JACKSON – I had a dear friend who moved to a retirement compound (as he called it) when he was in his late 80s. When I would ask him how things were going at the “compound,” he would say: “you mean life among the relics?”
Most people when they hear the term archive think of old stuff, and indeed there is a lot of old stuff in the historical archive vault at the chancery in Jackson. Our diocesan historical archive holds records and documents dating back to the early 1700s.
The above relic of St. Peter the Apostle was found in the diocesan archive relic collection and placed in the new main altar of the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson in 2012.
Let me add a disclaimer here: The diocesan archive is not open to the public. It is a small room holding official records of the diocese. It is not a library or museum that can be toured. The archive does not exist to provide genealogical research or assist in getting dual Italian citizenship. We will help with that for a fee when we have time. The records in the archive are not “secret;” it just is not public in the way you would check out a book in a library. The archive collection is open to qualified researchers doing professional research on church history for dissertations and publications.
Last week, I received a familiar email from a parishioner on the Gulf Coast wanting to know the saint’s relic in the altar of his church. The church was dedicated in 1951, so it was before the date we were split into two dioceses.
This is a common request, and we often are able to provide an answer, because of the Official Acts books we have dating back to 1924 and the diaries of Bishops.
In this case, although I was able to tell him that Bishop Gerow dedicated the church on Palm Sunday, and it rained buckets all day; I could only give possibilities of who the relic might be since this fact was not mentioned in the official acts book’s recording of the church and altar being dedicated.
I was able to tell him the relic would most likely be from either Sts. Victor, Modesta, Maximus, Maxima or Sergius – all martyrs. The reason this information was available was because a few pages before the church’s dedication listing in the acts book, there is an entry stating the bishop consecrated a myriad of altar stones containing those relics.
These marble stones measure 13 inches squares and would have been used in mission churches established throughout the diocese to be placed in wooden altars that would have a square cut out of the top in which the stone would be placed. I don’t know why 13 inches, but maybe it is because the stones would have come from Italy and 17 is the unlucky number there, not 13.
In each stone there is a small cut out circle in which a relic or several relics would be sealed along with three grains of incense. As mentioned in the acts book, several stones could be consecrated at a time and stored until needed.
A unique altar stone and the linen cloth that encases it are displayed in Chancellor Mary Woodward’s office. The stone was issued to Father Peter Quinn in 1943 for use on the battlefields in Europe during World War II. (Photos by Mary Woodward)
Another reason for this hypothesis of who the saint might be is there is a relics drawer in the archive with an old container marked “relics for altars” and the names of the saints are listed on a piece of paper with the container. Therefore, whether the church had a full marble mensa or just a stone, these relics were set aside for that purpose. This container and its contents are very fragile, so we do not handle it anymore.
We do have a unique altar stone in our collection. It is small – five inches x seven inches – and encased in a linen cloth. This stone was issued to Rev. Peter Quinn in 1943 for use on the battlefields in Europe during World War II. Father Quinn was a chaplain in the army and served on the front lines in one of General George Patton’s divisions making its way to Germany. The stone came with a Greek corporal, which has a relic sewn into it. On a similar note, Bishop William Houck used a Greek corporal as part of his travelling Mass kit and on the small altar he had in a chapel in his home. We have that in the vault as well.
As you can see, we do have some interesting artifacts in our archive collection at the diocese. Perhaps one day we can develop an exhibition for people to see, but for now I’ll keep sharing some interesting snippets of life among the relics highlighting various discoveries in the drawers and cabinets in the vault.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
Pictured is St. Michael Church Biloxi in December of 1963. The church features a distincitive shell roof and round shape.
From the Archives By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – This past week several chancery staffers, including myself, attended a regional conference in Biloxi for the Diocesan Fiscal Managers of several dioceses and archdioceses in the southeast. The opening Mass on Sunday evening was celebrated in St. Michael Church by the two host bishops, Bishop Louis Kihneman of Biloxi and our own Bishop Joseph Kopacz.
Established by Bishop John Gunn and known as the “church of the fishermen,” St. Michael dates back to 1917. Being just a stone’s throw from the Gulf of Mexico, it has been buffeted by several hurricanes. As our group approached the church with its distinctive shell roof and round shape, images of that roof from the helicopter flyover on the news the morning of Aug. 30, 2005, filled my mind.
Religious statues lie on the floor of St. Michael Church in Biloxi, Miss., March 1, 2006. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)
From the air the church looked intact, as if it had miraculously survived unscathed from the 28-foot storm surge of Hurricane Katrina the day before. But as the days went by and reports came into the chancery in Jackson from Biloxi, we learned the church interior was decimated. That distinctive roof seen from above was hiding the massive power of Mother Nature gone wild.
The five-ton marble altar was cast to the side off its platform and much of the interior appointments had been swept away by the surge leaving an almost empty shell behind. The waterline was well up the interior walls of the church.
Now more than 18 years later, St. Michael stands as a testament to the resilience of the people of the Gulf Coast, who have survived more than one catastrophic storm over the past 100 years. Memories of Aug. 29, 2005, still linger in the physical landscape of the Gulf Coast, which took the direct hit of Katrina. These memories also are carried in the collective psyche of those who endured the wrath and persevered in rebuilding a vibrant community.
Moving forward in faith as intentional disciples while always keeping an eye on the Gulf.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.
JACKSON – Managing the Diocese of Jackson’s historical archive is always an adventure and takes me down many paths to a plethora of requests for great grandparent’s marriage records, decrees of establishing long lost churches, name of saint whose relic is in an altar, and so on. Unfortunately, I cannot always fulfill these requests because the information might not have been recorded or it might not be in the place it is supposed to be according to the index.
I always tell people our diocesan archives do not exist for genealogical purposes or answering various questions from the street; and that as a “lone arranger” it will take a long time before I can even get to their request. Most people are fine with that.
Bishop Joseph Brunini is pictured in the 1930 “Ye Domesday Booke,” the yearbook for Georgetown University. (Photos courtesy of archives)
With that being said, working with history and the documentation of it is quite a rewarding adventure. Right now, I am working on developing a project that will look at some pivotal moments in recent history that affected our state, country and church. Recent for people in archives is 75 years or less. I always laugh and cry a little to myself when someone asks for an old baptismal record from 1970.
As part of this still evolving venture, I ran into another research mission that had been initiated more than 10 years ago and had fallen by the wayside as can happen when you get distracted by more pressing matters in church life.
In 2012, as part of exploring possible events to highlight our diocese’s 175th anniversary, I came across a thread that led me to the location of the original handwritten copy of Bishop William Henry Elder’s diary he kept during the Civil War.
Bishop William Henry Elder, a native of Baltimore, studied at Mount St. Mary College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He graduated in 1837 and entered Mount St. Mary Seminary. Following completion of seminary studies, he was sent to Rome for graduate studies at the Pontifical Urban University where he earned a Doctor of Divinity in 1846.
After his ordination there on March 29, 1846, he returned to Maryland and Mount St. Mary where he served as a professor at the seminary. Eleven years later in 1857, he was named the third Bishop of Natchez by Pope Pius IX. In 1880, he was named co-adjutor Archbishop of Cincinnati.
Upon departing the then Diocese of Natchez in 1880, Bishop Elder took many of his personal papers with him to Cincinnati. His Civil War diary was one of these items. The diary travelled even more making stops in the collections of Mount St. Mary Seminary, Woodstock College, and ultimately the archives of Georgetown University in Washington.
Twelve years ago, I had made contact with the Georgetown archivist, a Jesuit, and worked with him to get the diary in digital format. Bishop R.O. Gerow had created and published a typed version of the diary, but here we had the handwritten version. In the midst of the project which involved complicated file formats for our fledgling digital system, contact was lost, and the project was forgotten.
Recently, while researching the current project mentioned above, I did a side search for the diary in the Georgetown archives special collections. There it was the original handwritten diary available for viewing in PDF format. Soon I’ll have a link to it on our website.
Bishop Joseph Brunini, our eighth bishop and only native son from Vicksburg, went to Georgetown in the late 1920s and graduated in 1930. He was editor of the campus newspaper The Hoya. His brother Ed was The Hoya’s sports editor.
According to the description next to his senior photo in the 1930 Ye Domesday Booke, Georgetown’s yearbook, Joseph B. Brunini was: “The Hoya’s high priest. Joe lives a hectic life dashing around from printer to printer…all the while pulling copy from the humble newswriters by means of his persuasive Southern ‘oil.’”
Pictured is a digital copy of the handwritten Civil War diary of Bishop Elder, which over the years was found in the archives of Mount St .Mary Seminary, then Woodstock College and ultimately at Georgetown University in Washington.
In his senior year, Bishop Brunini was also vice president of the Philodemic Society, one of the country’s oldest debating societies in the United States and the oldest secular student organization at Georgetown. In fact, Philodemic was marking its centennial in 1930. That’s kind of a big deal. Like Bishop Elder, upon completion of his collegiate studies at Georgetown, Bishop Brunini was sent to Rome where he finished his seminary studies at the North American College, which at that time was in downtown Rome. He was ordained there on Dec. 5, 1933.
As you can see, exploring archives creates a web of interconnectedness among collections scattered across not only the country but also across epochs of time. It is easy to end up down a different rabbit hole from the original one intended.
The phrase “hunh, what a small world” is heard and uttered infinitely. Until next time…
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
By Paulina Guzik WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) – When the creators of “The Chosen” started with a crowdfunding project in 2017, they would not have thought in their wildest dreams they would be walking the red carpets from Los Angeles to New York and from London to Warsaw, with screaming fans begging for selfies.
Five years since the premiere of the first season, the series about the life of Jesus of Nazareth is now garnering over 770 million views of its episodes and has more than 12 million social media followers. Season four will debut in theaters across the U.S. and Canada Feb. 1, followed shortly by debuts in several other locations worldwide.
“I wasn’t expecting any of this. I think it was one of the most enthusiastic receptions we’ve had for our premieres,” Elizabeth Tabish, who portrays Mary Magdalene in the series, told OSV News in Warsaw Jan. 27, the day after two episodes from season four were shown on big screen in the Polish capital, with 1,600 fans filling four rooms of one of the city’s biggest theaters.
“It was very exciting, you could just sense the warmth and love from the Polish people, and it just was very encouraging,” Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus, told OSV News, days after the crew got a spectacular reception at the London premiere Jan. 22.
“The Chosen” is a groundbreaking historical drama based on the life of Jesus Christ, seen through the eyes of those who knew him. Set against the backdrop of Roman oppression in first-century Israel, the show shares an authentic and intimate look at Jesus’ extraordinary life and teachings. It is set to run seven seasons.
Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen” series, poses for a selfie during a Warsaw, Poland, premiere of season four Jan. 26, 2024. The event attracted 1,600 fans of the show, which has been seen by 200 million viewers worldwide. “The Chosen” launched in 2017 as crowdfunding project and is the first multiseason series about Jesus’ life and ministry. (OSV News photo/Chosen Poland)
“The Chosen” is now one of the most-watched shows in the world, consistently a top performer across streaming platforms Prime Video, Peacock and Netflix.
Tabish said the series “changed every aspect” of her life, but she did not see that coming. She almost didn’t make it to the audition for the role.
“Before I booked it, I was trying to quit acting. I wasn’t getting the sort of roles that I really wanted to be doing, and I told my agent to just stop submitting me. I need to switch gears, do something more practical,” she said of a time of her life where she was struggling to even pay rent.
But the agent insisted she audition for the series, “and I read the script for the first episode, and I was so connected to her character, it was so beautifully written – just so much backstory and emotional depth and complexities. And I thought, this is what I would love to be doing,” she said.
Now, she told OSV News, “we get to make something that is affecting people in wonderful ways, bringing hope to viewers and creating something that has purpose.”
Tabish now feels deeply connected to St. Mary Magdalene, one of the best-known personalities surrounding Jesus but also the most mysterious.
“The fact that she was there, the first to see him resurrected, was like, this woman is so special to this story – and of course, she’s sort of captured the imagination of people for thousands of years,” Tabish told OSV News.
For Roumie, a practicing Catholic, the role of Jesus also came as a surprise. Years before “The Chosen” project started, he was supposed to play a good thief in a production filmed for a Good Friday church service. But at the last minute the director changed his role to Jesus.
“And I said, oh, man, Jesus has like five lines in this film. But, you know, I love Jesus. I’m a huge fan of Jesus. And I thought, well, look, this is an opportunity to play Jesus,” he recalled.
When the same director, Dallas Jenkins, invited Roumie to play Jesus in “The Chosen” series, he wanted to take the role, even though Jenkins told him the series “probably won’t go anywhere, but at least it’ll be a little bit of work.”
Roumie, like Tabish, had his own struggles before he started filming.
“I struggled in Los Angeles for eight years before ‘The Chosen’ came along, and three months before ‘The Chosen,’ I committed to to giving everything over to God, to letting go of the reins of control over my career, over my concept of how I thought my life should go, how I thought my career should go,” he said.
“And when I did that, everything changed in the span of 24 hours,” he continued. “And then three months after that one specific day where I let it all go, Dallas (Jenkins, the director) called me up and said, ‘We’re going to do this show.’ And since then, it’s just been a journey towards growing deeper and deeper into my faith.”
From the beginning, the challenge of playing Jesus was not easy for him. When a scene in the first season required Roumie to preach directly from Scripture, he felt it was a heavy burden to carry, he recalled.
“At that moment, I started to become overwhelmed, like, ‘What am I even doing here? How am I even saying these words? I’m not worthy to be preaching these words that Jesus preached and now to be portraying him for the entire world that’s going to see this.’ It was completely overwhelming,” he told OSV News.
“I had a conversation with our director, and he just reminded me that we’re meant to be here, we’re here to do this story for a reason. And that kind of gave me a lot of comfort,” Roumie continued. “And I’ve continued to just pray and discern and really stay rooted in the fact that God has me on this path for a specific reason.”
During Roumie’s stay in Poland he visited and prayed in the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy and the neighboring Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Kraków. “It was really beautiful,” he said.
Asked about the recipe for the series’ success, Tabish said that “it starts with the writers and it starts with the script – our writers know the Bible so well.”
Writing the scriptural characters as personable, funny and smart, she added, “infuse this sort of modern sensibility into the whole thing, where modern audiences can relate to these characters. Because if you take it off the page and into real life, they are relatable. They are actually going through the same sort of struggles that we go through.”
Oftentimes biblical characters have been treated as people “floating above the ground everywhere you go,” and “people can’t relate to that,” Roumie added.
In the series, however, they see Jesus who “suffered, he had troubles the way I have troubles and struggles and trials,” Roumie said. “And so I think because of that, people see themselves in each one of the characters and then it draws them closer to their faith, knowing that all of these people, even Jesus, experienced the fullness of humanity. Jesus (was) obviously without sin, but still he experienced the entire spectrum of emotions.”
For Tabish, “Mary (Magdalene) is such a representation of all of us – flawed people who need help, who need Jesus, who need to be rescued.”
“Rescue” is not an exaggeration for people affected in real time by “The Chosen” series. He gets hundreds of testimonies of people changed by the series, including coming back to the church. He knows of people who “were going to take their own life and decided not to because there was a moment where a friend interceded and showed them this show. And after watching the first episode of the show, they were overcome with this sense that, you know, God has a purpose for them. So they decided not to go ahead and take their own life.”
Roumie met a couple who told him the show helped them restore their marriage and begin going to Bible studies. Another fan of the show is discerning priesthood, “and he said this (show) has had a direct impact. So glory to God! It’s just that. It’s incredible how much of an impact a television show can have on a person. So you, you really begin to realize that there is a sort of a hidden responsibility that we have as actors on this particular show,” he said.
Jonathan Roumie and Elizabeth Tabish, who play Jesus and Mary Magdalene in “The Chosen” series, are seen during its season four premiere in Warsaw, Poland, Jan. 26, 2024. The event attracted 1,600 fans of the show, which has been seen by 200 million viewers worldwide. “The Chosen” launched in 2017 as crowdfunding project and is the first multiseason series about Jesus’ life and ministry. (OSV News photo/Chosen Poland)
Asked whether it’s challenging to be an actor whose face millions of people associate with the face of their Savior, Roumie said he tries to take it with humility.
“I’ve come to accept the fact that this is where God has put me. And I’m just trying to be a good steward of the gifts and the responsibility of playing this role and ultimately, surreally becoming what people kind of imagine as the face of Jesus for their modern era. So I try not to think about that too much. … It’s humbling and it’s an honor,” he said, adding he’s just “a flawed human being.”
“I’m just a person that, you know, has a really, really interesting job and playing this character. So I’m grateful for that,” he said.
The financial commitment of people in the first stages of “The Chosen” production indicates the series’ great meaning for the audience, the actors told OSV News.
“We’ve been provided for because, I think, the people who want to see it are desperately wanting to see it,” Tabish said.
People wanted to crowdfund the show because it has “this ring of authenticity to it and this honesty and this desire to bring something that we know to be true to the world,” Roumie added.
When the producers decided to unlock the series and stream it for free, “it exploded the minute they did that,” Roumie said. “We got like four times as many people contributing to help us fund the next phase, the next season, after we made it free.”
In season four, with stirring scenes including ones featuring John the Baptist and Lazarus, Tabish said, “We kind of come to this point of no return. Everything is a little bit more dangerous, the stakes are all higher. … There’s no turning back. It’s a painful season in a lot of ways.”
Asked whether he feels the anxiety of knowing of Jesus’ coming crucifixion as an actor portraying him, Roumie said, “I am looking forward to telling the story, but performing that is – I know – it’s going to be challenging for me personally as an actor and as a Christian. It’s a painful part of this story, but it’s not the end of the story. The end of the story ends in life and light and truth and salvation and eternity. That’s the end of the story.”
For Roumie, season four was “for a while, completely challenging to film on a technical level, and on a narrative level was painful and sorrowful and difficult at times,” but “what ultimately comes out of it and the message behind season four – and the faith and the encouragement and the hope and the message to trust and put faith in God and that he has your back – ultimately is the beauty that I think people will walk away with when they leave the theaters.”
(Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @Guzik_Paulina.)
JACKSON – A few weeks ago on Dec. 30, we marked what would have been Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA’s 86th birthday. One of the towering figures in modern Catholicism in America, Sister Thea, the granddaughter of slaves, was born in Yazoo City in 1937.
Her parents enrolled her in Catholic school at Holy Child Jesus in Canton, which was staffed by Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. She decided at age nine to become Catholic and then entered the convent at the age of 15.
Sister Thea faced many trials and challenges as the only African American in the novitiate, but she persevered and later after a few years of teaching earned a doctorate in literature from the Catholic University of America.
Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA pictured at her 25th anniversary celebration at Holy Child Jesus parish in Canton. (Photo from diocese archives)
Gifted with a brilliant mind, beautiful voice and a dynamic personality, Sister Thea shared the message of African American spirituality and intercultural dynamics throughout the country. “The common denominator in all my presentations was cross-cultural communications,” she once remarked. “We have different ways of thinking and praying and singing and dancing and relating and living. Our diversity is our greatest gift. Our diversity is a source of enrichment for our world, our church, our society and our country.”
In 1979, she returned to the Diocese of Jackson to be closer to her aging parents and to become consultant for intercultural awareness in the diocese. She continued to be a highly sought after speaker and often scheduled 100 or more presentations a year on spirituality, worship and prayer.
Her presentations were lively gatherings that combined singing, gospel preaching, prayer and storytelling. Her programs were directed to break down racial and cultural barriers.
Sister Thea was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984. She continued to travel and speak though her schedule was greatly cutback.
In 1989, Sister Thea, in one of her last major appearances, addressed the U.S. bishops gathered for their spring meeting. At the meeting she spoke of what it was like to be Black and Catholic in America at that time. In the midst of her talk, she broke forth in song as she was known to do, this time capturing the tone of her talk in an old, familiar spiritual: “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child … sometimes I feel like an eagle in the air….” By the end of the session, she had the bishops joined hand in hand, swaying in a rousing version of “We Shall Overcome.”
Sister Thea died at her home in Canton on March 30, 1990. Her funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Mary Church in Jackson before a standing room only congregation of friends and admirers from around the world.
For those who knew her or worked with her or were around her for even a short time, she was a great inspiration. She will always be remembered for her great commitment to justice, hope and peace and for her work within the church to open it up to the gifts of African American spirituality and diversity for all. Sister Thea was a tireless child of God who loved the Lord Jesus, his people and his church.
On Nov. 18, 2018, Bishop Joseph Kopacz officially opened the cause for the beatification and canonization of Sister Thea Bishop’s edict was read to the faithful in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle during the Sunday liturgy.
A young “Bertha” Bowman feeding chickens. (Photo courtesy of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration)
Having received the nihil obstat from the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and gotten approval from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the November 2018 plenary meeting in Baltimore, the cause opened the diocesan phase of the intricate canonical process leading to possible beatification.
During this phase, the Servant of God’s (this is the title she now carries) writings, theology, biography is studied and documented by appointed experts. Many witnesses who knew her have been interviewed, but there are several more to complete. When the pandemic hit, travel and interviews stopped.
This year we are focused on tying up several loose ends and printing everything in triplicate so that it may be sent to Rome. We have enlisted the help of Msgr. Robert Sarno, a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, who served in the Dicastery at the Vatican. Msgr. Sarno connected us with a new Roman postulator, Dr. Emanuele Spedicato, who is now guiding our team and getting these details into a manageable process for us. When all is ready, Bishop Kopacz will lead a special liturgy in which the documents will be sealed and presented to the postulator to deliver to the dicastery. Once that is completed, the postulator will work with the dicastery to move the cause forward. At a certain point, once the cause is in Rome, the Holy Father may declare the Servant of God as Venerable – showing heroic virtue.
After Venerable, the next step is beatification, which requires a miracle. Examination of the miracle goes through a similar canonical process as the diocesan phase. If a miracle is proven and accepted, the Servant of God is put on the schedule for an official liturgy of beatification.
Please continue to pray for the cause and if you are so moved go to our diocesan website – www.jacksondiocese.org – and make a donation.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
From the Archives By Mary Woodward JACKSON – This article is a follow up to last issues focus on the Pearl Harbor anniversary and Bishop Gerow’s diary accounts of the POW camp in Panola County near Como. The subject of prisoner of war camps at Christmas is a little bizarre, but perhaps it is fitting to show how kindness and compassion can be central in the midst of a terrible time.
Throughout the history of our diocese, our clergy and religious have served as chaplains and angels of mercy to those on battlefields at home and abroad. Women Religious nursed Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Father Ghislain Boheme, founding pastor of St. Michael in Paulding, accompanied a group of men from the little town as they marched with Stonewall Jackson. Boheme succumbed to the harsh conditions and died on the side of the path in Virginia.
Gen. Emil Reinhardt presents Father Peter Quinn with the Bronze Star for service and bravery on the front lines in Germany. Father Quinn was Division Chaplain of the 69th. The 69th was the first division to make contact with Soviet troops in Germany. (Photos from archives)
Father Hubert Spengler signed up for service in World War I, but fortunately he spent minimal time in the war to end all wars. Father Peter Quinn served as a chaplain in the European Theater in WWII. He received several battlefield citations for his pastoral heroism on and near the front lines in Germany.
Back home, the State of Mississippi became a housing site for Italian and German prisoners. The first of these came from the campaign in North Africa. Initially there were four main camps that housed several thousand POWs – Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Camp Clinton, Camp McCain near Grenada, and Camp Como mentioned above. Several smaller satellite camps and work details spawned from these. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has loads of information on these camps.
From his 2001 article in Mississippi History Now entitled “German Prisoners of War in Mississippi, 1943-1946,” John Ray Skates describes the four camps in this way:
“Other major POW camps in Mississippi were established at Camp McCain near Grenada, Camp Como in the northern Delta, and Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg. The four base camps were large compounds designed to house large numbers of POWs. Camp McCain housed 7,700; Camp Clinton 3,400; and Camp Shelby housed 5,300. Camp Como originally held 3,800 Italian soldiers, but the Italians were soon moved out of Mississippi and replaced by a smaller number of Germans.”
In the previous column, the quotes from Bishop Gerow’s diary detailed his visit to Camp Como in 1943 to check on the Italian POWs. Bishop Gerow, who studied in Rome, would have been able to converse with the Italians. Among the POWs were not only officers and soldiers, but also four Italian Catholic priest chaplains.
Father Hubert Spengler in his chaplain’s uniform poses with Father John Burns in Gulfport in 1917.
The presence of so many Italian POWs caught the attention of the Holy See and Bishop Gerow received a letter from the Apostolic Delegate inquiring about the conditions of the camp. In a letter dated June 11, 1943, the Apostolic Delegate instructs Bishop Gerow to “see that these men have adequate religious ministration and whatever little comforts it may be possible to give them; and if the camp commander permits, that they be supplied with a radio phonograph, which the Apostolic Delegate will pay for and present in the name of the Holy Father.”
Bishop Gerow replied in a letter dated June 19, that Father Cletus Manon, who was based in Water Valley, has visited the camp and found the four chaplains among the prisoners. Father Manon supplied them with altar stones, vestments, wine and hosts, candles and all that was necessary for Mass.
In the fall of 1943, Father Emile Rotondo, a native Italian and pastor in Cleveland, began ministering to the POWs from Como who were being used to work in the fields in the Delta. On Oct. 4, Bishop Gerow wrote the Delegate asking for permission for Father Rotondo to celebrate three Masses so he might give “proper attention to the Italian prisoners of war at Camp Como who are now in Father Rotondo’s territory picking cotton.”
The Delegate replies in a letter dated Nov. 3, granting permission. He adds he is sending prayer books, holy cards, etc., for the prisoners and asks Bishop Gerow to get two radios for the POWs once again in the name of the Holy Father.
Not long after these letters were exchanged the Italian POWs were transferred out of Mississippi and the camps were used strictly to house Germans. Pastoral care did continue, but the unique Italian connection between Pope, Apostolic Delegate, Delta pastor and prisoners was lost.
Writing about POWs and war at Christmas seems quite odd – war with all its brutality and lack of humanity. In quoting these letters and diary accounts, I have tried to reflect how our local diocesan church responded to a unique situation during the violence of world war.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel… Let us pray for peace!
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
JACKSON – This week we marked the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. In thinking about all the wars going on in the world today, this anniversary spurred me to check Bishop R.O. Gerow’s diary for what he wrote about the Pearl Harbor attack.
Bishop Gerow’s diary, which is in six volumes and covers 1924–1966, gives us a lot of background to local, state, national and international events as they happened. As we begin this new liturgical year, I thought I would highlight some passages about the Dec. 7 attack, and other mentions of WWII from his diary.
Bishop R.O. Gerow arries in a jeep at the Meridian Air Force Base on Sunday, Feb. 1, 1942 to celebrate Mass. (Photos from archives)
1941: December 7 (Sunday): “This morning I confirmed a class of fifty-four in the Sacred Heart Church in Greenville, and then after dinner in Greenville I returned to Natchez. “In the automobile from Greenville to Natchez I was busy with many things, especially preparing some talks that I would have to give in the near future, and I did not turn on the radio. When I returned home, I was astounded to learn of the treacherous attack of the Japanese upon the American forces in Hawaii, at the very time that the Japanese representatives were in Washington discussing with the American authorities a peaceful settlement of their problems in the Pacific.”
December 8 (Monday): “Today, President Roosevelt addressed Congress, telling them of the attack of the Japanese upon the Hawaiian Islands and our naval and air forces there, and asking them to declare that a state of war exists between the United States and the Japanese Empire. Under the circumstances there was nothing else that the Legislature could do.
“Accordingly, both the Senate and the House unanimously declared a state of war to exist – except for one vote in the House, a woman Representative from Montana, Jeannette Rankin, the same who in 1916 voted against the entrance of the United States into the World War I.
“With this exception of the Representative from Montana, the whole Congress of the United States has been welded into one by the events of Pearl Harbor of yesterday. Even the extreme Isolationists and all those who had differed with the President up to now are one with him in his decision that the declaration of a state of war is our only alternative.”
1943: August 2 (Monday): “Left Greenwood this morning about 8:30 – had dinner with Father Manon at Oxford – and then after a slight rest proceeded with Father Manor over to Como to visit the camp where there are several thousand Italian prisoners of war.
“A short distance outside the town of Como, the Government has erected a camp with buildings for barracks, mess halls, etc., etc., similar to the buildings in the camp in which the American troops in this country are quartered. The camp at Como, however, is surrounded by a double barbed-wire fence and protected by towers erected at intervals along the enclosure, in which soldiers of the American army manned with proper weapons keep guard day and night lest the prisoners escape.
In Feburary 1942, Bishop Gerow (center) meets with Catholic Military chaplains in Natchez.
“In the Camp the Italian officers are separated entirely from the enlisted men and they are not allowed to mingle. I was allowed into the compound of the enlisted men; I was told, however, that I would not be allowed into the compound in which the officers were quartered. The reason for this I do not know. However, there are four Italian priests, formerly chaplains of the Italian army, who are prisoners in the camp, and these are able to take care of the spiritual needs of both officers and men.
“Father Manon has supplied them with all things necessary for the celebration of the Mass, including vestments, altar stones, candles, etc., and he keeps them supplied with wine and hosts.”
These are three short snippets of Bishop Gerow’s writings about WWII. In the next installment, we will look at some of the priests of our diocese who served in the war, either at home or abroad. And we will explore the POW camp at Como a little more in depth. During his visit mentioned above Bishop Gerow addressed the captives in a chapel they had designed and decorated.
Each year on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Survivors, veterans, and visitors from all over the world come together to honor and remember the 2,403 service members and civilians who were killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. A further 1,178 people were injured in the attack, which permanently sank two U.S. Navy battleships (the USS Arizona and the USS Utah) and destroyed 188 aircraft.
On Aug. 23, 1994, the United States Congress designated Dec. 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Every year, remembrance events are held at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, culminating in a commemoration ceremony on Dec. 7. (From the National Pearl harbor Remembrance website: https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/national-pearl-harbor-remembrance-day.htm) Let us pray for peace!
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
By Mary Woodward JACKSON – On Nov. 18, 2018, Bishop Joseph Kopacz officially opened the cause for the beatification and canonization of Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, who died on March 30, 1990, at her family home in Canton. Bishop’s edict was read to the faithful in the Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle in Jackson during the Sunday liturgy.
Having received the nihil obstat from the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and gotten approval from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the November 2018 plenary meeting in Baltimore, the cause opened the diocesan phase of the intricate canonical process leading to possible beatification.
MEMPHIS – Bishop Joseph Kopacz visits Sister Thea Bowman’s gravesite in late October 2018, in preparation for taking her cause before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 2018. (Photo by Deacon Ted Schreck/courtesy of archives)
During this phase, the Servant of God’s (this is the title she now carries) writings, theology, biography is studied and documented by appointed experts. A tribunal consisting of an episcopal delegate, promoter of justice, and notary, interview witnesses who knew her and ministered with her.
The questionnaire for the witnesses is quite extensive – probing into the virtues and the faith, hope and love shown throughout her life from childhood to death. Those interviews must be transcribed and sent to the witness for any additional comments then a signature of approval for inclusion in the Canonical acts.
When the pandemic hit, all interviews stopped. We were about two-thirds of the way through the list of witnesses. We are now slowly regrouping and hope to complete the entire process by the end of next year. This will involve tying up several loose ends and printing everything in triplicate so that it may be sent to Rome.
When all is ready, Bishop Kopacz will lead a special liturgy in which the documents will be sealed and presented to the postulator to deliver to the dicastery. Once that is completed, the postulator will work with the dicastery to move the cause forward. At a certain point, once the cause is in Rome, The Holy Father may declare the Servant of God as Venerable – showing heroic virtue.
Sister Charlene Smith and Sister Thea Bowman pictured in their ealy FSPA years. (Photo courtesy Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration/fspa.org/theabowman)
After Venerable, the next step is beatification and in order to be beatified there must be a miracle. Examination of the miracle goes through a similar canonical process as the diocesan phase. If a miracle is proven and accepted, the Servant of God is put on the schedule for an official liturgy of beatification. The next step would be canonization and that requires a second miracle. That miracle would have to happen after the beatification. All-in-all, the Roman side of the process takes a long time.
In the meantime, Bishop Kopacz has commissioned a life-size bronze statue of the Servant of God by a well-known bronze sculptor from Saucier, Mary Davidson. The statue will be placed in the Cathedral until a shrine location can be developed. We will feature the statue project and its uniqueness in a future article. As for now, we need many prayers for the cause, especially for those involved in working through the fine details of the diocesan phase.
We also can use donations to the cause as it does have several financial costs for travel, translations, experts and administration. Donations may be made to the Diocese of Jackson and sent to the Chancellor’s Office, 237 E. Amite Street, Jackson, MS 39201. Make sure you mark the donation for Sister Thea’s Cause.
To donate online or to learn more about the Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, visit our website at https://www.jacksondiocese.org/thea-bowman. From this site you may watch the wonderful documentary on her life “Going Home Like a Shooting Star” and find a link to the cause’s official site with photos and tributes to her.
Presenting a cause for canonization is one of the noblest things a diocese can undertake as an official act of the church. It is exciting to know that over the next several months we are participating in this ancient tradition and moving forward in completing the diocesan phase of this esteemed process.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
From the Archives By Mary Woodward JACKSON – Since this edition of Mississippi Catholic is digital, I decided to include a mosaic of photos from our archive’s. In 2016, our diocesan archive was awarded the Cultural Heritage Digitization Grant from the Mississippi Digital Library.
The grant gave us a week of training in digitization and preservation of archives by experts from around Mississippi. Staff from the University of Southern Mississippi’s MLIS and Archives program came on site and digitized almost 600 images from our diocesan collection.
I am sharing a few of those images this week and hope to share more as these digital only papers move forward. If you are interested in seeing all the images online, go to https://msdiglib.org/cdj or look for us under the partners section at Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson.
Enjoy the offerings and see you next time in print.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
Workers pour concrete for the second floor of the chancery building at 237 East Amite Street in January 1947.Bishop Gerow prays on roof of diocesan chancery building in Jackson on Dec. 12, 1948. (Below) Bishop Gerow reviews materials in the original archive vault in Natchez with Msgr. Daniel O’Beirne circa 1940. Msgr. O’Beirne was diocesan chancellor from 1927-41. (Photos courtesy of archives)A collection of photos and papers from Bishop R.O. Gerow and Bishop William Henry Elder and others can be found in the Mississippi Digital Library at https://msdiglib.org/cdj.
At the end of September, I made a trip to Mobile for my birthday and found myself in the gardens of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception late in the afternoon. The gardens outside the cathedral are filled with flora of the region and statues scattered among the palms and caladiums.
It was a beautiful day with cooler temps and low humidity, so I became engrossed in taking photos of various elements. Losing track of time, I found myself locked inside the garden at the end of the workday on a Friday. I could think of much worse places to be trapped, but I did not relish the thought of climbing the gate to get out.
MOBILE – Mary Woodward explored the gardens outside of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile at the end of September. (Photos by Mary Woodward)
Fortunately, the rector was nearby when I called the office, and he ventured over to unlock the back gate. Kindly smiling and assuring me I was not the first nor would I be the last to be in this predicament, he also gave me a great tour and history of the Lady Banksia on the back fence.
Reflecting on that experience, I began to think of the unique connections that dioceses and bishops have with one another. Our diocese was the 13th diocese established in the United States on July 28, 1837. Nashville and Dubuque were established the same day, but we claim pride of place due to strategic location and age.
We have a unique communion with three venerable and historic archdiocesan sees – Baltimore, the primal see of the U.S.; New Orleans, our first metropolitan provincial see; and Mobile, our metropolitan see, where Mass was first celebrated in 1703.
Bishop John Joseph Chanche (1) and Bishop William Henry Elder (3) are natives and products of Baltimore both being ordained bishops in Assumption Cathedral there in 1841 and 1857. Bishop James Oliver Van de Velde (2) was ordained a priest in Baltimore in 1827. In 1852, Bishop Chanche ordained Francis Xavier Leray a priest in Natchez. Leray went on to become Archbishop of New Orleans in 1883. Bishop Elder, in 1859, was co-consecrator of John Quinlan, second bishop of Mobile, and Dominic Manucy in 1874, who went on to become third bishop of Mobile.
Bishop Francis Janssens (4) was elevated to Archbishop of New Orleans in 1888 and was principal consecrator of Bishop Thomas Heslin (5) in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans in 1889. Prior to being elevated to bishop, Bishop Heslin was ordained a priest in the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile by Bishop John Quinlan in 1869.
Bishop Quinlan added the portico to the Mobile cathedral and is buried under it instead of in the crypt chapel. He will be able to see his portico again on the day of the resurrection of the dead when his tomb is opened.
In 1890, Bishop John Edward Gunn (6) was ordained a priest in Rome by the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, which has nothing to do with the current thread but I thought it was really cool. In 1911, Bishop Gunn was ordained a bishop in Atlanta in Sacred Heart Church, which he built. Two of his three consecrating bishops were Archbishop James Hubert Blenk, Archbishop of New Orleans and fellow Marist, and Bishop Edward Allen of Mobile.
Bishop Richard Oliver Gerow (7) was born and raised in Mobile being baptized, confirmed; and in 1924 ordained a bishop in the Cathedral there by Bishop Allen. In 1927, Bishop Gerow was a co-consecrator of Archbishop Thomas Joseph Toolen of Mobile. Thirty years later, Bishop Gerow was principal consecrator of Vicksburg native, Joseph Bernard Brunini (8) in our Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle in Jackson. It was a co-cathedral then.
Bishop Quinlan’s grave in the portico of the Cathedral in Mobile. Pictured is the iron gate, Chancellor Mary Woodward decided wasn’t smart to climb after being locked in the Cathedral gardens in Mobile.
Bishop Brunini was a co-consecrator Joseph Lawson Howze as auxiliary of Jackson in 1973. Bishop Howze was a native of the Mobile area in Daphne and went on to become the first bishop of Biloxi when it was established in 1977.
Bishop William Russell Houck (9), a native of Mobile, was ordained a priest in the Mobile Cathedral in 1951. Another interesting aside, Bishop Houck was ordained a Bishop in Rome by St. Pope John Paul II in a group of 27 bishops ordained that day in 1979.
New Orleans native, Bishop Joseph Nunzio Latino (10) was ordained a priest in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans by Archbishop John Cody in 1963. Forty years later, he was ordained a bishop in our cathedral by Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of Mobile. Bishop Houck served as a co-consecrator.
Bishop Joseph Richard Kopacz was ordained a bishop in our cathedral in 2014 by Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi, current metropolitan archbishop of Mobile and native of New Orleans.
Well, that was a whirlwind of trails and tributaries surrounding the episcopal lineage of our region that gives a glimpse of the extraordinary interconnectedness of our bishops and dioceses. Even more so it is a microcosm of apostolic succession.
All this inspiration of Catholic chronicles springs forth from a Cathedral garden’s locked gates on a Friday afternoon in September. I now know to set an alarm on my phone for 4:15 p.m. when I am wandering down historic pathways.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
