Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, January 18, 2001
News
The Southern Cross, Page 3
“A beautiful church”
The Thomas C. Madison family arrives early for Mass at
Saint Joseph’s in the 1960s.
Photos courtesy of Diocesan Archives.
S everal years ago, a couple of
young Savannahians
stopped by Saint Joseph’s
Church, Macon, to visit a
former associate pastor of
their church and to attend
Mass. Later they would
relate to friends: “They’ve got
a really beautiful church there.
You ought to see it!” The
church the visitors were so
enthusiastic about was a
Romanesque-Neo-Gothic building,
an architectural jewel displayed
prominently in downtown Macon.
Catholic activity in the area had
begun much earlier than the conse
cration of the present Saint Joseph’s
Church in 1903. In 1540, Franciscan
friars traveling in the party of the
Spanish explorer, Hernando DeSoto,
baptized two Native American boys
near Macon. Theirs would be the
first recorded Christian baptisms east
of the Mississippi. In 1841, when a
former Presbyterian Church on
Fourth Street was purchased, a group
of 50 Macon Catholics formed the
first Catholic parish in the city.
Pastor of the new church was Father
James Graham. Father Graham’s
considerable parish “embraced with
in its limits territory as far away as
Atlanta and ‘up the state road to
Tennessee’.” The young priest did
not live long enough to see his new
parish flourish, dying just a year
after its founding. Among pastors
who immediately followed Father
Graham in service at what would
later be called Saint Joseph’s parish
were Fathers Thomas Murphy, Pat
rick Joseph Coffey, James O’Con
nell, John P. Kirby, C. J. Crogan, and
Thomas F. Shannahan. Further along
in the church’s history, Father James
F. O’Neill became pastor and soon
saw the need for a larger building
for his growing congregation.
Again, a Presbyterian church
building was the answer to
the problem and a property
on Fourth Street between
Walnut and Ocmulgee was
purchased in 1867 for $6,000,
with $ 10,000 being additional
ly allotted for repair of the
building. The vicar general,
Father Father P. DuFau,
became pastor of this second church.
Originally, the Macon church was
called the Church of the Assumption;
however, Butler’s History of Macon
and Central Georgia (1879) refers to
it as “Saint Joseph’s Church”—evi
dence that the name change took
place sometime before the 1879
printing date of the history.
In 1872, an enlightened agreement
between Macon’s public Board of
Education and Saint Joseph’s Church
brought about the establishment of
the First Ward School in the church’s
basement. Under the direction of J.
H. Roberts, along with several assis
tants, two of them Sisters of Mercy,
Catholic education was soon on its
way in Macon. The 1870s proved to
be particularly productive for the
Church in the Macon area, witness
ing in addition to the founding of the
church school, the establishment of
both Pio Nono College and Mount de
Sales Academy.
The second church was used until
1892. Earlier, on May 1, 1887, Fa
ther Theobold Butler, SJ, had taken
charge of Saint Joseph’s, becoming
the first of many Jesuit pastors, ful
filling an agreement between the
Jesuits and Bishop Thomas A. Be
cker. With further expansion again a
priority, a site for the erection of a
larger church was selected by Father
Rita H.
DeLorme
Saint Joseph’s, Macon
Butler and purchased by Peter Cline
of Milledgeville. During the pas
torate of Father Joseph Winklereid,
S.J., construction of the new church
moved forward. Services took place
in the newly-built and blessed base
ment of Saint Joseph’s from 1892-
1903. On November 11, 1903, the
long-awaited church, dedicated by
Bishop Benjamin J. Keiley, emerged
as “one of the finest in the South.”
Snugly situated on the crest of a hill,
Saint Joseph’s immediately became a
focal point of the Macon cityscape,
its 200-foot spires supporting crosses
visible for miles. Concerning the
completed building, a contemporary
publication reported: “The structure
is of brick and iron, not a piece of
wood being used in it apart from the
pews. Georgia-made brick, Georgia
granite and Georgia marble make up
the structure.” Saint Joseph’s stellar
set of chimes, termed “the finest the
South had ever known at the time,”
resonated throughout the city.
Capping the structure, a great
dome was centered almost immedi
ately above the altar, its apex 125
feet above the floor. The church’s
columns rose 80 feet to the roof.
Other features of note were 60
stained glass windows, mostly from
the Mayer workshop of Munich,
Bavaria, and white marble carvings,
statues and altars from Italy.
In 1931, Father F. J. Clarkson, SJ,
then pastor of Saint Joseph’s, saw to
the completion of a new parish
house. During the 1943-44 period,
the interior of Saint Joseph’s was
freshly decorated. Seven years later,
Saint Joseph’s Church was damaged
by a fire that broke out during Len
ten services in February 1951. The
church was subsequently restored to
its former beauty and today shines
like a jewel in its downtown Macon
setting, admired by parishioners and
visitors alike. With Father John
Cuddy and Father Timothy
McKeown serving as pastor and
parochial vicar, Saint Joseph’s
Church continues to play an impor
tant role in the Diocese of Savannah.
•
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer
in the Diocesan Archives.
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The spires of Saint Joseph’s.