgian and De
scendant of Acadians, Expelled From Their Acadian
Homes by English in 1755, Describes Reunion of De
scendants in the Land of E vangeline
(Special to The Bulletin)
MOBILE, Ala.—Very Rev. J. M. j
Walsh, S. J., president of Spring i
Hill College has left to attend the I
meeting of the Inter-Province Com
mittee on Studies of the Jesuit Order
of which he has the distinction of
acting as secretary. The meeting will
be held at Loyola University in Los
Angeles. While in California Father
Walsh will represent the Hill school
at the Tournament of Roses where he
will view the Alabama-Washington
State football game on New Year’s
Day.
. The Christinas vacation of Spring
Rill students began December 19 and
Continues until January 5th. On the
students’ return they will follow a
repetition of the year’s work, fol
lowed by the mid-term exams.
The student body at the Hill num
bers representatives from every Sou
thern state as well as boys from the
East and Middle West. Some of these
latter, due to the great distance of
their homes from Mobile, spent the
holidays at the Hill, but these were
comparatively few in number.
With the Thomas Byrne Memorial
Library at Spring Hill College prac
tically completed at a cost of approxi
mately $125,000 preparations are being
made by the faculty and student
body to secure books with which to
stock the new building, which ranks
with the finest library edifices of any
college or university in the South.
The Student Council of the Hill in
stitution has the matter in charge at
present and student committees will
be appointed within the next; few
days to handle the drive. The plan
in brief is to have the students solicit
gifts of books from friends of the
school and alumni who live in or
r near their home towns. It is expect
ed that the Hill students will cover
practically the entire South in the
coming drive. Faculty representa
tives will also play a large part in
the coming campaign and will make
personal calls in many localities.
Savannah Council
Names Directors
The following article by
James T. Vocelle, a native of
Georgia, where he served in the
Georgia Legislature as the rep
resentative of Camden County a
decade ago, and now a prominent
member of the Florida bar, living
at Vero Beach, Fla., is of unusual
interest not only because of Mr.
Vocelle’s connection with Geor
gia and Florida but also because
of . re manner in which the
Acadians are linked with the his
tory of Georgia. Mr. Vocelle’s
ancestors and many others expell
ed from Grand Pro, as recorded in
history and in Longfellow’s Evan
geline,” found their w r ay to Geor
gia, just as others of the four or
five thousand souls driven from
their homes in 1755 found a haven
in New England, the Middle At
lantic States, Louisiana and else
where. Mr. Vocelle and descend
ants of the Acadians in all parts of
the United States returned to the
ancient home of their ancestors
August 20 to commemorate the
one hundred and seventy-fifth an
niversary of this tragic milestone
in the history of the Acadian col
ony.
Columbian
ganized.
Squires Reor-
Other News
(Special to Hie Bulletin)
SAVANNAH, Ga. — At a recent
meeting of Savannah Council,
Knights of Columbus, D. J. Sheehan,
J. J. Powers, N- T. Stafford, P. J.
Golden, W. J. Saunders and 0. J.
McManus were named to represent
the Council on the board of direc
tors of the Catholic Associatipn,
which owns and operates the splen
did building in which the Knights of
Columbus, Catholic Women’s Club
and other Catholic organizations have
their quarters
Columbian Squires, Circle No. 15,
sponsored by the Council, have been
reorganized and are functioning en
thusiastically; an investiture is ex
pected in the near future. A Decem
ber feature of the Circle was a week
end outing at the Vernon River
Camp, which ended Sunday with an
oyster roast in which the members
of the Council joined.
Rev. John J. Kennedy delivered
the principal address at the memorial
exercises for departed members held
recently.
i The death of John T. McCullougn
was a severe blow to the Council.
He was a loyal and valuable mem
ber, and a consistent worker. His
most recent post in the Council was
that of lecturer.
The Council followed its annual
custom of sponsoring Christmas
charity, and arrangements for the
charity were made at the first De
cember meeting.
Presbyterian Pastor
Becomes a Catholic
BY JAMES THOMAS VOCELLE
“Man is unjust, but God is just; and
finally justice triumphs.” _
This truism contained in this sen
tence taken from that immortal poem,
“Evangeline,” which as Carlyle said
of his “French Revolution,” came “di
rect and flamingly from the heart of
a living man,” namely, the noble
Puritan bard, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, was never more splendid
ly commemorated than it was on Au
gust 20th just passed when there was
commemorated at Grand Pre the one
hundred seventy-fifth anniversary of
the expulsion of the Acadians from
their homes, the tragic story of which
has been preserved for all time by
the brilliant pen of the immortal New
Englander.
On that day Acadians from all parts
of Canada, New England, Louisiana,
Florida and other parts of the United
States, to the number of five thou
sand gathered at the scene of the
tragedy that befell their forebears to
clasp the hands of each other in fra
ternal greeting and to recall i • a spirit
of love the memories of those who
had gone before.
One hundred seventy-five years be
fore our fathers had been torn from
their families, been despoiled of their
earthly possessions and sent into ex
ile among enemies to their faith and
their race, all because of prejudice
and greed on the part of the perpe
trators to a race, which they seem
ingly wish. 1 to be exterminated from
the face of the earth and which num
bered between four and five thousand
souls. One hundred and seventy-five
years later their descendants, the rep
resentatives of a class now number
ing over half a million people, return
ed to the fatherland and, kneeling on
the spot made sacred by the imprint
of the feet of their ancestors, offered
up the great Sacrifice of Calvary for
the happy repose of the souls of the
honored dead and in forgiveness and
love for all mankind. Can anyone
gainsay the words of Longfellow that
‘Justice finally triumphs”?
people, past and present, were re
counted. The University of Acadia,
located at Wolfville, just three miles
distant from Grand Pre, was elo
quently represented by Professor Mas
sey; the town of Wolfville by its
deputy mayor, Mr. Herbin, son of
John Frederic Herbin, the famous
historian of Grand Pre. and himself a
descendant of the Acadian people;
the Republic of France by the Hon.
Mr. Cousier, charge d'affaires of the
French legation at Ottawa; the Prov
ince of New Brunswick by its prime
minister, Hon. J. B. M. Baxter, and
Hon. A. J. Legere, its provincial sec
retary; the Nova Scotia Historical So
ciety by its president, Dr. D. M. Mor
rison; Massachusetts and New Eng
land by Hon. John C. Chase, lieuten
ant governor of Massachusetts, who
presented the personal regrets of Gov
ernor Allen for not being able to be
present; the Province of Edward Is
land by Hon. A. E. Arsenault, one of
the Justices of the Supreme Court;
the Dominion Atlantic Railroad by its
president and general manager, Mr.
George E. Graham, and the Acadian
people themselves more intimately
represented by Hon. Arthur T. Le-
Blanc, Justice of the Supreme Court
of the Province of New Brunswick,
and President of L’Assomption Na-
tionale, who presided over the meet
ing; Mr. F. G. J. Comeau, General
Freight and Passenger Agent of the
Dominion Atlantic Railroad, to whom
must go most of the credit for the
success of the meeting; Father J. A.
Allard of Bathurst, New Brunswick;
Secretary of the Grand Pre Memorial
Committee; Father F. A. Bourgeois,
celebrant of the Mass, and chaplain
of the Penitentiary at Dorchester,
New Brunswick; Hon. Dudley Le-
Blanc, Public Service Commissioner
of Louisiana; Hon. Gordon Brunson,
Mayor of Crowley, Louisiana; Hon.
R. W. E. Landry, a distinguished
barrister of Yarmouth, and member
of the Nova Scotia Legislature. There
were detachments of Canadian and
French Marines there and all in all
Church and State were ably repre
sented by a distinguished group, all
of whom united in expressing admira
tion and praise for the Acadian peo
ple, a marked contrast to what had
happened one hundred and seventy-
five years before, when British sol
diers, acting under orders from Gov
ernor Lawrence of the Province, had
exiled the Acadian farmers and press
ed upon their brows as bitter and
piercing a crown of thorns as had
ever penetrated the flesh of man since
the black night of Calvary had ap
parently settled the fate of Him who
has ever since been the hope and in
spiration of all the world.
Illinois Minister Ordained
Twenty-One Years
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
MARENGO, 111. — Mr. Clarence
^■vis Austin, until May this year the
x jMLtor of the Presbyterian Church
^ffere, has been received into the
W Catholic Church by the Rev. D. P.
i Drennan of Marengo.
Mr. Austin was bom in Redding.
He pursued his classical course at
Marion Collegiate Institute at Ma
rion. N. Y., and did his college work
at Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo,
Mich., where he received the degree
of Bachelor of Arts. He later at
tended Rochester University, Roch
ester, N. Y.. and New Brunswick
Seminary, New Brunswick, N. J.,
where he was ordained. June, 1909.
During the war Mr. Austin served
as an enlisted man in the Ninth
United States Infantry until after
Chateau Thierry when he became a
First Lieutenant and acted ai
Reconaissance Officer. On his re
turn to the United States he spent
three years in the hospital before
coming to Marengo.
«“ At Marengo he taught for three
years in the high school before being
called to the pastorate of the Pres
byterian Church there. In May he
resigned his pastorate and now has
been received into the Catholic
Church by Father Drennan.
It was a glorious occasion and a
kindly Providence cast His benign in
fluence over it. The morning of Au
gust 20th dawned with a fine mist of
rain falling and the skies overcast,
bearing ominous predictions for the
day, but before the hour had been
reached for the exercises to begin, the
mists cleared away and the -eauty of
an Acadian day had cast its smile
upon the multitudes assembled.
As it is said in “Evangeline,”
Still stands the forest primeval; but
under the shade of its branches
Dwells another race, with other cus
toms and language.”
And so it was in returning home
the Acadians found all changed from
what their fathers had left, and yet
one thing remained unchanged. It
was the paternal touch of the Cath
olic Church that was felt by the exile
in his wanderings and it was the same
touch that greeted the pilgrim on his
return. Just as the ancient faith was
the mainstay of the Acadian people,
so it remains in the hearts and souls
of their children, and in spite of the
changes wrought by the hand of the
tyrant and the march of time in the
Acadian land, the unity and perpet
uity of the Catholic Church was never
more forcibly presented nor exempli
fied than it was when the exiles re
turned home. The old church was
there to greet them on their arrival
and the exercises of the day opened
with a solemn High Mass, of which
the Rev. F. A. Burgeois of Dorches
ter, New Brunswick, was the cele
brant. The sermon of the Mass was
preached in French by the Rev.
Father Alfred Lang, of St. Isidore,
New Brunswick, and in English by
the Rev. Father Philippe Hebert of
Buctouche, New Brunswick.
One of the most colorful parts of
the entire celebration was” the pres
ence of fifty Acadian girls from Lou
isiana dressed in the costumes in
vogue in the days of Evangeline,
which added another link to bind the
present with the past.
The exercises were held around the
memorial church which has been
erected on the site of the ancient par
ish church of St. Charles, in which
the men of Acadia were imprisoned
by Col. Winslow on September 5, 1755,
and which is a replica of the ancient
edifice. So far as the religious part
of the exercises was concerned one
might well have envisioned an Aca
dian gathering on a feast day in the
days before the expulsion. The self
same service, the self same hymns,
all sung by a choir of priests to the
number of twenty-five. Once more
the “Ave Maris Stella,” the national
hymn of the Acadian people, and once
more was heard the voice of the priest
as from the long ago days of yester
day proclaiming “Adjutorium nostrum
in nomine Domini.”
In the afternoon the secular exer
cises were conducted and it was a dis
tinguished assemblage. The Province
of Nova Scotia was represented by
the Hon. J. C. Tory, Lieutenant Gov
ernor, and by the Hon. Dr. G. H.
Murphy, of Halifax. Both of these
gentlemen delivered inspiring and
pleasing addresses in which the splen
did traits of character of the Acadian
What stronger proof could be pre
sented of the unity, the age, the
youth, the vigor and the strength of
Catholic faith, and yet how neglect
ful have we Catholics of the United
States been in preserving and pre
senting to those around us the history
of the Acadian people. No more beau
tiful and inspiring story of fidelity to
God, Church and Country has ever
been told than the story of the Aca
dians and yet we have left it to a
Protestant and a Puritan in the per
son of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
to preserve. Well has he performed
his task and in a manner most cred
itable to the Catholic Church and of
its tenets as everyone who has read
“Evangeline” (and who has not done
so) will testify. The neglect with
which Acadian history has been treat
ed by Catholics of the United States is
not at all creditable and one of the
duties that we owe to this heroic race
is to make more accessible to the gen
eral public the real story of what
happened upon the shores of the
Basin of Minas one hundred and sev
enty-five years ago, and in further
ance of this the celebration that was
held at Grand Pre on August 20th is
a good beginning. It made a wonder
ful impression on those who saw it
and was a splendid example of the
fidelity and courage and the sterling
quality of Catholic citizenship, as well
as striking proof of the very impor
tant part played by Catholics in the
history of the provinces. In comment
ing on the Acadians The Telegraph-
Journal, published at St. Johns, New
Brunswick, in its issue of August
19, said:
“This is a people whose sons and
F. J. NEVINS HONORED
Brooklyn Man, Florida
Benefactor, Made Knight of
St. Gregory Christmas
j J. J. Haverty Speaks
at Mount De Sales
! Addresses Student Body at
Macon Academy on Am-
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK.—The Rt. Rev. Thomas
E. Molley, Bishop of Brooklyn, con
ferred the insignia of the Order of
St. Gregory the Great upon Francis
J. Nevins, well-known charity worker
in the dioces, prior to the Solemn
High Mass in St. James Pro-Cathe
dral Christmas Day.
Mr. Nevins, who was formerly a
member of St. Charles Hospital Board
and is at present a member of the
Holy Family Hospital Board, has ex- j
tended his charitable activities all
over the diocese and for over 30
years has been a most generous bene
factor of the Church in Florida.
daughters are found on the old farms, i
in professional life, musicians, artists,
poets, teachers, lawyers, doctors, ora
tors, statesmen—a people who are
adding immeasurably to the rich sta
bility of the Dominion; a people who
sent its sons to the Great War to
fight for the preservation of Home
and its ideals; a people of whom Stan
ley Baldwin said when in Moncton he
stood acclaimed by hundreds of Aca
dians, that their tribute to the Moth
er country through him was the most
wonderful, the most beautiful, that
he, remembering their history, had
ever known, could ever imagine.”
Justice LeBlanc sounded the key
note of the day when in opening the
meeting, he said: “If there be any
enmity left among us, let us bury it
here today beneath the shadow of
the cross that stands over us.” The
holding of the celebration on August
20th was not an accident as was point
ed out by Father Hebert in his ser
mon. It was held within the octave
of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin, which is the national feast day
of the Acadian people who had placed
themselves under the guidance of the
one spotless creature on the anniver
sary of her coronation as Queen of
Heaven. One whose heart beats in
unison with one’s sires could on that
occasion, without much stretch of the
imagination picture in one’s mind the
whole court of heaven looking down
upon the fruitful valley of the Gas-
pereau, and the Acadians of old, from
their place of repose in Abraham’s
bosom, smiling upon their children
and rejoicing in the triumph of their
race, who after nearly two centuries
of wandering had returned home in
God’s own appointed time, there to
perform a labor of love, in a spirit
of peace and to give testimony to the
virility and courage of the Acadian
race. They returned not as beggars,
not as exiles, not as vagabonds, but
as strong stalwart men and women,
respected citizens, filling honored po
sitions in all walks of life and as
faithful children of Mother Church
and true scions of their fathers.
The Acadians were French settlers
from what is now known as the de
partments of Vendee and Charsnte
Inferiere in France, who went to
what is now Nova Scotia between 1632
and 1651. They settled around the
Basin of Minas and were known as
the Minas French. In the shifting
fortunes of war, Nova Scotia finally
became a British Province and under
the treaty of Utrecht it was formally
ceded by France to Great Britain. It
was provided in the treaty that any
of the inhabitants who chose might
remove themselves within one year.
The Acadians, so the records conclu
sively show, made every effort to
leave, because they could not be as
sured that they would not be molest
ed in their religious practices nor
forced to take up arms against France,
the only two things they asked for.
Yet they were denied the right to
move, in violation of the treaty; they
were forced to undergo every con
ceivable humiliation and torture;
their priests were imprisoned and
finally they themselves sent into ex
ile, with families separated, husbands
and wives torn apart, children sep
arated from parents and all made ob
jects of pity and charity. Truly a sad
and disgraceful chapter in the history
of a great nation. There is no doubt
that the responsibility for the trag
edy must rest upon the shoulders of
Governor Charles Lawrence, and yet
we search in vain for any record
where any official of the British
Crown during the dark days of the
tragedy ever expressed any regret for
the deed or ever made any effort to
atone for the crime.
erican Art
(Special to The Bulletin)
MACON, Ga.—J. J. Haverty, of At
lanta on December 17 gave a most
interesting and instructive talk on
American Art to all the pupils, teach
ers, and quite a number of other
interested persons at Mt. De Sales
Academy. Mr. Haverty gave an excel
lent outline of the one hundred and
thirty years of American Art.
In a clear and scholarly manner he
classified the artists and their work,
describing the methods and the re
sults as shown by the work in the dif
ferent periods. He not only described
the works, but gave delightfully in
teresting sketches of the lives of the
preeminent artists, aftd added zest to
all that he said by having with him
six paintings brought from his home
in Atlanta.
Everybody in the audience was
deeply interested in the pictures he
showed, illustrative of the methods of
the different artists. The lecture
came to an end all too soon. Mr.
Haverty promised to give another lec
ture in the very near future.
The Sisters, pupils and all who had
the privilege of listening to Mr. Hav
erty are eager for the next lecture,
and extend their sincere thanks to
him for conferring so great a favor
upon Mt. de Sales Academy. Mr.
Haverty was presented to the audi
ence by the class president, Miss
Louise. Kilgore of Atlanta. Then fol
lowed greeting by an Atlantan to an
Atlantan, Miss Charity' Simmons;
Welcome to Macon by a Maconite,
Miss Cecile Cassidy.
After Mr. Haverty’s talk an excel
lent musical program was rendered
in his honor, as follows: “Romance.”
Sebelius, Roberta Waugh; “Carmena,”
H. Lane Wilson; Schubert's “Seren
ade,” violin class, Misses Violet Sim
mons, Charity Simmons, Marjorie
Wright, Angela Maggioni, with Ro
berta Waugh at the piano; piano solo,
Le Blanck, Mararita Smith; Rondo
Capricciosa, Mendelssohn, Violet Sim
mons; violin solo, “Romance,” Wieni-
awski, Charity Simmons; chorus,
“Hail, Hail, Loved Georgia!” high
school pupils.
Socialists Received
at Aiken Academy
(Special to The Bulletin)
AIKEN, S. C.-On the Feast of the
Immaculate Conception an inspiring
ceremony took place in the Chapel of
the Academy when eighteen of the
student body were received into the
Sodality of the Children of Mary.
The Altar was aglow with crystal
and blue lights and candles and cut
flowers of various kinds were among
the decorations. The young aspirants
wore white dresses and the Madonna
blue veils—and each carried a lighted
taper tied with ribbon.
The Chaplain, Rev. George Dietz,
after blessing the medals, gave a very
appropriate talk on the ceremony of
consecrating themselves to the
Blessed Mother, and emphasized the
promise of Heaven to those who were
devoted followers of Mary, the
Mother of God. At the conclusion of
his remarks, he then bestowed the
medals and received the Act of Con
secration, which was said in unison
by those being received into the
Confraternity.
During the ceremony the Students
sang ‘Salve Mater”—in plain chant,
“Adoro Te,” “Tantum Ergo” and
“Holy God We Praise Thy Name.”
Miss Nancy Harley presided at the
organ. Benediction of the Most
Blessed Sacrament fololwed.
Later in the evening the following
program was presented:
Recitation. “Greetings,” Mary
Bridgman; Song. “The Open Road,”
student body, piano, Isabelle Bridg
man; Recitation, “The Virgin,”
Wordsworth, Lelia Brennan; Piano
solo, “Song of the Islands” King,
Nancy Harley; Recitation, “The Tap
estry of Life,” Bernadette SuUi^m;
Violin Solo, “Festival March,” Reich,
Emily Roper, Piano, Louise Roper;
Song, “Ave Maria,” The student
body; Piano duet, “Clayton's Grand
March,” Blake, Lelia Brennan and
Nancy Harley; Song, "Toe Gypsy
Trail,” Wilson, the Student Body; Re
citation, “Good Wishes,” Lila Baker.
“Before the march of power the weak
must bend,
And yet forgive; the savage throng
will smite.
The glossing words of reason and of
song,
To tell of hate and virtue to defend,
Shall never set the bitter deed aright
Nor satisfy the ages with the wrong.”
However, all that is past and the
Acadians of today form a most im
portant part of the population of Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Ed
ward Island, the New England States,
Louisiana and elsewhere, and all men
must rejoice that the sun of good
will has risen sufficiently high in
the heavens so that the tragedy of
Grand Pre will never again be enact
ed and as loyal children of Holy
Church, we Acadians of today may
use the words put into the mouth of
Evangeline by the Puritan bard when
on finding her long-lost lover dying,
“And as she pressed once more the
lifeless head to her bosom,
Meekly she bowed her own, and mur
mured, ‘Father I thank Thee.’”
St. Vincent’s Stages
Christmas Program
(Special to The Bulletin)
SAVANNAH, Ga.—A very inter
esting and appropriate entertainment
was given by St. Vincent's High
School students in the Academy
Auditorium, as a fitting commence
ment of the Christmas Holidays. The
Christmas spirit predominated in
every number of the program which
was as follows:
Christmas Hymn in French, Stu
dent body; The Spirit of Christmas,
(Pageant) Freshman Class; Little
Jesus (by Francis Thompson) re
citation. Elizabeth Beytagh; The Pink
Scarf (2 act play), Sophomore Class;
How The Great Guest Came. (Mono
logue, by E. Markheim), Nan Mc
Carthy; Mental Arithmetic (Dialog),
Jane Grady and Mary Lang: Two
Christmas Boxes (4 act play) Junior
Class; An Aspiring Dishwasher
(Monologue), Peggy Burns; The
Littlest Shepherd (Interlude with
Tableau), Senior Class.