Atlanta Catholic Centennial

The progressive stages by which the Savannah-Atlanta Diocese gradually acquired its present status from its former existence as part of the American Missions in the vicariate of the London District is probably not known by all of our readers.

The history of Catholicity in the Thirteen Colonies is most interesting. During Colonial days the Vicar Apostolic of the London District held jurisdiction over the American colonies. About thirty priests attended the faithful who were found chiefly in Maryland and Pennsylvania, hence we find the beginnings of ecclesiastical organization in Catholic Maryland.

The last Vicar-Apostolic of the London District before the American Revolution was Dr. Richard Challoner, Bishop of Debra who was consecrated January 29, 1741. He died in January, 1781. His coadjutor, Right Rev. James Talbot, consecrated Bishop of Birtha, August 24, 1759, was actively in charge of the spiritual welfare of the Catholics in the Colonies at the time of the Revolution. When the Colonies declared their independence of England the intercourse between the London Vicariate and the Catholic priests and people of the thirteen colonies ceased.

At the solicitation of the American clergy, after peace had succeeded war, Pope Pius VI appointed Father John Carroll, a missionary priest and a native of Maryland, Prefect-Apostolic on July 23, 1785. His jurisdiction as a Prefect-Apostolic did not include the whole of the United States. Indian Missions in Maine, New York and the present state of Ohio, and settlements in the present states of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois were under the charge of the Bishop of Quebec. Florida, a part of which state was in later years included in the Diocese of Savannah was not at that time a part of the United States. It was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Santiago de Cuba.

The clergy of the new Republic, about thirty in number, assembled at White Marsh under date of March 12, 1788, to send a petition to the Holy Father asking for the appointment of a Bishop for the new republic and suggesting Baltimore as the See. The Holy Father received the petition and granted that the clergy propose the priest for this exalted dignity, the first bishop for the new republics. Father John Carroll received 24 of the 26 votes. Pope Pius VI, on November 6, 1789, erected the See of Baltimore and appointed Father John Carroll the first Bishop. He was consecrated bishop in the chapel of Lulworth Castle, England, on August 15, 1790.

The See of Baltimore embraced the territory of the new republic, the church grew rapidly, new Sees were erected. The Catholics in the Southern states solicited the appointment of a bishop. The Diocese of Charleston, embracing North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, was erected June 12, 1820. The first Bishop of Charleston was the Right Rev. John England. He was consecrated September 21, 1820, in the church of St. Finbar, in the City of Cork, Ireland. The See of Charleston was erected by Pope Pius VII.

The Seventh Provincial Council of Baltimore, during the second private session of the Council on May 8, 1849, at the request of Bishop Reynolds, second Bishop of Charleston, petitioned the Holy See to erect the See of Savannah. Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Savannah. The papal document, Exigit Pastorale Munus, erecting the See of Savannah, is dated July 19, 1850. Right Rev. Francis Xavier Gartland, the first Bishop of Savannah, was consecrated on September 10, 1850, in Philadelphia. The Diocese of Savannah then comprised the State of Georgia and Florida east of the Apalachicola River. It covered an area of about 90,000 square miles. In 1857 the Holy See severed Florida from the Savannah jurisdiction. The See of Savannah embracing the State of Georgia.

Under date of January 5, 1937, the Holy See changed the name of the title of the See to the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. This decree was solemnly promulgated by Most Rev. Michael J. Curley, Archbishop of Baltimore, on the night of April 15, 1937, in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, Georgia. Most Rev. Gerald Patrick O'Hara, D. D., J., U. D., our present bishop, is the first bishop of the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. Before his appointment as Bishop of Savannah, His Excellency was auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia. He was consecrated Titular Bishop of Heliopolis on May 20, 1929, and was installed as Bishop of Savannah on January 15, 1936. The Savannah-Atlanta Diocese comprises the same territory as the recent Savannah Diocese, the State of Georgia.

Part of the first construction work done in the city of Atlanta, the building of railroads, was done by Catholics. From its earliest days, Catholics have contributed their share toward the building of the city. In material structures, in education, in spiritual advancement, in the making of the highest type of citizenship they have helped make Atlanta a metropolis. They are justly proud that Atlanta on her centennial becomes a Cathedral City.