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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
OCTOBER 1, 1955.
(Satholic5
eorc^i
By RICHARD REID, K. S. G.
340 IN SACRED HEART
PARISH
The parish at that time had 340
souls; the church and the rectory
were inadequate. The Marist
Fathers considered a new church
necessary and a new site advis
able. Father Vincent P. Brennan,
S.M., in his history of the parish
says that they first considered the
corner of Luckie and Forsyth
Streets where the Forsyth Build
ing now stands; it was then a
residential section but Father
Gibbons considered it too close to
the business area. The place final
ly selected was the Hill property
at Peachtree and Ivy Streets, ac
quired July 14, 1897 for $12,000.
Father Gibbons and Father
Guinan, who were soon joined by
Father Augustus, S.M.. lived in a
wooden frame building next to
the site of the new church, going
back and forth to the old Church
of Sts. Peter and Paul. They
soon had $10,000 raised for the
new edifice; work on it pro
gressed so satisfactorily that it
was dedicated as the Church of
the Sacred Heart May 1, 1898, less
than a year after the Marists had
come to the city. Bishop Becker
officiated at the dedicatory cere
mony and Father Keiley deliver
ed the sermon. The issue of The
Atlanta Constitution which re
ported the dedication also record
ed the news of Dewey’s naval vic
tory at Manila. Assisting Bishop
Becker at the ceremony in addi
tion to the local clergy were Fath
er Onesime Renaudier, S.M., of
Boston, Provincial of the Marists,
and the Rev. Dr. John E. S.M., of
the Catholic University of Amer
ica. The Marist had arrived in
Atlanta on the First Friday of
June, 1897, a circumstance that
played a part in the changing of
the name of the parish.
Dalton, Rome and the North
Georgia Missions now being as
signed to the Marist Fathers,
Father Clifford, who had been
pastor there, with residence at
Rome, was transferred to St. Pat
rick’s, Augusta. The Marist Mis
sions there touched Alabama,
Tennessee and North Carolina.
At the other end of the state,
their newly acquired Brunswick
Missions extended from the Flo
rida border along the coast and
for many miles inland, including
Waycross, St. Mary’s Jesup, Lu-
dowici, Hinesville, Darien and St.
Simon’s with Mass also at Jekyl
Island for winter visitors.
the Marists took charge of Bruns
wick and its missions, they were
requested to minister temporarily
to Willacoochee, Alapaha, Doug
las, McGoven and adjacent ter
ritory, formerly served from Al
bany, which at that time did not
have a resident pastor.
THE AUGUSTA PARISH
Father McNally was pastor at
St. Patrick’s in Augusta when
Bishop Becker came, remaining
until the appointment of Father
James O’Brien in 1889; Father
McMahon succeeded Father
O’Brien in 1895. Father Richard
O’Brien was assistant to his
namesake, succeeded in that ca
pacity by Father Hennessy and
then Father Clifford. At Sacred
Heart Church of the Jesuit Fath
ers, Father Lonergan was pastor
in 1887, Father David McKiniry
from 1888 to 1891, relieved for a
time by Father J. F. O’Connor.
Father Thomas O’Callaghan came
in 1891 to remain until the re
turn of Father Lonergan in 1896.
Assistants during these years in
cluded Fathers Thomas McElli-
gott, Fabian Garbely, Joachim
Pont and J. Moore. Bishop Beck
er laid the cornerstone of the
new Sacred Heart Church in
1898.
In Augusta’s Catholic schools
at this period, there were 165
boys attending St. Patrick’s un
der the direction of the Brothers
of the Sacred Heart, 175 girls in
St. Mary’s Academy and 170
pupils in Sacred Heart School,
the latter two tought by the Sis
ters of Mercy. Five Franciscan
Sisters of the Immaculate Concep
tion cared for 20 colored orphans
and conducted the school for
Negro children.
TIDAL WAVE IN
BRUNSWICK
Father Guinan was installed as
pastor of Brunswick and the
Southeast Georgia Missions May
9, 1897, but went to Atlanta a
few weeks later to assist. Father
Gibbons. Father P. J. Luckie,
S.M., succeeded him, with Father
James Byrne, S.M., and Father
Reis from Atlanta assisting him
at different times. In 1898 a com
bined tidal wave and cyclone
caused great damage in the busi
ness section of Brunswick,, flood
ed the church and ruined most
of the windows. The church at
Waycross which had been ded
icated by Bishop Becker in 1889
was so badly damaged in the
storm that it had to be rebuilt;
it was opened in 1899 on its pres
ent site.
As an aftermath of the tidal
wave, Father Reis contracted yel
low fever. When he and Father
Byrne were transferred, Father
James Carroll, S.M., was assign
ed to Brunswick. Shortly after
SENATOR PATRICK WALSH
One of Georgia’s most distin
guished citizens in this period was
Patrick Walsh of Augusta. Born in
Ballingary, Limerick, Ireland,
January 1, 1840, he was brought
to Charleston by his parents when
he was eight years old. An ap
prentice on the Charleston Couri
er at 13, he was a journeyman
printer at 18. Realizing his need
for more education, he entered
Charleston High School, setting
type afternoons and evenings for
the Southern Christian Advocate.
He then entered Georgetown Uni
versity, where he studied until
his studies were interrupted by
the outbreak of the war. Enter
ing the Confederate Army, he
enlisted in the Meagher Guard,
later known as the Emerald Light
Infantry, winning a commission
as a first lieutenant. He served
until the regiment was disbanded;
with his brothers in the army
and the family depending on him
for support, he was returned to
civilian life.
Going to Augusta, he was ap
pointed local editor of The Con
stitutionalist in 1863; the year
following he became associated
with L. T. Blome in the publica
tion of The Pacificator. Later he
was connected with Father Ab
ram Ryan in the publication of
The Banner of the South, In
which many of the poet-priest’s
works were first published.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PIONEER
In 1886, at the age of 26. Mr.
Walsh was named Southern rep
resentative of the New York As
sociated Press; he later served as
treasurer and then general man
ager of the Southern Associated
Press. After being business man
ager of The Augusta Chronicle
and Sentinel, he eventually be
came owner and editor of The
Augusta Chronicle. His champion
ing of the cause of the Negro
and his unrelenting warfare
against the evil of lynching were
characteristic of his devotion to
principle and his scorn of more
expediency.
Elected to City Council in Au
gusta in 1870, at the age of 30,
he was in the Georgia House of
Representatives for the 1872,
1874 and 1876 terms; he was a
leader in the Constitutional Con
vention of 1877. In 1880 he was
one of the most influential sup
porters of Governor Alfred H.
Colquitt in his bid for renomina
tion; the convention was dead
locked for days. The opposition
attempted to break the deadlock
by offering to support Mr. Walsh
for the nomination, equivalent to
election, suggesting that he was
the most acceptable compromise
candidate. Having entered the
convention for the purpose of
supporting Governor Colquitt,
Mr. Walsh indignantly rejected
the offer. The opposition to the
Governor then weakened, and he
was renominated and re-elected.
Mr. Walsh was a delegate from
Georgia to several national De
mocratic conventions, a Georgia
member of the Democratic Na
tional Committee and, by appoint
ment of President Harrison, a
member at large of the Chicago
Columbian Fair Commission in
1892.
NAMED TO THE SENATE
Governor Colquitt went from
the State House to the National
Capitol as U.S. Senator; when
he died. Governor Northern on
April 2, 1894, named Mr. Walsh to
succeed him. The General As
sembly at its next session con
firmed this appointment by elect
ing him for the unexpired term;
he received 132 votes, against 37
for Judge James K. Hines and
three for Col. A. E. Buck. When
Senator Walsh retired from the
Senate, he was elected Mayor of
Augusta, a post in which he was
serving when he died March 19,
1899, at the age of 59. After a
first Requiem at Sacred Heart
Church, his remains were taken
to St. Patrick’s, of which he had
been a member before Sacred
Heart Parish was established.
The St. Patrick’s and Sacred
Heart Temperance Societies’ Cad
ets, movements he did much to
foster, acted as a guard of honor.
Since his coming to the state as
a young man, Senator Walsh had
been one of the most active Cath
olic laymen in Georgia. It was his
pen that described the impres
sive consecration of the Church
of the Holy Trinity, now St. Pat
rick’s, in 1863, in the presence of
a guard of honor from the Con
federate Army. He was lay chair
man of the committee that first
discussed plans for Sacred Heart
Parish. The Knights of Columbus
Council in Augusta bears his
name. When he was named to
the United States Senate, an hon
or that came to him unsought,
the Madison Advertiser reflected
the general opinion of the Geor
gia press when it said editorially
that “his appointment was one of
the most fitting of all Governor
Northern’s official acts because
of Mr. Walsh’s competency, in
every respect, for the senator -
ship.”
TRIBUTES TO SENATOR
Governor Candler, who head
ed the many national and state
officials at his funeral, said: “Ex
cept at the funeral of General
Grant, I have seen no such de
monstration,” The Baptist minis
ters adopted resolutions of regret
on his death; ministers served as
honorary pall-bearers. The rabbi
in Augusta the following Sabbath
preached on “Patrick Walsh and
Some Lessons from His Life.”
The Georgia Baptist, commenting
on the outpouring of Negroes
joining the other thousands in
paying him tribute, said that it
was “not strange that he should
be the idol of the colored popula
tion. He never turned from them
in their distress.”
But the greatest tribute was
from his Spiritual Shepherd,
Bishop Becker, who in his ser
mon at the funeral Mass said that
Senator Walsh was “one who as a
man came as near the ideal as it
is usually possible for human
nature. I challenge any in this
vast audience to say anything
against his integrity ... In the
United States Senate he did more
for the state and for the South
than anyone else in the same
length of time . . . My heart is
in the coffin there with him.”
JAMES RYDER RANDALL
A distinguished contemporary
and co-worker of Senator Walsh
in Augusta was James Ryder
Randall, author of “Maryland,”
one of the early members of the
Knights of Columbus Council
named for Mr. Walsh. Born in
Maryland January 1, 1839, a year
to the day before the birth of
Senator Walsh in Ireland, he al
so attended Georgetown, and
won distinction as a poet and
writer at an early age. He wrote
“Maryland, My Maryland” on an
impulse after hearing of the
skirmish between the First Mas
sachusetts Regiment and the
people of Baltimore in which his
Georgetown college-mate Frank
X. Ward was wounded; Mr.
Randall was then professor at
Poydras College at Point Cou
pee, Louisiana.
Published in the New Orleans
Sunday Delta April 26, 1861, the
poem immediately struck a res
ponsive chord in the hearts of
the Southern people. At a Glee
Club gathering in Baltimore in
June, 1862, it was sung for the
first time to the tune of t hje
German college song “Lauriger
Horatius.” That was the birth
of the combination of words and
music. Frail throughout life,
James Ryder Randall could not
serve in the army, but through
his song he did more for the
Confederacy than if he had been
a general of its armies.
To Be Continued ]
(Copyright 1955)
Archbishop Raffaele Forni, In
ternuncio to Iran, has been nam
ed Papal Nuncio to Venezuela.
He succeeds Archbishop Sergio
Pignedoli who in April was ap
pointed Auxiliary to Archbishop
Giovanni B. Montini of Milan.
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