The bulletin of the Catholic Laymen's Association of Georgia. (Augusta, Ga.) 1920-1957, February 29, 1936, Image 9

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The bulletin of the Catholic Laymen's Association of Georgia., February 29, 1936, Image 9

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Newspaper Page TextFEBRUARY 29, 1936 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA NINE Spanish Missions Subject of U. of Georgia Work DR. JOHN LANNING OF DUKE UNIVERSITY IS AUTHOR OF VOLUME University of North Carolina Press Publishes It—Con firmation Tour of Bishop in 1606 Recorded in Detail “The Spanish Missions of Georgia” by Dr. John Tate Lanning, publish ed by the University of North Caro lina Press under the asupices of the Committee on Publications of the University of Georgia, is the most recent and one of the most important contributions to a phrase of Georgia history the development of which places this state at the head of the thirteen original colonie in historiical seniority and in this respect second only to Florida among all the states of the Union. Dr. Lanning, professor of history at Duke University, re veals the relation and for the most part the identity of Georgia and Florida history in the Spanish period. Dr. E. Merton Coulter, of the Com mittee on Publications of the Univer sity of Georgia credits, Dr. S. V. Sanford, president of the University of Georgia, and Hughes Spalding, then chairman of the Board of Re gents, with the idea of the series of studies to be designated “Publica tions of the University of Georgia.” The Spanish days of Georgia consti tuted “a dark corner of the state’s history that needed illuminating”, Dr. Coulter writes in the preface of Dr. Lanning’s work. “The University of Georgia with its motto, ‘Et Docere et Rerum Exquirere Causas’, could not afford to remain uninterested in this subject, as indeed of many others that should engage the attention of an educational instiution.” The publication of the book was made possible through the generous aid of Mr. Spalding. T. L. Huston, Harold Hirsch, Cator Woolford and Phinizy Calhoun, Dr. Lanning says. He makes special acknowledgement also to President Sanford, Senor Juan Tamayay Francisco, paleographer and director of the Archivo General do Indas in Seville, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Dr. Coulter, Willis J. Physioc and others, particularly those who like Professor Bolton. Miss Mary Ross, the Franciscan Fathers in this coun try and Spain and others who have done pioneering work in this impor tant field. Bishop Cabeza de Altamirano of Cuba and Florida, according to Dr. Lanning, reached Cumberland Island April 11, 1606, one year before James town and 14 years before Plymouth, and on April 12 and 13 confirmed 308 persons, including four chiefs: Father Baltazar Lopez, pastor here and at San Pedro. At Talaxe, where Father Diego Delgado was pastor, 262 In dians were confirmed. Going to Tolomato, a mission of Father Del gado. 208 received the Sacrament, in cluding Chief Tugueni. head of the savage and war-like Salchiches “thought to be the forebears of the Yemessee.” At Saint Catherine’s Island, off the Georgia coast nearer the mouth of the Savannah. 286 more were made Soldiers of Christ, this on April 30. There were other Con firmation ceremonies at intermediate points in the meantime. One the way back to St. Augustine the Bishop confirmed on May 4 at Cumberland Island Indians he had missed on the way up. Arriving in St. Augustine on his return, he officiat ed at a Mass of Thanksgiving May 9. Dr. Lanning estimates that on this first confirmation tour of a Bishop in the present state of Georgia. 1.652 received the Sacrament, an increase of nearly 600 over some previous esti mates. An undetermined proportion of the 482 confirmed at San Juan may have come from Florida, Dr. Lanning says, but they were confirmed in Georgia. Dr. Lanning, like most other auth orities, places the martyrdom of Father Martinez, in 1566, the first Jesuit to shed his blood in the west ern hemisphere, on Cumberland Island, differing from Father Michael Kenney, who locates it in Florida. Two years later, Brother Baez, who compiled a grammar and catechism in the Indian Language, died in an epidemic, “the second priest to die and the second martyr of the faith on Georgia soil.” Progress was slow; the Jesuits, who came in 1566, labored zealously, lout converts were few. In 1570 they start ed their ill-fated journey to Virginia, where a traitorous convert, who had been brouhgt to Spain by the Domini- cians and professed great devotion to the faith, had them massacred. The need for teachers in the schools of the order and more promising fields elwhere led to the withdrawal of the Jesuits from Georgia; Father Sedeno, who had spent 14 months in Guale, the territory which centered around St. Catherine’s Island, near Savannah, was one of the first two Jesuits to go to Mexico City. In 1573 the first Franciscans came to Georgia, but they did not remain, the French gave trouble to the Spanish by stirring up the Indians. In 1577 the Franciscans started perma nent work at St. Augustine, and in 1583, Father Reynoso led another con tingent of friars to labor in the South east. In 1586 Sir Francis Drake de stroyed St. Augustine, occasioning the withdrawal of the garrison from St. Elena in South Carolina, and the fol lowing year twelve more Franciscans arrived for missionary labors. Eleven more arrived in 1593; six of them were assigned to Guale, in upper Georgia along the coast and at St. Catherine’s Island. In 1598 there were seven missions along the Georgia coast, and 1,500 Christian Indians. Years later when Jonathan Dickenson, Quaker traveler, wandered into Santa Maria, he found that the Indians had committed the Pater Noster, Ave Maria and Credo to memory; “twice a day the children assembled for instruction, first to learn the Pater Noster, Credo and Salve Regina; thereafter to essay reading and writing. Dickenson found the Indian boys too busy at school to leave off to gratify their curiosity about him”. The Indians learned the forms of Catholic practice with facility. “The marvelous adaptability of the Catholic clergy was never more clear ly demonstrated than in their contact with the subjugated American abori gine”, Dr. Lanning says, “on whose miserable life the greatest comfort and most softening influence brought to bear was the patronage of the Church and its championship against ruthless exploitationl From the laws of Isabel the Catholic and Charles V had come the notion that the Americans were wards, perpetual minors because of ‘their ignorance and weak minds.* Centuries of ex perience at he confessional had given the priest a savoir faire seldom found among men so detached from the worlds and this insight was now of great service. Those centuries of ex perience, when coupled with the deep-seated sincerity of the Span iard’s absorption in religion could not but prdouce results.” Archbishop Jiminezs Life Was One of Heroic Sacrifice (Continued From Page One) Dr| Lanning’s attitude toward the authenticity of the ruins along the Georgia coast may be gauged by this passage: “The missions themselves when built with any degree of perma nency often presented a fortress-like aspect of which no better example could be found than the mission-type ruins at St. Mpry’s, Georgia, where the repeated apertures at the top of the walls still stand, a grim challenge to attack.” After the disastrous revolt of Juanillo in 1597, in which five Fran ciscans were killed along the coast missions, one Indian was executed; the others involved were released. Subsequent efforts to enslave the In dians were defeated by orders from the Royal Court, which ordered that an enslaved Indian was to be re leased, for “the king’s vassals were not subject to involuntary servitiude.” “Rumors, which certainly reached the king, concerning a great crystal mountain rock in diamonds, lakes of pearls, silver mines, nuggets of gold, were stories which, if they taxed the credulity, none the less riveted the attention.” The crystal mountain was Stone Mountain, and centuries later the North Georgia mountains did yield gold. The missions among the Indians were not only along the coast but inland, particularly among the Ap- alache, whose headquarters were at modem Tallahassee. In 1906 Father Juan Batista de Capilla reported that 26 chiefs of the Apalache and Tim- ucua were asking for misisonaries! Two years later it was reported that 5,000 of the Apalache, or one-seventh of them, according to the figures of the missionaries, were Christians; Dr. Lanning thinks both figures somewhat optimistic. In 1655, fifteen years before the settling of Charleston, there were in the Southeast, according to one au thority. 38 Franciscan missions. 36,- 000 Christian Indians, and seventy friars; this is the only reference to seventy friars, and Dr. Lanning thinks it an exaggeration. But the substantial nature of the work among the Indians indicates a sub stantial number of Franciscans. In 1633 there were 43, according to good authority, and in 1680 there were 52. One great difficulty in the study of the history of the missions among the Indians is the habit the Indians had of moving and taking the name of their town with them; thus we find Tama in two provinces at dif ferent times. Dr. Lanning tells of the disputes which arose between the friars and the governors, the friars objecting to the governors’ treatment of the In dians, and the governors retaliating with similar charges, in most cases unfounded, against the friars. An understanding of the way in which secular authorities generally retaliate when the Church protests against abuse of that authority by indivi duals is very helpful in enabling one to gauge the sincerity of the gover nors’ accusations. Dr. Lanning is outspoken in his admiration for the zeal and self-sacrifice of the friars, not all of whom were saints, but none of whom was afflicted with more than minor human imperfec tions. Dr. Lanning records in vivid fash ion the coming of the English, the fight for the possession of Georgia, and the losing battle of the Spanish, Dona Maria Trinidad Upseda- On his maternal side he was descended from Don Vicente Jimenez and Dona Gracia Quiroz, Spanish hidalgos. The Archbishop used the heraldic shield of the Jimenez family. He was ordained in 1887, after nine years of study in Rome. A future Archbishop of Guadalaja ra was assigned first to Hacienda de la Noria in Zamora, then to the Church of San Francis. Later he be came vice-rector of the School of Arts. He was professor and direc tor of the Clergical College of San Joaquin and held the chair of philo sophy and became vice-rector at the seminary. He was notary of the Fifth Mexican Provincial Council and of the First Latin American Plenary Council, held at Rome. At the inaug uration of the Pontifical University in Mexico City in 1896, he received the degree of Doctor of Theology. Pope Leo Vin appointed Dr. Orozco Bishop of Chiapas on May 30, 1902, and he was preconized June 9 of that year. In the Diocese of Chiapas Bishop Orozco fulfilled his apostolic mission with great zeal. He rebuilt the semi nary, held the first Diocesan Synod, founded" at San Cristobal a school which he dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe, and carried out other important works, using his private income to embellish and im prove the principal cities in the State of Chiapas. He installed electric lights in San Cristobal, contributing from his own capital to this public work. He founded a convent of the Bridgettine Sisters, an orphanage for boys and girls, a Catholic hospital dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, in which he installed the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and a school dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and placed the direc tion of the v Sisters of Divine Provi dence. At Tapachula he founded a girls’ school directed by Guadalupan Sis ters, and at Comitan, Ozotzingo, Chipa de Corzo and Tuxtla Gutier rez he established girls’ schools and installed the Sisters of Providence. He also started parochial schools in various sections of his diocese. In these special attention grown was given to the teaching of Christian Doctrine to the Camulas Indians. As soon as he had taken possession of his new See, Archbishop Orozco organized the Union of Mexican Catholic Women, dedicated to the support of Catholic schools and to the aid of needy families. Within a year religious persecution, initiated by Carranzaism, arose in the North. Priests were arrested and killed and prelates were explld from their dio ceses and forced to flee Mexico. Archbishop Orozco left Guadalaja ra in April. 1914, because Revolution aries sought to arrest him. In 1916, he returned incognito to his arch diocese accompanied by the Rev- Jose Garibi and entering Jalisco through the neighboring State of Zacatecas. For more than two years the Archbishop lived sometimes at humble ranch houses, sometimes sleeping in ravines, the forests or on the mountainside under the open sky, but always making his pastoral visits and oerforming his duties as Ordinary. On July 5, 1918, he was captured by Federal troops in the city of Lagos de Moreno and taken in a freight car to the frontier, where he was allowed to cross into the United Sta'es. He escaped death due to an amparo for which he had peti - tioned in Tampico. On October 14. 1919, Archbishop Orozco returned to Guadalajara, where he was honored by a recep tion unprecedented in the ecclesiasti cal history ot Jalisco. But in 1923, with the outbreak of the Huerta Revolution. Archbishop Orzoco, cal umniated and fearing for his life, again went into hiding until 1924, who were forced to draw back, step by step. He avoids the unhistrical error of regarding every English conquest as a glorious victory and every Spanish triumph as a cruel and bloody massacre. He records the fickleness of the Indians, whom writers of text books in American history too often paint as noble, mis used creatures when discussing the Spanish dealings with them, and murderous, treacherous savages when their relations are with the English. He tells of Moore’s expedition through Georgia, when the Tim- ucua, Apalache and Guale Missions were ruined, with Moore’s army leaving pillage and murder in its wake. Tire Spanish kept arms away from the Indians; the English arm ed theirs. The Spanish were finally reluctantly forced to do likewise. when he left the country to make his ad limina visit to Rome. The gov ernment prevented his return In 1925 he returned from exile and immediately set about fulfilling his ministry. The religious persecution intensified without mercy by the promulgation of the Law of Religi ous Worship, Archbishop Orozco was one of its first victims and there is no doubt but that he would have been killed had he not gone into hiding. When the Modus Vivendi was signed, June 21, 1929, the Arch bishop, who had remained hidden in the rocky region of the Guadalajara gorges, was summoned to Mexico City there to receive from the Pres ident of the Republic an order to leave the country. Nevertheless, on March 29, 1930, Archbishop Orozco again returned to Jalisco to serve his faithful and re organized the seminary, which was destroyed through anti-clerical pho bia, founded private schools to sub stitute for the parochial schools sup pressed by the Government, which, by Constitutional provision, had taken possession of the school build ings and all income of the Church. On January 24, 1932, as Archbishop Orozco was on his way to the Church of La Paz, has car was stop ped by Col. Adalberto Torres Estra da, confidential agent of President Ortiz Rubio, who took, him to the military airport and shut him in a small house. There the Archbishop remained, with sentinels on guard, until the following day when he was put in a plane and taken to Hermos- illo. From Hermosillo he was escort ed by train to Nogales, Arizona. But history repeats. On Augustl9, 1834, Archbishop Orozco, was again in Guadalajara, incognito- He re mained in semi-concealment until October 28, 1835, when 200 Federal soldiers, with a great display of pre caution and causing scandal to the people, took possession of the sum mits of the Sanctuary of the Virgin de la Soledad in their efforts to locate the residence of the Arch bishop. The Catholic people of Guadalajara, learning of events at San Pedro Tlaquepaque, became aroused, thinking the troops had come for the purpose of killing their Archbishop, who, however, was not there at the time of the soldiers’ ar rival. On November 1, the Bishop Coadjutor of Guadalajara, the Most Rev. Jose Garivi, sent a letter to President Cardenas asking that con stitutional guarantees be afforded the Archbishop. The President con ceded these and, for the first time, the Archbishop received his permit to officiate. Archbishop Orozco educated for the priesthood more than 390 young men despite the religious persecu tion. Archbishop Orozco possessed ex- traordiriary personal courage. He practiced abnegation. Was most in telligent and highly cultured, and charitable to the extent of having used most of his personal wealth to aid the needy and to found works of mercy SISTER RITA MARKS HER GOLUEN JUBILEE Superior at Mt. de Sales Pro fessed in Savannah in 1886 SIR. AND MRS. R. J. CUDDIHY of New York observed the golden ju bilee of their marriage with a s-oecial Ma»s at Our Lady Chapel at the Cathedral. Msyr. Lavelle officiating. All seven o f Mr. and Mrs. Cuddhv’s children and 28 of their 31 grandchil dren were cresent. Mr. Cuddihy is publisher of The Literary Digest. (Special to The Bulletin) MACON, Ga.—Sister M. Rita Mc- Donell, Superior of Mount de Sales Academy, Macon, Georgia, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of her pro fession as a Sister of Mercy. The community had looked forward with pleasure to the event and had pre pared to make the day a memorable one for their dear superior. The musical program given at the Mass under the direction of Sister M. Claire, Was particularly appro priate—the hymns having to do with the vows and the sacrifice of the religious. The altar was simply but charm ingly beautiful with Easter lilies, yel low calla lilies, and California aca cias. The loveliness of the floral decorations was further enhanced by the many lighted candles. The flow ers were donated by Dan Horgan, owner of the Idle Hour Nurseries, Macon, Georgia. In the adornment of the commun ity room and refectory, gold was the prevailing color. The long table in the former was filled with beautiful and useful gifts, the practical expres sions of the deep affection of sisters, relatives, friends, and pupils for the happy jubilarian. The contribution of the boarding students was a basket of exquisite talisman roses which by their charm and fragrance added greately to the attractiveness of the table. Spiritual bouquets were not lack ing, while telegrams and letters con veyed the felicitations of those who could not express their good wishes in person. The many and varied congratula tions offered to the jubilarian on this happy day, make one realize ho*; noble and generous must be the life of her who commands so much sin cere affection. Sister M. Rita was born in Charles ton, South Carolina, on April 25, 1865. She lived there until her tenth year, when her parents removed to At lanta. There she was educated by. the Sisters of Mercy and was grad uated from the Immaculate Concep tion Academy. Shortly after gradu ation she joined the Sisters of Mercy at Saint Vincent’s in Savannah and upon completing the novitiate was professed on February 2, 1886. Sis ter M. Rita stayed at Saint Vincent's for several years and then went to Mount de Sales Academy. Macon, Georgia, where she has been station ed ever since. At first Sister was engaged in teaching the ordinary school branch es but, as she had had long training in art. her superior decided to de velop this talent and sent her to New York and Chicago to pursue further study. Hence in the years that fol lowed Sister M. Rita taught art and she still continues this work in spite of her extra duties as superior. Sister M. Rita’s artistic produc tions have received state recogni tion on many occasions by the award of prizes. The convent, too. has good reason to appreciate her taent be cause its walls are adorned with sev eral beautiful paintings on devotion al subjects—alike the work of the re ligious and the artist. There was cruelty on all sides, Spanish, English, Indian, but the story of the Spanish missionaries in the Southeast as told by Dr. Lanning reveals that they were true follow ers of the gentle Savior, the Prince of Peace, standing between the In dian and cruelty, boldly forbidding his enslavement, teaching him the dignity of labor, raising his eyes heavenward to another land and an other life. All but the memory of their labors is gone from Georgia, but that memory brightens instead of dims, and Dr. Lanning s work has aided generously in refurbishing its lustre. Sisters of St. Joseph Planning Their Centennial Observance (By N. C. W. C. News Service) ST. LOUIS.—Sisters of the Congre gation of St. Joseph of Carondelet, familiarly known as the “Sisters of St. Joseph”, whose motherhouse is located here, are making extensive preparations for the observance of the centenary of the introduction of their Congregation into America in March, 1836. There will be a series of solemn re ligious exercises throughout the na tion. with the central observance in St. Louis Cathedral. It is also planned to have a pretentious secular cere mony in the nature of a historical pageant after Lent. The pageant was written by Sister Mary Pius Neenan, Fh.D., of Fontbonne College. The centenary program is being planned by nubs at the college and at the motherhouse. under the direction of the Superior General, Mother Mary Agnes Rossiter. From the six Sisters who arrived in St. Louis from France in 1836, the Congregation has branched out into ail parts of the country, and now has 3 058 professed Sisters, 212 novices and over 100 postulants. The Sisters conduct five colleges, 39 high schools. 181 parochial schools. 15 academies, three schools for Indian children, two schools for the deaf, 12 hospitals with training schools, 10 or phan homes, 2 infant homes and one home for the friendless. The pioneer band arrived in New Orleans March 6. 1836, and was met by Bishop Joseph Rosati, first Bishop of St. Louis, who had invited the Sis ters to come to his diocese. He ac companied them by steamer up the Mississippi to St. Louis, where they arrived March 25. Their first visit w to the Old Cathedral, two blocks fro the boat landing. The eldest of the s Sisters was but 31 years of age, tl youngest, 21. Three of these were sent almost im mediately by the Bishop to Cahokia, where a school was awaiting teachers. The other three took up their abode a few months later in the two-room log cabin on the site of the present motherhouse. Carondelet was then a small French village of log cabins, fa miliarly known as “Vide Poche” on account of the poverty of the resi dents. The trio opened the only school in the village and cared for orphans; and the following year, 1837, they were re-inforced by the arrival of two more Sisters from France. In October, 1837, they received their first postulant, Ann Eliza Dillon, daughter of a wealthy St. Louis merchant. On account of distance and the dif ficulty of communication, connection with the motherhouse in France was severed in 1841. and the Congregation in the United States became an inde pendent organization. In the same year, the first wing of the building known as St. Joseph’s Academy was built, and a boarding school opened which attracted students from points as far distant as Canada. In 1847 the first establishment out side of the St. Louis Archdiocese was made, in Philadelphia. With requests for the services of Sisters coming from all parts of the United States, the Congregation branched out until it is now divided into five provinces, each with its provincial government and novitiate.