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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
SEPTEMBER 17, 1955.
“Catholics in Georgiaa his
tory of the Diocese of Savannah-
Atlanta, has recently been complet
ed by Richard Reid and will be
published in book form shortly.
IV ith the consent and kind co
operation of Mir. Reid, The Bul
letin is happy to bring its readers
this history in installment form.
This is the first of a series which
will appear regularly.
BISHOP THOMAS A. BECKER
1836-1899
Georgia’s next Bishop was al
ready nationally noted when he
was named to succeed Archbishop
Gross. He was Bishop Thomas A.
Becker of Wilmington, Del., dis
tinguished as an educator and a
theologian, and one of twelve
converts who have become mem
bers of the hierarchy in the Unit
ed States. The Rev. Dr. Joseph B.
Code in his “Dictionary of the
American Hierarchy” lists the
others as Archbishop Samuel Ec-
cleston, S. S., of Baltimore; Arch
bishop James F. Wood of Phila
delphia; Archbishop James Roose
velt Bayley of Baltimore; Arch
bishop James H. Blenk, S. M., of
New Orleans; Bishop William Ty
ler of Hartford; Bishop Josue
Moody Young of Erie; Bishop
Gilmour of Cleveland; Bishop
Sylvester H. Rosecrans of Colum
bus; Bishop Edgar P. Wadhams
of Ogdensburg; Bishop Alfred A.
Curtis of Wilmington, and Bishop
Duane G. Hunt of Salt Lake City.
In 1955 Bishop Hunt is the only
living convert member of the hier
archy.
Bishop Becker was born in
Pittsburgh December 20, 1832, of
Protestant parents from Ulster.
He made his studies at the local
schools, Alleghany Institute, West
ern University and the University
of Virginia. When he was at the
University of Virginia he became
interested in the Catholic Church;
he pursued that interest by furth
er inquiry, and was received into
the Church in 1853 by Bishop Mc
Gill of Richmond. Feeling called
to the priesthood, he left the year
following for the Urban College of
the Propaganda in Rome. After
five years of study he received his
doctorate of theology, and was or
dained June 18, 1859, by His Emi
nence Constantine Cardinal Patri-
zi, Bishop of Albano.
MISSIONARY IN VIRGINIA
Returning to Virginia and the
Diocese of Richmond, he was
placed in charge of the mission
territory which included Winches
ter, Berkeley Springs and Mar-
tinsburg. His close associate in
Delaware and Georgia and his
successor as Bishop of Savannah,
Bishop Benjamin J. Keiley, wrote
in The Bulletin of the Catholic
Laymen’s Association of Georgia
in December, 1920, that the then
Father Becker saw his church
seized during the war by Federal
forces and put to military uses;
“he was put in prison during the
War Between the States for re
fusing to have public prayers said
in church for Mr. Lincoln. He said
that prayers of this description
were only said by direction of the
Bishop. He was confined in old
Capitol Prison in Washington, but
Secretary Seward ordered his re
lease, and he was sent to Balti
more to Archbishop Kenrick, who
assigned hini to teach at Mt. St.
Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, Md.”
He also served as librarian of the
Archdiocese of Baltimore and as
secretary to Archbishop Spalding,
who succeeded Archbishop Ken
rick in 1863. After the war, Father
James Gibbons ..succeeded him as
librarian, and he returned to Rich
mond, where he was rector of the
Cathedral.
CONSECRATED WITH
CARDINAL
The war years from 1861 to
1865 retarded the development of
the Church, as it did every other
phase of American life, but with
the coming of peace there was to
be a resurgence • unparalleled up
to that time. There was but one
Bishop consecrated in the United
States in 1861, two in 1862, none
in 1863 and 1864, three in 1865,
two in 1866, and one in 1867. But
in 1868, eight Sees were erected,
Columbus, Green Bay, Harris
burg, LaCrosse, Rochester, Scran
ton, St. Joseph and Wilmington,
and five Vicariates Apostolic, Col
orado and Utah, Boise, Idaho and
Montana, Arizona and North Caro
lina. To fill these Sees thirteenj
Bishops were consecrated. For the
See of Wilmington Dr. Becker was
elected, and for the Vicariate of
North Carolina Father James Gib- j
bons. They were consecrated at
the same ceremony August 16,
1868, in the Cathedral at Balti
more by Archbishop Spalding.
The sermon was delivered by
Father Thomas Foley, chancellor
of the Archdiocese. Bishop Becker
was to be a co-consecrator of
Father Foley the year following
when he was elevated to the hier
archy as Bishop of Chicago. When
Archbishop Spalding went to
Rome in 1869 for the Vatican
Council, he requested Bishop
Becker to act as administrator of
the Archdiocese.
When Bishop Becker was con
secrated for the Diocese of Wil
mington it included, as it does
now, all the state of Delaware and
the eastern shores of Maryland
and Virginia. It included Bohemia
Manor, Cecil County, Maryland,
where the Jesuits established a
mission in 1704. There were but
eight priests and fourteen church
es in the Diocese when Bishop
Becker was installed, and a Cath
olic population of about 5,-000.
In 18 years he increased the num
ber of churches to 26 and the
priests to 24. The Catholic popu
lation grew to 18,000. He brought
the Benedictines, the Sisters of
St. Francis and the Sisters of the
Visitation to the Diocese. When
Bishop Gross was appointed
Archbishop of Oregon, Bishop
Becker was appointed to succeed
him in Savannah.
THE SAVANNAH PARISHES
For ten years after the coming
of Bishop Becker, Father Caffer-
ty, who had been rector of the
Cathedral under Bishop Gross and
administrator of the Diocese after
his promotion, continued as rector.
Shortly after coming to Georgia
as a young priest in 1871, Father
Cafferty, a native of Ireland, was
pastor at Columbus, from 1872 to
1875, but that was his only ab
sence from Savannah during his
priestly life. From 1375 to 1877 he
was pastor of St. Patrick’s Church
there, and in the latter year he
succeeded Father Cullinan as rec
tor of the Cathedral. He was vicar
general of the Diocese under Bish
op Gross and Bishop Becker. His
assistants at the Cathedral after
the coming of Bishop Becker were
Fathers M. T. Reilly, Joseph Iien-
nessy and T. A. McConville in
1886 and 1887, Fathers Reilly and
Joseph Colbert in 1888, Fathers
Reilly, Colbert and W. A. McCar
thy the year following, and these
plus Father John S. McCarthy the
two succeeding years. Father John
B; David was added to the staff in
1893. The next year Father Caf-
ferty’s assistants were Fathers
Schlenke and Reilly, with Father
Edward R. Chase added in 1895.
Father Cafferty’s fruitful service
was ended by his death May 4,
1896.
FATHER KEILEY RECTOR
Father Benjamin J. Keiley,
pastor of the Church of the Im
maculate Conception, Atlanta,
succeeded Father Cafferty as rec
tor of the Cathedral and vicar
general; his assistants during
these years were Fathers Hennes-
sy, Reilly, Robt. F. Kennedy, J. H.
Lesieur and'P. J. Carsey. In 1887
Father Bazin went from Pio Nono
College to St. Patrick’s, Savannah,
as pastor, remaining there until
1890, when Father P. H. McMahon
succeeded him. Father John S.
McCarthy was appointed pastor
in 1894, remaining there until his
death more than a quarter of a
century later. Father Quinlan was
his assistant from 1895 to 1906.
Father Oswald, pioneer leader
of the Benedictines in Georgia,
left Savannah in 1887 to found a
monastery in Cluny, 111. He was
succeeded by Father William
Mayer, O. S. B., as pastor of Sa
cred Heart Church. Father Mel-
choir was pastor of St. Benedict’s
Church and erected a new edifice
for the parish at East Broad and
Gaston Streets; Bishop Becker
dedicated it in 1887. The Mission
ary Franciscan Sisters of the Im
maculate Conception who had
previously labored in Augusta es
tablished in the parish an orphan
age for Negro girls. In 1894 Father
William was called from Sacred
Heart Church to Belmont Abbey
as rector of the college; Father
Patrick Donlan, O. S. B., succeed
ed him. But two years later Fath
er. William was back at his old
post in Savannah, remaining
there until 1901 when he was
named prior of the Benedictine
Community in Richmond, Va. He
died there March 13, 1904.
LITTLE SISTERS OF
THE POOR
During Bishop Becker’s episco
pate, the Little Sisters of the Poor
came to minister to the homeless
aged, thus inaugurating a work
which through the years had
brought innumerable blessings to
the State and Diocese. St. Joseph’s
Infirmary increased its capacity
to 100 patients. There were 18 Sis
ters of Mercy at the Convent and
Academy of St. Vincent de Paul,
as well as three novices, two pos
tulants and 175 boarding and day
students. Cathedral School had
190 boys and 200 girls taught by
the Sisters of Mercy. But toward
the end of his years as Ordinary,
Bishop Becker was called upon
to suffer one of the greatest
crosses in the history of the
Church in Savannah; the Cathe
dral was ruined by fire. The Bish- *
op was to survive this disaster by
only a year.
THE ATLANTA PARISHES
In 1886, Father Kirsch was
succeeded as pastor of the
Church of the Immaculate Con
ception, Atlanta, by Father Ben-,
jamin J. Keiley, who had come
to the . Diocese from Wilmington
with Bishop Becker. His assistants
during the ten years he was at
Atlanta’s Mother Church were
Fathers John McCarthy, Schade-
well and Kennedy.' 4 Missions of
the <*>amh at. the time included
Clarksville, Gainesville, Griffin,
Jonesboro and Newnan. When
Father Keiley went to Savannah
as rector of the Cathedral in 1896
on the death of Father Cafferty,
he was succeeded by Father Ba- _
> i
,zin, Father Schadewell remain
ing as assistant.
The Sisters of St. Joseph open
ed Loretto School, a private
school for boys on Capitol Ave
nue, October 1, 1894; a new build
ing to accomodate the school was
completed in 1895 on South Pryor
Avenue.
In 1895 one of Atlanta’s mis
sions, Talapoosa, with a congre
gation of Hungarian Catholics,
was constituted a parish, with
Father J. Janauschek from the
Diocese of -Scranton as pastor.
It continued as a parish for about
four years, when it again became
a mission, attended by the Mar-
ist Fathers. It has remained un
der their care since.
ATLANTA'S SECOND PARISH
Father McMahon was pastor of
the Church of Sts. Peter and
Paul, Atlanta’s second parish,
from the time of its establishment
in 1880 until 1889, when he went
to St. Patrick’s, Savannah; Father
Colbert succeeded him. In his ef
forts to secure priests for the
missions of Georgia, Bishop Beck
er had learned from a native of
Georgia, Bishop James A. Healy
of Portland, of the apostolic work
of the Marist Fathers in Maine.
Father Keiley was distantly relat
ed to Father P. J. Luckie of the
Marists, a fact which facilitated
negotiations. Bishop Becker ar
ranged with the Marists to take
over the Church of Sts. Peter and
Paul in Atlanta and its parish, in
cluding all the territory “to the
north of -Edgewood Avenue and
to the east of the railway running
parallel to Marietta Street,” as
well as the missions of North
Georgia, 9,500 square miles in ex
tent. They were also to assume,
charge of the Brunswick Missions
in Southeast Georgia. Father Wil
liam Gibbons, S.M., was named
pastor and Father John Guinan.
S.M., his assistant. They arrived
in Atlanta the first Friday of
June, 1897, after visiting Bishop
Becker in Savannah. The pastor
of the Church of Sts. Peter and
Paul, Father Colbert, became
chaplain of St. Joseph’s Infirma
ry, Atlanta.
To Be Continued (Copyright 1955)
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