Newspaper Page Text
JULY 31, 1954
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
SEVENTEEN
SAVANNAH RADIATOR CO.
S. DESPOSITO, Founder
GENERAL AUTOMOBILE REPAIRS
315 West Bay Street Savannah, Georgia
ROBERT S. DOWNING, Mgr.
TESTS AND SPECIFICATIONS LIGHTING FIXTURES
MOTOR REPAIRS AND GENERAL ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION
PEERLESS ELECTRIC
COMPANY
ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS
531 Broughton Street, East Telephone 3-3543
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
EDWARD A. LEONARD
Our Best Wishes
Complete Department Store
t. s. CHU
SAVANNAH BEACH
Relax at Moderate Rates
Enjoy All of These New Facilities!
11,000 Square Foot POOL PATIO
RIVERSIDE ROOM (Dancing Night ex
cept Sunday)
KIDDIE POOL for the yongsters
EUROPEAN PLAN RATES FROM $$.00 SINGLE,
$10.00 DOUBLES
(Air Conditioned Rooms Also Available)
THE GENERAL
OGLETHORPE HOTEL
Wilmington island - Savannah
Swimming - Golfing Boating Fishing
Holy Father Lauds St. Theresa's
Humility, Love of God in Radio
Message to Lisieux Consecration
LISIEUX, France.—(NC)—Men
today should follow the example
of St. Theresa's humility, her love
for God and confidence in Him,
His Holiness Pope Pius XII stress
ed in his radio address from the
Vatican to the crowds attending
the consecration of the Basilica of
St. Theresa of the Child J'-sus here.
Speaking of the Saint’i humility,
the Holy Father said:
“What a strange apparition in
the midst of a world full of itself,
its s c i e n t i fic discoveries and its
technological virtuosities f • ."
With her utter disragerd for world
ly greatness, the reuneiation of her
freedom and the joys of life and
itie extremely painful sacrifices of
the most tender affections, she
olaves the part of a living antithe
sis of all the ideals of the world.
“While peoples and social classes
are distrustful of one another and
vie with one another for ecomonie
or political preponderance/ The
resa- of the Child Jesus appeared
with empty hands: fortune, honor,
influence temporal efficiency—
none of these attract her, nothing
claims her attention but God alone
and His Kingdom.
“But in return the Lord has
taken tier unto His house and con :
tided His secrets to her: He has
releaved to her all those things He
has concealed from the wise and
powerful “
“Therefore,” the Pope urged his
listeners, “do not rely on power,
money, intelligence and all the
other human resources. Seek for
the one thing necessary. Accept
he soft and light yoke of the Lord
recognize His sovereign domain
over your persons, your families,
your associations and nations: Wel
come His law of fraternal mutual
aid and you will know peace and
tranquility Renounce the illusory
supports of a completely material
ist civilization and you will find
the true security which God gives
to those who adore only Him.”
“But sweet and smiling as His
messenger was,” the Holy Father
continued, speaking of St. Theresa,
“many will find this humility hard
to practice. Can the men of tp-
day, sullied by so many faults and
weighed ; down by their egotism,
again hope to reform themselves,
to shake off their moral shackles
and begin their march toward
God? Does not God have, a hor
ror of so much cowardice and so
many divisions, so much avarice
and sensuality? Let Theresa her
self give the answer.” , ^
“An infant incapable of raising
herself up the step of a sairway,
of walking a few steps without
sumbling, that is how she saw her
self before God," His Holiness
pointed out.
“But because she was convinced
of her total weakness,” he added,
“she fixed her eyes imploringly
on God.”
“God. is a Father," the Pope con
tinued, “Whose arms are always
held out to His children. Why not
unceasingly cry out to Him our
immense distress? We must put
our trust in the words of St.
Theresa when she asks the most
miserable as well as the most per
fect to acknowledge before God
only the radical weakness and
spiritual poverty of a sinful crea
ture.”
Devotion of Catholic People
Has Won Title 'Pope's Island'
By VEL FRERIS
(Correspondent, N. C. W. C.
News Service)
ATHENS.—A Greek Bishop was
once quoted as saying: “If the Pope
is lost in Rome, he will surely be
found in Syra.”
Syra, an island of the Cyclades
in the Aegean Sea some 75 miles
southeast of Athens, has often been
referred to as "The Pope’s Island,”
because of the deep affection for
the Holy Father among the Cath
olic people there.
This devotion was notably dem
onstrated during a recent Marian
Year observance when the island
ers joined in prayers for the Pope’s
intentions, particularly for peace
in the world.
A highly unusual sidelight of
Syra observance was the front page
story on thse event which appear
ed here in Avgi (Dawn), an ex
treme leftist newspaper.
Avgi not only focussed national
attention on the Syra rites—a high
light was a Children’s Mass at
which many hundreds of young
sters received Holy Communion—
but also on the fervent loyalty the
Catholic islanders—they number
3,000 of Syra’s 22,000 population
—-have always displayed toward the
papacy.
It is recorded that in olden days,
when five papal galleys put into
Syra harbor, ^crowds of people hur
ried dowr to the beaph to kiss the
prows of the vessels and to touch
them with their rosaries.
Today, when families celebrate
the birth of a son and someone
asks what the child will grow up to
be, there is always the same wish
ful answer: “A pope, to be sure.”
The islanders of Syra have con
stantly prayed that one day one |
of their own wilt be elected to the i
Chair of Peter.
Ever since the 17th century,
Syra has given one priest or more !
to the Church every year, and j
once in every 25 years it produces |
a Bishop. Three of Greece’s four
Catholic Bishops today come from j
this island which has long been 1
recognized as one of the most fer
vently Catholic centers in a coun
try where most of the people be
long to the dissident Orthodox
Church.
Syra’s own Bishop is Bishop
George Xenopulos, S. J., whose
cathedral looks out across the
Aegean from a pleasant hilltop.
His diocese has 16 churches and
five chapels in the town of Syra,
and 75 picturesque rural churches,
most of them in the mountains
and hills. The island also has a
Capuchin monastery, which dates
back to 1639.
Bishop Xenopulos officiated at
the Marian Year observance which
- -- — -.1 n J La, \ irnfi nllfi urn 10)1
occurred on the special Children’s
Day of Prayer for Peace held
throughout the world with the
warm approval of His Holiness
Pope Pius XII.
Highlight of the Syra observ
ance was a pilgrimage to a hilltop
shrine of Our Lady of Ransom.
More than 3,000 inhabitants from
the island’s two towns and from
the farthest villages walked in pro
cession singing hymns and recit
ing the Rosary. Joining in the
march also were many priests.
Brothers and Sisters.
Some of the pilgrims were aged,
and sick and infirm persons who
rode on the backs of donkeys or
mules. Between each decade of
the Rosary, the procession stopped
'while the leader recited the mys
tery and raised his voice in a loud
invocation: "Queen of Peace, pray
for us,” The climax of the pil
grimage came when Bishop Xeno
pulos offered Mass at the shrine
and preached a sermon calling for
constant prayers to the Mother of
God for peace in the world.
Parishes throughout Greece also
joined in observing the children’s
Day of Prayer during which the
young offered their Communions
for world peace. At a special
Mass in Athens cathedral, the
cathedral, the children heard
Archbishop Mario Macrionitis, S.
J., declare that prayer was the sur-
est and best means to avert the
threat of a third world war.
Like Bishop Xenopulos, Arch
bishop Macrionitis is a native of
Syra. So also is Bishop George
Calavassy, Apostolic Exarch for
Catholics of the Byzantine Rite in
Greece. The islanders of Syra may
have long to wait before one of
their number presides over the
entire Church, but in Greece at
least they have-a spiritual leader
ship that has come almost entirely
from their own humble and devout
homes.
L. J. O'Connell
Named Postmaster
AUGUSTA,' Ga. — Mr. Louis J.
O’Connell has assumed duties as
acting Augusta Postmaster. Mi’.
O'Connell will at * later date as
sume the regular postmastership.
As a rule future postmasters as
sume the acting capacity until the
regula- appointment is made.
He succeeds Benjamin E. Les
ter. postmaster for more than 15
years, whose retirement became ef
fective June 30.
Mr. O’Connell is a member of
St. Mary’s-on-the-Hill Church and
a member of the Patrick Walsh-
Council 677 Knights of Columbua