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JUNE 22, 1940
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC A Y JVLhiJN 'S Aaauu/mu,,
uiLuttUlA
THREE
Pastor at Rome
REV. CHARLES HARTE GRADY
Native Georgian
Pastor at Rome
Rev. James H. Grady, of
Savannah, Resident Pastor
of St. Mary’s Church
St. Mary’s Churchy Rome, Georgia
In Ihe jiuesi sciti^s in North Georgia, on the crest of a hill overlooking the city of Rome, is the strikingly
beautiful St Mary’s Church. The handsome stone edifice, which replaced the frame structure which had served
the Catholic population of the city for fifty years, was dedicated in 1931. It was designed by Father Michael,
cf Belmont Abbey, a noted designer of church and school buildings, and is constructed of Stone Mountain grande.
St Mary’s has the distinction of having one of the most magnificent paintings of any church in the United
States. Over its altar is an original Corregio, “II Giorna”, the Madonna, St. Jerome, and Mary Magdalen. It was
presented to the church by the Princess Ruspoli, of Rome, Italy, a sister of the famed Miss Martha Berry, of
the Martha Berry School.
Closing Exercises at
Sacred Heart, Augusta
AUGUSTA. Ga.—At the closing ex
ercises of the Sacred Heart school,
held in the school auditorium, certifi
cates of admission to high school were
awarded to Ann Casey. Ruth Jordan,
La Verne Mills, and Mary Van Sant,
who had completed the course of
study in conformity with the require
ments of the Diocese of Savannah-
Atlanta.
A one year's scholarship to Mount
St. Joseph high school was awarded
to Mary Van Sant who had the high
est average in the class. Alvin Mills,
Julian Deal. Jack Burke, John Mark-
waiter, and Frank Doyle, members
of the school patrol were awarded
certificates for faithful service dur
ing the school years.
Honor students in the eight grades
were: First grade, Rocelia Schweers,
Jane O'Connor, Mary Ann Mobley;
third grade, Jane Marie Giebner,
Mary Jeanne Cole; fourth grade,
Clare Schweers, Joyce Culpepper;
fifth grade, Patricia Van Sant, Frank
Doyle. Peggy Schweers; sixth grade,
Jeanne Stulb. Peggy Schweers; sev
enth grade, Mary Catherine Schweers,
Mary Ann Burke; eighth grade, Mary
Van Sant, Ruth Jordan.
ROME, Ga. — The second resident
pastor of St. Mary’s Church, is the
Rev. James Harte Grady, a native of
Savannah, who was reared in Georgia
and was a student at the parochial
school of the Cathedral parish and at
the Benedictine Military School be
fore he went to St. Mary’s Seminary,
Baltimore, to complete his philosophi
cal and theological courses under the
Sulpician Fathers.
In the years since the Most Rev.
Gerald P. O'Hara. Bishop of Savan-
nah-Atlanta, appointed Father Grady
as pastor of St. Mary's, to succeed the
Rev. Joseph G. Cassidy, the first res
ident pastor, he has won the hearts
of the people of Rome, irrespective
of religious affiliation.
Several hundred parishioners of St.
Mary’s are served by Father Grady,
who also ministers to the Catholics
on the Missions at Cedartown, Dal
ton. Trion and Cloudland.
Albert Fahy, Sr., heads the Holy
Name Society of the parish, while
Mrs. Harold Laird is president of the
St. Mary’s Altar Society. Miss Mary
Hubbard is president of the Sancta
Maria Club and Mrs. Robert Ford,
of Atco, heads the local Council of
Catholic Nomen. There is a parish
Study Club which holds regular
weekly meetings.
Rome’s Catholic history is traced
hack to the expedition of DeSoto,
who. according to tradition, attended
with the members of his party, Mass
which was said upon what is now the
site of Shorter College.
For many years Rome was served
by the Marist Fathers from Sacred
Heart Church in Atlanta, but eleven
years ago. Bishop Keyes gave St.
Mary’s its first resident pastor. Un
der the zealous administrations of
the Marists, Father Cassidy and Fath
er Grady, the parish has grown and
flourished and its future is replete
with promise.
Cornerstone of First Catholic
Church in Rome Remains As a
Memorial To a Long Friendship
Father Kenealy
Retreatmaster
Member of Oblates of Mary
Immaculate to Conduct
Annual Laymen’s
Retreat at Washington
ROME, Ga. —The following inter
esting history of the cornerstone
which was placed in the first Catho
lic Church erected here, appeared in
the Rome News-Tribune of Decem
ber IT. 1930:
lies as a threshold to the home—at
the foot of the front steps.
AUGUSTA. Ga.—James B. Mul-
herin, chairman -of the Retreat Sec
tion of the Catholic Laymen’s Asso
ciation of Georgia, announces that
the Reverend Gerald L. Kenealy,
O. M. I., rector o- St. Paul’s Church,
Douglas, Georgia, will conduct the
annual Retreat which will be held
at St. Joseph’s Home, Washington,
Georgia, July 19-21.
Father Kenealy, a member of the
Oblates of Mary Immaculate, is an
exceptionally brilliant speaker, and
it is anticipated that the Retreat
which he will give next month will
be one of the most successful in
the history of the Laymen’s Retreat
movement in Georgia.
Mr. Mulherin stated that at the Re
treat held in Washington last summer
it was decided that this year the Re
treat would begin on Friday eve
ning. instead of on Thursday eve
ning. as heretofore, and close on
Sunday afternoon, or evening, in
stead of on Sunday morning.
It is expected that the new sched
ule, which will enable the retreat-
ants to lose a minimum of time from
business, will prove popular and in
crease the number of those making
the Retreat.
Those who desire to make the Re
treat are requested to make reserva
tions. either through the Rev. John
Crean. director of St. Joseph’s Home,
Washington, or through the office
of the Laymen’s Association in Au
gusta or through James B. Mulherin
chairman of the Retreat section.
Local chairmen of the Retreat -Sec
tion are M. J. Callaghan, Macon; R*.
W. Hatcher, Jr.. Milledgeville; J. P.
Hornsby, Ivy; A. J. Opperman. Amer-
icus; Norman J. Wrigley, Atlanta,
John Morris, Athens, and L. L.
Grealish, Rome. If it is more conven
ient. prospective retreatants may
make reservations through their local
chairman.
A story appeared in the News-Tri
bune on Monday about a cornerstone
for a new Catholic church. That
stone was meant to serve as a cor
nerstone permanently.
The first stone laid in a Catholic
church in Rome was, and is, more
than that. It is a lasting monument
to the friendship and devotion of one
man. born in gratitude, for an insti
tution as old as the Christian reli
gion.
Col. D. S. Printup, 55th Georgia
Infantry, was captured at Cumber
land Gap by Union troops and sent
to military prison at Johnson's Island,
in Lake Erie. Food was scarce, and
all but inedible. The Colonel's life
was made endurable by the efforts of
a band of Sisters of Mercy, who
managed to contrive means of smug
gling food and slight creature com
forts to the prisoners. Without their
aid, he must certainly have died from
the privation and exposure suffered
in the prison.
Transferred to New York to serve
on some business that required
joint membership from both sides of
the conflict, he was technically a
prisoner, although free to walk the
streets at will. Sentiment was very
much against his wearing his uni
form, which he flaunted proudly as
he went about the business for which
he had come to the city. He was
made the target for insult, and in
jury.
Word had been sent from the pri
son that a ward of the Sisters there
had been sent to New York and the
Catholics there rendered service in
the way of shelter, protection, and
escort. A deep and lasting friend
ship for the church grew out of ttje
association with these splendid
people.
The war over, the Colonel returned
to Rome. There were but few of th«
faith here at that' time, and all were
very poverty-stricken,' with the ex
ception of the J. Lindsay Johnson
family, members.of the church on the
maternal side of the house. There
was no place open to the congrega
tion where they could celebrate their
masses. The colonel threw wide the
doors of his home, which was located
at that time where the corner of
East First Street and Eighth Avenue
now is.|
Bishop Wm. Gross, of Savannah,
assisted by Father Colbert, who was
in charge of the Rome district, fitter
an altar with complete equipment
for the masses, and for a long time,
masses were said in the Printup
home. The first high mass ever cele
brated in Rome, took place before
that consecrated altar, in the presence
of some twenty-five persons, many of
whom were members of the Printup
family.
When St. Mary's church was start
ed, the Colonel gave material aid in
funds to assist the congregation in
the building expenses. The time
came for the laying of the corner
stone, but the one which was ordered
for the purpose had not been de
livered. The bishop was here for
the ceremony, so a temporary stone
was provided to serve for the rites,
and be replaced at a later time. The
stone was set in the original St.
Mary's on East First Street. Later
the temporary stone was removed
and replaced by the one now in the
building. *
The bishop was asked about the
disposition of the temporary stone,
which had been blessed in the ritual
of the ceremony. He asked the Colo
nel to accept it. as a lasting symbol
of the friendship, born of need and
charity, and continued in gratitude
and appreciation. The monument is
crossed bv every visitor to the Print
up home on upper Broad Street. It
(Since the above article was writ
ten in 1930, the old Pr'ntup home
was razed, and the stone was given
back to the church by Mr: J * n
Graham. The historic cornerstone oi
the old church now rests on the yard
in front of the present St. Mary's
Church.)
Father Brennan
Returns From Rome
Savannah Priest Will
C-elebrate First Solemn
Mass at Cathedral
St. Vincents 'Flash’
Selects 1940-41 Staff
(Special to The Bulletin)
SAVANNAH, Ga.—Students of St.
Vincent’s Academy have elected Eliza
Hennessy to be editor of “The Flash.”
the school publication, for the schol
astic year 1940-1941. succeeding Jane
O’Connor, who as editor-in-chief, has
so successfully directed the school
paper for the year which has just
closed.
Other students named to the staff
of “The Flash” are Katherine Ca-
fiero, business manager; Marie Lyons,
associate editor; Margaret Siem, Vir
ginia East, Margaret Persse, Rita
Trapani. Marguerite Pinckney, and
Joy McGinn, page editors; Margaret
Prescott and Josephine Bremer, as
sistant business managers: Jane Peck-
ner. Mary Gill, Noreen O'Brien, cir
culation managers; Josephine Casey,
Alice Price, Catherine Murphy, and
Helen Conneff, typists, Eleanor West-
cott, treasurer; Eleanor Walsh. Lo
retta Fueger, and Joan Hart, staff
photographers.
(Special To The Bulletin)
SAVANNAH, Ga.—The Rev. J.
Robert Brennan, S. T. B., of Savan
nah, who has been a student at the
North American College in Rome,
where he was ordained to the priest
hood on March 7, has returned to
Savannah and will celebrate his first
Solemn High Mass on Sunday, June
23, in the Cathedral of St. John the
Baptist.
Father Brennan is the son of Mrs.
J. F. Brennan, of Savannah, and re
turns to his home parish to celebrate
Solemn High Mass for the first time.
He said his first Mass at the tomb of
St. Peter the Apostle in the Basilica
of St. Peter in Rome.
SACKED HEART P. T. A.
ELECTS NEW OFFICERS
AUGUSTA, Ga—Mrs. Edward
Schweers was elected president; Mrs.
Daniel Culpepper, first vice-presi
dent; Mrs. Annie Wallace, second
vice-president; Mrs. Steward Cashin,
secretary; and Mrs. William Oetjen,
treasurer; at the May meeting of the
Farent-Teacher Association of the
Sacred Heart school.
A FRIEND
DR. PEPPER
BOTTLING CO.
ROME, GA.
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