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MARCH 2G, 1938 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC L JANUARY 29, 1938 THREE—A St» Patrick’s Was Oldest Edifice in Raleigh Diocese Church Now Being Replaced Was Erected 109 Ago in Days of Bishop England Years (Special to The Bulletin) FAYETTEVILLE, N. C. — St. Pat rick's Church is the oldest Catholic Church in North Carolina. From the standpoint of continuous use it is probably one of the oldest religious edifices in Fayetteville. The land upon which the church is built was donated for that purpose in 1829 by one John Kelly, a native of Dublin, Ireland. At the time of this donation, Fayetteville was in the diocese of the great Bishop John England, a diocese comprising the states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Soon after its completion the first church was burn ed in a great fire which swept over the town in 1831. In mis fire all records and papers were destroyed. The Rev. John Magennis, the first priest or whom there is any record, and who was the solitary missionary of the state from 1829 to 1833, set to work to rebuild the church, collections were taken up throughout the diocese to aid him. Catholics in Baltimore and Philadelphia also sent aid, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, heading the Maryland list. Members of the Catholic Church were too few in the early days of North Carolina to permit the erection of a church. When the celebrated Bishop John England, who was the first Catholic bishop in this state, wrote his "Memoirs of the American Church” in 1824, he could find no trace of Catho lics with churches in North Carolina before 1798. There are a few records of priests having come to North Carolina from 1796 to 1820 to confer the Sacraments or to organize the Catholics. For ex ample, Rev. P. P. Clariviere, on a mission tour through Virginia, North and South Carolina, wrote to Arch bishop Carroll in 1812: “At Fayette ville I collected about twenty persons at Mass on Sunday, among whom Mr. Kelly, Mrs. Maguire and Jordan were foremost to thank me.” But the Cath olic Church in North Carolina dates its organization from the year 1820, when North Carolina was made par of the newly created diocese of New York Office 450 Seventh Ave. Belk-Hensdale Company Department Stores “One of the 130 Belk Stores’' FAYETTEVILLE, N. C. Branch Banking & Trust Company Capital and Surplus $1,200,000.00 E. H. FOLEY. Cashier W. A. DRAKE, Asst. Cashier Fayetteville, N. C. Charleston, under the Rt. Rev. John England, D.D. Un May 8, 1921, Bishop England be gan his visitation of the diocese. Ke came to Fayetteville to give the small Catholic flock an opportunity to re ceive the holy sacraments. Whit: there he organized the Catholics and urged them to meet on Sundays for prayers and instructions. He appoint ed a committee to read the prayers. He recommended books to be read and urged them to have the Catechism taught to the ignorant. In its early days, St. Patrick’s num bered several wealthy members among the parishioners, principally John Kel ly, a wealthy slave owner, and Mrs. William McGuire, Mrs. McGuire was "Lady Bountiful" of the mission for half a century and had an open door for every homeless priest coming that way. John Kelly, an Irish immigrant, was well educated and for a time taught school in the neighborhood. Everything Mr. Kelly undertook seem ed to prosper. Before he reached middle age he was one of the wealthiest men in the Cape Fear section. He answered every call of distress and became one of the greatest philanthropists of his com munity. Mr. Kelly was a devout Catholic. It was principally through his influence and efforts that the Catholic Church in Fayetteville was established. The lumber in the present church was sawed by him at his mill several miles south of the city, and was hauled by his teams to the site of the church. He owned most of the land on which the Catholic and Presbyterian churches now»«tand. The land for St. Patrick's Church v/as given to Bishop England by Mr. Kelly, as we learn from the deed dated March 10, 1828; the prop erty was transferred from Bishop Eng land to Edward Swiney, John Kelly, Dillon Jordan, Sr., Dillon Jordan, Jr., Lawrence Fitzmorris and Patrick Dail ey, trustees of St. Patrick’s Church. The most eminent priest of the early days of the mission was Rev. Thomas Murphy, who was sent by Bishop England in 1838. At that time the parish boundry was the entire eastern portion of the state. A handful of Irish exiles, having found refuge in Wil mington, naturally came under his ju risdiction. In 1841, Bishop Reynolds, successor of Bishop England, appoint ed Father Murphy as rector of the Catholic comihunity at Wilmington. Fathers McGowan, Dunne, Ryan, Quigley and Gross came in succession to minister to the congregation of St. Patrick’s Church. During the Civil War hundreds of Catholic soldiers worshipped in this humble house of God, built by the faithful sons of Erin and dedicated to Ireland’s greatest saint. CARDINAL GIBBONS AT FAYETTEVILLE Served There Before His Consecration as Bishop til today it has five thousand mem bers, of whom two thousand five-hun dred are priests. The Oblates have missions in all parts of the world: Northern Canada, 3outh Africa, Cey lon, Indo-China, Australia, South America. Besides this they have flourishing provinces in Canada, Eng land, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Bel gium. In the United States they take charge of parishes and preach mis sions and retreats. Among its illustrious members, the congregation is proud to have His Eminence Rodrique Cardinal Ville- neuve, archbishop of Quebec and pri mate of Canada. The present unpretentious edifice stands today as a venerable monu ment to Catholicity after its service of a century. “No one but the record ing Angel can tell the amount of good accomplished by the little woodland church with its tapering spire, within whose walls the eloquence of an Eng land, a Reyffblds, a Gibbons and, a Price once flowed in a golden tide.” NEW YORK’S Catholic Boy Scout Troops increased by 63 diming 1937, the Division of Social Action of the New York Catholic Charities an nounces. CHARLESTON KNIGHTS’ COMMUNION BREAKFAST (Special to The Bulletin) CHARLESTON, S. C. — The Rt Rev. Msgr. James J. May, V. G., was the principal speaker at the Com munion Breakfast of P. N. Lynch Council, Knights of Columbus, last Sunday following the Communion Mass at the Cathedral. A. M. O’Neill was chairman of the speak er's committee. Judge John I. Cos grove presided, and Grand Knight Thomas J. Burke spoke on the prog ress of the Council and plans for the future. REV. GEORGE LEWIS SMITH. of St. Joseph’s Church, addressed the Catholic Woman’s Club at the March meeting, his subject being “St| Peter’s—The Heart of Christendom.” Miss Margaret Cade, president, pre sided, and Miss Alice F, Moran, chairman of the entertainment com mittee, presented Father Smith. ELIZABETH JORDAN’S autobiog raphy, “Three Rousing Cheers”, is the Catholic Book of the Month choice for March. In the year 1867, lit. Rev. James Gibbons, D.D., futhure Archbishop of Baltimore, came to Fayetteville and St. Patrick’s as a young priest. In 1868 Father Gibbons was consecrated bishop, and established his Episcopal See in St. Thomas’ Church in Wil mington. The “youngest bishop in the world” started on his apostolic mission to North Carolina. From Fayetteville he traveled through the state by rail stage and steamboat, visiting Golds boro, Edenton, Tarboro, Wilson, Ral eigh, Morganton, Salisbury, Old Fort and Asheville, the latter being known as the "western missions”. These mis sions were more recent than the east ern ones. There was no Catholic Church west of St. Peter’s in Char lotte, which was built in 1852. Like Bishop England, Bishop Gib bons traveled through the state preach ing and teaching wherever he could. Pre-eminently he was a man of the people. Before long he knew person ally all the adult Catholics in North Carolina. He gained friends every where by his rare grace of manner and kindliness. During his trying trips over his mis sionary territory, he wrote whenever and wherever he could crowd in a few minutes. The fruit of these writings was “The Faith of Our Fathers”. This famous explanation of the Catholic re ligion has been translated into twelve languages. Little did Bishop Gibbons think at the time that his work would have an influence not only on his own mission field in North Carolina, but on the world at large. Little did the people of Fayetteville think that the young priest in charge of St. Patrick’s Church would one day become the cardinal archbishop of Baltimore distinguished as a patriot, author and preacher. Father Thomas Price, one of the founders of the Tvlaryknoll Foreign Missionary Society, was pastor of St. Patrick's Church . in 1896. OBLATES IGHARGE OF PARISH 11 YEARS In 1927 the Oblates of Mary Immac ulate took charge’of St. Patrick’s. This religious congregation was founded in 1816 by Charles Eugene de Mazenod, a young priest of Provence, France, to counteract the terrible spiritual desolation among the lower classes in France following : the French revolu- ! tion. The order developed rapidly, un- Fayetteville Coca-Cola Bottling Company Incorporated Fayetteville, N. C. Best Wishes From The Fayetteville Observer Established 1817 Fayetteville, N. C.