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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
SEPTEMBER 28, 1940
jpXpert* in History
Quncheon Speakers
(Continued from Page 1-A)
‘feedree’’ in Georgia, over Radio
Ration WSB in Atlanta, in a series
at historical talks sponsored by Wes
leyan College.
He is a graduate of the University
at Georgia and of Harvard Law
School. Mrs. Mitchell is the former
Miss Carolyn Louise Reynolds,
daughter of the late Joseph Rey
nolds. prominent Augusta attorney,
and Mrs. Fannie Hansberger Rey
nolds.
A FORMER AUGUSTAN
Mr. Otis is a native of Augusta,
but moved to Atlanta with his par
ents when he was but five years old.
His parents were Patrick Otis and
Mrs. Mary Cline Otis. His grand
father, Peter Cline, was one of the
pioneer educators of the state and
at one tirtre was on the facultv of
the Medical College in Augusta. .
For several years after he had
completed his education at Gethse-
mene College, in Kentucky, he was
connected with the Atlanta Lumber
Company, later being with the im
port and export departments of rail
road and steamship lines. During
the World War he was chairman of
the War Resource and Conversion
Bureau for the district which in
cluded four southeastern states. He
was also advisor to the War Indus
tries Board.
After the war he spent some time
in Europe as a member of the U. S.
Industrial Committee on Labor and
Housing. For many years he has
been engaged in the real estate
business in Atlanta, and is head of
the Robert R. Otis Company.
He is a past president of the
Georgia Real Estate Board, and is
the only Georgia member of the
American Institute' of Real Estate
Appraisers.
In his youth Mr. Otis became in
terested in old landmarks and the
early history of Georgia, and his in
terest has grown witli the years. His
spare time is spent in reading and
studying this subject and visiting
points of historical interest. He is a
member of the Atlanta Historical
Society, is curator of the Georgia
Historical Society 3nd is chairman
of the executive committee of the
Society for Georgia Archaelogy.
He was one of the organizers of
the Catholic ••Laymen's Association
of Georgia, and a charier member of
Atlanta Council, Knights of Colum
bus.
The Most Rev. Gerald P. O’Hara,
bishop of Savannah-Atlanta. will
preside at the luncheon, and the
Rev. Harold Barr general chairman
of the committee in charge of the
arrangements for the 400th anni
versary observance, will- act as
toastmaster.
To Speak at Augusta Luncheon
ROBERT R. OTIS
STEPHENS MITCHELL
Guest speakers at the luncheon which will be held at the Richmond Ho
tel in connection with the commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the
First Mass Celebrated Near Augusta will be Stephens Mitchell and Robert
R. Otis, prominent Catholic laymen of Atlanta.
Commemorating
First Mass Said
Near Augusta
(Continued from Page 1-A)
Naxis May Hamper
Lutheran Students’
Visits to Vatican
(Special Correspondence, N. C. W. C.
ews Service)
ROME—The German occupation of
Denmark, has given rise to some
speculation here as to its probable
effect upon a resolution which Luthe
ran Church authorities in Denmark
took this spring to hold annual trips
of their theological students to the
Vatican-
At .last Easter time, a company of
Lutheran theological students from
the .University of Copenhagen visited
Rome. They made the journey in
spite of heavy obstacles—the war, the
extremely severe winter in Northern
Europe and stringent enonomic con
ditions. The climax of their trip was
attendance at Solemn Pontifical Mass
in St. Peters’ Basilica Easter Sunday
morning. Special places were re
served for them in the Basilica, as
the result of the interest of the Most
Rev. Theodor Suhr. O. S. B . Vicar
Apostolic of Denmark, took in their
itinerary
The Lutheran students themselves
were so impressed by the trip it was
resolved that, when conditions per
mit. to repeat the visit every year,
so that “every theologian either dur
ing his time of study or during the
first years immediately following,
shall have the opportunity of
partieioating in such a trip”
Best Wishes
FARR’S
CLOTHIERS
“Buy Farr the Best"
Dial 2-7002
833 Broad Street
Augusta, Ga.
cross, as usual, De Soto himself ex
plained' its significance to the Indians
of the Muscogee triba.
De Soto was made governor of Cuba
and named Adelantado of Florida by
Charles V.. of Spain, in 1538, and set
sail from Spain with a fleet of ships
and upon reaching Cuba was feted
by the Spanish settlers on the island.
After spending some time in Cuba
making preparations for the expedi
tion to the mainland of North Amer
ica, De Soto embarked for Florida,
casting anchor in what is now Tam
pa Bay. After a year spent in Flor
ida, near the site of Tallahassee, De
Soto began his march of exploration
to the northward. He made an exten
sive exploration of at least six of the
Southern states, Florida, Georgia,
South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi,
and Arkansas, and their history be
gins with narratives which tell of this
expedition.
Father Kenney relates in his ac
count of De Soto’s march that it was
over the protests of his followers that
he continued from Silver Bluff, where
many of those in his party wished to
establish a permanent settlement.
De Soto’s party pushed onward
through the wilderness and at length
reached the Mississippi, where in
June of 1542, the leader was stricken
with a fever, and after receiving the
last rites of the Church, and making
his will, be departed this life and
was buried in the river.
While De Soto’s commission from
the Spanish sovereign was to explore
and claim lands in the name of
Spain, he was also commissioned to
propagate the Faith. There remains
documentary evidence to show that
DeSoto did not disregard the second
part of the dual commission—“to ex
tend ‘and increase” the royal patri
mony and bring and sustain priests
and religious “for the instruction of
the natives in our Holy Catholic
Faith.” In fact, the great soldier and
commander gave most of the atten
tion he could spare to the religious
clause of his commission.
It was in fulfillment of this second
part of his commission that De Soto
included priests among those who
composed his expeditionary force, and
it was because of the presence of
these priests, and their desire to min
ister to the spiritual needs of his fol
lowers. that Mass was offered at ev
ery available opportunity, including
that presented when the party en
camped along the banks of the Sa
vannah River, within a few miles of
what is now Augusta, and it is that
celebration of Mass, four hundred
years ago, that the Catholics of Au
gusta are commemorating.
On Monday morning, a special Mass
of commemoration of the first Mass
said near Augusta will be said at St.
Patrick's Church by Father Barr, with
a sermon by Father Keenan.
Students of the Boys’ Catholic High
School. St. Joseph’s Academy, Sacred
Heart Parochial School, and the Im
maculate Conception school will at
tend, with their teachers.
Assistant General of
Grey Nuns Dies
Georgia’s Spanish
Missions Recalled
(Special to The Bulletin)
ATLANTA, Ga. — Reverend Moth
er Verecunda, assistant general of the
Congregation of the Grey Nuns of
the Sacred Heart, who conduct Christ
the King School herei died in the
motherhouse of the Order of Melrose
Park, 111., on August 15.
Mother Verecunda spent a half-
century of service in Plattsburg, Buf
falo, Ogdensburg and Philadelphia.
She was the last of the three found
ers of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred
Heart, the Reverend Mother Vincent
de Paul, and the Reverend Mother
Mary Angela having died several
years ago.
She had served ten years as super
ior general, but was obliged to retire
on account of her health, and was
elected assistant general, a post she
held until her death.
liitftttimtHtitiiMtiimtiiitmiriHmiTifiirniit n
(Continued from Page 1-A)
duct for the teaching of Christianity
by the aimy chaplain with his party.
He established five outposts, which
he was not able to maintain, and
“the royal road to the Georgia hills
became a narrow Cherokee trail.”
Western through Georgia the Span
iards extended their settlements as
far as a place which the natives call
ed Sabacola, which would be at or
near the present site of Columbus,
and various other inland posts were
established.
Spanish Georgia was ah Indian
country, inhabited entirely by In
dians, speaking their native tribal
dialects, but many of them with
some understanding of Spanish. A
march for two or three days along
their trails would bring them to a
Spanish fort, with a mission nearby.
At the missions there were priests,
who taught not only religion, but
agriculture and horticulture as well,
and instructed the tribesmen in the
use of implements which had been
brought from Europe. The Indians
were shown how to cultivate the
peach orchards and the orange
groves, developed from trees import
ed from Spain, as well as many com
mon vegetables. Corn the Indians
were already growing, but they
could be shown how to gather more
abundant crops. There was no dan
ger of the Indians about the missions
going hungry in the winter months
when game might be scarce. As
time passed the warriors and hunters
became peaceful farmers.
In 1605 the Bishop of Havana visit
ed several mission stations in Geor
gia and administered confirmation to
several thousand Indians who had
embraced the Christian Faith
brought to them by the Spanish mis
sionaries.
Until the coming of the English to
South Carolina the Sapinish missions
in Georgia grew and flourished. With
the establishment of Charleston,
Georgia became the debatable land,
and the years of war that followed
saw the Spaniards and their Indian
allies gradually retiring to Florida
before the advancing English, until
all the Soanish forts and missions
north of St. Augustine had been de
serted.
When Oglethorpe came it was his
task to occupy the land, now desolate,
and prevent the return of the Span
iards. His defeat of the Spaniards
in the battle of Bloody Marsh, near
Fort Frederick, on St. Simon’s Island,
in 1742 brought to a conclusion the
Spanish phase of Georgia’s history.
In 1702 Governor James Moore, of
South Carolina, invaded Georgia,
from Charleston, the English base of
operations, and destroyed more than
a dozen missions, Indians by the hun
dreds being slain or taken to Carolina
as slaves.
In 1655 there were more than thirty
Spanish missions, in Georgia and
Florida, and according to some au
thorities more than 36,000 Christian
Indians. -
As the story of the Spanish mis
sions in Georgia is being brought
more and more into the light of
modern knowledge, the Catholics of
Georgia are finding new and greater
reasons (o be proud of that remark
able era’ of Georgia’s history, when
Catholic faith and Christian culture
flourished, hundreds of years ago.
It is a proud heritage.
The Spanish “padres” who accom
panied the Sanish Conquistators il
lumined a glorius page in the annuals
of the Faith in America. Afire in
their quest for souls they braved the
perils of the new and unknown land
and the arrows of its savage inhabi
tants. Learned and cultured, many
of them professors in the universities
of the Old World, they shared the
hardships and embraced the customs
of the Indians to engrave on their
hearts the Sign of the Cross.
HIS HOLINESS. Pope Pius Xn re
ceived the Most Reverend Joseph P.
Hurley, Bishop-Elect of St. Augustine
in a private audience August 22.
Pope Pius congratulated Bishop-Elect
Hurley upon his elevation to the
episcopate and extended him good
wishes in his new office The Bishop
Elect has been attached to the Papal
Secretariate of State in Vatican City
since-1934, ■ ■ •• ■ • ' >
“Time” Magazine
Taken to Task for
Anti-Vatican Slur
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
WASHINGTON. — Time, national
weekly news magazine, is taken se
verely to task by Edward J. Heffron,
executive secretary of the National
Council of Catholic Men here, for
putting its “stamp of approval” on a
report of DNB, official German news
agency, that “the Catholic Bishops of
Germany had acknowledged the
Church’s debt of gratitude for the
success of German wars in ‘warding
off of enemy invasion.’ ”
After stressing in a letter to the
editors of the magazine that any Am
erican journalist is entitled to regard
with suspicion releases of the DNB,
espeically those dealing with the
Catholic Church. Mr. Heffron criti
cizes Time for “editorializing” when
it said: “Thus did the Vatican . . .
move.to align itsself with the new or
der in Europe.” This, Mr. Heffron
comments, is “putting your stamp of
approval on a story utterly without
plausible foundation/- to the injury
of many of your readers.”
Calling Time’s asyjrtion “one of
those mischievous allegations which
it is difficult to deny categorically,"
Mr. Heffron adds that “one has dif
ficulty in imagining the editors of
Time accepting the unsupported word
of DNB on any other subject.” “Why
should you be so ready not merely
to accept it, but to-uphold it. when
it concerns the Catholic Church?" he
asks.
Mr. Heffron further castigates Time
for its additional assertion that “in
an equally significant gesture to the
Southern Axis Partner” the Vatican
“announced that . . . Osservatore
Romano would cease publication"
and be replaced “by a journal more
to the taste of the Fascist govern
ment.” Mr. Heffron declares no such
announcement was made, and, in
fact, officially dined.
“One cannot but reprehend that
>rand of irresponsible if not malici
ous journalism which tends, con
sciously or unconsciously, to divide
the American people in this hour of
crying need for national unity,” Mr.
Heffron says. “Of what else does
Fifth Columnism consist?" •
Best Wishes
First
Federal Savings and ban
ASSOCIATION OF AUGUSTA
705 BROAD ST.
AUGUSTA
GEORGIA
Augusta — North Augusta — Belvedere — Schultz Hill
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“Transportation Is the Foundation
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PHONE 2900
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
Best Wishes
SOUTHERN AIRWAYS, Inc.
MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
Carlyle E. (Buck) Newton
Phone 3—3737 Augusta, Ga.
GEORGIA IRON WORKS
ANDREW C. PERKINS, GEORGE C. HARDING,
President. Vice President.
Manufacturers of
Phosphate Mining Equipment—Sand and
Dredging Pumps—Hydraulic Equipment
Augusta Garage & Supply
Company
740 REYNOLDS ST. PHONE 2135
AUGUSTA, GA.
DISTRIBUTORS
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MORE MILES
MORE SAFETY
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