Newspaper Page Text
Published by the
Catholic Lay
men’s Association
of Georgia
Utiin
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed”
VOL. XIX. No. 6.
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, JUNE 30, 1938
ISSUED MONTHLY—$2.00 A
YEAR
Work on Athens Hospital Being Completed
Missionary Sisters of Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus Come
to Conduct Georgia Hospital
Congregation Founded Less Than Forty Years Ago Has
3,000 Members—Mother M. Electra Superior-General
The Congregation of the Missionary
Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of
Jesus, which will conduct St. Mary's
Hospital in Athens, was founded in
1899 at Hiltrup, Diocese of Muenster
Westphalia, Germany, by the Very
Reverend Hubert Linckens, M. S. C.,
Provincial of the Missionary Fathers
of the Sacred Heart. The Missionary
Fathers of the Sacred Heart had since
1881 been engaged in the task of civil
izing and evangelizing the inhabi
tants of the Islands of Oceania in the
South Pacific, but they needed the
help of Sisters, especially in the care
of sick and orphans the education of
children ,etc.
Since it seemed impossible to enlist
the aid of any existing Order for this
work, Father Linckens, with the con
sent of competent ecclesiastical au
thorities, founded the Congregation of
the Missionary Sisters of the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the pri
mary purpose of aiding in the mis
sionary work in pagan countries. The
motherhouse was established at Hil
trup, Germany, and the new Congre
gation canonically sanctioned on Feb
ruary 6, 1900.
O
—THE MISSION CALL
?
O-
Two years later, in the spring
and summer of 1902, the first two
groups of Sisters left for Oceania,
their first field of labor being New
Britain and the Marshall Islands, at
that time under German control. Un
doubtedly, great courage and the real
missionary spirit were required, for
the missions in the scattered South
Sea Islands were then in a very pri
mary stage and every comfort lacking
for the missionaries. But in spite of
all hardship enthusiasm ran high, and
before long a third and fourth expe
dition set out in 1903 and 1904 respec
tively.
o-
BAFTISM OF BLOOD
■i
Meanwhile the number of candi
dates wishing to join the newly es
tablished Order increased, and neith
er their number nor the fervor of
those enlisted was diminished when
in August, 1904, a cablegram from
New Britain brought the sad news
that two Fathers, three Brothers and
five Sisters had fallen victims to the
murderous weapons of the Bainin-
gers, a barbarous mountain tribe, who
thus avenge themselves on the mis
sionaries whose lofty ideas they
hated.
Not only did the account of this
martyrdom fail to lessen the mission
ary fervor, either within the congre
gation or outside of it, but, on the
contrary, many Catholic young ladies
were inspired to give up the world for
Christ and His missionary labors, and
in the convent all the Sisters volun
teered to take up the work in the
same district where others had sac
rificed their lives. A few months la
ter. eight other Sisters left for
Oceanica, and since that time new
bands are leaving every year.
O ——O
HOME MISSIONS
o o
In giving this sketch of work of
the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sa
cred Heart of Jesus in the Foreign
Missions, we must not lose sight of
the development of the Congregation
in its home country. While the moth
er-house in Hiltrup remained the
base of operations and the training
school for young members, work in
the home missions was not neglected.
With the erection of a Retreat House
in Devemrup in 1907, various forms of
charitable work were taken up: Car
ing for nospitals, nurseries, schools,
orphanages, homes for children, for
the aged and wayward, and related
activities. As the years rolled on, the
demand for Sisters, both for the home
and foreign missions, was so great
that the motherhouse could scarcely
supply the desired number of teach
ers. nurses, etc.
O O
^ NEW FIELDS OF LABOR £
New fields of labor were opened in
the United States of North America,
in 1908; in 1927 in Southwest Africa;
in 1928 in Melbourne, Australia; in
1932 in China, Province of Kwei
chow, and at present—June 1938—the
first group of Missionary Sisters are
on their way to South America, in
order to take over a new mission in
Peru, the Congregation of Missionary
Peru. At present less than 40 years af
ter its humble beginning the Congre
gation of Missionary Sisters of the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, num
bering almost 3,IflO Sisters, extends its
activities over more than 100 houses in
all parts of the globe.
o-
!
o-
IN THE UNITED STATES
-O
k
In 1908 the Missionary Sisters fol
lowed a call to the United States of
North America. In the beginning of
that year the late Rt. Reverend Mon
signor Heinen, Vicar Forane of the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia, had
come to Hiltrup for the purpose of
enlisting the services of the Mission
ary Sisters for work in the schools
of the archdiocese. Negotiations were
successful, and on August 1, of the
same year, eight Sisters left Hiltrup
to set sail for North America.
In September of the same year they
began their work as teachers in St.
Michael’s School, Lansford, and in the
School of the Assumption Parish,
Slatington, Pa. In the years following,
the Sisters, on request from the dif
ferent pastors, took charge of other
parish schools, until with the opening
of Holy Guardian Angel School, Hyde
Park, in 1933, in the Archdioces of
Philadelphia, 13 parish schools with a
total of nearly .5,000 children were
conducted by the Missionary Sisters.
As the number of missions, and cor
respondingly that of the Sisters in
creased, the establishment of a Pro
vincial House in America became a
necessity. In Hyde Park, near Read
ing, Pa., the late Monsignor Borne-
mann had opened a Sanatorium for
sick and invalid Religious of all Or
ders, and he summoned the Mission
ary Sisters to take care of this insti
tution. After a reasonable trial the
project had to be abandoned; the
property was then purchased under
acceptable terms and converted into
the prooosed Central House—Provin
cial Motherhouse and Novitiate — of
the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sa
cred Heart. Owing to an increase of
members, in 1921 the building had to
be enlarged, and in 1931 a House of
Studies, primarily for the training of
young ladies as future members of
their Sisterhood, was erected.
HOSPITAL WORK
St. Joseph’s Church and Rectory, Athens
Athens’ St. Joseph’s Church
Now in Its Silver Jubilee Year
ECCLESIASTICAL ART
WELL EXEMPLIFIED
IN ATHENS CHURCH
Renovated St. Joseph’s One
of Most Attractive Edifices
in the Entire State
Teaching was not to be the only ac
tivity of the Missionary Sisters in the
United States. As in their native
country, so here the Congregation did
not lose sight of its great object: To
come to the assistance of suffering
humanity, whenever its services
might be required. Accordingly, when
in 1912 the Right Reverend Monsignor
Peter Masson, V. F., took steps to
found the Sacred Heart Hospital in
Allentown and requested the Mission
ary Sisters to take over, the care of
the sick, they gladly followed this
invitation. Though begun on a very
small and humble basis, the hospital
soon outgrew its limits for the in
creased care of patients.
Additional property was acquired
and a new hospital was built in 1915;
in the course of years new additions
had to be made, until now the Sacred
Heart Hospital, with a capacity of 310
beds and every modem improvement,
is approved as an A-l Hospital and one
of the finest in the Archdiocese.
With this hospital are conected
two Homes for Old Ladies, and re
cently in Coopersburg, near Allen
town, an estate has been acquired,
which is being converted into the
“Sacred Heart Home and Trade
School for Convalescent, Crippled,
and Friendless Youth.” This latest en
terprise, which is to be formally open
ed in July or August of this year, is
affiliated with the Sacred Heart Hos
pital and will likewise be conducted
by the Missionary Sisters.
O o
| INSTITUTIONAL WORK |
o O
As early as 1913 a group of Sisters
went to Columbus, Ohio, to take
charge of the domestic department In
the Pontifical College Josephinum
and at the same time of a little or
phanage connected with the college.
Since then the services of the Mis
sionary Sisters have been requested
for a number of other institutions of
this kind for similar activities, but
many more invitations in this line had
to be met by refusal for want of a
sufficient number of Sisters.
St. Joseph’s Church. Athens, of
which the Rev. Harold J. Barr is
pastor, and which was rededicated
early in the year at services at which
the Most Rev. Gerald P. O'Hara, D.
D., Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta. pre
sided, as recorded in The Bulletin at
the time, after the church had been
completely renovated and redecorat
ed, is now one of the most attractive
churches in the state.
O-
KNIGHTS OF ST. GEORGE
HOME
1
In 1922 a call came from the
Knights of St. George,—a Catholic as
sociation for laymen,—for the Mis
sionary Sisters to come to Wellsburg,
West Virginia, where the association
had. purchased an es*»*e to serve as a
(Continued on Page 10)
St. Joseph’s Church and Rectory
were erected a number of years ago
and on the exterior presented a
charming example of an English
Gothic type of rural parish church.
The interior of the building was not.
however, in complete accord with the
simple yet charming and dignified
exterior aspects of the church. The
problem presented was so to alter
and re-design the interior that both
the exterior and interior might pre
sent a harmonious whole. To this
end the suspended, vaulted ceiling in
the nave was removed, and the entire
Chancel wall, together with the
arched ceiling over the Sanctuary
was also removed. In order to ob
tain more room for the choir and
baptistry, and to remove the confes-
ional from an inconspicuous nook, a
cross wall forming an entrance vesti
bule at the entrance of the church
was also removed and the entire in
terior left completely open.
The heating system also came in
for considerable modernization, as a
series of huge wall radiators which
left much to be desired in the way
of appearance, were removed from
the side walls and rear of the church.
In place of these numerous wall ra
diators, two unit heaters of the most
advance design were installed over
the side altars, and the outlet grilles
on these heaters so cleverly concealed
by the artistic mural decoration on
the walls behind hie side altars that
they are practically unnoticed. In
addition to performing the duty of
heating the church in the winter
time, these heaters are also provided
with a fan which will establish posi
tive circulation of air in the church
during the warm summer months.
Upon the removal of the plaster
ceiling over the nave, the trusses sup
porting the roof structure were en
closed with finishc woodwork and
the entire underside of the roof
covered with V-jointed yellow pine
ceiling in random widths, the ex
posing and decoration of the roof
trusses and structural members of
the roof bringing out and glorifying
the inherent characteristic beauty of
(Continued on Page Seven)
Dedicated March 30, 1913.
Father Barr Third Pastor
of Unique Parish
. (By John H. Mote)
It seems fitting that the early his
tory of St. Joseph’s parish be present
ed as recorded by the first resident
pastor, the late Rt. Rev. Ms'gr., H. F.
Clark- The following is written in the
handwriting of Father Clark and
found in the Baptismal Record of St.
Joseph’s Church:
‘The foregoing baptismal records
were found by me in an old book and
papers in the old building which had
been used for a church. This antique
building was used as the first Law
School of the University of Georgia
and what remains of it stands in the
rear of the new church which was
dedicated on Sunday, March 30, 1913.
In this old building Robert Thomas
Toombs, Alexander Stephens, Thom
as R. R. Cobb met and decided Geor
gia should secede from the Union. The
first Supreme Courts of Georgia con
vened in it. In it plans too Lucy
Cobb, named for the deceased daugh
ter of T. R. R. Cobb, were drawn.
‘Lucy Cobb’ was dedicated in 1858. Af
ter ceasing to be the Law School of
the University of Georgia it was used
as a school for boys.
“In 1873 Bishop Gross, Bishop of Sa-
vananh, afterwards Archbishop of
Oregon and Father O'Brien, Wash
ington Georgia, came to Athens in or
der to buy a location for a boys’ or
phanage. Failing in their purpose,
they were persuaded by ten Catholic
men who resided here at that time, to
buy the present site for a church. Dr.
Bloomfield, an Episcopalian, donated
the first hundred dollars- The build
ing, as aforementioned, was used by
the Catholics in which Mass was said
by priests who came from Atlanta,
Augusta, ’ Sharon, Macon, and Wash
ington, until I was appointed July,
1910, as the first resident priest of
Athens, and the North Georgia Mis
sions, which consist of 23 counties or
11,500 square miles. After devoting of
my time the first two years in raising
funds in Pittsburg, Philarelphia. and
New York, the new church was start
ed on November 17. 1912, and dedicat
ed on March 30, 1913. I started the rec
tory on December 5. 1915; it was com
pleted November 11, 1916. Griffin
Church was finished as it stands in
1920. A lot in Gainesville has been
purchased. On this day, January 2,
1926, I leave Athens’ Missions free of
debt to my successor and assume the
responsibility of St. Anthony's Parish,
Atlanta.”
SISTERS IN ATHENS
TO OPEN HOSPITAL
St. Maiy’s Originally Estab
lished by Athens Physicians
The Successor to Monsignor Clark
was the Rev. James E. King who con
tinued the work begun by Msgr. Clark.
A church was built by Father King in
Gainesville and one in LaGrange. Fa
ther Quinlan and Father Daly served
successively under Father King as as
sistants, until the new parish was cre
ated at LaGrange, at which time La-
Grange. Newnan and Griffin were re
moved from St. Joseph’s Parish.
In 1936 Father King was sent to Val
dosta as parish priest, and Father Har
old Barr came to Saint Joseph’s Par
ish as pastor. Although Father Barr
has been in Athens for less than two
years, he has demonstrated his ability
By JOHN H. MOTE
St. Mary’s Hospital was founded
some thirty years ago by Doctors J.
P. Procter and H. M. Fullilove, who
were joint owners until the death of
Dr. Procter several years ago.
The hospital was originally housed
in the old Stovall home on Milledge
Avenue, but as demands upon it grew
it became necessary to enlarge it.
The old Stovall home was moved to
the back of the lot, and the present
modern brick structure was built.
Under the competent direction of
Doctors Procter and Fullilove, the
hospital quickly became one of the
best in this section of the state.
Upon the death of Dr. Procter, Dr.
Fullilove, became owner and operat
ed the hospital until his death in No
vember, 1935.
After the death of Dr. Fullilove,
Mrs. Procter, widow of Dr. J P.
Procter, ran the hospital, with Dr.
Whelchel as resident physician, until
several months ago when it was
closed.
Late last fall Bishop O H3ra and
Father Harold Barr began negotia
tions with Mrs. H. M. Fullilove which
resulted, finally, in the acquisition of
St. Mary’s for the Catholic Church.
Bishop O'Hara invited the Missionary
Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of
Jesus to come to Athens from Penn
sylvania and take charge. The sisters
responded to the invitation with their
usual zeal, and four Sisters arrived in
Athens, several weeks ago to begin
the work of organization prenara’c 'y
to the formal opening early in
July. Several additiv'l Sisters are
are expected to arrive in Athens in
a few days to complete the staff of
St. Mary's.
The people of Athens and vicinity,
Catholic and non-Catholic alike are
very enthusiastic over the reopening
of St. Mary’s under the Missionary
Sisters, and the prospects are bright
for its very successful operation in a
section where Catholics are few.
The presence of the Sisters , in
Athens will doubtless do much to
create good wilt for the Catholic
Church in Georgia.
REV. JOHN H. FINN, noted Fran
ciscan educator, died at St. Francis'
College, Loretto, Pa., at the age of 55.
A Lieut.-Commander in the navy, he
established a newspaper on the U. S.
S. Colorado, said to be the first of its
kind. He received his Doctor of Phi
losophy degree from the University of
Lima.
and zeal for furthering the cause of
the Catholic Church and has endeared
himself to his parishoners. He suc
ceeded in the face of seemingly un-
surmountable difficulties in having
the church completely remodeled and
redecorated. St. Joseph’s Church is
now one of the most beautiful in the
diocese.
Perhaps the crowning achievement
of Father Barr, in a material way, was
the acquisition of St. Mary’s Hospital
last fall The hospital, which is under
going extensive renovation, will be
open to the public in the near future,
f probably sometime in July.