Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, August 31, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 3
Early days of the Catholic Knights of America
and the Knights of Columbus in the Diocese of Savannah
T hat Catholic Knighthood
truly was in flower in the
Savannah Diocese both
before and shortly after the
arrival of the twentieth cen
tury, is confirmed by a
February 29, 1884 article in
the Savannah Morning
News.
Branch #38 of the
Catholic Knights of
America, said the newspa
per, convened the day before to com
memorate the fifth anniversary of
their founding. Earlier that day, the
group attended six o’clock Mass at
the Cathedral of Our Lady of
Perpetual Help (as the Cathedral of
Saint John the Baptist was then
called).
With a robust membership of about
140, the Savannah branch of the
Catholic Knights of America was
thriving. The C. K. of A. planned to
send Capt. Henry Blun and Dr. J. B.
Read and alternates Father Father
McNally and William Cantwell as
representatives to the forthcoming
State Council of Knights in Augusta.
The Augusta delegates would decide
which members of their organization
would represent them at the national
convention of the 15,000-member
order in New York later that spring.
Despite this promising beginning,
the Catholic Knights of America
have never again been as prominent
in the Savannah Diocese. Founded in
in Nashville, Tennessee, by James J.
Laughton, D. N. Burke, John
Broderick and John McDonald, the
group gathered for the first time at
Emmett Hall in Nashville on April
23, 1877. Initially dubbed the “Order
of United Catholics,” the organiza
tion later became known as the
“Catholic Knights of America” with
16 branches represented at the first
session of the Supreme Council in
Louisville. At the time of their the
second convention in 1879, the
Knights’ membership embraced 72
branches.
As a fraternal life-insurance com
pany chartered by the state of
Kentucky, the Knights soon learned
the hard way that rates they were
charging were inadequate. With a
new, more realistic rate system in
effect, the Catholic Knights of
America quickly regrouped and wel
comed some 5,000 new members
into its ranks.
The establishment of the
Saint Benedict Branch, No.
358, of the Catholic Knights
of America under the aus
pices of Henry Blun, Esq.,
President of the State Council
of Georgia, took place on June
1, 1884. Officers sworn in at
this meeting included
Spiritual Director Father H. J.
McNally; President Frank A.
Mirault; Vice President Robert H.
Bourke; Recording Secretary
Andrew E. Robinson; Financial
Secretary Amos C. Cannal; Treasurer
Thaddeus A. Moral; Trustees James
A. Middleton, Simon Mirault and
Nelson A. Cuyler. Sergeant-at-Arms
was William E. Bulloch and Sentinel
was Charles H. J. Carey. This group,
“composed exclusively of colored
men,” was both noteworthy and
atypical of the era.
The following week, an announce
ment in the Savannah Morning News
gave the time, location and date of a
meeting of Branch No.38, C. K. of
A., and also advised that Assessment
No. 116 and the per capita tax must
be paid at the meeting, Assessment
No.118 now being due. Following
this notice, references to the Catholic
Knights of America seldom appear in
Savannah papers, although the organ
ization continued to thrive elsewhere.
Now headquartered in Saint Louis,
Missouri, the C. K. of A. has been in
existence for over 121 years, provid
ing “service to Catholic families and
their Christian friends.”
With the decline of the Catholic
Knights of America in the Savannah
Diocese, another group of Knights
soon took the field. Savannah
Council No. 631 of the Knights of
Columbus was instituted in 1902 by
Supreme Director D. J. Callaghan.
Father Aloysius O. Hanlon, OSB
became its first chaplain. Among the
fledgling organization’s new officers
were: J. D. Persse, E. M. Connor, C.
A. McCarthy, E .M. O’Brien, Joseph
F. Doyle, P. J. O’Connor, John J.
Powers, and M. J. Barrett. Serving as
guards were John G. Butler (inside)
and Horace Brooks (outside). D. J.
Hogan, William J. Haylow and M. J.
O’Leary served as Trustees.
Atlanta Council No. 600 and
Rita H.
DeLorme
Jason Thomas Niederkorn and Jessica Lee Taylor, Our Divine Saviour
Church, Tifton, August 5, 2000.
Juan Chavez and Tammy Deal, Our Divine Saviour Church, Tifton, August
19, 2000.
Knights of Columbus gather in Macon.
Patrick Walsh Council No. 677 were
also instituted in 1902, followed by
Macon Council No. 925 (1904) and
Bishop Gross Council, Columbus
(1905) and, afterwards, Henry
Thomas Ross Council, Brunswick.
Members of the Savannah council
first met at the Catholic Library
Association Hall, but later held meet
ings at the Guards Hall, the Lyons
Building on Broughton Street, and
another facility at Bull and Jones
Streets before settling into the famil
iar building at 3 West Liberty Street.
Inspired by the theme of brother
hood fostered by their founder,
Father Michael J. McGivney (1852-
1890) of New Haven, Connecticut,
the Knights of Columbus became a
notable presence throughout the dio
cese. In the first quarter of the twen
tieth century, when Catholicism was
often under fire, the Knights of
Columbus took aim at bigotry and
launched an effective lecture cam
paign to spread the truth about the
Church.
The organization provided recre
ation and religious facilities for sol
diers serving during wartime and
post-war employment bureaus in
industrial centers throughout the
country for demobilized soldiers.
The February, 1930, issue of The
Bulletin of the Georgia Catholic
Laymen s Association listed
“Fourteen Good Reasons Why
Catholic Men Should Become
Knights of Columbus.” These rea-
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sons ranged from service to mem
bers, assistance to the distressed, loy
alty to country, encouragement in
matters of faith, involvement in
social and philanthropic projects, the
ongoing lecture series against big
otry, Knights of Columbus scholar
ship programs and the K. of C.’s
position as “a knightly order, exem
plifying in practice the spiritual con
cept of fraternity.”
Today, accounts of the varied
activities of the Knights of Columbus
often appear in both the secular and
religious press, detailing events such
as installations of officers, study ses
sions covering matters of doctrine,
announcements of scholarship and
civic programs as well as magazine
ads fostering understanding of the
Church.
The Knights of Columbus is now
the “largest society of Catholic men
in the world” with a membership of
1.6 million, worldwide. A guild has
been set up for canonization of
Father McGivney, the priest who
founded the Knights in 1882.
Many cities in the diocese boast
not one but several branches of the
Knights of Columbus. In Savannah,
Knights of Columbus Council 5588
at 700 Christopher Drive and
Council 631 at 3 West Liberty Street
welcome Catholic laymen of the city
to join the organization as it contin
ues the work started close to a hun
dred years ago.
Numerous K. of C. Council web
sites electronically dot the diocese,
reaffirming the fact that knighthood
is still in flower in the area.
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer
in the Diocesan Archives.
Photo courtesy of Diocesan Archives