Newspaper Page Text
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JANUARY 8, 195i
By RiCHARD REID, K. S. G.
CHAPTER IV
The experience of Archbishops
John Carroll, Leonard Neale and
Ambrose Marechal of Baltimore
convinced them that a Bishop was
needed in the Southeast. The dis
tance between the Carolinas and
Georgia from Baltimore, the
slowness of means of communica
tion and the troubles occasioned
by the trustee system made the
situation difficult; the defiance of
episcopal authority in Charleston
by the brilliant but erratic Fath
er Simon Felix Gallagher made
it impossible. Father Gallagher
was for some time aided and
abetted by Father Robert Brown?
of Augusta; he even went to
Rome to support the cause of
Father Gallagher. But Father
Browne finally submitted to the.
authority of Archbishop Marechal.
To restore peace to the troubled
Charleston congregation, Arch
bishop Marechal sent to the
Southwest two able priests. Fath
er Benedict Fenwick and Father
James Wallace; it took them nine
days to make the trip to Char
leston. The trouble in Charleston
affected Augusta through Father
Browne and his friendship for
Father Gallagher; it affected
Savannah through Father Carles'
friendship for Charleston’s duly
constituted pastor, Father Clori-
viere. Father Gallagher, finally
reconciled to the Church authori
ties, left for New Orleans; he died
in Vicksburg in 1830. Fathers
Fenwick and Wallace could soon
report that there was peace and
tranquility in the Church in the
Southeast.
The Bishop Fenwick
Father Fenwick was a member
of a distinguished Maryland
Catholic family; he was himself
destined to play a notable part
in the history of the Church in
the young Republic as second
Bishop of Boston. He was a first
cousin of Bishop Edward Dominic
Fenwick, O. P., of Cincinnati, and
a cousin of Father Charles Plow-
den, who preached the sermon
at the consecration of Bishop
Carroll at Lulworth Castle, Dor
set, England, In the absence of
other Bishops, Father Plowden
and another Jesuit, Father James
Porter, assisted Bishop Charles
Walmesley, O.S.B., at the cere
mony.
Father Benedict Fenwick was
born in Leonardtown, Md., Sep
tember 3, 1782, the son of Richard
Fenwick and Dorothy Plowden
Fenyyick. After attending George
town College and St. Mary’s Se
minary, the latter in Baltimore,
he was well on his way to the
priesthood when on October 10,
1806, he joined the Society of
Jesus. After making his novitiate
at Georgetown, he was ordained
June 11, 1808.
From 1808 to 1815, Father Fen
wick was engaged in pastoral
work in the Archdiocese of Bal
timore. Bishop John Connolly, O,
P., who was consecrated in Rome
November 6, 1814, for the Diocese
of New York, was delayed in
reaching his See; Father Fen
wick was named administrator
for New York and served in that
capacity in 1815 and 1816. He then
became president of Georgetown
College. From there he went to
Charleston with Father Wallace
as vicar general for Archbishop
Marechal. He remained during
the early days of Charleston’s
first Bishop, returning to Balti
more in 1822, to the deep regret
of the Catholics of the Southeast.
From Charleston to Boston
He served subsequently as min
ister at Georgetown, procurator
general of the Jesuits of the
United States, and president of
Georgetown a second time. He
was consecrated Bishop of Boston
November 1, 1825, by Archbishop
Marechal in Baltimore. He suc
ceeded Boston’s First Ordinary,
Bishop John Cheverus, who be
came Bishop of Montauban in his
native France and later Arch
bishop of Bordeaux and a member
of the Sacred College of Car
dinals. Bishop Fenwick founded a
Catholic publication. The Jesuit
or Catholic Sentinel, which
eventually became The Pilot. He
was the founder of Holy Cross
College. Father Robert H. Lord
calls him “the organizer of the
Church in New England.’' He
died in 1848.
Father James Wallace also had
a career of unusual distinction.
Born in Kilkenny in 1787, he en
tered the Society of Jesus in the
United States in 1807. As a scho
lastic he taught in the New York
Literary Institute. conducted
where St. Patrick’s Cathedral
now stands. While still a scholas
tic, he published a notable work,
“Use of the Globe and Practical
Astronomy.” Ordained by the
then Bishop Neale in 1814, at
Georgetown, he remained there
as professor of mathematics un
til named to accompany Father
Fenwick to Charleston in 1818.
In 1820 he was in charge of the
little congregation in Columbia,
at the same time teaching mathe
matics in South Carolina College,
which later became the Universi
ty of South Carolina.
At Columbia College
When the time came for him
to return to Georgetown, he re
quested permission to retire from
the Society of Jesus. He remained
a member of the College faculty
at Columbia until a change in the
state government resulted in the
displacement of President Wil
liam C. Preston, subsequently for
many years an eloquent member
of the United States Senate. Fath
er Wallace established an obser
vatory which secured for the Col
lege a reputation for leadership
in science; it fell into disuse, his
successors not knowing how to
use it. He retired to. a farm in
the Lexington district, some
miles south of Columbia on the
road to Aiken and Augusta. He
accepted no parish appointment,
saying Mass privately, and oc
casionally helping out in parish
and mission work. When he died
early in 1851, he left his property
to the Diocese of Charleston for
the benefit of the orphans. His
estate included his farm in Lex
ington, an island in the Congaree
River, and a tract of land in
Columbia on which the State
Penitentiary now stands.
The recommendations of the
Archbishops of Baltimore bore
fruit in 1820 when, on July 12, the
Dioceses of Richmond and Char
leston were created. On Septem
ber 21 of that year, Father John
England, pastor at Bantry, near
Cork, Ireland, was consecrated
Bishop of Charleston in the Ca
thedral in Cork - by Bishop
Murphy of that See. He was as
sisted by Bishop Patrick Kelly,
who had been consecrated Bishop
of Richmond a month before, and
Bishop Moran of Ossory. Present
also were Archbishop Bray and
Coadjutor Archbishop Everard of
Cashel, Bishops Coppinger,
Tuohy and Shugrue. The Diocese
of Charleston was thereby given
for its Ordinary one of the ablest
priests of the times.
Native of Cork
Bishop England was born Sep
tember 23, 1786, in Cork, the son
of Thomas and Honour Lordan
England, the oldest of a family
of six boys and four girls. His
father, formerly a surveyor in
Tipperary, entered the tobacco
business in Cork and prospered.
When the future Bishop was born
the clouds of persecution were
heavy over Ireland. It was the
custom of families able to afford
it to send their sons to France
for their education, but that op
portunity was denied to John
England by the disturbances fol
lowing the French Revolution.
Getting all the education possible
in his native city, he started the
study of law, a profession closed
to Catholics until the Catholic
Relief Bill of 1793.
But a yearning to be a priest
became stronger than the fasci
nation of the law. The Relief
Bill of 1793 permitted the opening
of certain colleges and seminaries
in Ireland; one of them was Car-
low College, which he entered
as one of its first students. Three
of its six faculty members were
French priests exiled by the Rct
volution. His record in the semi-
nary is indicated by the fact that
before ordination he was com
missioned by his Bishop, the Most
Rev. Francis Moylan. to deliver
a series of Lenten lectures.
Bishop Moylan was a brother of
General Stephen Moylan, who
had been Washington’s aide-de-
camp and commissary general.
Ordinated at 22
When John England was 22,
he was ready for ordination; a
special dispensation from Pope
Plus VII was necessary because
of his youth. He was raised to the
priesthood by Bishop Moylan Oc
tober 11, 1808. He was chaplain of
the North Presentation Convent
in Cork, chaplain to the prisoners
of the city, established a Cath
olic monthly, the Religious Re
pository, founded a parish cir
culating library, and soon became
president of St. Mary’s Seminary,
where, he taught theology and
philosophy. He was also lecturer
at St. Mary’s Cathedral, a post
which required him to preach at
the High Mass on Sundays. He
introduced the dialogue method
of sermons, answering objections
to the Scriptures presented from
the sanctuary, a method of in
struction which drew large con
gregations and laid the founda
tion of his skill in oratory and dis
cussion.
But Father England’s capacity
for activity was not exhausted.
The British Crown claimed the
right to veto the appointments
of Bishops of whom it did not
approve. Daniel O’Connell and
Father England led the opposi
tion to “vetoism,” The Rev. J.
J. O’Connell in his “Catholicity
in the Carolinas and Georgia”
quotes Daniel O’Connell as say
ing: “If I had Bishop England at
my back, I would not fear the
whole world before me.” Fagan’s
“Life of Daniel O’Connell” as
serts it was Bishop England “who
broke down the Veto spirit in
Cork.”
Influence of This Book
The importance the British
authorities attached to his oppo
sition as editor of the Merchan
ts© Chronicle, another of his
many activities, is indicated by
the manner in which they sought
to hamper him. In August, 1813,
a Crown jury in Cork returned
a verdict of two hundred pounds
against him for alleged libel. He
wrote a “Sketch of Irish History”
for Schools which the Protes
tant Archbishop of Dublin de
nounced before a Committee of
the House of Lords as late as
1825 as “a monstrous book” and
particularly dangerous because it
was written in such a simple
style.
On May 4, 1817, Bishop John
Murphy, who had succeeded
Bishop Moylan in 1815, appoint
ed Father England pastor at
Bandon, sixteen miles south
west of Cork, where hatred of
things Catholic and Irish was
particularly strong. There was
a suspicion among some per
sons that Father England’s trans
fer from Cork was the result of
pressure by influences which did
not approve of his militancy, es
pecially in his capacity as editor
of The Mercantile Chronicle. On
the other hand- there is evidence
that he wished to go to the Unit
ed States as a missionary, but
Bishop Murphy was unwilling to
release him because of his in
valuable services to the Diocese
of Cork. Then came his appoint
ment as Bishop of Charleston.
Consecration In Cork
A few days after his consecra
tion Bishop England in the Ursu-
line Convent Chapel in Cork or
dained two young clerics. Timo
thy McCarthy and Denis Cor
ker y, who had volunteered for
the Diocese of Charleston. On
October 22. 1820, accompanied by
his sister Joanna and by Father
Corkery — Father McCarthy re
mained behind-r-Bishop England
sailed for Charleston aboard the
Thomas Gelston, which was over
two months in crossing the Atlan
tic. He arrived in his See City
December* 30,
This famous priest found a
discouraging prospect in his Dio
cese. There was only one priest
belonging canonically to his See.
Father Corkery. In all the vast
area over which he had juris
diction. covering both the Caro
linas and Georgia. 142,250 square
miles in .extent, there were but
five other priests, Fathers Fen*
wick and Wallace, representing
Archbishop Marechal of Balti
more, Fathers Gallagher antj
Browne, recently under suspen
sion, and Father Samuel Cooper,
pastor in Augusta. Savannah and
Locust Grove were without pas
tors.
But Bishop England had no
time to be discouraged. Father
Fenwick, who officially Welcomed
him, he appointed his vicar gen
eral. The last day of the year, tha
day after his arrival, he offered
his first Pontifical Mass in tha
little church which was his
Cathedral. Here for the first time
his people heard the voice which
was to make their Bishop one o
the most famous orators in
America.
On New Year’s Day he wrote
his first pastoral, which he had
printed and sent to every place
in the three states where it was
known that there were Catholics
He sent greetings to his Metropo
litan in Baltimore and to the
Bishops of Boston. New York,
Philadelphia, Kiehmond and
Bardstown, his brethren in the
hierarchy, and dispatched a copy
of the Bull of his appointmen'
and a certificate of his conseera
tion to Archbishop Marechal. BL
then decided on an immediat"
visitation of the Diocese. Leaving
his vicar general, Father Fenwick t
in charge in Charleston, he de
parted for Savannah on the slop
Delight January 15. Msgr. Pete
Guilday in his “Life of Bishop
England” gives a detailed account
of the trip, on which the Bishop
was accompanied by Father
Browne. They arrived at' Tybee
Lighthouse the evening of the
second day; on the 18th they sail
ed up the river' and landed ih
Savannah,
(Copyright M»54)
BEST WISHES
RAYOO AUTO SEAT COVERS
1697 PEACHTREE RB„ N, W.
VErnon 4289 Atlanta- G<a.
BEST WISHES
CAMELLIA GARDENS
CHOICE AMERICAN
AND
CHINESE DISHES
1851 Peachtree Rd., N. W, Atlanta, Ga,
LEE BAKING CO.
ATLANTA, GA,