Newspaper Page Text
Official
Newspaper For
The Diocese Of
Savannah - Atlanta
nlltlin
PUBLISHED BY THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Georgians Irre
spective of Creed”
Vol. 37, No. 5.
MONROE, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1956.
10c Per Copy — $3 a Year
Atlanta Established As Separate Diocese;
Dishop Hyland Named Ordinary Of New See
• AUGUSTA
DIOCESE DIVIDED—The above map shows how the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta has been divided by the Holy See forming
two distinct Dioceses. All the area north of the northern boundaries of Richmond, Jefferson, Glascock, Washington, Wilkinson,
Twiggs, Bibb, Crawford, Taylor, Talbot and Harris Counties form the new Diocese of Atlanta. These counties and all to the south
are in the Diocese of Savannah.
Savannah-Atlanta
Diocese Divided
By Pope Pius XII
WASHINGTON, (NC) — His
Holiness Pope Pius XII has es
tablished the See of Atlanta as
a distinct diocese in the State
of Georgia.
This involves a division of what
heretofore has been the Diocese
of Savannah-Atlanta.
Archbishop Gerald P. O’Hara,
presently serving as Apostolic
Delegate to Great Britain, conti
nues as Bishop of Savannah.
Bishop Francis E. Hyland, Aux
iliary Bishop of Savannah-Atlan
ta since 1949, has been named
Bishop of Atlanta.
These actions of the Holy Fath
er were announced here by His
Excellency Archbishop Amleto
Giovanni Cicognani, Apostolic
Delegate to the United States.
The new Diocese of Atlanta is
divided from Savannah by a line
drawn from the South Carolina
boundary to the Alabama bounda
ry running along the northertn
limits of Richmond, Jefferson,
Glascock, Washington, Wilkinson,
Twiggs, Bibb, Crawford, Taylor,
Talbot and Harris Counties. These
several counties and all that lie
south of them remain in the
Diocese of Savannah, while all
'counties north of the line are
included in the new Diocese of
Atlanta.
The previously existing Diocese
of Savannah-Atlanta comprised
all of the State of Georgia. It
was originally established as the
Diocese of Savannah in 1850. In
1937 it became the Diocese of
Savannah-Atlanta, and the latter
city enjoyed with the former the
honor of being the center of Cath
olic life in the State of Georgia.
The 1956 Official Catholic Direc
tory shows the Diocese of Sav
annah-Atlanta to have had a
Catholic population of 44,070 in
a general population (1950 census)
of 3,444,578.
Archbishop O’Hara, now Bish
op of Savannah, is a native of
Pennsylvania and was Auxiliary
Bishop of Philadelphia when he
was named Bishop of Savannah
in 1935. He became Bishop of
(Continued on Page Two)
FIRST PRIESTS IN GEORGIA
MORE THAN 400 YEARS AGO
History tells us that at least
fifteen priests lost their lives in
the Southeast with the expedi
tions of Navaez (1527-28) and De-
Soto (1539-42). The first baptism
on the present soil of the United
States -was on the banks of the
Ocmulgee River at Macon, when
. a priest with De Soto’s party bap
tized an Indian baby about 1540.
The Jesuits came to Florida and
Georgia in 1566, and Father Mar
tinez the first Jesuit martyr in
the Western Hemisphere shed his
blood, a victim of the Indians at
a place most authorities identify
as Cumberland Island, which is
Georgia soil. It was St. Francis
Borgia who sent the first Jesuits
to Georgia, St. Francis Borgia
the associate of St. Ignatius and
St. Francis Xavier.
v
The Dominicans succeeded the
Jesuits but they did not remain;
in 1813 the Franciscans came to
labor successfully among the In
dians. In 1606 Bishop Altamirano
of Cuba and Florida confirmed
about 1,200 Indians in Georgia. It
was not until after the coming
of th.e English in 1733 that the
Franciscans withdrew from what
is now Georgia.
As a result of the labors of
these missionaries in Georgia, the
state has the most ancient sus
tained history of any of the thir
teen original colonies, and of any
(Continued on Page Two)
ARCHBISHOP O'HARA
Bishop of Savannah.
BISHOP HYLAND
Bishop of Ailanta.