Newspaper Page Text
Official
Newspaper For
The Diocese Of
Savannah
Vol. 37, No. 18
Official
Newspaper For
The Diocese Of
Atlanta
Savannah Auxiliary Bishop to Arrive Feb. 20
81 sf BIRTHDAY
On hand to congratulate German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
(right) is Msgr. Alois Eckert, President of German Caritas, on
occasion of the Chancellor's 81st birthday. Archbishop Aloysius
J. Muench, Papal Nuncio to Germany, and Bishop of Fargo, N. D.,
also conveyed to Mr. Adenauer the best wishes of the diplomatic
corps in Bonn, West German capital. (NC Photos)
Catholic Weekly Printed In Georgia
The Pacificator Served Catholics
Of South During War Between States
PRESENTATION CEREMONY TO BE
HELD AT CATHEDRAL AT 5 P. M.
Vicar General
From Egypt At
Savannah Beach
SAVANNAH—Monsignor Ber
nard Gingras, Vicar. General of
Alexandria, Egypt has taken re
fugee in the Diocese of Savannah
until trouble in Egypt abates so
that he may return to his duties.
Msgr. Gingras, native of Cana
da, who has served for the past
six years as Vicar to the Patriarch
of Alexandria, at the time of the
Suez Canal disturbance happened
to be in Port Said, preaching a
mission. He was given his choice
of a concentration camp or leav
ing the country.
Monsignor is now residing at
St. Michael’s Church, Savannah
Beach.
(By Edward A. Egan)
(Written for NCWC News
Service)
Virtually no publicity has been
given the fact that during the War
Between the States Catholics in
the Confederacy launched their
oven paper to keep informed on
Catholic affairs. New details of
this venture, discovered on the eve
of Catholic Press Month, are nar
rated in this article. It is also of
interest that the centennial of the
tear will be observed soon.
At the time of the rise of the
Confederate States of America,
in 1861, Catholics residing in the
seceded states were without their
own religious press.
It took them only three and
one-half years, however, to rec
ognize the importance of, and the
vital need for, a Catholic press.
Out of this realization came
the establishment of The Pacifi
cator, “A Journal Dedicated to
the Interests of the Catholic
Church in the Confederate
States.”
A four-page weekly, it was
launched by Patrick Walsh and
L. T. Blome, two Augusta, Ga.,
Catholics of high and wide repute
as journalists, who v/ere its pub
lishers and editors. The former
was later United States Senator
from Georgia and Mayor of Au
gusta. The latter served for 30
years as clerk of the City Coun
cil of Augusta.
Some sources have reported
that Father Abram J. Ryan, poet-
priest of the Confederacy, was
editor, and even founder, of The
Pacificator. During the life of the
newspaper, however, the author
of “The Conquered Banner” and
other famous and well-known
poems, was engaged in. priestly
labors in the Dioceses of Chicago
and Nashville and had no associ
ation with the Catholic weekly.
On the editorial page of the
first issue, which appeared Octo
ber 8, 1864, was printed the pros
pectus of The Pacificator. It said:
“In the . . . young nation, we
found our Church without a rep
resentative organ, without the
means of communication between
bishops, the pastors, and the peo
ple, while our brethren of several
Protestant denominations were
giving a generous support to a
number of journals of their re
spective persuasions.
“To supply this want—to give
to the Catholic ecclesiastics of the
South an organ for promulgation
of their religious documents—to
furnish Catholic readers with a
pure Catholic literature and in
telligence from the Catholic
Church in other parts of the
world—to remove those unfound
ed prejudices and unjust assump
tions against the Church of Rome,
which exist in the minds of so
many outside her jurisdiction—
and, above all, to aid, by every
honorable means that lay in our
power, in restoring to our Con
federacy an early, honorable, and
lasting peace . . .
“As to our political views . . .
we are conscientiously bound to
give our support to the cause of
Southern Independence.”
Unlike its successor, the Banner
of the South, whioh Father Ryan
actually edited in Augusta, The
Pacificator was not printed on the
presses of the Augusta Chronicle
and Sentinel. It was set up in, and
run off by, the printing establish
ment of “J. T. Paterson & Co.,
Job and Newspaper Printers and
Lithographers . , . Augusta, Ga.”
A Scotsman by birth, and a
dental surgeon by profession,
James T. Paterson reached Au
gusta by way of Boston. Fonder
of printer’s ink than a dentist's
instruments, he lithographed con
federate postage and treasury
notes, and printed maps, music,
and books, during the Civil War,
in Richmond, Va., Columbia, S.
C., and Augusta.
Across the top of its front page,
under its subtitle, The Pacificator
exhibited a fitting motto: “Mitte
gladium tuum in vaginame et
Deus Pacis erit tecum (Put up thy
sword into its sheath and the God
of Peace will be with thee).” Ac
cording to the editors. Pope Pius
IX had used it in a statement to
some “Federal citizens” who had
applied to him for a photograph.
Measuring about 11V2 by 17
inches, the Catholic weekly was
of tabloid size, comparing closely
with The Bulletin, in Augusta,
currently published by the Cath
olic Laymen’s Association of
Georgia.
At the outset, the subscription
rate was high on account of the
war. It was $15 per year and $5
for three months. Eventually, it
dropped to $4 per year and $2.50
for six months.
Just how large the circulation
of The Pacificator was, is un
known!. Its contemporaries re
ported, however, that it was
“rrfeeting with success” and that
it had “an extended circulation
throughout the South.” While its
subscribers were predominantly
Catholic, it received encouraging
support from persons of other re
ligious affiliations.
The contents of the journal
were generally very much like
those of any Catholic weekly of
our times. Articles of a special
and general nature. Catholic in
telligence, editorials, news, poet
ry and ads filled its columns, of
which there were four on each
page. Apologetics, to be sure, had
its day when evoked by state
ments in other religious publica
tions, notably those issued by
Baptist sources.
Dedicated to an early, honor
able, and lasting peace for the
Confederacy as was The Pacifi
cator, its editorial pronounce
ments were dominated by that
hopeful note. Whether they wrote
of “War,” “Peace,” "Republican
ism,” “The Moral Results of the
(Continued on Page 2)
SAVANNAH — The Most Rev.
Thomas J. McDonough, newly ap
pointed Auxiliary-Bishop of Sav
annah, will arrive to take up his
new duties Wednesday, February
20th.
The Bishop will be greeted by
the school children of the city,
at 11 a.m. A luncheon for the
Clergy of the diocese, honoring
Bishop McDonough, will follow.
Presentation ceremonies will
take place during a Solemn Pon-
tificial Mass to be celebrated at
the Cathedral at 5 p.m. Wednes
day, Feb. 20th.
A formal reception for Bishop
McDonough will be held at the
Hotel Desoto on Thursday evening
February 21st.
The Holy Father, Pope Pius
XII, has appointed Bishop Mc
Donough as Auxiliary to Arch
bishop Gerald P. O’Hara with
the cannonical and liturgical
rights and functions of a resi
dential bishop, it has been pointed
out. Thus fully delegated to ad
minister the Savannah Diocese,
he will wear the mozetta (an
episcopal cape) and will be en
titled to preside at ceremonies
from the episcopal throne.
Archbishop O’Hara, who since
1954 has been serving as Apos
tolic Delegate to Great Britain,
Start Seminary Fund
holds this diplomatic post in
addition to being Bishop of Sav
annah.
Bishop McDonough succeeds
Bishop Francis E. Hyland as Sav
annah’s Auxiliary-bishop. Bishop
Hyland served as auxiliary-bishop
bishop McDonough
from 1949 until the summer of
1956 when the Holy See divided
the diocese of Savannah-Atlanta.
Bishop Hyland, at that time, was
named First 'Bishop of the new
Atlanta Diocese.
BISHOP TENDERED DINNER
BY ATLAHTA SERRft CLUB
ATLANTA — The Piedmont
Driving Club was the scene of a
dinner given by the Serra Club
of Meti’opolitan Atlanta in honor
of His Excellency, the Most Rev.
Francis E. Hyland D. D., J.C.D.
Bishop of Atlanta, on Thursday
night, January 24th. The occassion
was the presentation of a check
to enable His Excellency to be
gin the Seminary Student Fund
for the newly created Diocese of
Atlanta. Presentation of the check
was made by Mr. Larry La Bonte
of the John Sexton Co., who is
the club’s president.
The evening began with a re
ception for Bishop Hyland at
which time Bishop Hyland receiv
ed the members and their wives.
This was followed by a formal
dinner. Seated at the head table
were His Excellency, the Rev. R.
Donald Kiernan, club chaplain,
Mr. and Mrs. Larry La Bonte, the
Vice Pres, and his wife, Mr. and
Mrs. Bill Beckley; the secretary
and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Damon
J. Swann; the treasurer and his
wife, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mc
Laughlin.
Seated with the members of the
club were the Rt. Rev. Msgr. P. J.
O’Connor, Pastor of the Diocesan
Shrine of the Immaculate Con
ception; Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edward J.
Dodwell Ph.D., J.C.D., Chaplain
of the Perpetual Help Home in
Atlanta; Very Rev. Msgr. Corneli
us L. Maloney Ph.D., Supt., of
Schools for the Diocese of Atlan
ta; the Very Rev. James Boyce,
Chancellor of the Diocese; the
Rev. Michael J. Regan J.C.D.,
Officialis of the Diocese; Rev.
Thomas I. Sheehan, Pastor of St.
Thomas More Church in Decatur;
Rev. William Haddad, Pastor of
St. John’s Melkite Church; Rev.
Michael McKeever S.M.A., Pastor
of Our Lady of Lourdes Church
in Atlanta; Rev. Emmanuel Train-
or C. P., Pastor of St. Paul of the
Cross Church in Atlanta and the
Rev. John D. Stapleton who rep
resented the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Jos
eph E. Movlan P. A., Vicar Cen-
eral of the Diocese, the Very Rev.
Provincial of the Marist Fathers,
the Rev. Robert Ripp, S.M. Pastor
of Sacred Heart Church; and the
Very Rev. Val Becker S.M.,
Superior of the local Marest Com
munity.
The Serra Club is an organiza
tion of Catholic Business men or
ganized to intensify the desire for
promoting, safeguarding and as
sisting ecclesiastical vocations, to
(Continued on Page 2)
REQUIEM FOR
ANTHONY TEOLI
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Funeral
services for Anthony Teoli were
held Friday, January 18th, at
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr. Teoli, is the father of Rev.
Robert J. Teoli, assistant pastor
of Blessed Sacrament Church
here. Father Teoli was with his
father at the time of his death.
