Newspaper Page Text
Published by the
Catholic Lay
men’s Association
of Georgia
“To Bring About
.a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed
VOL. XXI. No. 9
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, SEPTEMBER 28, 1940 issued monthly—52.00 A YEAR
**#
Augusta Marking 400th Anniversary
Celebrated for De Soto’s Expedition
First Mass Celebrated Near Augusta in 1540
* Shown above is an artist’s conception of the scene at Silver Bluff, on the Savannah River mi 1540, when one
of the priests with the expedition of Hernando de Soto celebrated Mass That being the first recorded celebration
of'the Sacrifice of the Mass near the site of the present City of Augusta, Georgia. The sketch is adapted by
Miss Martha Mauldin from a drawing by Willis Physioc, illustrating “The Spanish Missions of Georgia, by John
Tate Canning: with the permission of the copyright holders. The University of North Carolina Press.)
Augusta’s First Catholic
Church Was Built in 1811
Church of The Holy Trinity Was Erected by Roman
Catholic Society of Richmond County Where
Municipal Auditorium Now Stands
GEORGIA’S SPANISH
MISSIONS RECALLED
’ Years Before Oglethorpe
Catholic Priests Were La
boring Among Indians in
Georgia
Until recent years the majority of
Georgians have been content to date
the history of their state from 1733.
when General Oglethorpe founded
tlie English colony at Savannah.
In doing so they have neglected
to recall an earlier era of Georgia's
history, the story of the Spanish
Missions, which for more than a
century dotted the Gorgia coast
line, and extended into the interior.
The glorious history of the Spanish
“pardes” in California is no more
brilliant a page than that which tells
the story of the misionary endeavor
of the Spaniards within the State of
Georgia, but the California missions
were far removed from the forces
which caused the Spanish to abandon
their missions in Georgia, so the Cal
ifornia missions endured, and the
missions in Georgia became a forgot
ten memory.
In recent years - historians have
made extensive research, and from
old records and archives, have
compiled a wealth of information,
which has brought into prominence
a long neglected and forgotten page
in Georgia's history.
Georgia was first occupied by the
Spaniards in 1566, when a mission was
established at St. Mary’s, which may
give that town a probable claim to
being the oldest settlement of the
white man in the thirteen original
states.
In the years that followed, missions
were established along the Georgia
coast, extending as far as the mission
of St. Helena, near Beaufort, in
South Carolina.
Previous to the coming of De Soto
to Georgia. De Ayllon founded
in 1528 a Spanish colony on the
shores of what is now South Caro
lina. But the colony was short
lived, though it existed long enough
to permit some of its members to
penetrate into the interior, and it
is recorded that when De Soto reach
ed the Savannah River he found the
Indians had relics Of the previous
expedition, relics that had been found"
near or brought to the places he
visited.
For more than a generation after
De Soto the Spaniards made no note
worthy effort to colonize the land
they had explored north of Florida.
But after Menendez had establish
ed St. Augustine, in 1565. as the first
permanent settlement within the pre
sent confines of the United States,
witli the aid of the King of Spain, he
requested St. Francis Borgia, assoc
iate and successor of St. Ignatius
Loyola in the Society of Jesus, to
send priests to America, and three
Jesuits. Father Martinez. Father Ro-
gel. and Brother de Villareal were
sent to the Florida mission. Reach
ing Cumberland, Island, Father Mar
tinez became the first Jesuit martyr
to shed his blood on American soil.
In 1571 there was an Indian up
rising and many of the priests serv
ing the missions, and their native
charges were slaughtered. This made
necessary a withdrawal toward the
Spanish settlements in Florida, but
two years later the Spanish govern
ment sent more soldiers and Francis
can missionaries to replace the
Jesuits, who like Father Martinez,
had been martyred by the Indians
or withdrawn to Cuba.
Many missions were established by
the Franciscans, missions which flour
ished for a number of years. It was
during this period that Captain Juan
Pardo lead an expedition that ex
plored the interior of the State, for
the purpose of establishing friendly
relations with the Indians and
making an investigation of the pos
sibility of chain of missions from St.
Helena, over land to the Gulf.
Like De Soto, Pardo reached the
Indian village of Cufitachique, on the
Savannah, at or near Augusta, which
he too considered so delightful a
lace that Menendez, who founded
t. Augustine, expressed a wish to
make that place his home.
While here, as in other Indian vil
lages along his route, Pardo erected
the cross beside the lions and castles
of the banner of Spain and preached
to gatherings of the natives, urging
their obedienee to "God and His Ma
jesty.”
In his journey of more than a
thousand miles, Pardo made friendly
contacts with the Indians, preparing
them through his exemplary con-
L (Continued on Page 10-A)
Despite the fact that Catholics were
forbidden to remain in the Colony of
Georgia, there is ample reason to be
lieve that members of the Church
were iq_Augusta before the American
Revolution, and were in such number
in 1811 that the Roman Catholic So
ciety of Richmond County was
formed and a church erected.
Some historians record that Ken
nedy O'Brien was the first settler of
Augusta, and that it was from his
trading post on the banks of the Sa
vannah that the city of Augusta
grew.
History does not tell that O Brien
was a Catholic, but there is some in
dication of his Catholicity in his
name.
Among the early settlers of Au
gusta were William Callahan, Lach-
ian McBean, Faley and McQuen,
whose Celtic names also give infer
ence of their having been members
of the Catholic Church.
In 1770 Daniel MacMurphy appear
ed as a resident of Augusta and a
member of the board ot town com
missioners, and in 1791 James Toole
was a commissioner, but it does not
apppear that until the close of the
18th century brought French refugees
from the "Reign of Terror” and froin
the uprising in San Domingo, that
any considerable number of Catholics
were to be found in Augusta.
It is found that in 1811 James Toole,
Bernard Bignon, James Bertrand La-
fitte, Francis Bouyer and John Mc
Cormack were incorporated as the
■‘trustees of the Roman Catholic So
ciety in the city of Augusta and
county of Richmond” and the trustees
of the Richmond Academy were di
rected to convey to them land in Au
gusta bounded by Telfair Street,
Walker Street, McIntosh Street and
Jackson Street, for church purposes.
In 1811 a small church in the form
of a cross was erected in the center
of that property, upon the site of Au
gusta’s new Municipal Auditorium.
Brick for the building was donated
by Ferdinand Phinizy and Nicholas
de I’Aigle.
In this tmilding the Catholics of
Augusta heard Mass for more than
half a century, it being the only
Catholic church in the city. Here they
heard sermons delivered by the dis
tinguished Bishop England, of
1 Charleston, and Bishop Barry.
When construction of the Georgia
Railroad to Atlanta was begun a large
number of Irish laborers came to Au
gusta, and the congregation grew un
til the church was filled for every
service.
The Reverend Robert Browne was
the first resident pastor at Augusta,
having been appointed pastor in
1810. Previous to that time the few
Catholics in the town had been served
by priests from Locust Grove, near
Washington, where a colony of Cath
olics from Maryland had settled.
These priests made occasional vis
its to Augusta and Savannah during
the last quarter of the 18th oentry.
While Augusta’s Catholic history
does not go back in an unbroken line
to the Mass celebrated by priests with
De Soto’s expedition, four hundred
years ago, the city has had resident
Catholic priests for a hundred and
thirty years, and the Catholics in
Augusta can be pardoned their pride
in what members of their Faith have
contributed to the growth and devel
opment of the city.
Augusta’s first Catholic school was
the old St. Mary's Academy, con
ducted by the Sisters of Mercy in the
building which is now the Boys’
Catholic High Schol.
Experts on Georgia
History to Speak
Robert R. Otis and Stephens
Mitchell on 400th Anniver
sary Program
Two noted authorities on Georgia’s
early history will be guest speak
ers at a luncheon which will be
given at the Richmond Hotel on
Sunday, September 29, following the
Pontifical High Mass which will be
offered by the Most Rev. Gerald P.
O’Hara, bishop of Savannah-Atlanta,
at St. Partick’s Church, in observ
ance of the 400th anniversary of the
first recorded celebration of mass
near Augusta.
Stephen Mitchell and Robert R\
Otis, of Atlanta, both of whom have
been for years students of that pe
riod of Georgia history when Span
ish explorers and missionaries were
leaving a record of achievement.
Mr. Mitchell, a former president
of the Atlanta Bar Association, is a
member of the legal firm of Mitch
ell and Mitchell. He is editor of
the Bulletin of the Atlanta Histori
cal Society, and its vice-president.
Interest in Southern and Georgia
history is general in Mr. Mitchell’s
family, his father being also an au
thority on the subject, and ais sis
ter’s knowledge of it was abund
antly displayed in her sensationally
successful novel of Civil War days,
“Gone With the Wind.”
Some years ago Mr. Mitchell de
livered an illuminating address on
the civilizing work of the Spanish
of Mass
in 1540
COMMEMORATING '
FIRST MASS CITY’S
HISTORY RECORDS
Bishop O’Hara Will Pontifi
cate—Msgr. Moylan Will
Preach at Anniversary
Mass
During the spring and summer of
1540, Hernando de Soto and his fol
lowers, among whom were "twelve
priests, eight • ecclesiastics and four
religious, were on that historic march
through Georgia, and into the wilder
ness beyond, to the Mississippi River
where De* Soto found his grave.
For a time the expedition camped at
an Indian village at a place which
has been identified as Silver Bluff,
on the Savannah River, just a few
miles below the City of Augusta.
Here, as was their custom on every
Sunday and every Holyday and when
ever a stop was made, priests who
accompanied the_ expedition offered
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on a
portable altar which was carried by
the explorers for such a purpose
It is this event, the first recorded
celebration of Mass in the vicinity of
Augusta, that Augusta Catholics are
commemorating on Sunday, Septem
ber 29, with a Pontificial High Mass,
upon the altar of St. Patricks
Church, where the members of the
city’s oldest parish gathered to wor
ship.
The Most Reverend Gerald P. O'Ha
ra. D. D., J. U. D., Bishop of Savjn-
nah-Atlanta, will pontificate and the
officers of the Mass will be the Rev.
Leo M. Keenan, pastor of St. Pat
rick’s assistant priest; the Rev. J. E.
O'Donohoe, S- J.. pastor of the Sac
red Heart Church, and the Rev.
George Laugel, pastor of the Immac
ulate Conception Church, deacons of
honor; the Rev. Michael Doona, of
St. Patrick's Church, deacon of the
Mass; the Rev. George T. Daly, of
St. Mary’s-on-the-Hill Church, sub
deacon: the Rev. Joseph Kavanagh,
of the Cathedral of St. John the Bap
tist. Savannah, master of ceremonies;
and the Rev. Harold Barr, pastor of
St. Mary’s-on-the-Hill Church, as
sistant master of. ceremonies.
The sermon will be delivered by
the Right Reverend Monsignor Jos
eph E. Moylan. V. F., rector of the
Cathedral of Christ the King. At
lanta.
Invitations to attend the Mass have
been extended to Hon. James M.
Wooddall. Mayor of Augusta, R. P.
Mayo, Chairman of the Board of
Commissioners of Richmond ^County;
Ben E. Lester, Postmaster at Augus
ta, the Protestant Ministers Associa
tion, the various civic clubs and the
general public.
Music at the Mass will be rendered
by a choir, under the direction of
John P. Mulherin, who has directed
the choir of the Sacred Heart Church
for fifty years. The choir of St, Pat
rick's Church will be augmented for
the occasion by members of the
choirs of the other churches.
DE SOTO’S MARCH
THROUGH GEORGIA
Walter G. Cooper, in “The Story
of Georgia,” tells us that at the time
he lead his expedition into Georgia,
De Soto was “in the flower of his
age, of commanding presence, being a
little above the medium height, and
having an agreeable though some
what swarthy face. He was a skillful
horseman, dextrous in all warlike
exercises, of strong constitution, fitted
to endure hardships, and of ripe ex
perience in the conduct of Indian
campaigns.”
The Rev. Michael Kenny, S. J., who
had one time taught at the Sacred
Heart College, in Augusta, relates in
his book. ‘The Romance of the Flor-
idas,” that De Soto was a Knight
Commander of the noble order of
Santiago, a soldier of winning and
commanding presence, who had won
fame and fortune under Pizarro, and
who although not yet 37 years of age
was rated in Spain as one of the four
great captains of the age.
Father Kenney tells that De Soto
-brought with him on his expedition
eight secular priests, and four relig
ious, a Trinitarian, a Franciscan, and
two Dominicans. He states that it is
recorded that De Soto personally co
operated with the clergy in instruct
ing chiefs and tribesmen in the ele
ments of Christianity, and tells that
there is a record of at least one oc
casion when, after setting up the
(Continued on Page li-Ai
(Continued on Page 10-A)
The Spaniards Reach the Savannah
Theirs not the battle's glamor, bugles shrill.
The charge with pennants flying . . . victory!
They trudge through wastes, the jungle and morass,
Booted, with helmets, breastplates, alt the day
Tanned by the sun and courting death unknown—
The reptiles lurking in the grass, foul flood
With fumes all reeking, insects poisonous.
Fierce beasts, shrub-hidden missiles seeking blood.
Northward they push through wilds untamed. The Chief.
Clerics, six hundred guardsmen, footsore, brave
At Silver Bluff encamp. They plant the cross:
Beside It Castles and Rampant Lions wave.
De Soto doffs his feathered headgear low
Before the Cross and Colors which remain.
The settlement was long ere Albion
From Georgian soil expelled the flag of Spain.
Four Hundreds Years when the Conquistador
The reddish hilLs of Georgia onre did claim!
With civic and religious festival.
Let now Augusta celebrate' his fame.
(By a Former Professor of Augusta)