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SOLEMN CEREMONIES WILL MARK
SAVANNAH CATHEDRAL REOPENING
WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
OP THE DIOCESE OF
SAVANNAH
r yiH!tSIKEPEO
Dedication Of Seminary
Wing Will Highlight
Vianney Award Program
The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Andrew
J. McDonald, chancellor, will
act as Master of Ceremonies,
assisted by the Rev. Herbert
J. Wellmeier and the Rev. Law
rence Lucree, both assistant
rectors at the Cathedral.
Diocesan Seminarians will
serve as minor officers at the
Mass.
Bishop McDonough will also
deliver the sermon.
Although the Diocese of Sa
vannah was not erected until
SAVANNAH—The newly re
novated Cathedral of St. John
the Baptist in Savannah will be
reopened with a Solemn Pon
tifical Mass on Sunday, March
24th at 8:00 p.m., according to
the Rt. Rev. Msgr. T. James
McNamara, P.A., V.F. rector.
Celebrant will be the Most
Rev. Thomas J. McDonough,
Bishop of Savannah. Monsig
nor McNamara will serve as
Archpriest.
Deacons of Honor, represent
ing the Religious and Secular
clergy of the Diocese will be
the Very Rev. Bede Lightner,
O.S.B., prior of the Savannah
Benedictine community, and
the Rt. Rev. Msgr. John D.
Toomey, pastor of St. James
parish, Savannah.
Two instructors from St. John
Vianney Minor Seminary, Sa
vannah, will serve as Dea
con and Subdeacon of the Mass.
They are the Very Rev. John
Cuddy, Diocesan Superintendent
of Schools, and the Rev. Kevin
Boland.
SAVANNAH— The activities
marking a weekend during
which 195 altar boys from par
ishes throughout the Savannah
diocese will receive the St. John
Vianney award, will culmin
ate in ceremonies dedicating the
recently constructed addition to
the Seminary buildings.
The weekend will get under
way on Saturday, March 23rd at
3:00 p.m. with registration of
boys to be honored and their
parents. Guests will be taken
on a tour of the grounds.
After a buffet supper at 5:30
the awards candidates will at
tend a play enacted by semin
arians. They will then view a
motion picture concerning
priestly vocations entitled
“Twenty-four Hours,” and hear
a talk by the Rev. William V.
Coleman, rector of the Semin
ary.
A program has also been pre
pared for the parents, under the
direction of the Rev. John Cud
dy. The seminary program will
be explained by Father Coleman
and the Most Rev. Thomas J.
McDonough will speak on “The
Priesthood.” A picture slide
series on the seminary will also
be shown.
At 8:00 a.m. on Sunday Bish
op McDonough will be the cel
ebrant at an outdoor Pontifi
cal Mass and will also preach.
After the presentation of the
awards to the outstansing altar
boys of the diocese, Mr. Joseph
Rau will extend the congratu
lations of the seminarians to the
candidates.
An open house will be held
in the afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
and the weekend activities will
come to a close with the dedi
cation of the new wing of the
seminary.
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
6, 1898, fire broke out, destroy
ing almost the entire building.
According to a report in the
Savannah Morning news the
next day, only the four walls
and “the indestructible parts of
its two tall spires” remained
standing.
Plans were immediately be
gun to rebuild the Cathedral
within the framework of the or
iginal walls, and the rebuilt edi
fice was dedicated on October
28th, 1900 by Archbishop Se
bastian Martinelli, Apostolic
Delegate to the United States in
the presence of Bishop Ben
jamin J. Keily, who had been the
Cathedral’s rector at the time
of the fire.
Since the redecoration of the
interior in 1912, no major re
novations had been carried out
until the Rt. Rev. Msgr. T.
James McNamara announced,
in 1959 plans for extensive in
terior and exterior repairs, and
a complete redecoration of the
Cathedral.
In 1960, the present plaza in
front of the church was con
structed, and lights were em
placed and an outdoor shrine
dedicated to St. John the Bap
tist was built.
With the Solemn Pontifical
rite of next Sunday evening,
the venerable Cathedral of St.
John the Baptist, described by
its rector as “The signature
piece of Savannah, Old and New”
enters upon a new era, and will
soon begin to plan for the cel
ebration of its centenary in
1973.
10c Per Copy — $3 A Year
Vol. 43, No. 27
1850, the history of the parish
now known as Cathedral parish
spans more than a century and a
half.
The parish of St. John the
Baptist acquired its first church
after the Mayor and Alderman of
Savannah passed a resolution
in 1799 reserving a lot at what
is now Liberty and State streets.
Two years later the State
Legislature granted a petition
for incorporation by the Savan
nah Catholic community.
Immigrants from Europe
and the West Indies began to
swell the ranks of the small
parish so that within a few years
the little church at Liberty and
State streets was too small for
the congregation.
In 1835 the cornerstone of a
new church, which would be
come the first Cathedral of the
Diocese of Savannah, was
laid by Bishop John England,
first Bishop of Charleston, S.C.
at Drayton and Perry Streets.
Although altered with the pass
age of time, this building still
stands and is presently the
site of the Eagles Home.
With the establishment of the
Diocese of Savannah in 1850,
Bishop Francis X. Gartland es
tablished the Church of St.John
the Baptist as the seat of the
new See.
Twenty years later, the Rt.
Rev. Ignatius Persico, who suc
ceeded Bishop Augustin Verot,
as the fourth bishop of Savan
nah inaugurated plans for the
construction of a new Cathed
ral and purchased the site of
the present Cathedral from the
Sisters of Mercy at Historical
St. Vincent’s Academy.
Bishop William H. Gross laid
the cornerstone of the present
edifice on November 19th, 1873
and dedicated the complete
structure in 1876.
Then, onSundayevening, Feb.
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1963
St. John Vianney Seminary
Baltimore Archbishop Recalls
Blessed Mother Seton
Was Fervent Protestant
VATICAN CITY, (Radio, NC)
—The Archbishop of Baltimore
has pointed out the timeliness
of beatifying Mother Seton, a
woman who had been a “very
fervent Protestant.”
Archbishop Lawrence J. She-
han said here that Mother Se
ton’s genuine religious fevor
as a Protestant and her subse
quent conversion to the Catho
lic Faith "may well account
for the desire of Pope John to
have this ceremony of beatifi
cation at the present time while
the (Second Vatican) council is
still in progress.”
Mother Seton’s life “fits in so
well with the movement of
Christian Unity in which Pope
John has shown so marked an
interest,” he said.
The Archbishop said that the
beatification draws special sig
nificance from the fact that
Mother Seton is the first native
U.S. citizen so honored, from
the fact that “she was the mo
ther of a rather large tamily
and continued to manifest deep
interest in concern for all the
members of that family up to the
day of her death, and from the
fact that “she may in a very
real sense be called the foun
dress of the parochial school
system.”
“The whole American Hier
archy is concerned not only
for the survival but also for the
development and excellence of
that system,” he said.
“That fact that Mother Seton
was an American Religious
points up the fact that religious
women have played a most im
portant part in the development
of the American Church—
the parochial school system be
ing so characteristic of the
Church,” he said.
Congressmen
Mark Saint
Patrick’s Day
WASHINGTON, (NC) -- That
good, gray journal the Congres
sional Record got its annual
green tint for St. Patrick’s Day.
The Irish coloration came in
the form of statements hailing
St. Patrick, Ireland and the Ir
ish, placed in Record by num
erous Congressmen.
Among those making the ob
servance in this way were the
legislators with such names as
McCormack, Fogarty and Kel
ly. But the friends of the Irish
also included a Conte, a Rosen
thal and a Minish.
For New Convent, School Addition
Drive For $200,000 By
Saint Mary’s, Augusta
INDEX
CATHEDRAL HISTORY 2
EDITORIALS 4
JOTTINGS 3
YOUTHSCOPE 6
HERE AND THERE .....7
OBITUARIES 7
AUGUSTA—St. Mary’s on-
the-Hill parish will launch its
drive for $200,000.00 to build
a new convent and an addition
to the school on Sunday, March
24.
Two hundred and fifty men
of the parish will work on the
drive with Eugene M. Howerdd,
Jr., as General Chairman and
Albert von Kamp Gary as chair
man of Special Gifts.
The new convent will replace
Chateau Le Vert, used for many
years as a convent for the Sis
ters of St. Joseph. The build
ing is old and according to
Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke,
pastor of St. Mary’s “re
quires a substantial sum each
year just for maintainance. At
this time there are several re
pairs which should be made, all
of which represent additional
outlays.”
The building is considered in
adequate for still another rea
son. The current condition of the
building imposes a limitation on
the number of sisters who may
be brought to the parish to
teach.
During the planning for con-
sturction of the present school
building, it was recognized that
eleven classrooms and the kin
dergarten would not be for long
adequate to meet the needs of
St. Mary’s parish.
Additional evidence is now
available to support this view.
At the beginning of the current
school year, five hundred and
(Continued on Page 2)
St. Vincent’s Academy To
Host Vocations Program
SAVANNAH — On Monday,
March 25th, St. Vincent’s Ac
ademy will sponsor a religious
vocations program aimed at
developing a greater interest
in the religious communities of
women in the Diocese of Sa
vannah on the part of Catholic
girls.
Each community of sisters
has been invited to participate.
There will be classroom dis
plays from the participating
communities and one member
of each community will des
cribe its works and life under
its rule.
The program, called AVE,
will begin with a 9:00 a.m. Mass
in the Cathedral of St. John the
Baptist, celebrated by Bishop
Thomas J. McDonough, and a
talk by the Bishop on “Voca
tions—The Call of the Church.”
After breakfast an assembly
in the outdoor theater of the
school will hear the Rt. Rev.
Msgr. Andrew J. McDonald,
diocesan chancellor speak on
“Vocation—A Personal Call to
Holiness and Happiness.” The
program will come to a close
with Benediction in the Cathe
dral at 2:30 p.m.
Catholic girls in grades 8
through 12 in the city of Sa
vannah and surrounding area
have been invited to attend.
Michigan To
Defend Sunday
Closing Law
DETROIT, (NC)—Michigan’s
Att. Gen. Frank J. Kelly said
here that the state is ready to
defend its controversial Sunday
closing law which goes into af-j
feet March 28.
MAILING ADDRESS
Architects’ Drawing of New Augusta Convent