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PAGE 8 — The Southern Cross, September 12, 1985
History Of The Cathedral Of St
Photos From Cathedral Reopening Pro<
(Updated from Program of Re-opening
March 24, 1963.)
The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist,
parish church of Georgia’s most historic
congregation, has a history that spans 186
years.
It was from that group of Catholics, who
early called themselves the “Congregation
of Saint John the Baptist,” the Cathedral
derived its name. The roots of that con
gregation go back into English colonial
times in Savannah.
On May 30, 1799, the Mayor and
Aldermen of Savannah passed a resolution
reserving for the use of the congregation a
lot for the erection of a house of worship.
On that half of a trust lot on Liberty Square
at State and Montgomery Street was
erected a small frame church dedicated to
God under the patronage of Saint John the
Baptist.
In 1801, a petition for incorporation was
presented to the Legislature of the state by
the Roman Catholic Church in the City of
Savannah. Trustees listed in the Act gran
ting the charter were Don Emanuel
Ringel, Thomas Dollaghan, Thomas
Callaghan, John Shaw, Francis Roma,
Bartholomew Coquillon and John Moquitte
Montalet.
The Act was signed November 30, 1801,
by Governor Josiah Tattnall, Jr.
In June, 1804, the little congregation had
begun to experience growing pains and
petitioned the city for an extra lot. None
being available the petition was rejected.
On April 26, 1811, another petition was
presented to the Mayor and Aldermen. On
August 2, they deeded in fee simple to the
vestry of the Roman Catholic congregation
lots 17 and 18 in Elbert Ward, Montgomery
and Hull Streets.
On February 22, 1819, Council granted
the congregation Lots No. 33 and 34 Brown
Ward, the block to the rear of the present
Catholic Chancery. Since the church on
Liberty Square was inadequate for the
needs of the people, the trustees petitioned
for permission to sell the lots in Elbert
Ward and to use the money to erect a
church at Drayton and Perry Streets.
Council gave permission April 5,1819, to
sell the Elbert Ward lots, and on May 16,
1822 a deed in fee simple was executed to
the Roman Catholic Church for the two lots
in Brown Ward.
The cornerstone for the new church was
laid by Bishop England in 1835. It was
dedicated by Bishop England, assisted by
Rev. Fathers Barry, O’Neil, Whelan, Dug
gan, Fielding and Quigley on April 1, 1839.
The history of that congregation became
merged with the Cathedral in 1850, when in
that stable congregation’s own church
building, Bishop Francis X. Gartland
established his Seat as head of the new
Diocese of Savannah.
This Mother Church of the Diocese has
stood with Savannah in the city’s periods
of joy and has shared the sadness that
comes with war, epidemics and other
misfortunes. That very first Bishop, who
so signally honored the little Congregation
of St. John the Baptist, is remembered as
the “martyr bishop,” because of his heroic
devotion to the sufferers of the great
yellow fever epidemic of 1854 in Savannah
which resulted in his death from that con
tagion. He was succeeded by Bishop John
Barry, who died Nov. 21, 1859.
After him came Bishop Augustin Verot,
a Sulpician Father from Baltimore, who at
his own request was transferred to Florida
in March, 1870. The Holy See then ap
pointed Bishop Rt. Rev. Ignatius Persico,
who resigned in 1872 and afterwards died
in 1895, a Cardinal. He was learned, elo
quent, and devout; and endeared himself
to his flock at Savannah. He inaugurated
plans for building a new Cathedral; and
accordingly purchased land from the
Sisters of Mercy on Abercorn Street, runn
ing back from Harris to Lincoln.
A stained glass window memorial to
Bishop Persico is in the transept of the
Cathedral today.
The great building task devolved on
Bishop William H. Gross, a zealous and in
defatigable prelate. During his episcopate
he laid the cornerstone of the Cathedral
Nov. 19, 1873, and April 30, 1876, dedicated
the completed edifice to the service of God.
Bishop Gross was the last of the Bishops
of the Diocese of Savannah to use the old
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on
Drayton Street, and the first to occupy the
new one on LaFayette Square.
An interesting sidelight of the
Cathedral’s history was supplied by
Bishop Gross, who was a priest of the Con
gregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, a
society of missionary priests whose head
quarters were located in Maryland.
Among that Order’s many missions was
an important house opened in 1871 at Rox- P
bury, Mass., dedicated to Our Lady of I
Perpetual Help. Its first rector was the d
Rev. William H. Gross, who two years P
later became Bishop of Savannah. o
It was quite natural then that the Savan
nah prelate’s devotion to Mary, under her t
title of “Our Lady of Perpetual Help,”
manifested itself at the time he completed ^
the cathedral. The new structure was c
dedicated the Cathedral of Our Lady of c
Perpetual Help—a name the Cathedral re- c
tained for about ten years. His successor in x
the bishopric learned on a visit to Rome ]
that the change in name had not been \
authorized and restored the Cathedral to ^
its original name. 3
Five Bishops and an Archbishop par
ticipated in the dedication of the £
Cathedral, whose architecture was French j
gothic, with nave and transeps. The in
terior was lofty and imposing; the triple j
rows of groined arches meeting at their
apices, 65 feet above the floor, supported
by columns of bronze exquisitely capped
with original compositions. The main altar
and the four side altars were all of Italian (
white marble. The principal side altars to
the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacred Heart,
the Blessed Virgin and to St. Joseph were
beautiful in their design and decorations, j
states a writer of that day.
The procession of clergy leaving the old
cathedral marched to the new cathedral
and slowly moved around the bulding as
the bishop blessed it. The procession then
entered. The celebrant of the Solemn Pon
tifical Mass was Bishop Verot of St.
Church on Drayton Street at Perry
(left) became first Cathedral in 1850
when the Diocese of Savannah was
established. Ruins (top) of Cathedral
following fire in February 1898.