Honoring our Past…

November 20, 2022 

We commemorated the laying of our Cornertone with a Tree Planting outside after the 10:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Masses.

December 14, 2022 

We continued our celebration with an evening of scripture and sung prayer followed by a festive Gaudemaus reception!

January 8, 2023 – Homecoming Mass

February 18, 2023 – Parti Gras

Our first big party after the Covid-19 Pandemic, we gathered together for a “Valentine’s Parti-Gras Masquerade Ball” and Silent Auction at Truist Plaza.

Cornerstone Laid – Atlanta Constitution, Nov, 22, 1897

CORNER STONE LAID: BISHOP WAS THERE

 Impressive Exofc’ses at Church of Sacred Heart Yesterday

 Great Throng was present

 Bishop Becker, of Savannah, conducted the ceremony

 He delivered an eloquent address

 Gives interesting account of the significance of the Occasion–How the stone was laid

When Atlanta posterity, hundreds of years hence, perchance shall open the cornerstone of the Church of the Sacred Heart they will find an interesting history there of civilization and things at this stage of the world–of politics, religion, society, commerce, people.  The little copper box deposited and securely sealed in the heart of the big stone yesterday afternoon contains all this.  It is the closely hidden secret, the message which this century will hand down to the next in this sacred spot emblematic of Jesus Christ, who was the cornerstone.  And if the next generation could have seen that vast throng that assembled there to send this message, if they could have heard that soul-stirring music, if they could have seen the venerable bishop as he tenderly deposited the little box in its long resting place, they would have marveled perhaps at what manner of men we are.

It was a beautiful ceremony.  The message seemed to have been christened with Nature’s benediction, for the day was perfect.  Hundreds of people were there–Catholics and Protestants.  The services were conducted according to the Catholic ritual, and were exceedingly impressive.  The special choir, consisting of twelve male voices, especially trained for the occasion, rendered beautiful selections, adding much to the impressiveness of the occasion.  The chorister boys were there, too, in their white surplices, the local Catholic clergy and all dignitaries of the Catholic church in Atlanta.  The Hibernian Rifles, under command of Captain W. E. Ellis, turned out in honor of the occasion, as well as a large delegation from the Order of Catholic Knights of America.

Bishop Becker, head of the Catholic church in Georgia, had charge of the services.  He delivered a short address, explaining the significance of the occasion and claiming the ceremony was based on religious manifestations.  He is an eloquent and exceedingly forceful speaker, and the large audience listened eagerly to his discourse.

This was the first public demonstration of the Marist Fathers who have set foot on Atlanta soil for some time.  Although their coming was not hailed with delight by the clergy of the old church here, yet all sectionalism seems to have been swept away, for all the Catholics in Atlanta, priests and church members, united in the ceremony yesterday.  Father Bazin, of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, and his assistant, Father Shadewell; Father Gibbons, of the Society of Mary, who will have charge of the new church when completed, and his assistant, Father Guinan, were there to aid in the establishment of the new church.  Rev. August Reis, S.M., Rev. R. F. Kennedy and Rev. Joseph F. Colbert also assisted.  

Great Throng Was Present.

The hour was set at 3 o’clock.  Long before that time throngs of people began to arrive and secure advantageous positions among the rough timbers and pillars of the new edifice, only the first story of which has been erected.  The corner stone is situated in the northwestern end of the building near the front entrance overlooking the street, and the spot was enclosed yesterday by a small wooden fence in order to reserve a spot for the bishop and the priests.  By 3 o’clock the building and the street in front were crowded with people, and many stood on the rafters above and on the porches of adjoining dwellings to secure a view of the proceedings.  

The floor of the church was laid with rough boards.  In the east end was a small white cross indicating the spot where the alrad is to be erected, and also showing that the place had been claimed for the service of God.  In front of the cross was a temporary platform, and behind it was the organ and the choir.  The Hibernians were assigned to positions around the platform, with the Catholic Knights of America in their rear. 

The choir began the sweet strains of “Veni Sancte Spiritus,” and the procession moved slowly down the center of the church in an imaginary aisle lined with people, toward the altar.  First came the chorus boys with their white surplices; then the priests with their white robes, and last of all, the bishop, bedecked in his royal purple, his high mitre and carrying his golden crozier, the emblem of his office. The chorister boys encircled the cross, and Bishop Becker stood upon the platform as a hush fell over the vast throng when he began speaking.  At first his voice was low and inaudible, but he gradually gained strength until he could be distinctly heard in all parts of the building.   

Bishop Becker Speaks.

The bishop spoke as follows on the subject:  “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”

“The ceremony in which we are engaged is one based on the religious manifestations which Almighty God was pleased to make from time to time, in different places, and diverse manners of His glory.  And, in the holy scriptures, as they are authenticated to us by the only sure testimony–the witness of the church catholic (for it is through her we know that they are the oracles of God, and that we have them in their genuineness and integrity).

“We are informed of localities chosen for such high honor.  In sequence, an altar was erected; on it was offered a victim of oblation, and this was invariably done by one set apart as priest for God’s service.  These three things, an altar, a victim and a priest were correlative, so that the      shrewd old Greeks had a proverb:  If there be altars, there must be victims, and if there must be victims; and if there be both there must must also be a priest; and finally, true to their logical minds, they drew the invariable inference:  “If these three exist, then there must be a God to be adored.”  In short, there never was a nation, however barbarous, without these essential constituents of a reasoning mind.

“Now, when the patriarchs and prophets for more than 4,000 years had these manifold local manifestations of the tender care of the Almighty for His chosen people, they at once built an altar, called it in winning ways with loving names, the house of the Lord, as both sacred and profane history testifies, was the one essential act of religion , the place of the showing forth of His glory, the place of worship, and they proceeded immediately to that one act of adoration, which during all time, as both sacred and profane history testifies, was the one essential act of religion incapable of being offered to any but the Creator.  Is  it likely that any change would take place in the very essence of religion?  Hence the memorial stone, subsequently an altar, was invariably set apart as something sanctified, and for the sole use and behoof of the Lord, and even the locality became the house of God, the gate of heaven–not a profane place of meeting, but the “house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.’  Thus the Catholic church is the place of prayer, of the communion of the faithful on earth with those in heaven, and for holiest and loftiest sentiments of the soul of man.

“We know from the self-same Catholic scriptures the singular superiority which Melchisedeck had beyond even the Patriarch Abraham to whom God had promised the Messiah as a descendant.  How the latter–the patriarch and father of the faithful bowed down before Meichisedeck ‘because he was the priest of the Most High God.’  Genesis XIV.  How he paid to Him tithes as to his superior, and in this capacity of unquestioned friend of the Almighty, yet joined humbly in the unique sacrifice which the Psalms {    } is but an adaptation.  Therein, it is said, in speaking of our Lord and Saviour:

” ‘The Lord hath sworn and it shall never repent him.

” ‘Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedeck.’

“Now, our Lord fulfilled this, His priesthood and once and once only, when He performed the only act which inseparably allied Him to Melchisedeck as regards the priesthood.  In nothing else during His whole life is He thus known to have given the completion of the Psalms and fulfillment in the prophecy.  Then, according to the order of His succession, on the night before His betrayal and crucifixion He took bread and wine into His venerable and creative hands, and blessing, He pronounced those eternal words, and said:  “This is my body which shall be broken for you;  this is the chalice, or cup the New Testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you, and for many in remission of sins.’

“Here we see the true altar, victim and pontiff–our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Here the arch which spans the firmament from the old and figurative testament to the new and perfect covenant of the Church catholic.  The latter is the complement of the former; the one was a shadow; the other is the eternal truth.  The singularly carnal and bloody sacrifices of the Old Testament give way to the perfect sacrifices of the cross, once for all; whilst the Lord of heaven gives us Himself, the living bread which came down from heaven, as the staff of life, and is perpetually found in the Catholic church, the hours of prayer and of the eternal application of Christ’s copious redemption in the divine sacrifice.  Here there is a true altar, a perfect victim our Lord Himself, and a true priesthood acting as instruments and set apart for their noble vocation.

“The prayer of our Lord for unity and oneness must necessarily some time be fulfilled.  Then shal be one fold, and one shepherd.  You can aid with willing minds in the great work; it cannot be done in diversity; it must be done by prayer, and by removing inborn prejudices.  Personally you can advance the cause of Christ by aiding in the erection of this church in the honor of the sacred heart of our Lord.”

The Corner Stone Is Laid.

After the Bishop had finished speaking the procession proceeded to the corner stone, the bishop leading.  The bishop solemnly blessed the stone by sprinkling thereon the holy water and by singing psalms and repeating appropriate Latin passages.  The copper box was opened and the bishop placed therein first copies of The Atlanta Constitution of yesterday, and The Atlanta Journal of Saturday; a manuscript containing a complete history of the erection of the church; various coins of different nationalities, one among the number being a Spanish coin 513 years old; the constitution and by-laws of the Manning Circle, an organization under the auspices of the church, the names of those who have already contributed to the building fund, and the following communication from Bishop Becker:

“A. D. N. J. Xti 1897.–On the twenty first day of November, which is the feast of the presentation of B. V. M. at3 p. m., we, Thomas A. Becker, bishop of Savannah; Rev William Gibbons, S. M.; Rev. John Guinan, S. M.; Rev. August Reis, S. M., together with Rev. L. X. Bazin, rector Immaculate Conception church; G. X. Schadewell, Rev. R. F. Kennedy and Rev. Joseph F. Colbert, laid the corner stone of the building in the course of erection in honor of the Sacred Heart.  Said church to be under the charge of the Marist Fathers, canonically appointed by the Sacred Congregation.  Done in Atlanta, Ga., day and date as aforesaid.  Leo Divina Providenta, P. P. XIII. Sup Pont.

‘Thomas A Becker, Bishop of Savannah.

“William McKinley, President United States.

“W. Y. Atkinson, Governor of Georgia.

“C. A. Collier, Mayor of Atlanta.”

The Box was then placed in the heart of the stone, another large stone placed on top and the message was shut out from the world for, perhaps, many a year.  The procession filed slowly out of the church, and the crowd dispersed.

Subscribers to the Church Fund>

The following names were omitted from the list published yesterday of subscribers to the new church:  Dr. R. D. Spalding, Mrs. R. B. Ridley, O. J. McClellan, Harry McEnerney, Miss Annie McNally, Matt McEnerney, W. Gibbons McEnerney, Louis Peterson, Mr. Mathieu, the Hibernian Rifles Catholic Knights, Ancient Order of Hibernians No. 2, Jane Martin.

Building a legacy for the future…

We have just celebrated the history of our Parish Church and its People of Faith over the last 125 years.  Now, we turn our gaze forward and introduce a bold and beautiful vision to add to our marvelous story, as we step into the next 125 years.  Our strong sense of care and responsibility for this incredible structure drives us to honor this sacred place’s future as well as its past.  For here as people have come, so they will continue to come, to encounter the Risen Christ … to have their hearts transformed by his Sacred Heart of love for them.  And, just as all those who have prepared this place for our spiritual walk with the Lord, “for such a time as this” we must now do our part for those yet to make their journey.

We hope to execute this magnificent vision over the next several years, to be fully completed by the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the founding of our Parish, February 28, 2030.