Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Feature
Southern Cross, Page 3
Reverend Patrick F. Brannan (drummer boy,
mayor, priest) returns...with photos
a November 20, 2008 story about Columbus native, Father Patrick
Brannan, recently prompted an e-mail response from Sister Grace Marie
Dillard, RSM, now living in Columbus and a member of Saint Anne Parish.
Sister Grace Marie wrote that she is the granddaughter of Patrick Brannan s
brother, James Richard Brannan, and that her mother was James Richard s
daughter. This initial e-mail from Sister Grace Marie contained much infor
mation about her great-uncle Father Pat Brannan, and concluded with the
offer to send photos of the priest—an offer that was speedily accepted.
N ot long afterwards, on a rainy
Friday morning, the packet
from Sister Grace Marie was
retrieved from a local post office.
Opening this packet lit up the
dreary day; for there, gazing
steadily from a picture over a
hundred years old, was the pre
priesthood Pat Brannan. There,
too, was a photo of an older
Brannan, by then a priest. A sur
prising addition was the picture of
a serious-looking young man,
Father Pat Brannan’s son, James
Ambrose. Stashed inside the large
postal envelope that Sister Grace
Marie wisely sent requiring a sig
nature were the results of her
genealogical quest.
From drummer boy to lawyer
To review: Patrick F. Brannan
was bom in Columbus, Georgia,
in 1847 to Ambrose and Jane
Murray Brannan. At 14, Patrick
enlisted in the Confederate States
Army as a drummer boy. A daring
boy who challenged Union rifle
men by waving his hat on a stick
for them to fire at, Brannan stud
ied law in Kentucky when the war
ended, passed the bar, and opened
a practice in Louisville. He later
moved to Cleburne, Texas where
he married Mary Powers. The
couple afterwards moved to
Year of Saint
Paul
To celebrate the Year of Saint Paul,
Monsignor Christopher J. Schreck,
a professor of Sacred Scripture at
the Pontifical College Josephinum
in Columbus, Ohio, will conduct a
Scripture Seminar, “Reading,
Praying and Preaching the Letters
of Saint Paul: Understanding the
Character, Personality and Mission
of the Apostle to the Nations.” on
January 9-10. There is no charge
for the seminar, which will take
place in the Saint Anne Pacelli High
School auditorium, Columbus, on
Friday on 7:00-9:00 p.m. and
Saturday, from 9:00 a.m.-noon.
Weatherford, Texas. In Weather
ford, their family soon began to
increase, as did Pat Brannan’s law
practice and his ambitions. He
became mayor of Weatherford in
1882.
Here, Sister Grace Marie’s con
siderable research comes into
play. “I found,” she writes, “that
there were four children bom to
Patrick Francis Brannan: James
Ambrose, bom in Weatherford,
Texas, on August 31, 1873; Pa
trick Francis Brannan, Jr., bom on
Patrick’s son, James Ambrose
(“Jimmy”) Brannan.
December 31, 1874 (Patrick died
in Weatherford in 1879 at four
years of age.); Mary Ellen Bran
nan, bom in Weatherford ini876;
and James Richard Brannan, born
in Weatherford in 1882. (James
died March 29, 1954, in Weather
ford at age 71; he is buried in
Greenwood Cemetery in Weather
ford).
From lawyer to priest
Following the death of his wife
in the 1880s, Pat Brannan entered
Saint Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore.
One source found by Sister Grace
Marie suggests that he placed his
surviving children, James and
Mary Ellen, in a Baltimore con
vent school while he was studying
for the priesthood. Ordained on
December 8, 1888, by Bishop
Nicolas H. Gallagher at Galves
ton’s Cathedral, Father Patrick F.
Brannan became pastor of Saint
Patrick Brannan is shown before (above left) and after (above right) his
ordination to the priesthood.
Stephen’s Church in Weatherford.
A notable speaker, he later trav
eled throughout the country hold
ing missions.
Sister Grace Marie’s research
packet included a description of
the former Confederate drummer
boy, Pat Brannan, that appeared
in the memoirs of his com
mander, Colonel William
C. Oates. Oates’ book,
The War between the
Union and the
Confederacy and its lost
Opportunities, has a biog
raphy of the priest and a
full copy of a poem
recited by Father
Brannan at the 1902 reunion of
the 15th Alabama Regiment at
Montgomery, Alabama. A photo
of the reunion found in the book
shows a man with a Roman collar,
in the midst of the assembled
Confederate vets, who may be
Father Patrick Brannan. Further
data in Colonel Oates’ book
regarding Father Brannan indi
cates that he was a friend of
Father Abram J. Ryan, “poet of
the Confederacy.”
Copies of Brannan’s letters are
revealing. In 1894, while pastor at
Saint Stephen’s, he wrote his bish
op seeking permission to go to
California “to see if the California
climate would be congenial to my
physical condition.” This plan was
not realized and the condition he
suffered from was not explained.
Years later, in 1915, Father Bran
nan wrote his nephew, Dick,
offering to buy him a home if he
could find one “that does not cost
too much.” Written on stationery
bearing the letterhead of the
University of Dallas, this letter
hints at Father Brannan’s possible
teaching connection with this
(then) Vincentian school.
Sister Marie Grace Dillard’s
generosity in sharing information
about Father Patrick F. Brannan
(1847-1916) with the Archives
of the Catholic Diocese of
Savannah offers real insight
into the character of her
great-uncle and his family.
Sister observed in one e-
mail: “My mother (who
came to believe in her later
years that the Christmas
song about the little
Drummer Boy was actually about
Father Patrick Brannan) “would
be so happy to know that her dear
Uncle Pat was remembered with
affection.”
Columnist Rita H. DeLorme
is a volunteer in the Diocesan
Archives. She can be reached
at rhdelorme@diosav.org.
TV Mass Schedule
Augusta
Sunday, 10:00 a.m. WAGT-TV
Savannah
Saturday, 6:00 p.m. Cable 7
Sunday, 5:30 a.m. WTOC-TV
Rita H. DeLorme