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JULY 9, 1955.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
ELEVEN
Their territory included all the
area from the Savannah River
more than a hundred miles north
west of Augusta beyond Athens,
and going back to the Savannah
River again beyond Sparta and
Louisville. Worn out by his lab
ors, and in his 70th year and the
40th year of his priesthood. Fath
er Duggan died December 3, 1870.
Thus the last Of the three great
co-laborers of Bishop England
died within a year, Father Dug
gan, Father O’Neill, Sr., on July
12. 1870, and Father Peter Whe
lan February 6, 1871.
Faiher Abram Ryan
Among the priests laboring in
the Diocese after the war was the
revered and beloved Father Ab
ram Ryan, “Poet-Priest of the
Confederacy”, whe served at the
Church of the Holy Trinity, Aug
usta, when he was at the same
time editing The Banner of the
South. This publication he estab
lished in association with Patrick
Walsh, later the editor of The
Augusta Chronicle, Mayor of
Augusta and U.S. Senator from
Georgia. There is a dispute about
Father Ryan’s birthplace, Ireland,
Norfolk, Va., and Hagerstown,
Md., claiming the distinction. The
weight of opinion seems to be in
favor of his birth at Norfolk and
his baptism at Hagerstown. He en
tered the Vincentians or the Con
gregation of the Missions in Ger
mantown, Pa., in 1854, and with
drew in 1862, after his ordination,
he became a chaplain in the Con
federate forces. His “Conquered
Banner” stirred the people of the
South in defeat as James Ryder
Randall’s “Maryland” stirred
them in the days of battle. He
was pastor at Clarksville, Tenn.,
from November, 1864, to May,
1865.
According to his friend Taylor
of Mobile, onetime U.S. Minister
to Spain, he served in New Or
leans following the war, acting as
editor of The Star, a Catholic
weekly there. From New Orleans
he went to Augusta, then going to
Mobile, where from 1870 to 1877
he was at the Cathedral of the
Immaculate Conception. He then
became pastor of St. Mary’s
Church Mobile. In demand as a
lecturer and retreatmaster, he
was on one of these sojourns
when he died in Louisville, Ky.,
April 22, 1876, at the age of 46.
Catholics and the Confederacy
The mention of Father Ryan is
a reminder of the part that Geor
gia Catholics as well as those of
the South in general played in
the war; it is a story that is yet
to be fully explored and present
ed. That story from the Georgia
standpoint would be headed by
such names as General Jean Bap
tist Victoire Cirquely, General
Paul Semmes mortally wounded
July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg (he
was a brother of Admiral
Semmes), General James Longs-
trust, a convert, Lieutenant Gen
eral in Lee’s Army—his Catholic
widow still survives—and others
whose courage and qualities of
leadership won them places of
distinction in the Conferedate
Army.
When Bishop Verot came to
Savannah, Father James Hasson,
previously pastor of the Church
of the Assumption, Macon, was
pastor "of the Church of the Im
maculate Conception, Atlanta.
The strenuous work on the mis
sions impaired his health, and he
withdrew to the Archdiocese of
New York, where he served at
Verplenk and Peekskill. Father
Patrick Kirby was his assistant
in 1860; Father Kirby was trans
ferred to Savannah, During the
years of the war and for the years
thereafter until his death in 1872,
Atlanta’s pastor was the famous
Father Thomas O’Reilly. He was
born in Drumsora, Cavan, Ire
land, in 1831, was ordained at
All Hallows in ills native land,
and was 26 years old when he
started his priestly work in Geor
gia, as assistant at the Cathedral
in Savannah. He labored there
with Bishop Barry, Father
O’Neill, Sr., Father Whelan,
Father Prendergast and Father
Hook; he and Father Hook, who
came with him from Ireland,
were junior clergy among the
pioneers. In the epidemic of 1859,
both were stricken; Father Hook
died. Shortly afterward Father
O’Reily was named pastor in
Macon, going from there to At
lanta. While pastor at Macon, he
erected’ a church in Albany,
which was used as a hospital
during the war.
The Promise of Atlania
Although Catholics were not
numerous in Georgia in those
days, they were important pro
portionately in the larger cities,
where there had been substanti
al increases after the famine in
Ireland in the 1840’s. The epi
demics in Savannah and Augusta
had taken a heavy toll, but At
lanta had been relatively fortun
ate. This new city was already
giving promise of becoming the
commercial capital of the South
east into which it later developed
it was this fact that made it the
target of the Federal forces. Des
pite spirited and heroic resist
ance, the Union Army closed in
relentlessly on Atlanta. Three
separate battles raged there at
one time, at Peachtree Creek to
the north, at Ezra Church to the
west, and the so-called Battle of
Atlanta to the east. On November
15, 1864, the Northern forces un
der General Sherman entefed.
Father O’Reilly’s role in what fol
lowed is recorded in a memorial
issue of the Atlanta Historical
Society Bulletin, October, 1945,
dedicated to Atlanta’s Catholic
war-time pastor, and written by
Robert R. Otis.
Father O'Reilly and the Federate
Union officers sought to requi
sition Father O’Reilly’s rectory,
but he refused to yield it. Con
federate General Hood, Mayor
Calhonn and the City Council
entered a plea that the city be
spared; the only concession was a
ten-day respite during which the
citizens could leave. Father
O’Reilly then made a plea that
his own and neighboring churches
the City Hall and the adjacent
buildings be exempt from the
threatened conflagration. Catho
lic soldiers in the Federal Army
promised to oppose anyone at
tempting to set fire to the
churches. Father O’Reilly’s plea
was honored. Of the 20,000 resi
dents of the city, all but about
680 men evacuated. Of the 3,800
buildings, only about 400 escaped
burning.
What Father O’Reilly achieved
is recorded in this tablet on a
memorial to him on the grounds
of City Hall, Atlanta: “In memo
ry of Father Thomas O’Reilly,
pastor of the Church of the Im
maculate Conception, who, in
November, 1864, by his courageous
protest to the Commander of the
Federal forces occupying the city,
prevented the destruction of the!
following buldings: The, City|
Hall-Courthouse, Central Pres
byterian Church, Second Baptist
Church, Trinity Methodist
Church St. Philip’s Church and
the Church of the Immaculate
Conception.”
This memorial was sponsored
by the Atlanta Historical Socie
ty, and was paid for by the City
of Atlanta, the County of Fulton,
and the five churches saved, or
their representatives. When it
was dedicated October 15, 1945,
the speakers were Miss Ella Mc-
Thernton, Georgia State Librari
an; Mrs. - John S. Spalding,
granddaughter of Georgia’s war
time Governor Joseph M. Brown;
from the Second Baptist Church;
Alex M. Hitz of the Episcopal
Cathedral of St. Philip; Former
Governor John M. Slaton of Tri
nity Methodist Church; Col. Le-
Roy W. Nichols, U.S.A., and Rob
ert R. Otis of the Church of the
Immaculate Conception. The Rev.
Joseph R. Smith, pastor of the
Church of the Immaculate
Church, delivered the invocation.
Rebuilding of Atlanta
When the people of Atlanta re
turned to their ruined city, the
devastation which greeted them
appalled but did not dishearten
them, even though the homes of
most of them were in ashes. They
immediately started the work of
rebuilding; none was more active
than Father O’Reilly. He covered
all North Georgia alone, rebuilt
the church at Dalton, and in At
lanta soon had a convent and
school under way. They were
finished in 1868, and the Sisters
of Mercy from Savannah came to
staff them. He then made plans
for a church in Atlanta; the cor
nerstone was laid by Bishop Ver
ot September 1, 1869. The sermon
was delivered by the famous
Father Abram Ryan, then editor
of The Banner of the South, pub
lished in Augusta.
But Father O’Reilly was not
destined to see the church com
pleted. His health, never rebust
since his experience with the yel
low fever epidemic in Savannah,
was further impaired by his zeal
ous and even hectic labors during
the war ministering not only to
Catholics in his vast mission ter
ritory but to the Conferedate and
Federal soldiers as well. He was
finally prevailed upon to go to
Chalvenate Springs, near Staun
ton, Va., to rest and recuperate.
But he continued to decline in
health; he died there September
6, 1872.
A group of distinguished At
lantans met his remains at Dalton
and accompanied them to Atlan
ta. They were persons of all de
nominations, “and for once secta
rianism gave way to the prompt
ings of honest grief,” the Atlanta
Daily Herald said. “Among the
good and pure clergymen of all
denominations in our midst we
find not his superior.” The editor
of The Constitution recalled his
personal friendship with Father
O’Reilly and his many visits to
him; his saving of so much At
lanta property in 1864 was re
called and extolled. Bisjhop Igna
tius Persico officiated at the fun
eral Mass and delivered the ser
mon. Father O’Reilly’s remains
were placed in a vault in the new
church, now approaching comple
tion. The Constitution and The
Herald reported that his was the
largest funeral procession ever
seen in Atlanta.
Macon and Columbus
In Macon, where Father
O’Reilly was pastor of the
Church of the Assumption in the
early days of Bishop Verot’s epis
copacy, Father Michael Cullinan
served the parish for a brief per
iod. Then Father William Hamil
ton, who had been pastor at
Jacksonville and its missions, was
the next pastor at Macon; when
he went to Savannah as rector of
the Cathedral, Father J. F.
O’Neill, Jr., was appointed. Fath
er O’Neill died in St. Agnes Hos
pital, Baltimore, November 6,
1868, at the untimely age of 38;
his successor was Father Louis
Bazin. When the Ursuline
Sisters at Columbia lost their con
vent and school in the burning of
the city by the Federal Army,
some of them found refuge ir^
Macon. After they left in 1868,
five Sisters of Mercy from Sav
annah opened a schol which in
1869 had an attendance of 80
day pupils. The Macon missions
at this time included Albany,
where there was a church,
Americus, Cuthbert: Milledge-
ville, Eatonton, Hawkinsville,
Fort Valley “and generally fami
lies on the Southwestern and
Central Road.”
Columbus, where Father Cul
linan remained as pastor through
the war years, had West Point,
Fort Gaines, Chattahoochee and
Butler among its missions. It was
a haven during the war years for
the Mother McAuley Sisters of
Mercy from St. Augustine, who
had gone to Florida from Provi
dence in 1860 at the invitation of
Bishop Verot. The first band in-
included Mother Mary Ligouri
Major, her sister, Sister Mary Ag
nes Major, Sister M. Evangelista
O’Neil and Sister M. Maglalpn
Cornigan. Sister M. Xavier Surfi-
ors and Sister M. Veronica Fitz
simmons soon joined them.
Flight of the Sisters
As the war crept closer to St.
Augustine, it was rumored that
the city was to be bombarded:
Bishop Verot determined to have
the Sisters moved to safety, and
decided that Columbus, at the
western extrimity of the Geor
gia section of his Diocese, was gs
safe a place as could be foundv
and a fertile field for their labor
as well. Enroute they were guests
of the Sisters of Mercy at Savan
nah. They lost their baggage pn
the journey; Mother Ligouri ask
ed the Sisters to pray to .St. Jqs-
eph for its recovery, promising
to name the new convent ahtl
school in Columbus for him >if
their prayers were answered.
They were, and when their peri •
lous trip ended in Columbus Sep
tember 4, 1862, they established
St. Joseph’s Convent. Despite thp
hardships occasioned by the wai|,
the school was successful, ah&
with the dawn of peace, Bishop
Verot arranged to have the schocjl
continued.
Bishop Verot’s years as Ordina
ry of the Diocese were the mqst
troubled in the history of th 5
Church in Georgia. The wajr
brought ruin to Atlanta and de
vastation elsewhere in the stati.
Commerce was largely suspenej-
(Continued on Page Twenty) !
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