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The Southern Cross, Page 6 Thursday, September 14, 2000 Canonization efforts continue for Georgia martyrs By Barbara D. King A s the Diocese of Savannah prepares to cele brate its 150th birthday, efforts to seek can onization of five Franciscan missionaries who were martyred on the Golden Isles of Georgia over 400 years ago continue. Father Conrad Harkins, OFM, has taken up the work of the late Father Alexander Wyse, OFM, vice postulator (or petitioner) of the cause which is asking the Vatican to add the five men to the list of saints in the Catholic Church. “There is still work to be done, but it is conceiv able that we will have among the few Americans who have been named saints, five men from south Georgia, within the next few years,” said Father Harkins. The Franciscan friar was in Savannah for a week last June to answer written questions posed by Vatican officials since they received the docu mentation that the five men died for their faith while serving on Georgia’s barrier islands. It was in 1597 that the five friars died at the hands of a rebellious group of Guale Indians, who opposed Christian teaching that there could only be one wife in a valid Christian marriage. The small band of Indians acted in support of Juanillo, a prospective chief of the tribe, who had refused Left: Father Conrad Harkins, OFM, vice postulator of the cause of the Georgia martyrs, examines a skull, possi bly of one of the martyrs, discovered during excavations at Fort King George, near Darien. Right: Father Harkins, at Eulonia, prepares for an interview for the documentary being produced for the Sesquicentennial of the Diocese of Savannah. Photos by Jonas N. Jordan to give up his second wife. The martyrs are Father Pedro de Corpa of Tolomato, near Darien; Father Bias de Rodriguez of Tupique, near Eulonia; Father Miguel de Aunon and Brother Antonio de Badajoz of Saint Catherines Island; and Father Francisco de Berascola of Saint Simons Island. They had come to the islands as missionaries from Spain to con vert the Native American population. In 1993, former Savannah Bishop Raymond Lessard celebrated Mass at Saint William Church on Saint Simons Island marking the conclusion of the diocesan process for the canonization of the five men. “Why do we pursue the cause of the Georgia Martyrs?” Bishop Lessard said at the ceremony. “To lift up in an age which has grown soft the enduring example of witness to the faith, especial ly when that witness may lead to difficulties and even death.” He continued with two other reasons for pursu ing the cause of the martyrs. “For the 100,000 migrant workers, many of them mestizos, in the Savannah diocese for whom the faith of these Spanish martyrs is an example. For the Christian people struggling to be faithful to their marriages, for which these martyrs shed their blood.” He added, “It is a cause that we pursue with great sensitivity to the Native American popula tion, from which we must ask forgiveness for so many failures, but with the firm belief that the Gospel is intended for every culture, according to the words of Jesus Christ, ‘Go, and make disciples of all nations’.” In the 1970s and 1980s, archaeologists dug up the remains of the Spanish mission on St. Catherines, and in so doing unearthed the graves of more than 400 Indians buried beneath the chapel. Bishop Lessard went to the island in the 1980s to participate in a service to reconsecrate the cemetery. Last July Bishop J. Kevin Boland traveled to St. Catherines to see the site and to participate in the making of a documentary about the origins of Catholicism in south Georgia. Craig Harney of WTOC-TV in Savannah is producing the docu mentary, which will be shown on television sta tions in south Georgia and will also be available for sale for home use. Jonas Jordan, photographer for The Southern Cross, documented the trip with photographs for use in the paper and also as part of a traveling display that Diocesan Archivist Gillian Brown is creating in connection with the Sesquicentennial of the diocese. Book, video to commemorate diocese’s 150 years T he Diocese of Savannah announces two plans to commemorate its 150th anniversary, a book and a video. The book, entitled One Faith... One Family: The Diocese of Savannah, 1850 -2000, is a 350-page compilation of historical essays on the Catholic presence in south Georgia and historical sketches of each parish and mission in the diocese. Lavishly illustrated with black-and-white photographs from the diocesan archives, the “coffee-table” style book also contains a 16-page section of color photographs illustrating the variety among the Catholic peo ple and the many activities undertaken by the Church in the 90 counties that make up the far-flung Diocese of Savannah. Every registered family in the Diocese will soon receive a brochure from Signature Publications in Syracuse, New York, offering them the book for $30. The brochure contains an order form, enabling the buyer to have the book delivered through his or her parish at no extra charge, or to have it sent directly to a home address, for an additional $8.00. Those ordering by mail will also have the option of charging the order to a major credit card. The video, produced with the help of WTOC-TV in Savannah, begins with the arrival of Spanish missionaries on the coastal islands of Georgia over 400 years ago. It includes information about the first Catholic settlement estal- bished after the Spanish left—in the Sharon/Locust Grove area near Augusta. Other anecdotes connected with the history of the diocese will make up the rest of the video. Information on pricing and how to order the video will be available soon.