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THREE—-A'
MAY 22, 1937- THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
St. Peters’s Parish, Columbia, 116 Years Old
* .. .— ■————— — ■■ —— ”
i DEAN OF DISTRICT
i
FIRST CHURCH THERE
DEDICATED IN 1824-
! PRESENT ONE IN 1906
}
—
j Congregation Has Had Bnt
j Five Pastors in Past 89
i Years and Bnt Ten in Its
[ Entire History
St. Peter’s Church, Columbia, S. C.
FATHER M. C. MURPHY.
4 The first Catholics in Columbia
. came in 1821 to labor on the canal,
! and the few who survived their la-
* bors in a new country and climate
and who did hot return North, form
ed the nucleus of Columbia’s first
Catholic congregations. Shortly after
the arrival of these first settlers a
( site was secured for a church, and
funds were then collected for an edi
fice, which, after many difficulties,
was ready for Divine Services in 1824.
The church was dedicated to Saint
, Peter. The first pastor was Father
Corkery, coming before the erection
. of the church. His successor, Father
Joseph Stokes, served until 182G, and
1 he was followed by Father John Mc
Ginnis. The latter was followed by
Father Barry, later Bishop of Savan
nah, in 1828. Father J. F. O’Neil serv
ed as pastor for four years, and then
came Father Birmingham, who served
for twelve years. The parish, owing
to the fewness of its members and
their humble circumstances, did not
make great material progress during
the first 25 years.
Father Edward Quigley became
pastor in 1840, he renovated the
church, which never had really been
finished. In 1848 Father J. J. O’Con
nell became pastor, and his term cov
ered 23 fruitful years. At that time
the mission territory for the state*
north of Columbia, as well as a sec
tion of North Carolina, was attended
from Columbia, and in order to at
tend the religious needs of Catholics
in this great territory, Father O’Con
nell’s two borthers joined him, the
Rev. L. P. O'Connell in 1850 and the
Rev. Joseph O’Connell in 1858.
In 1851 Father O’Connell, realizing
the needs of such an institution in
Columbia, organized St. Mary’s Col
lege, with power to confer collegiate
degrees. For some years it flourished,
attracting students from many parts
of the South, many non-Catholics
attending at times. It continued until
the outbreak of the War Between the
States when the Confederate Gov-
eramnet occupied it and converted
the first floor of the college building
into a commissary department. The
college, with its magnificant library,
and the rectory, with all the parish
records, were destroyed in the burn
ing of Columbia during the war.
The prudent and earnest Father
Fullerton succeeded the able and
scholarly Father O’Connell. The eco
nomic condition of the section was
bad. Only the church building had
escaped the ravages of the war; the
rectory and its records, the college
for boys and the Ursuline Convent
were burned. The congregation was
' as small as in its early struggling days.
As a result the parish made little
progress. However, Father Fuller
ton, who was pastor from 1872 to 1895,
and his parishoners struggled man
fully. The Catholic Association was
formed and a parochial school was
opened under the direction of the
Ursuline Nuns, who had removed to
Valle Crucis, near the city; they re
turned to the city in 1887, when their
convent near St. Peter’s was started.
In 1884 Hon. T. J. Robertson gave the
congregation several acres on Elm
wood Avenue as a cemetery, a gift
of inestimable value. Father Fuller
ton resigned in 1895 because of poor
health, and went to Ireland, where he
died the following year.
The Rev. Thomas J. Hegarty suc
ceeded Father Fullerton on May 24,
1895. The congregation as yet had
: shown small evidence of growth, its
members remaining practically about
the same until it received a few more
St. Peter's Church,
members from the influx that con
tributed to the general population a
few years afterwards. The annexing
of several outlying missions, embrac
ing the Counties of Richland, Lexing
ton, Fairfield, Chesterfield, York,
Lancaster and Kershaw to Columbia
in 1897, so greatly enlarged the field
of labor for one priest that an assist
ant became necessary. The Rev. John
Seidl was appointed to this position
in August, of the same year. He was
the first assistant pastor that St.
Peter’s had.
Towards the end of 1901 the old
church gave unmistakable signs of
decay, and it became evident it must
soon be either reconstructed or re
placed by a new one. The steadily
increasing growth of the congrega
tion, too, would seem to require an
edifice of larger dimensions for its
suitable accommodation. An architect
made a thorough examination of the
building but the report he submitted
called for so large an expenditure that
Father Hegarty and his committee
considered it wiser to erect a new
church, than to spend so much money
in reconstructing the old one. The
first matter to be settled was the lo
cation. Some were in favor of putting
the new church east of Main Street,
while others maintained a preference
for the grounds occupied by the old
church.
As the places, however in the eastern
section of Columbia, which were
deemed suitable for such an edifice
gradually passed into new hands, and
all hope for procuring space desirable
for the purpose in that direction fin
ally disappeared, it was decided to
rebuild on the lot on which old St.
Peter’s was first built. Funds for the
new church were raised by subscrip
tion and entertainments, and by col
lections in Northern cities, so that
there was on hand the sum of four
teen thousand dollars when the build
ing of the new St. Peter's was begun
on March 17, 1906.
The large bequests from the estate
of Charles Logan and Mr. John
Crowley and Mrs. Ellen Crowley,
which became available at the time—
as well as a few liberal contributions
from those of the congregation who
could best afford to help, contributed
materially to the immediate and "un
obstructed construction of the church.
The style of architecture is of early
Gothic and was carried out to the fin
est detail, not only in the structure
proper, but in all the fittings and
equipment. The length, from front to
rear wall of the sanctuary is 131 feet;
across the nave and aisle 64 feet and
across the transcept 79 feet, with a
tower that rises -163 feet above the
sidewalk level. The appointments of
the interior were made with great
care and with becoming reference to
the design, capaicty and edifice, which
for its proportions and gracefulness
of its lines, compares very favorably
even today, with any church in the
South.
Father Thomas Hegarty, after serv
ing as pastor of St. Peter’s Church
for thirty years, resigned in 1925, hav
ing built and paid for the new church.
Columbia, was erected to 19*6 by me Rev. Thomas G. Hegarty, pastor of the panafc from 1855 to 192S,
Desipte poor health* he worked in
Charleston until 1928, when he was
transferred to Beaufort. In 1930, he
went to Our Lady of Mercy Church
in Charleston, where he worked un
tiringly until August, 1932, when he
suffered at stroke at Orange, N. J.,
while on vacation. He is buried in
the vestibule of St."Peter’s Church,
which he planned, built and paid for
during his thirty years in Columbia,
and his funeral was proof of the love
and esteem in which he was held by
the people of every demonimation.
He was succeeded by Father Nicho
las A. Murphy, who later became
Dean of the Columbia Deanery. Dean
Murphy was widely-known through
out the South and patricularly in his
new home became most active in the
religious and civic affairs of the city.
He was a most fluent and gifted
speaker, and he will be remembered
by all for his travel talks. There was
scarcely a country in the world which
he had not visited, and his lectures
and sermons were listened to with
close attention by all who heard him.
He was a worthy successor to Father
Hegarty, and under him, St. Peter’s
continued to become a large parish.
In 1920 a part of the ctiy was cut
off from St. Peter’s, and St. Francis’
Parish in Shandon was formed. Fath
er Jacquier worked in the new parish
for three years when he was trans
ferred to Wilmington, DeL, where he
is still active in church affairs. In
1923 Father Martin C. Murphy was
transferred from St. Patrick’s Parish,
Charleston, to St. Francis’ in Shan
don. He was pastor there until 1934,
when Father Nicholas Murphy suf
fered a stroke and died, and Father
Martin became successor to Father
Nicholas. Under his care St. Peter’s
Church has been repaired, and with
the assistance of the ladies who con
stitute St. Peter’s Guild, the church
has been painted, and today, after a
lapse of thirty years, its spire and
cross overlook the Capital City, beck
oning all to “come.” Under the di
rection of Father Murphy, whose
zeal, prudence and untiring efforts
are well known, St. Peter’s Parish is
flourishing. The congregation has
shown a steady increase, and many
of its people hold influential posi
tions in the social and business life
of Columbia.
FORMER SAVANNAH MAN
DIES AS RESULT OF
ACCIDENT
(Special to The Bulletin)
SAVANNAH, Ga.— Relatives and
friends here learned .with deep sorrow
of the tragic death in Virginia on
May 8, of Leo Francis Lockamy, who
died following an accident in Newport
News, where the former Savannahian
was employed in a shipyard.
Funeral services were held from
Holy Trinity Church, Norfolk.
FR. MURPHY PASTOR
AND DISTRICT DEAN
Beloved Rector of St. Peter’s
Formerly Pastor of
Parish at Shandon
•
VERY REV. MARTIN C. MURPHY,
V. F, pastor of St. Peter’s Church,
Columbia, and dean of the Columbia
District, is one of the most beloved
priests in the entire Southeast, be
loved not only by his parishoners,
past and present, not only by non-
Catholics in Columbia as well as by
Catholics, but by all with whom he
has come in contact anywhere.
Dean Murphy was born in Ireland
and made hrs classical, philosophical
and theological studies there, and
volunteered for labor in the distant
Diocese of Charleston. His early la
bors in the Diocese were in Charles
ton and then in Greenville, where he
was assistant to the Rt. Rev. Msgr. A.
K. Gwynn, V. F., pastor of St. Mary’s
Church and the far-flung Greenville
missions. He next served at St-
Peter’s Church, Columbia, where he
is now pastor, and in 1923 he was ap
pointed pastor of St. Francis de
Sales Church, Shandon, Columbia.
As pastor at Shandon, Father Mur
phy displayed the same zeal as he
did in Charleston, Greenville and
Columbia; the parish had a very
small membership when he went
there three years after it was estab
lished by Father Jacquier of the Ob
late Fathers of St. Francis de Sales,
now laboring in the Diocese of Wil
mington as a priest of that order.
Father Murphy extended the organ
ization of the parish, deepened its
spiritual life, improved the church
and rectory, and was making plans
to build a new church, as the next
step in the program when the com
ing of the depression rendered it in
advisable.
Before the depression had lifted,
Father Murphy had been appointed by
Bishop Walsh pastor of St Peter's
Church, the neighboring parish’and
the mother parish of the city and this
entire section, succeeding the late
Very Rev. Nicholas A. Murphy, V.
F. In further recognition of Fath
er Murphy's zeal and achievements.
Bishop Walsh appointed him dean of
the Columbia district with the title
of vicar forane.
As pastor of St. Peter’s Father
Murphy has again won the hearts of
all his parishoners. His first concern
is the spiritual life of the parish, and
that flourishing spiritual life is evi
dent in the many and varied parish
activities. Although St. Peter’s has
a Catholic population which would
be considered small in other parts of
the country’, the achievements are
out of all proportion to the number
of Catholics, chiefly because of the
inspiring, priestly leadership of Fath
er Murphy.
Father Murphy has taken a keen
interest in the development of the
work for the colored people in Co
lumbia; under the direction of Bishop
Walsh, he laid the foundation for
it, and the Dominican Fathers and
Dominican Sisters have found in hini
since their coming to Columbia a
never-failing friend. Under the lead-
ership again of His Excellency, Bishop
Walsh. Father Murphy was a leading
factor in / the establishment of the
new hospital, the announcement of
which is made in this issue of The
Bulletin. Father Murphy’s zeal is
surpassed only by his modesty; he is
truly a priestly priest, and Catholic
and non-Catholic in Columbia hold
him not only in reverence but in deep
affection.
NEWSPAPER EMPLOYEES
FETE VETERAN PRINTED
Testimonial Dinner Held for
J P. O’Hara, Augusta
AUGUSTA, Ga. — “Uncle Jerry*
O’Hara, who has been an employe of
The Augusta Herald since its estab
lishment in 1890, was complimented
by his fellow employes with a “Sur
prise” banquet upon his completion
of 47 years’ service last month.
For nearly half a century Mr.
O’Hara has been setting type from
which the pages of Augusta’s after
noon newspaper have been printed,
and has performed the same task on
behalf of The Bulletin during the
years that it has been issued from
the plant of The Augusta Herald, j
The affair which was held in his
honor was a testifnonlal to the esteem
in which he is held, by those who toil
along with him in the composing*
room of The Herald, and officers of
The Herald Publishing Company, the
editorial staff, circulation department
and a number of Mr. O’Hara’s per
sonal friends joined in paying tribute
to him.
Richard Reid, editor of The Bulle
tin, presided as toastmaster, and pre
sented Colonel Daniel G. Fogarty, a
member of the board of directors of
the publishing company; Judge Hen
ry C. Hammond, a neighbor of Mr*
O'Hara, and other speakers.
As a memento of the occasion a
watch was presented the veteran,
printer.
Arrangements for the compliment
ary dinner were made by Glenn R.
Boswell, general manager of The Her
ald, H. C. Cloud and Lawton Hatcher,
of the composing room staff, while
the ’cue was prepared under the su
pervision of Rufus Belding.
COLLEGE CAPS and gowns and
those worn by holders of degrees art
traced to monastic garb in the Middle
Ages by John S. Fanning, of Baltics,
Conn., a student last year at Provi
dence College, who has done extern*
sive research in this field.