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Centenary of Saint Patrick's, Charleston
Rev. John L. Manning, S.T .D.
Delivers Centennial Sermon
Church in Charleston at St. Patrick’s Same Church
Which Civilized Christendom, He Says
St. Patrick’s, Charleston
The Rev. John L. Manning, D. D.,
Chancellor of the Diocese of Charles
ton, delivered the sermon at the cen
tennial Mass of St. Patrick’s Church,
Charleston, on St. Patrick’s Day, tak
ing for his text Psalms 126:1: Unless
the Lord build the house, they labor
in vain who build it.”
Pointing to several world renown
ed historical characters, Joan of Arc,
Napoleon, Alexander, Caesar and
others, he said that “no track has
ever been deft in the sands of time
but by men who in solitude have lirst
had their imaginations ablaze with
the vision of the heights to be scaled,
and who have carried within their
own breasts an almost divine certain
ty that made them sure of success.
He then spoke of the birth of
Christ, and of his dream “of subduing
the whole world, of sending His
forces to the ends of the earth, o
battering the gates of hell, of cutting
a way to Heaven, of building a rcn-
gious empire—His Church that
would outlast the ages, and most es
pecially of enthroning Himself in the
j TC „ r t s 'r.f men. And all this He would
accomplish not by fire and sword,
but by the powerful spell of love.
The dreams of great men, he cited,
had crashed, but Christ, on the cross,
entered His kingdom and took His
place on an everlasting throne. Yet
before doing so He had already set
the foundation of His spiritual em
pire on earth through His disciples
and to Simon, called Peter, to whom
He said “Thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I shall build My Church.”
“Peter then was to be the head,
said Father Manning. “In him and
his successors all power was central
ized. Union with Peter was union
with Christ. The test of membership
in this Christian society was whether
or not one was one with Peter. The
untroubled pages of history attest the
fact that in the early centuries there
was but one Church on earth. There
is no second, no other, none like it,
none beside it. and the center and
head of the Church was the center
and head of the Christian world. It
was the city of Rome and in that
city of Rome was the See of Rome,
the Apostolic throne on which sat
the successors of the chief of the
Apostles of Jesus Christ.”
St. Patrick’s Pastor
The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph L.
O’Brien, S. T. D., pastor of St. Pat
rick’s Church, Charleston, founder
and principal of Bishop England
School, author of “The Life of John
England, Apostle of Democracy”,
noted educator, author and orator.
Briefly he visualized Christ’s part-
' ing with His apostles and His com
mands to them and His giving to
them of the seven sacraments—no
more, no less. He told of how those
men, made bold by the Holy Ghost
took up arms “against a world wed
ded to power and immersed in in
iquity,” and how this “band of fish
ermen” rushed out to preach God’s
plan of redemption and how that
plan engrossed humanity.
Father Manning told of how mythi
cal gods had been driven into the
limbo, how Christ had been enthron
ed in their stead, and of how xlis
teachings spread over the world. He
told of how exploration opened vast
possibilities on the North American
continent and how the Gospel was
transported over the waters to find
fertile soil in new lands. “Thus it was
that in the Providence of God, Pius
VII in the early 19th century signed
a document that took John England
from a busy life in his native Ire
land and placed him in charge of a
missionary field that embraced the
Carolinas, Florida and Georgia,” he
said, telling how Bishop England be
gan his episcopal career here in 1820
when there was but one Catholic
Church, St. Mary’s.
“Less than two years after he built
a wooden structure that served as his
Cathedral,” he said.
“We are happy that wj live this
day to take part in the centenary cel
ebration of St. Patrick’s parish. But
we are happy hot because it is the
birthday of a church dedicated to
God under the patronage of glorious
St. Patrick, but rather we rejoice be
cause it is the birthday of the Cath
olic Church in this particular section
of Charleston. St. Patrick’s church is
not an isolated church of one hun
dred years.
“St. Patrick’s Church is that same
Catholic Church that watches and
and rules; that consoles and legis
lates and judges on the hills of Rome;
it is the same Church that has been
obeyed by billions of men for two
thousand years; it is the same
Church that saw Imperial Rome in
its glory; saw its armies, its litera
ture, its architecture, its aristocracy
and its crimes: it is the same Church
that saw and withstood ten bitter
persecutions beginning with Nero
and ending with DiociWian; it is the
same Church that came forth in the
fourth century under Constantine
from the Catacombs into the light of
the sun, just as Christ, her Founder,
issued glorious from the tomb Eas
ter day; it is the same Church that
conquered the hydra-headed heresies
formulated in the minds of her own
children; it is the some Church that
saw fanatical barbarians level to the
ground all there was of ancient civil
ization; it is the same Church that
Christianized the barbarians as she
had Christianized Rome and Romans.
“Your church—St. Patrick’s church
—is the same Church that broke the
pride of Eastern emperors and patri
archs; that laid the foundations of the
modern states of Europe; that sur
vived in the ninth and tenth centu
ries corruption within her own body;
that was the center of learning, cul
ture, civilization and civil order in
the middle ages. You are that Church
that recovered from the investiture
abomination of medieval Kings and
Emperors; that emerged from the
great schism of the West; that rode
the wave of the so-called Protestant
Reformation and was more glorious
after that religious revolution than
before it. Your Church has been
through the centuries the fruitful
mother of innumerable saints, send
ing missionaries to the bounds of the
earth, preserving the home, abomi
nating divorce, honoring children
and helping the state.
“Today your Church—St. Patrick’s
Church—is coterminous with the
limits of the world. Bishop, priests
and laity obey her in civilized and
savage lands, though they derive no
worldly advantage by obedience but
rather often times are scoffed at for
obeying her by anti-Catholie socie
ties and would-be scientists. You are
not of yesterday; you are not 100
years of age; you touch the hand of
Christ by your union with the suc-
"cessor of Christ in Rome—with the
supreme pontiff, the. universal head
of the universal church. ‘Unless the
Lord build the house, they labor in
vain that build it’.
“This morning we bow our heads in
silent memory and breathe a prayer
for those good men who spent their
lives in the midst of the people of
this parish administering to them and
preaching to them the word of God.
Read the names and the lives of
those pastors who labored in this
parish from the day of its birth even
to the present day. Read of the num
ber who left their homes and their
families to labor among strangers in
a strange city. Ordination does not
make it easy for a priest to break
away from ties that nature fashioned
on him. What, then, moved them to
pitch their tents in strange quarters?
Not money, not luxury, not easy liv
ing. Such things did not exist in a
missionary field such as ours. No, it
was that democratic Christ who came
down from the heights and hurled
Himself into the thick of battle; that
Christ who, on some memorable days
of their lives, whispered into their
ears: “I am your King. My purpose
is to conquer the whole world. Vic
tory is assured; and I shall not ask
you to do anything that I have not
done Myself.”
PARISH ESTABUSHED
HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Bishop Walsh Pontificates,
Dr. Manning Preaches at
Centennial Mass
Church’s GoldenJubilee Year
Is Centennial Year of Parish
Three Bishops Have Served St. Patrick’s, Charleston.
Monsignor O’Brien, Present Pastor, Is Dis
tinguished Scholar
“Those men who have been, and
now are. your pastors, were enthrall
ed by the personality of that voice,
were electrified by the glamor of His
enterprise, were encouraged by the
certainty of success, were touched by
his generous sharing of their hard
ships, and engaged in His expedition
with heroic abandon. Their lives and
their efforts are the story of Chris
tianity, the story of a romantic
march and of a peerless leader. Your
pastors, those who now sleep the
sleep of peace and those who are
still fighting—with the martyrs, apos
tles, confessors and virgins form the
bodyguard of the marching Christ.
That mighty army of which your
pastors, past and present, are a part
has been marching for over nineteen
hundred years; every century has
(Continued on Page 16)
A Chronicle History of St. Pat
rick’s Church, Charleston, S. C.”,
compiled by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Jo
seph L. O’Brien, S. T. D., pastor of
St. Patrick’s and principal of Bishop
England High School, and dedicated
to the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Charles Dubois
Wood, Prot. Apos. ad Instar, has been
published on the occasion of the cen
tennial of the historic parish. The
book, sixty-eight pages in length,
with an attractive cover, is a splendid
work both from the standpoint of
its contents and its typographical
make-up.
The dedication page to Monsignor
Wood describes the beloved prelate,
formerly pastor at Florence, Sumter
and St. Mary’s, Charleston, and now
of Middletown, N. Y., as one “who
gave to St. Patrick’s parish a modem
parish school and whose other bene
factions to the diocese witness his zeal
and devotion to the cause of Christ
in the Diocese of Charleston.” Among
Monsignor Wood’s other major bene
factions arp his assistance to St. Pe
ter's School, St. Francis Xavier In
firmary, Old St. Mary’s, and the Par
ishes of Sumter and Florence. The
work has the “nihil obstat” of Mon
signor A. K. Gwynn, censor depu-
tatis, and the imprimatur of Bishop
Walsh. It was published by John J.
Furlong and Son.
Full page cuts are included of the
Holy Father, Bishop Walsh, Monsig
nor O’Brien, pastor, the church, Bish
op England, Bishop John Moore of
St. Augustine, on9e pastor, Bishop
John J. Monaghan, of Wilmington,
Del., also connected with the par
ish, Bishop Henry P. Northrop of
Charleston, a pastor, Monsignor May.
vicar general, Monsignor Wood, and
other pastors and assistants, including
Father Patrick O’Neill, Father Pat
rick Tuigg, Monsignor Daniel J.
Quigley, V. G., Father William
Wright, Father John S. Kelly, Mon
signor John T. McElroy, V. G., Father
Dennis Lanigan, Father James D.
Quinn, Father J. Alexis Westbury,
Father Francis Murphy, Father John
L. Manning, S. T. D., Father John
P. Clancy and Father J. Edmund
Burke; Father Clancy and Father
Burke are now assistants at St. Pat
rick’s. Full page cuts of the rectory,
the interior of the church, a map of
Charleston, the Wood Memorial
School and the cast of “The Upper
Room” presented in 1935, are also in
cluded.
The volume records the early Cath
olic history of Charleston, the erec
tion of the first two parishes, St.
Mary’s and the Cathedral, and plans
for the third parish, the first stir
rings of which were indicated by the
purchase of a plot for it by Bishop
England in 1828. The lot, 150 by 211
feet, on St. Philin and Radcliffe
Streets, then outside the city limits,
but now not far from the heart of
the city, cost $2,900. It was not until
1835 that formal steps for the erec
tion of the parish were taken, with
a meeting which was called by Bish
op England on September 1 to discuss
the matter. The plan for a new par
ish being adopted, arrangements were
made Toward the end of the follow
ing year to put it into effect, and
in January, 1837, Father John Field
ing was appointed pastor. On Jan
uary 29 of that year, he said the first
Mass of the newly .erected parish in
the home of P. B. Boutan, at what
is now 415 King Street. Members of
the first vestry were Patrick O’Neill,
Thomas Howard, Thomas Ryan, John
Cagney and Francis Guth.
Milestones in the history of the par
ish since that time include: Corner
stone of first church laid, and dedi
cation in same year of St. Patrick’s
Church, 1866; property on King Street
sold to St. Matthew’s German Luth
eran congregation. 1866, present
church rectory "bought; 1886, corner
stone of present church laid, and first
Mass said in church; 1887, consecra
tion of present church; 1887, first par
ish school opened; 1891, organ install
ed; 1899, church frescoed and sta
tions erected; 1930, Wood Memorial
School opened; 1937, centennial of
parish and golden jubilee of conse
cration of the church.
Pastors of St. Patrick’s Church have
included two Bishops, Bishop Moore
of St. Augustine and Bishop North
rop of Charleston—Bishop Monaghan
of Wilmington was assistant at _ St.
Patrick’s when elevated to the hier
archy—and three monsignori. Mon
signor Daniel Quigley, V. G., the
first priest south of the Mason-Dix-
on Line to be made a domestic prel
ate, Monsignor McElroy, V. G., and
Monsignor O’Brien.
NOTABLE CAREER OF
MONSIGNOR O’BRIEN
Monsignor O’Brien, pastor of St.
Patrick’s Church, is also Diocesan
superintendent of schools, and toe
rector of Bishop England High
School, which he has directed since
its foundation. He was bora in
Avoca, Pa., April 30, 1884, and made
his college studies at Mount St
Mary’s Emmitsburg, Md., where he
received his A. B. degree in 1910 and
his M. A. in 1912. In 1910 he started
his theological studies at' the Uni
versity of Fribourg, Switzerland,
where he specialized in Holy Scrip
ture and Modem Literature. He was
editor of the American Quarterly Re
view, published by the University,
and was a regular contributor to
American and English reviews. Or
dained in 1914, he came to Charles
ton for which diocese he had studied
Holy Father Radios
Greeting, Blessing
CHARLESTON, S. C.—With the
Most Rev. Emmet M. Walsh, D. D.,
Bishop of Charleston, officiating, and
the Rev. John L. Manning, D. D., chan
cellor of the diocese, preaching the ser
mon for the occasion, the 100th mini-
versary of the founding of St. Patrick s
parish was celebrated with Pontifical
Maw on St. Patrick’s Day at St. Pat
rick’s Church.
A radiogram in which the rioiy
Father, Pope Pius XI, conveyed his
apostolic blessing, was read at the
Mass. .
The message was sent from the
Vatican and was addressed to Bishop
Walsh. It read: . , ', . ,.
“Occasion centennial St. Patrick s
Parish Holy Father sends Monsignor
O’Brien, priests, parishoners, paternal
apostolic benediction. (Signed) Cardi
nal Pacelli.”
Attended by clergy and laymen
from various parts of the state ana
from other states, the centenary cele
bration which was witnessed by a
capacity congregation.
The Rt. Rev. Monsignor Joseph L.
O’Brien, S. T. D., pastor of St. Patrick s
served as assistant priest to Bishop
Walsh; the Rev. J. Alexis Westbury,
pastor of the Church of Our Lady of
Mercy, deacon; the Rev. Henry f.
Wolfe, pastor of the Church of the Sa
cred Heart, sub-deacon; the Rev. Mi
chael J. Reddin, of St. John s church,
North Charleston, and the Very Rev.
Martin C. Murphy, St. Peter s church,
Columbia, deacons of honor; and the
Rev. John J. McCarthy, assistant at the
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, mas
ter of ceremonies.
A special musical program was rend
ered by a male choir of 15 voices.
The program included: Processional,
“All Praise to Saint Patrick,” by the
Rev. F. W. Faber; Vesting hymn, , ■ O
Esca Viatorum,” arranged by P. J-Van
Damme; Centennial Mass on the Sec
ond Tone, by A. Edmonds Tozer; Prop
er of the Mass, “Statuit;” Mass for
Confessor Pontiff; offertory hymn,
“Soul of My Savior,” music by L. Do-
bici; communion hymn, “Ave Verum
Corpus,” Sixth Mode Gregorian; re
cessional. “Memorare,” by St. Ber
nard, adapted by Nicola A. Montani.
In preparation for the centenary
year of St. Patrick’s parish a two
weeks’ mission was held in the
church in December, nd on January
24 of this year the parishioners cele
brated the hundredth anniversary of
the first Mass said within its cor-
poraet limits.
In the sanctuary m addition to the
officers of the Mass were M. l’Aumon-
ier Olphe-Gaillard, chaplain of the
French training ship Jeanne d’Arc; the
Right Rev. Monsignor James J. May,
V. G. and the Right Rev. Monsignor
A. K. Gwynn, pastor of St. Mary’s
church. Greenville; the Rev. Fathers
D. P. Lanigan; L. E. Forde; W. F.
Cleary pastor of St. Peter’s church,
Charleston; William G. Mulvilhill,
pastor of St. Ann’s church, Sumter;
Jeremiah W. Carmody, pastor of St.
Mary’s church, Charleston; A. F,
Kamler, pastor of St. Peter’s church,
Beaufort; T. D. O’Shaughnessy;
Alexander Calner, of Ward; William
Condon, O. P., of Columbia; A. A.
Pliqunas, of Beaufort; James J.
Guinea, Sacred Heart church. Char
leston; Maurice R. Daley, of Flor
ence, and J. Edmund Burke, of St.
Patrick’s church.
The Rev. John P. Clancy, of St.
Patrick’s church, directed the choir,
consisting of fifteen male voices.
tor the priesthood.
In September, 1915, Dr. O’Brien or
ganized the first classes which later
developed into Bishop England High
School. He has made Bishop England
High School one of the leading
schools of its kind in the Southeast,
and supplemented his educational ef
forts by erecting the parish school
in St Patrick's parish shortly after
he was appointed pastor in 1929. On
June 2, 1880, Spring Hill College con
ferred on him the honorary degree
of Doctor of Sacred Theology, and
on December 23, 1934, .he was invest
ed with the insignia of a domestic
prelate with the rank of monsignor
by Bishop Walsh, after the Holy
Father had designated him for the
honor.
Dr. O’Brien in addition to his pas
toral and teaching work in Charles
ton has been active in the field of
literature and in education elsewhere.
His book, “Life of John England,
Apostle of Democracy”, is nationally
and internationally known. He is re
garded as onfe of the leading orators
of South Carolina, and his radio ad
dresses have attracted wide and fav
orable attention. For several years
he has been a special lecturer in Re
ligion and Literature at the summer
school of the Sisters of Sts. Cyril and
Methodius, Danville, Va. He is a
member of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, and one
of the outstanding citizens of South
Carolina from a religious, education
al, literary and other cultural stand-