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JUNE 26, 1937
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIFTEEN
Florida State Council Essay
Contest Won by F.X.Heid rich
Orlando Parish Student’s Description of Border Warfare
and Destruction of Franciscan Missions Wins First
Prize in Annual Competition
Francis X. Heidrich, a pupil in
tlie twelfth grade of St. James’
School, Orlando, Fla., has been
declared the winner of the Ninth
Annual Essay Contest sponsored
by the Florida State Council;
Knights of Columbus. Leo T.
Bowles, grand knight of Jackson
ville Council, state chairman of
the essay contest committee, an
nounces. Dr. A. J. Hanna of the
faculty of Bollins College, Winter
Park, Fla., was the judge. The win
ning essay on the essay contest
subject: “The Border Wars Be
tween the English Colonies of the
Carolinas and Georgia and Spanish
Florida, and the Consequent De
struction of the Franciscan Mis
sions,” follows:
The Franciscan priests in their
brown robes with white girdle, their
tonsured heads, their hoods and san
dals first came to Florida in 1573, fol-.
lowed four years later by several oth
ers. In 1592 there were only five mis
sionaries in Florida but in 1593 Fray
Juan De Silva arrived with twelve
companion priests. In 1612 twenty-
three Franciscans were sent to Flor
ida, in 1613 eight more and in 1615
twelve others. Small soldier garrisons
protected the missionaries from neo
phytes and guarded the intrusions of
unwelcome European neighbors. The
Georgia coast constituted the district
of Guale, and was a part of the prov
ince of La Florida. Most of the Spanish
settlements in Guale were on the is
lands, for these are firm land, while
the adjacent mainlaind presents a
wide strip of difficult swamp and
salt-marsh, which even now is un
subdued.
Spain’s principal agents on the
Georgia frontiers were the mission
ary and the soldier. The supporting
base from which they went forth and
by which they were sustained was San
Agustin (Saint Augustine), capital of
the province of Florida, of which the
Georgia County was a part. Here a
presido served as the center of base
and supply, and furnished succor in
time of need. The guardian outpost on
the north till 1587 was Santa Elena
(Port Royal). Later Santa Catalina,
near the Savannah, held the border for
nearly a century.
The Georgia missions, with their
slender garrisons, were not alone signs
of Spain’s desire to spread the faith..
They were evidences, likewise, of her
title ter all the vast area included in
our “Old Southeast”. This' title was
soon enough contested. From the days
of Ribault and Drake, French and
English freebooters almost incessant
ly came up out of- the Caribbean,
traded with the natives of the inte
rior, and raided the Spanish settle
ments on the Atlanic Coast
In 1607, the year after bishop Ca-
beza's visitation of Guale, the British
founded Jamestown, and when in 1670
they secured a closer foothold in
Charleston near St. Helena, Guale and
its Christian Indians were doomed.
Against Spain’s right of previous dis
covery and occupancy, the British,
enriched and strengthened by piracy
of Spanish treasures on the seas, be
gan on Spanish lands, as elsewhere, to
attack the missions; and the resultant
brood swept cross, temple, friar and
Christian Indians from Georgia' and
Florida to the gates of St. Augustine.
Religion had to yield to trade; and no
device, not even slave barter in
Christian Indians, was too unscrupu
lous or merciless to promote commer
cial gain.
The missionaries with their Indians
and soldiers might have held out
against a single enemey, but the re
peated attacks of three determines
foes was too much. Heathen Indians,
envious Carolinians, and now covet
ous Caribbean pirates preyed upon
the missions. Nor could enlarged mili
tary support from Saint Augustine
withstand the tide. Savage attacks be
gan in 1680. For four years that border
held, and then the terrified natives
fled to the forest; the Guale missions
were ruined. And henceforth the
“Golden Islands” could be exploited at
will.
Unable to secure reinforcements
from Spain, which all the governors
besought persistently but vainly. Gov
ernor Cabrera withdrew the missions
and Indians from St. Catharine's to
Sapelo; thence, in 1686 to St. Mary’s
(Amelia Island) and to San Juan on
the St. John’s River, the northern
boundary of modern Florida. Not
even this boundary could stop the in
roads of greed and hate. The war of
the Spanish succession gave South
Carolina a pretext for hostility
against its Catholic neighbor, and ea
ger for plunder and slaves, Governor
Moore of South Carolina, set thou
sands of savage Indians, under Eng
lish direction, to bum out the Chris
tian Apalache in the west, where af
ter professing friendship, they attack
ed Santa Fe, one of the chief towns of
the province of Timuqua, on the 20th
of May, 1702, just before dawn.
A land force of militia and Indians
under Colonel Daniel attacked St.
Augustine in the rear by way of Pa-
latka. Moore himself, with a fleet of
fourteen or fifteen vessels, effected a
junction with Colonel Daniel, and en
deavored, on the 22nd of October. 1702,
to capture Fort San Marco. But the
brave Governor, Joseph de Zunika,
who had received a few soldiers to re
inforce his little garrison, held out
bravely, the fort resisting all the ef
forts of the English. Moore then sent
to the West Indies for heavier artil
lery; but before it arrived Spanish
ships appeared in the harbor with re
inforcements under Captain Stephen
de Berroa. The siege broke and Moore
was forced to burn his ships and re
treat overland, but before withdraw
ing, he set fire to all the surrounding
churches, convents, and schools after
securing their valuables, and exe-
cutede three captive Franciscans; by a
special order he burned the valuable
Franciscan library worth about ?3,000
and which included a collection of the
Greek and Latin Fathers.
This was in 1702. Two years later
Moore completed the ruin. Helpless
Indian missions presented easier prey
than Spanish forts. Sweeping down
upon the Apalache province with
thousands of infidel Indians led by
British officers, Moore was twice re
pulsed by Captain Mexia, and Fathers
Juan de Parga and Angel Miranda
were, with the surviving Apalache,
burned alive. Father Parga was burn
ed at the stake, and Father Marcos
Delgade, who tried to save him, shar
ed the same fate, Father Manuel de
Mondoza at St. Luis Patali was an
other of Moore’s victims, and not one
friar found in the twenty-two Apa
lache missions, nor church, nor school,
nor shrine, escaped his vengeance. All
the Christian Indians, except the few
Apalache who fled to protection un
der the French flag at Mobile, were
carried off and sold in the slave mar
kets of Carolina.
Incident to the struggle the Carolin
ians laid waste thirteen missions in the
Talalhassee district that had been
continuously occupied by'Spain for
seventy years.
The Yemassee War (1715) demon
strated the need of an English outpost
south of the Savannah. The effort to
provide it by establishing Fort King
George on the Altamaha precipitated
a sharp diplomatic controversy. With
the coming of Oglethorpe’s Georgia
colony in 1733 a half decade of blus
ter and argument followed on the
border.
The few villages at Nombre de Dios,
Tolemato, and other environs of St.
Augustine remained steadfast under
the protection of the guns of San
Marco (Fort Marion) until finally, in
spite of the diplomacy of the British,
Spain entered the Seven Years’ War
and Florida and all her possesions east
of the Mississippi passed into the
hands of the British in 1763. The few
remaining friars departed with the
Spaniards ■when, in violation of treaty
provisions, their convents and proper
ties an dthe parish church itself were
appropriated to British uses.
Today, the Episcopal Church occu
pies the site of one of their buildings
and the United States Armory an
other, while some form part of Saint
Augustine’s display of antiques. The
friars and the Spanish colonizers may
be said to have been mainly the mak
ers of the productions and attractions
of Florida’s peninsula today, as of
many of our territories from coast to
coast. o.ne missionaries found it prac
tically barren of grains, fruits, vege
tables, cattle, and domestic animals;
they left it Florida.
St. Angela Academy
Graduating Program
(Special to The Bulletin)
AIKEN, S. C.—The Most Rev. Em
met M. Walsh, D. D., Bishop of
Charleston, presided and delivered
the address at the commencement at
St. Angela Academy, which was held
1- the Star Theatre. Diplomas were
awarded to the' Misses Dorothy Co-
rinne Dyches, Kathryn Sylvia Ford,
Mildred Fortson, Martha Louella Ka-
ney, Veronica Elliott Kleeman, Mari
anna Farrell Milner and Magdalene
Virginia Morris.
Diplomas in typewriting were
awarded to Misses Dorothy Dyches,
Mildred Fortson, Martha Louella Ka-
ney, Veronica Elliott Kleeman and
Marianna Farrell Milner.
J s Dorothy Dyches was awarded
the gold medal for proficiency in
music and also the bronze medal
awarded by the Degan Company for
the best typewriting. Miss Marguer
ite Thoma? was the winner of the
gold medal for religion, the gift of
a friend in memory of the Rev.
George A. Kraft. Miss Helen Dyches
was awarded a badge of distinction
for having attained the highest aver
age in the high school department.
Miss Dyches also won the medal for
the highest verage in mathematics.
The gold medal for English, given
in memory of Sister Mary Celestine
Quale, was awarded to Miss Mildred
Fortson.
Two medals, one offered by the
American Legion and the other the
Auxiliary, for the most outstanding
pupils from the standpoint of cour
age, character, service, companionship
and scholarship were won by Henry
Propst and Miss Rosamond Durban.
These were presented by Wm- M.
Srnoak.
FOSTER STEARNS has been nam
ed to the state commission for the
Promotion of the Wealth and In
come of the People of New Hamp
shire by Governor Francis P. Mur
phy.
St. Bernard*s Awards
Thirty-Two Diplomas
(Special to The Bulletin)
CULLMAN, Ala.—Seventeen young
men were graduated from the Junior
College department of St. Bernard’s
College, and fifteen from the high
school department in the annual com
mencement exercises at which the
Most Rev. Thomas J. Toolen, D.D.,
Bishop of Mobile, presided. Among
the junior college graduates, who
came from all parts of the country,
were James Cleo Hoge, of Lakeland,
Fla., Lamar Hardin Genovar and
John Philip Flayfiel, • St. Augustine,
Fla., Roy Charles Crumbliss, Chatta
nooga, Tenn. ,Joseph B. Taroy, Mc-
Ewen, Tenn., and Edgar M. Kelly, of
Memphis, Tenn., and John Philip
Baltz, Jr., and William Barr Grannis,
Nashville, Tenn. The gold medal for
deportment in St. John’s Hall was
won by James David Corr of Macon,
Ga.
REV. J. J. WHERLE, superintend
ent of schools of the Diocese of Erie,
was elected president of the Catholic
Education Association of Pennsyl
vania at its annual convention in
Erie.
Commencement Held
at Belmont Abbey
Bishop Walsh Presides, Dr.
Leo Stock Delivers Address
to Graduates
BELMONT, N. CT—The Most Rev.
Emmet M. Walsh, D. D., Bishop of
Charleston, presided at the annual
commencement at Belmont Abbey
College at which the degree of Bach
elor of Arts was conferred on five
members of the Order of St. Benedict,
junior college diplomas were award
ed twelve students from six states,
and eleven ^young men received their
high school diplomas.
The Rev. John P. Manley, an alum
nus of Belmont, delivered the bacca
laureate sermon at Belmont Abbey
Cathedral June 6. the Most Rev. Vin
cent Taylor, O. S. B., D. D., Abbot-
Ordinary of Belmont and president of
the college, officiating at the Pontifi
cal Mass.
Dr. Leo F. Stock, Ph. D„ LL- D., of
the Catholic University of America,
delivered the commencement address.
George Rankin Armstrong, honor
man in the senior class of the junior
college, de‘ 1 the valedictory ad
dress, and Harold Bishop Ketchum,
of Mount Holly, N. C., honor man in
the high school department, was sal-
utatorian.
The baccalaureate degree was con-
conferred on the Ven. Frs. Daniel
Baran, Bede Lightner, Gabriel Stup-
asky, Clement Harte, and Timothy
Flaherty, all of the Order of Saint
Benedict-
Junior College diplomas were pre
sented to Alexander E. Andersen, Jr.,
Bristol, Tenn.; George R. Armstrong,
Gastonia, N. C.; John E. Barry, Wil
mington, N. C.; Theodore Frazer,
Charleston, W. Va.; William J. Gear-
on, Richmond, Va.; Charles A. Mobbs,
Jr., Mount Holly, N. C.; John V. Mc-
Auliffe, Charleston, S. C.; Howard
McKenzie, Gastonia, N. C.; George
E. McManus, Newport, R- I.; William
F. Topham, Roanoke, Va., and Wal
ter B. Watson, Gastonia, N. C. The
Junior College Business Certificates
will be conferred on: William J- Hull.
Charlotte, N. C.; Arthur Jenkins, Bel
mont, N. C-; Robert W. Rankin, Gas
tonia, N. C., and Lester Stowe, of
Charlotte, N. C.
The preparatory school diploma was
presented Francis X. Burger, At
lanta, Ga.; Louis S. Chadwick, Fer-
nandina, Fla.; James J. Cronin. Sa
vannah, Ga-; William A. Davidson.
Jr., Plymouth, N, C.; Martin J. Gass,
Charlotte, N. C.; Robert D. Harris,
Belmont. N. C.; John F. Kabas, Char
lotte, N- C.; Harold B. Ketchum,
Mount Holly, N. C.; Joseph D. Mc-
Caskey, Goldsboro, N. C.; William W.
Stanton. Greensboro, N. C., and Wil
liam J. Tatum, of Belmont, N. C-
LEADING ASHEVILLE FIRMS
THE FLOWER SHOP
©f
Middlemount Gardens,
Inc.
64 PATTON AVENUE
PHONES 815—816
Asheville, North Carolina
SWANNAN0A
LAUNDRY, Inc.
CANIE N. BROWN, President
22-24 CHURCH STREET
Phones 69 and 70
Asheville, N. C.
HILL’S MARKET
“The House of Quality and Service”
Select Meats, Poultry and Game
IN SEASON.
Telephones 5461-5462 129 College St.
Moore’s Better Foods
Virginia Fish Co.
A COMPLETE FOOD STORE
Sprague Wanners’ and Co.
Richelieu Products
J0HNS0N-CHANDLEY
LUMBER COMPANY
Incorporated
Offices and Yards—Koon Development
Telephone 3040
LUMBER and BUILDING
MATERIALS
BILTMORE, N. C.
G. H. MASTERS
GROCERY CO.
G. H. Masters, Owner
Phones 4181—5989
351 Depot Street
Wholesale
Groceries
Flour
T obacco
Products
CSexuiltL
AND • *
PROTECTIOn
Sherwin-Williams
PAINT HEADQUARTER5
THE SHERMAN-WILLIAMS
COMPANY
76 Patton Ave. Phone 6700
THREE POINTS
HARDWARE GO.
Everything in General
Hardware.
B. P. S. Paints
and Varnishes
Garden and
Field Seeds
Asheville, N. C.
BILTMORE
HARDWARE
COMPANY
Anything in
Hardware
PAINTS, FARM TOOLS
and GARDEN SEED
Biltmore, N. C.
Asheville Ice &
Storage Co., Inc.
Refrigeration for
Perishables
ICE—COAL
Wholesale and Retail
24 S. Market Street
PHONES:
Biltmore Plant 1524
Riverside Plant .... 203
Coal Yard 187
Office 72 and 158
Asheville, N. C.
0TTIS GREEN
HARDWARE CO.
Wholesale and
Retail
Phone 1353—1352
Warehouse Phone 239
Asheville, N. C.