From Servant of God to sainthood – an update on Sister Thea Bowman’s cause

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward

As September rolls in upon us and schools are now in full swing, our diocesan director of Catholic Schools, Karla Luke, asked for an update on the canonization process of Sister Thea Bowman, she could share with our Catholic schools. We have a wonderful school in Jackson named after Sister Thea and many students are excited about being associated with someone who is on the official path to sainthood in the church.

Putting someone forward for sainthood is one of the noblest things a diocesan church can do. It involves a very intricate and detailed process of studying the life and acts of that person. Many moving parts make up this initiative and keeping them on track is an adventure.

So, where are we in the canonical process? We are right in the middle of what is called the diocesan phase.

JACKSON – A painting of Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA by Marshall Bouldin of Clarksdale (1923-2012) hangs in archivist, Mary Woodward’s office. Bouldin, the South’s foremost portrait artist of his time, completed the painting in 1988 and said that Sister Thea would burst forth into song when sitting for the portrait. (Photo by Mary Woodward)

During this phase which has been going on since the cause officially opened in November 2018, the title Servant of God is used when referring to the person. This title is given to those who have been presented and accepted for the canonical process. Therefore, when referring to Sister Thea, her full title now is Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA (SOG Sister Thea).

The work being done meticulously right now includes gathering all of the Servant of God’s writings, studying them for sound doctrine, gleaning them for virtue and piety, and transcribing them into type written format. For those who knew the Servant of God, they are fully aware that she would often jot things down on envelopes, napkins, and any scrap of paper she could find. All of these notes have been archived by the Franciscan Sisters in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where most all of SOG Sister Thea’s papers reside.

Throughout this past summer, an intern has been working in LaCrosse to digitize these writings while many volunteers have been transcribing them to Word documents. All of this is done so that the historical commission can review SOG Sister Thea’s works and develop a report that gives an all-encompassing detail of SOG Sister Thea’s virtuous and pious life.

The historical commission consists of two professors in the field of theology and the archivist for the FSPAs. Technically, they should remain anonymous due to the nature of their work and to avoid any outside influences creating a bias in the process.

Over Labor Day weekend, the historical commission convened in LaCrosse to put eyes on the collection, talk with other FSPA’s who knew the SOG, and create a framework in which to complete their mandate of capturing the SOG’s virtues and documenting all the sources.

In addition to the historical commission, there are two theological censors, also anonymous due to the sensitivity of their work, who examine all of the SOG’s published writings and public statements for orthodoxy to the teachings of the church. These two work independently of each other and submit two separate statements called vota.

On top of the work of the historical commission and the theological censors, we have a scribe, transcribing more than 50 interviews of witnesses who were invited to answer a series of questions about the SOG’s life and virtues – the questionnaire had more than 100 questions, so each interview is rather lengthy.

Finally, once all reports are finished and all writings and interviews transcribed, every single page will be reviewed and given a stamp of approval by the bishop’s delegate and promoter of justice. Then three copies are made of every page for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which are boxed up and sealed then transported to Rome by the postulator, who has been guiding the whole process. A fourth copy is made and sealed to be kept in the diocesan archive vault.

Once all that arrives at the dicastery, the Roman Phase of examination of the cause begins. During this phase, the postulator under the direction of a staff member of the dicastery writes a summary of all the documentation for the dicastery called the “positio.”

This is examined by a panel of theologians who then vote on whether the SOG has lived a heroic life of virtue. If the majority votes in the positive, then the SOG is recommend for review by the Cardinals and Bishops who are members of the dicastery. If after this review the members agree on the virtuous heroicness of the SOG’s life, then the Prefect of the Dicastery recommends to the Holy Father to declare the SOG “Venerable” by means of an official decree from the Holy See.

I know that was a lot to follow but now you can see how ordered and definitive the process really is. It takes time. Our goal is to have the diocesan phase completed by next summer and off to Rome prior to September 2025.

We invite you to pray for the cause, especially for the historical commission, the theological censors, the transcribers, and the postulator as we continue to follow this unique and noble path. And of course, ask SOG Sister Thea to guide us from above with patience and joy.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

A funny thing happened during “The Purge”

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward

These articles from the archives are normally filled with items from the historical archives of the diocese. Often shared are events and stories from past bishops and some of their interesting encounters during their tenures here in Mississippi.

This week I am focusing on another aspect of my role as chancellor and archivist for the diocese – records management. Be warned this will be a little dry and technical, but that can be the life of a chancellor.
Each office in the diocese produces a lot of information and documents. Categorizing these as actual records and determining the life cycle of each type of document and piece of information is the work of a trained records manager.

So, part of my responsibilities is working with various offices to determine what information they produce, sifting the information into records and non-records, then designing a schedule of retention for those documents deemed to be records.

JACKSON – Mary Woodward’s workspace, where she oversees e-mail management as a part of her duties in records management for the Diocese of Jackson. (Photo by Mary Woodward)

The Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA) defines records as “Any recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, made or received and retained by an organization in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business.” More simply put for the chancery, a record is any piece of content (physical or electronic) created, received, or managed by the organization that is necessary to perform church ministries and activities.

Organizing these records in a basic user-friendly system that meets all levels of standards is the goal of any records manager. Managing paper records has become easier except for when there are space constraints. We have a small building on chancery property where we are storing many of these paper records, but we are methodically digitizing a lot of that paper in order to create space.

Electronic records, including email, are a beast unto themselves. Here at the diocese, we are developing a way to manage electronic or digital records by using a software platform we already have in place. We looked at a new system with lots of bells and whistles but none of those bells or whistles seemed to work with our types of records, so we started exploring what we had and how we could use that platform to create a basic electronic records management system (ERMS).

As chancellor I participated in an intensive training of the developing application that will be used specifically to adapt our retention schedules to a digital file plan that will have tags and labels for our various records in chancery offices. The main objective is to make it manageable and easy to use for our staff so that they will use it productively and efficiently.

In an effort to get email inboxes organized more intentionally, in January I began telling senior staff at department meetings that on August 1, I would be purging all inboxes of any email older than 90 days. An inbox with minimal emails sitting in it helps keep the email system moving faster.

Moving emails to designated folders such as “Bishop,” “Parishes,” “Schools,” etc. filter and sort potential records into a better filing system. Instructions on how to set up these folders in email accounts similar to their document libraries were given at various times leading up to August 1.

As Purge Day approached many questions began to be asked on how to properly create folders and move important emails into them from the inbox. Staffers were real troopers and did a fine job even if all they did was copy their entire inbox of 40,000 emails to a backup folder so they could go through them at a more leisurely pace.

The afternoon of August 1, I used my new training to delve into our data lifecycle management system to apply a “tag” named Inbox 90Day Purge to each of our users’ mailboxes.

It was an interesting feeling to know I may have wiped out thousands of messages going back years for some folks.

Fortunately, there was a 14-day grace period to recover anything that might have been overlooked.
Unfortunately, a second similar tag I had been experimenting with got applied as well. And before I could disable it, it had wiped out a few staffers entire folder systems older than 90 days. Yikes. Fortunately, we had that 14-day grace period.

Unfortunately, all the restored emails came back into the delete folder and not into the nicely organized folders they had created. It was a good time for me to vacate the building for the weekend.

It certainly has been a learning experience, and I look forward to us transitioning to a more collaborative document and record sharing platform among our ministries so that records will be properly managed, and ministries will flourish without the worry of who has what or if the chancellor is going to purge all their files again.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

A bittersweet farewell: celebrating the legacy of Sacred Heart Parish

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward

Parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish in Rosedale gathered around Bishop Joseph Kopacz and SVD Fathers Sebastian Myladiyil and Tom Mullally to celebrate a final Mass in the church on Sunday afternoon June 30. Friends from the nearby parishes of St. Francis in Shaw, St. Mary in Shelby and Our Lady of Victories in Cleveland joined in the bittersweet celebration as a sign of support for their Bolivar County neighbors.

During the diocesan pastoral reimagining discussions over the past year and even before that, Sacred Heart parishioners had begin discussing among themselves and with Father Myladiyil, the sacramental minister, what the future of the parish would be after the death of their longtime, dedicated Lay Ecclesial Minister, Dr. James Tomek in August 2022.

Ultimately, through much prayerful discernment and fortitude, these devoted parishioners were ready to make a leap of faith. I was honored to be able to meet with them in late April to answer questions about what would happen if they chose to close the doors.

ROSEDALE – Members of Sacred Heart Parish gather around Bishop Joseph Kopacz, Father Sebastian Myladiyil, SVD and sacramental minister, and Father Tom Mullally, SVD, after the Last Mass was celebrated in the church on Sunday, June 30. (Photo by Mary Woodward)

The discussion revealed a deep sense of love and concern for each other and the legacy of the parish’s long-standing families. Ultimately, they decided together to close and hold a final Mass as a community with Bishop Kopacz.

This decision was indeed a communal decision grounded in a firm and faith-filled realization that the church went beyond a single building. It also was a painful decision to let go of what has been a home filled with memories of baptisms, weddings and funerals. And it was a bittersweet decision that brought about a profound resolve and a quiet relief in those present at the meeting.

Located just off Highway 1 near the Mississippi River in the Delta, Sacred Heart officially became a parish in 1968, but Catholic history in the Rosedale area goes back to early French explorations of the River. Rev. Jacques Marquette, SJ, and Louis Jolliet ventured down the Mississippi in the spring of 1673 seeking to determine whether the “great river” was a path to the Gulf of Mexico or turned and went west to the Pacific.

Marquette’s expedition mission was evangelization; while Jolliet, a trader and mapper, was seeking to establish new trading posts. The journey involved a crew of five assisting the duo in two canoes paddling down that massive current.

The team traveled from Canada to the Arkansas River’s confluence with the Mississippi, just south of where Rosedale sits today. Some historians note that Marquette celebrated Mass there. This potentially marks the first known Mass in the lower Mississippi Valley – predating the Easter Mass near Fort Adams in 1682, which was part of the LaSalle expedition.

Marquette and Jolliet did not venture farther down the river, as they heard the Spanish were slightly south. So, the team turned around and paddled back up the river to what is now Michigan. They did finally establish that the river did flow into the Gulf and not westward.

Catholicism did not return to the area for another 200 years. In 1888, Father John Koerstenbroek, pastor in Greenville, started ministering to the Rosedale Catholics. Mass was celebrated in Edward Scott’s home. Scott’s son, Norbert, was the first recorded baptism in 1894.

In the early 20th century, priests from Our Lady of Victories in Cleveland served Rosedale. In 1968, Bishop Joseph Brunini established it as a parish and appoint Father Tony Pudenz as its first resident pastor, overseeing the church’s dedication in March 1971. Other pastors included Msgr. Mike Flannery, Father Dan Gallagher, and Father P.J. Curley. Having just returned from serving in the mission on Saltillo, Mexico, Msgr. Flannery began a Hispanic ministry in the area.

Eventually, Women Religious administered the parish, with sacramental ministers celebrate Mass and confer the sacraments. Notable members included Sisters Patricia Fitzgerald, Mary Genevieve Love, Vivian Votruba, Jeroma Day, Catherine Leamy and Celia Evers, who devoted themselves to migrants and prison ministry.

Dr. Tomek served faithfully from 2010-2022. His commitment to Sacred Heart was much appreciated by the parish and the diocese.

Near the end of the Mass on June 30, as a final symbolic act, the altar cloth was slowly folded and placed in the center of the altar. Bishop then offered the post Communion prayer, many thanks were extended, the final blessing was imparted, and the congregation gathered for photos and a lovely reception in the gathering area outside the church proper.

Parishioners shared many stories and a few tears, but still held on to that deep faith that has guided them together through a myriad of sacred moments and will continue to guide and keep them.

Special thanks to Cleta Ellington for her book Christ the Living Water, which provided much of the historical information.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

Bishop Gerow’s journal describes JFK’s assassination

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – In working on a history project that explores some pivotal moments in our nation’s history, I came across some poignant reflections in Bishop Gerow’s diary. The passages are from November 1963. This of course was the moment when President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Many of us have seen the grainy video coverage of that violent act and the ensuing days of mourning, rituals and interment. It was a shocking moment in the country, which seemed to be brimming with optimism and opportunity. It marked an initial loss of innocence in a decade of change.

The casket with the body of former President John F. Kennedy is pictured during his Nov. 24, 1963, funeral procession from the White House to the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (CNS photo/U.S. Army Signal Corps, courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library)

I now share the following entries from the diary to chronicle how our local church experienced those momentous days. The language used was the language of the day, so I have left it unchanged.

November 22 (Friday):
Today about 12:30 President Kennedy was shot and killed. He was on a visit to Dallas, Texas. When the news came over the radio, I am told that in our Catholic schools here in Jackson – or at least in many of them – the children dropped to their knees in prayer and many of them wept. Television station WJTV here in Jackson asked me to come out to the station and make a statement which I did in which I praised Mr. Kennedy for his high principles and spoke of the hatred that caused his assassination and asked the public for prayers for the country and for the deceased.

November 23 (Saturday)
Today in my private chapel I offered Mass for President Kennedy. Later, the television station WLBT asked me to come out to the station and speak which I did. In substance I said it is time to reflect and pray – to reflect on the love of our neighbor that our Divine Lord taught and to reflect upon the hatred that burns in the breast of some. These must share with the assassin the blame for this crime, asked prayers for our country, for the new President, and for Mr. Kennedy, etc. I announced on this station as well as yesterday that on Monday at noon I would celebrate a Pontifical Requiem Mass to which the public is invited.

November 25 (Monday)
At noon in St. Peter’s Co-Cathedral I sang a Solemn Mass of Requiem for the President.
The procession to the church started in the school yard. In the procession were the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus in full regalia. Clergymen from many of the non-Catholic churches in the city, most of them in their church robes, preceded our diocesan clergy. Amongst them were Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Coadjutor Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi and a good group of Episcopal clergymen, Rabbi Perry Nussbaum of the local Synagogue, Dr. Seth Granberry of the Capitol Street Methodist Church (who by the way replaces Dr. Clark who was forced by his congregation to resign because of his views of justice to the Negro), Dr. Jeff Cunningham of the Galloway Methodist Church (who replaced Dr. Selah, who like Dr. Clark had to resign because of his views), Rev. Wade Koons of the Trinity Lutheran Church (who had had much opposition from his congregation because of his Christian views on race). Rev. Fred Tarpley of Ridgecrest Baptist Church. These ministers were given seats in the church in the front pews – our own clergy, who were not on ceremonies, were in the choir loft.

Among the civic public figures in the church were former Governor Hugh White, former Governor J. P. Coleman, Mayor Allen Thompson, Attorney General Joe Patterson, Secretary of State Heber Ladner, State Superintendent of Education J. M. Tubb, and State Tax Collector William Winter.

The church was filled with people, seated in all the pews and standing in close formation in all available standing room. One of the policemen outside told one of our priests that at least a thousand people were turned away because there was no room in the church.

At the Gospel time I spoke. My theme was God’s love of us his children and our duty to love Him and His other children. At the Communion time it was a pleasure not only to see the large number who received Communion, but also to note that amongst those who received were a generous sprinkling of Negroes. It was good for the state and city officials to see these Negroes coming to the Altar rail and kneeling beside the whites and doing this without any sign of race discrimination.

U.S. President John F. Kennedy and first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, arrive at Love Field in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963. (CNS photo/courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)

After the Mass, the clergy, our own and the non-Catholics, gathered in the Chancery Office and witnessed on television the funeral of President Kennedy in Washington. This being over about 2:30 we all gathered in the general dining room of the Sun-n-Sand Motel for lunch. It is interesting to note that Father Bourges, S.V.D., Pastor of Holy Ghost Church, who is a Negro went into the dining room with the rest of us and was served without comment.

I felt much gratified at the fine ecumenical spirit of friendliness exhibited in our relationship with our non-Catholic ministers. In my own mind these ministers who gathered with us are good, earnest, sincere men who wish to honor and serve God and they do so in the way that they understand to be the way that God wishes.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

Bishop Gunn turns down New Zealand

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – Very early on in his tenure as the fifth Bishop of Natchez, we almost lost Bishop John Edward Gunn to the Archdiocese of Wellington in New Zealand. It seems Bishop Gunn, a Marist, was summoned to New Orleans by Archbishop James Blenk to meet with him and Archbishop Francis Redwood of Wellington.

Bishop Gunn’s description of the meeting is classic Gunn so I will share the encounter in his own words from his diary:

“November 9, 1912 – I phoned the Archbishop early Saturday morning and he told me that Archbishop Redwood from New Zealand was with him and wanted to see me. I reported for dinner at Esplanade Avenue and I found Archbishop Redwood bubbling over with vitality, good health and splendid stories.
“When we left the dining room Redwood asked me to come with him to his room for a minute and then I found why I was wanted.

Bishop John Edward Gunn, a Marist priest, was the sixth Bishop of Natchez. In November of 1912, he turned down an offer of a position in New Zealand, opting to stay in Mississippi. (Photo courtesy of archives)

“It seems the Archbishop of Wellington wanted a co-adjutor and he wanted me for the job. He was so cocksure of getting me that he arranged everything in advance. He had a meeting of the suffragan bishops of New Zealand who ok’d the scheme; he got the Propaganda [of the Faith] in Rome to grant me a release from Natchez, if I was a consenting party; he asked the General of the Marists to write to me that I would be persona grata to the Society in New Zealand.

“The Archbishop forgot nothing that could be looked upon as a preliminary move and he followed very strictly the canonical requirements and I was summoned to say ‘Yes.’

“The Archbishop spoke of the advantages of New Zealand and my fitness for the work and incidentally deplored the fact that I was buried in Mississippi. He put up a good case and then he put the whole case up to me.
“I was dumbfounded and to a certain extent disgusted that I was being used as a kind of rubber pad with no voice in the matter whatever.

“In answer to the straight questions which he made in the matter of the Holy See and of the Bishops of New Zealand, etc., etc., I answered very shortly by saying ‘No’ to all he asked. He looked surprised and asked me if I did not want time to reconsider and I told him I did not.

“In a kind of perfunctory manner he asked me why I did not go and I simply told him that I would not use Mississippi or the Bishops of the Province, especially the Archbishop who had made me Bishop of Natchez, as a stepping stone to go anywhere and that I was satisfied where I was placed and I would not consent to any transfer of the kind.

“The Archbishop who was so amiable up to then was near losing his temper and I took the occasion to get away from him. He merely asked me to keep quiet about the interview until a co-adjutor for Wellington had been appointed.

“I went to Blenk’s room and I looked as if I had seen a ghost and the Archbishop insisted upon knowing what was the matter. I did not think that I was bound to keep such a secret from my Archbishop and I told him the whole story and I had the consolation of hearing from him that I had done the right thing.

“I cleared out of Esplanade Avenue and went over to Algiers where I spent the night and tried to forget about Wellington and its temptations. A few days after the incident I got a letter from the Superior General [Marist] asking me to go to Wellington but I had taken my stand, the die was cast and no power except the power that sent me to Mississippi could send me out of it.”

It is inspiring to see the commitment of Bishop Gunn to our diocese. I also found interesting the way Archbishop Redwood covered all avenues prior to asking Gunn to come to Wellington as co-adjutor.

Incidentally, Archbishop Redwood got his co-adjutor shortly after the Gunn refusal. Father Thomas O’Shea, a native of New Zealand and also a Marist, was consecrated as co-adjutor on Aug. 17, 1913. He remained co-adjutor until Redwood’s death in 1935 when he was installed as Archbishop of Wellington.

The process for selecting bishops nowadays is more process related with bishops submitting names to the papal nuncio of the country. Our current nuncio is Cardinal Christoph Pierre. The nuncio would then submit a preferred list of three to the Dicastery of Bishops in Rome. The Dicastery selects a candidate and presents the choice to the Holy Father. If the Holy Father approves the choice, then the candidate is contacted by the nuncio who relays that he has been appointed as bishop of a diocese.

And yes, some candidates say “No.” If this happens then the process starts over again. God bless Bishop Gunn for saying yes to the Spirit and coming to Mississippi.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

Historic stained glass awes Cathedral visitors

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward

JACKSON – This past Sunday morning we celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation in St. Peter Cathedral. As is often the case, a candidate chooses a grandparent to be his or her sponsor. At this celebration, one of the candidate’s grandmothers came up from New Orleans on the train to be his sponsor.

While I was going through the rite with the candidates prior to Mass, she commented on the beauty of our stained-glass windows. So, I gave them a little history of the windows and the church.

JACKSON – In 2011, the new frame work for the Rose Window of the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle traveled from Conrad Schmitt studios in Wisconsin to Jackson on the side of a large truck, as it was too large to fit in the interior. (Photos by Mary Woodward)

The current St. Peter church structure is the third St. Peter’s. The parish dates back to 1846 and is the fourth parish established in the diocese. Natchez, Paulding, and Biloxi predate Jackson’s parish. The first church burned during the Civil War. The second church was built in 1868 on the grounds where the current rectory and chancery sit now. Once the current church – begun in 1896 and completed in 1900 – was ready for worship. The second church was used for various things until it was moved eight blocks north in 1913 to Cloister Avenue to become the first Holy Ghost Church.

The windows were installed over a period of 30 years beginning with the Rose Window in 1903 and finishing with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of Lourdes windows in the 1930s. All of these windows are in the Munich style and were fashioned by the Mayer – Zettler studios.

The initial ones – the Rose Window, the two transept windows and the first two on each side – were created in the Munich studios. The next three on each side were styled in the St. Louis studio.

The windows in the vestibule around the main doors and the windows above the side entrances were added a little later and do not have the artistic quality of the main windows but are still nice examples of teaching the Bible through visual aids.

What is unique about the windows in our Cathedral is except for the Rose Window they are at eye level. In most churches this size window would be higher up in the wall. Ours are down close to the floor so that one may walk right up to the window and see the detail and artistry.

The beauty of the Rose Window at the Cathedral of St. Peter of the Apostle in Jackson continues to delight many visitors to the church. It was originally installed in 1903 and restored in 2011.

The windows were restored in 2011 by Conrad Schmitt Studios in Wisconsin. Each one was mapped, removed, cleaned, re-leaded and returned to the frames which had been repaired and vented so that the summer heat would not take such a toll. Protective glass featuring the latest technology also was added to the outside of each window.

When the Conrad Schmitt crew removed the Rose Window, they found the frame to be completely rotten. A new frame was built at a mill connected to Conrad Schmitt studios in Wisconsin. It was too large to be placed inside a trailer truck, so it was attached to the side of the truck and made its way down the heartland of the country.

Working in archives, one gets to be a part of such diverse projects and it was quite interesting to watch this project unfold. In addition to chalices and altars, our art and glass in parishes around the diocese are considered a part of the patrimony of the diocesan church and hold a major place in the life and history of our church.
Our Cathedral houses such beautiful treasures given in faith and love by the faithful over the past century. We thank them for sharing their gifts to glorify our God through art.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.

Life among the relics

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward

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.)

Distinct Biloxi church reminds us to ‘keep an eye on the Gulf’

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.

Living in different times

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward

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.)

Centennial faith: the enduring spirit of Our Mother of Mercy

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward

JACKSON – Last Saturday, Jan. 27, was a cloudy damp day in the Mississippi Delta, but the joy and the warmth flowing from the pews filled with the faithful and friends of Our Mother of Mercy Mission in Anguilla dispelled any thoughts of the atmospheric conditions outside. The church was marking the 100th anniversary of the first Masses celebrated in people’s homes.

Anguilla is situated on Highway 61 in Sharkey County. In the early 1900s, Father Andrew Gmelch would come from Merigold. Father Gmelch served the Austrian Catholic farmers in that town, but the continual flooding challenges caused this small contingent of Catholic farmers to move away. Around 1912 Anguilla became a mission of Cleveland and Belzoni All Saints became a mission of Greenwood where Msgr. John Clerico, known as the pastor of the Delta, based himself.

Msgr. Clerico roamed the entire Delta tending to the flock scattered across the Alluvial plain. In 1927, Anguilla became a mission of Greenwood and Msgr. Clerico made regular visits to celebrate Mass in homes of the faithful and share meals and conversations in Italian with those who shared his Italian heritage and birth.

With donations from its faithful and a nice grant from Catholic Extension, Anguilla bought a small piece of land in March 1929 and built Our Mother of Mercy Church. Bishop Richard Gerow dedicated the church on Aug. 6, 1929.

Belzoni and Anguilla became missions of Leland in 1944 when Msgr. Clerico’s Greenwood parish was divided. A few years later in 1953, Belzoni was elevated to a parish and Anguilla became its mission. Today, Anguilla is served by Father Panneer Arockiam Selvam from Yazoo City.

This is a brief history of Our Mother of Mercy and its journey taken from Cleta Ellington’s book Christ the Living Water written for the 150th anniversary of the diocese in 1987. These excerpts capture only a small glimpse of the closeness of this small Catholic community in the Delta.

To get an eyewitness account of the dedication day festivities, I looked up Bishop Gerow’s account of the day in his diary and below is his entry for Aug. 6, 1929.

“This morning at 9 o’clock, assisted by Father Clerico and in the presence of a large number of people, I dedicated the new Church of Our Lady of Mercy at Anguilla.

“The lot on which this church is situated was bought with funds raised by the people of Anguilla and thereabout. Extension Society gave the people $2,500 for the building of the church and $400 worth of equipment, vestments, etc. It is quite a nice little church and substantially built, and the people are very justly proud of it.

Linda Alford gets a hug from her former pastor, Father P.J. Curley at the anniversary celebration at Our Mother of Mercy on Saturday, Jan. 27.

“Joe Prestiano, a zealous and enthusiastic member of the congregation at Anguilla, was determined to make this a big day. He had, therefore, advertised it very extensively. Through his efforts the Knights of Columbus band came up from Vicksburg for the occasion. Father Clerico brought his Greenwood choir over and a great many friends from Vicksburg, Greenville, Greenwood and surrounding cities and towns were in Anguilla for the dedication; besides a great number of the faithful from the small towns who will attend Anguilla as their mission church.

“The dedication started at 9 o’clock. A procession formed at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cook, headed by the Knights of Columbus band playing lively march music – the procession made up of the men of the congregation and a few altar boys, with Father Clerico, and the Bishop dressed in cope, miter and carrying his crozier – and marched to the front of the church.

“After the dedication Father Clerico sang the high Mass – the Greenwood choir did itself proud – and the bishop preached a sermon to the people; and after the church ceremonies a general picnic was held, the people remaining upon the grounds all day, the Knights of Columbus band supplying very good music for the occasion. It was a great day for the people of Anguilla.

“Although the congregation of Anguilla itself is very small, yet Anguilla is centrally situated and people from many other places, such as Rolling Fork, Hollandale, etc., come to church at this point.”

I was struck by how much of that same zeal and flavor was present this past Saturday in January.

Bishop Joseph Kopacz was the celebrant; Father P.J. Curley, former pastor, provided an inspiring homily only he could deliver; several former pastors were present; friends came from all over the region; and the reception after Mass in the parish hall (now occupying those original grounds) was adorned with fabulous food, fellowship and memories – a quintessential Delta brunch.

Even though there was no Knights of Columbus Band or big choir, those present filling the church to capacity offered beautiful hymns, prayers and responses of which they could be proud. I find I am as inspired by these celebrations in smaller communities as much as any Cathedral Mass. The love and joy that flows in and around the sacred mysteries is a powerful witness to the vibrancy of our faith in the diocese. Who knows what the landscape will be in another 100 years, but on a cloudy day in January 2024, Anguilla bore witness to that vibrant faith.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)