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TEN 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) MEDLOCICS PHARMACY 2310 Cascade Rd., S. W. PLaza 3-4107 ATLANTA, GA. BRUCE INSURANCE AGENCY Charles D. Bruce J. Robert Bruce Brunswick Office: 1517 Newcastle St. — Phones: 287, 288 Branch Office: St. Simons Island — Phone: 3551 SERVING INSURANCE NEEDS OF BRUNSWICK AND VICINITY FOR OVER FIFTY-FIVE YEARS li«TB MS COMPANY, Inc. WHOLESALE GROCERS 201-207 GLOUCESTER ST. PHONE 114-115 BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA BEN BURKE’S COCKTAIL LOIINSE 0V-" ;V; - " ■*%. \ ?C. . ' ON U. S. 17 NORTH BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA