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. XXV. No. 7. FORTY-EIGHT PAGES AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, JULY 29, 1944
ISSUED MONTHLY—$2.00 A YEAR
St. Mary’s Home, Savannah, Begins Its Centennial Year
OPEN CAMPAIGN
FOR ST. JOSEPH'S
INFIRMARY, ATLANTA
ATLANTA, Ga„—The Sisters of
Mercy, who founded and continue
to operate St. Joseph’s Infirmary,
have inaugurated a campaign
throughout Georgia this month to
raise funds for their postwar build
ing and expansion program.
Sister M. Cordile, R.S.M., super
intendent of the hospital, announc
ed that the drive will continue un
til April 12 1945, the 65th anni
versary of the founding of St. Jos
eph’s Infirmary by the Sisters of
Mercy.
It was in 1880 that two Sisters '•*
Mercy came to Atlanta from Savan
nah, and with the aid of Father
James O’Brien, of blessed mem
ory, then pastor of the Immaculate
Conception Church here, bought an
old residence and a one-acre lot at
Collins and Baker streets and open
ed the hospital that is now known
as St. Joseph’s Infirmary.
Today the hospital is regarded as
one of the best in the South, and
at the present time cares for more
than 5,000 patients a year.
Several years ago St. Joseph’s
established a diagnosis outpatient
clinic for people living outside Ful
ton county who are unable to pay
for similar services in their own
rural communities. The postwar
institution will include an entire
building or wing designated as a
rural medical center, with increase
capacity for accomodating regular
hospital patients.
In connection with the Infirm
ary there is a training school for
nurses, with Sister M. Incarnata,
R. S. M., as director. The normal
enrollment in the training school
is approximately one hundred Stu
dent nurses.
Several years ago Mrs. James L.
Dickey made a gift to the hospital
in the form of a large plot of land
fronting on Ivy and Baker streets,
to the rear of the present hospital
buildings, and this land can be used
for the expansion of the infirmary.
AMG Lauds Vatican
for Feeding Rome’s
War-Torn Populace
ROME.—Speaking on the "Army
Hour” radio broadcast to the Unit
ed Stales, Brig. Gen. Edgar Er-
skine Hume, senior civil affairs of
ficer of the Fifth Army, who ad
ministered the civil affairs of
Rome immediately following the
Allied occupancy, paid tribute to
the Vatican for feeding hundreds
of thousands of needy persons in
Rome.
There has not been a day since
we entered Rome,” said General
Hume, “that large supplies of food
have not been distributed. Cooper
ating with the Vatican authorities,
we gav more than 400,000 hungry
people one meal a day at our soup
kitchens, the usual bread ration
being maintained. At a press con
ference earlier, General Hume had
explained that the Allied Military
Government had found that the
Vatican authorities already were
feeding 400,000 persons daily when
the Allies entered Rome- This
project, which His Holiness Popo
Pius XII assumed as a personal
responsibility, was in efficient
operation nearly nine months,
General Hume said at the confer
ence. The AMG, he remarked, is
utilizing the Vatican organization
and is channeling its food through
that set-up. On the first day that
he took office as Governor of
Rome, Col. Charles Poletti took
occasion to say that the Vatican
had done a magnificent job and
had saved thousands from starv
ing to death.
"We remembered that no spot
ou earth possesses a heritage of
the ages equal to that of Rome,
the Eternal City,” said the Gener
al. "We saw to it that the Vatican
was respected not only for its reli
gious significance but also as an
independent, neutral country with
in the Italian capital.”
St. Mary’s Home, Savannah, Georgia
Formally dedicated in 1938, the imposing new St. Mary’s Home, on Victory Drive in Savannah, is the
home and school for orphan girls of the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. Under the patronage of the Female
Orphan Benevolent Society, the Sisters of Mercy at St. Mary’s Home have now entered upon their one
hundredth year of a wonderful work of Christian charity. The stately, substantially constructed building,
was designed by Cletus W. Bergen, Savannah architect, and is one of the finest institutions of its kind
in the South. k m
^ Officers of St. Mary’s Home
PRESIDENT
VICE-PRESIDENT
SECRETARY-TREASURER
BISHOP O’HARA
JOHN W. GLEASON, K. S. G
monsignor McNamara
His Excellency the Most
Reverend Gerald P. O’Hara, I). D„
J. U. D., Bishop of Savannah-
Atlanta, who as President of the
Female Orphan Benevolent So
ciety, directs the activity of St.
Mary’s Home.
One of Bishop O’Hara's first acts
on coming to Georgia was the
planning of a modern, fireproof
building, spacious enough to meet
the ever increasing demand upon
St- Mary's Home, and the splendid
present structure is evidence of
His Excellency’s inspiring interest
in the welfare of the orphans of
his Diocese.
Active for many years in the
interest of St. Mary’s Home in
Savannah, Mr. Gleason has again
been elected vice-president of the
Female Orphan Benevolent So
ciety.
A native of Savannah, who has
been engaged in the cotton factor
age business in that city for more
than fifty years, Mr- Gleason was
honored by His Holiness Pope
Pius XI with Knighthood in the
Order of St. Gregory.
Mrs. Gleason, who was Miss Lil
lian McGovern, of Columbus, has
been no less active than Mr.
Gleason on behalf of St. Mary’s
Home.
The Right Reverend Monsignor
T. James McNamara, rector of the
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist,
in Savannah, has been re-elected
as treasurer of tlieJFcmalc Orphan
Benevolent Society, under whose
auspices St. Mary’s Home for
orphan girls of the Diocese of
Savannah-Atlanta is conducted by
the Sisters of Mercy, with Sister
Mary Michael, as Superior.
Monsignor McNamara, who is a
native of Savannah, also holds
office as Secretary of the Female
Orphan Benevolent Society.
Catholic War Veterans Ask Federal Communications Commission
to Investigate Anti-Catholic Broadcasts by WMC.A and Other Stations
NEW YORK—A message sent by
Frank J. Manley, state commander
of the Catholic War Veterans, to
Chairman James L. Fly of the
Federal Communications Commis
sion, asks that the Commission in
vestigate Radio Station WMCA
here and several other stations
for anti-Catholic broadcasts.
The message, sent oq behalf of
National Commander Edward T.
McCaffrey and Past National Com
manders Brophy, Walsh and Dealy
of the Catholic War Veterans, asks
an investigatoin of the "unAmeri-
ean action of Station WMCA in
censoring Senator Coudert’s speech
before the Americaen Legion
County convention and the charges
of the Rev. Matthew J- Toohey
of Newark, N. J., concerning anti-
Catholic commentators of Station
WMCA”.
"Mr. Straus of WMCA,” the
message continues, "states he is
willing to have authorities of the
New York Archdiocese pass on his
attitude toward Catholic charities
and causes. The current issue of
The Catholic News, which is pub
lished in the interests of the
New York Archdiocese, concludes
an editorial as follows:
“ ‘WMCA regularly presents
Johannes Steele, a leading coopera
tor with the efforts of the most
notorious anti-Catholic publication
in the United States, who uses the
facilties of the station to snipe at
and to attack the Catholic Church
and the Holy Father as “Fascist.”
Prescinding from the question of
freedom of speech, which Father
Matthew J. Toohey ably discusses
elsewhere in this issue of The
Catholic News, it appears that Mr.
Straus and - associates are more
concerned about the sensibilities
of Mi't Stalin in Moscow than about
those of over three million Ca
tholics in the New York metro
politan ar
"Father Tooliey’s remarks were
incorporated in a wire Mr- Mc
Caffrey sent to you. Also urge
that healings investigate anti-
Catholic talks carried over Radio
Stations WQXR, WEVD and
WBBR.”
SAVANNAH OFFICER
INTERNED BY SWISS
SAVANNAH, Ga.—Lt. Siegvart
J. Robertson, first pilot on a Lib
erator bomber, has been intern
ed with his entire crew at Bern,
Switzerland, according to a cable
gram received from him by his
wife, Mrs. Dorothy Newton Rob
ertson, of Savannah.
Lieutenant Robertson, a son of
Mr. and Mrs. John S. Robertson,
went to England in May and has
been flying combat missions since
that time. His cabled message
stated that he and his crew were
safe.
PLANS BEING MADE
FOR CELEBRATION OF
100th ANNIVERSARY
Sisters of Mercy Approach
Completion of One Hun
dred Years of Devoted Ser
vice to Orphans of the Dio
cese of Savannah-Atlanta
(Special to The Bulletin)
SAVANNAH, Ga.—Having en
tered upon its one hundredth year
of splendid service, St. Mary’s
Home, conducted by the Sisters of
Mercy since its establishment, is
now making plans for the celebra
tion of its centennial.
In 1845, when Georgia was still
a part of the Diocese of Charleston,
the Sisters of Mercy began a labor
of love in Savannah. It was in
that year that the Very Rev. J. F-
O’Neill placed a dozen parentless
girls under the protection of the
Sisters of Mercy at St. Vincent's
Convent.
For thirty years this arrange
ment of caring for the orphan
girls continued, the Sisters sup
porting them out of their meagre
income, there being no special
funds for the purpose except an
occasional small legacy. This
generous charity the Sisters ex
tended gladly, even though at
times, as during the years of the
War Between the States, the Re
construction Era. and during the
yellow fever epidemics, it strained
their resources to the breaking
point They often denied them
selves the necessities of life in
those trying days in order to feed
the children placed in their care.
In 1875, the increasing number
of orphans made new arrangements
necessary, and an old house was
secured at White Bluff, nine miles
from Savannah. This location did
not prove suitable, and the Ca
tholics of Savannah, realizing that
the Sisters who were devoting their
lives to the care of the orphans
should not also be burdened with
providing for their support, formed
the Female Orphan Benevolent So
ciety in 1876-
Through the generosity of Capt.
Henry Blun, the block of lots,
valued at $15,000, on which St,
Thomas Vocational School is now
located, was secured. Under the
direction of the Right Rev. Wil
liam H. Gross, C. SS. R-, D. D..
then Bishop of Savannah, the
Female Orphan Benevolent So
ciety, which was headed by Capl
J. K. Reilly, erected St. Mary’s
Home at a cost of $16,000. It was
paid for within two years. Some
years later, when Major P- F.
Gleason was president of the so
ciety, a north wing was added
at a cost of $7,500.
In 1903, additional dining rooms
and class rooms were built at a
cost of $2,000, and three years
later St. Mary’s Home was changed
by the Right Rev. Benjamin J.
Keiley, D. D-, then Bishop of Sa
vannah, from a local to a Diocesan
institution. The "Spaldhig Ancx”
was then erected at a cost of $15.-
000, doubling the capacity of the
Home. This was made possible
largely through the generous
bounty of Dr. R. D. Spalding, of
Atlanta, the new addition being
named in his honor despite his
wish to the contrary-
When the Habersham Street
property was acquired it was in
the suburbs of Savannah, but with
the passing of the years the city
had grown up around it, and the
Most Rev. Gerald P. O’Hara, D. D.
J- U. D., the present Bishop of
Savannah - Atlanta, soon after
coming to Georgia, began to plan
for a new and modern St. Mary’.-
Home, one that would be spacious
enough to meet the ever increas
ing demands upon its sheltering
walls.
In May of 1937 ground was
broken, at an ideal location on
Victory Drive, tor a new Si- Mary’s
Home, which was dedicated the
following year witli impressive
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