By Michael Motes

When writing his report to Georgia’s wartime Governor Joseph E. Brown after the withdrawal of Federal troops from Atlanta in 1864, Confederate General W.P. Howard penned: “The City hall is damaged but not burned. The Second Baptist, Second (Central) Presbyterian, Trinity and Catholic churches and all the residences adjacent between Mitchell and Peters (Trinity Avenue) streets, running south or east, and Lloyd and Washington streets running south or west, are safe, all attributable to Father O’Reilly, who refused to give up his parsonage to Yankee officers, who were looking out for fine houses for quarters, and there being a large number of Catholics in the Yankee army, who volunteered to protect their Church and parsonage, and would not allow any houses adjacent to be fired that would endanger them. As proof of their attachment to their Church and love for Father O’Reilly, a soldier who attempted to fire Col. Calhoun’s house, the burning of which would have endangered the whole block, was shot and killed, and his grave is now marked. So to Father O’Reilly the country is indebted for the protection of City Hall, churches, etc.”

The “Catholic church” to which Gen. Howard referred was the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Although the church building as we know it today did not exist at that time, the site of the church has remained the same since the days when Gen. William T. Sherman gave the order for the “damn Yankees” to burn Atlanta.

The first Catholic Church in Atlanta was constructed in 1848. A deed recorded in the DeKalb County courthouse on Aug. 9, 1848, shows that Daniel McShaffrey sold to “Ignatius Reynolds, Bishop of Charleston and the State of South Carolina, and to his successors in office for the use and benefit of the Roman Catholic Church, in the town of Atlanta, Georgia, approximately one acre of land.” The price paid by Bishop Reynolds was $300.

(At the time the Catholic Church purchased land for construction of a church in Atlanta, the city was in DeKalb County. Fulton County was not created until five years later, in 1853. Georgia became a diocese separate from Charleston in 1850.)

Prior to the building of a church in 1848, many Atlantans of all denominations attended Sunday services in a small building which served as a schoolhouse during the week. This building had been erected in 1845. The first entry in what would later become the parish records of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is dated Aug. 9, 1846 The entry records the baptism of George Washington Shipley, son of George Shipley and Susannah (nee) Barnes. The baptism was performed by Fr. John Barry, who is said to have celebrated the first mass in Atlanta in 1845 in the home of either Patrick Lynch or Michael McCullough. The first marriage at which Fr. Barry officiated, as listed in the parish records, took place on Aug. 11, 1846, between Bartholmy O’Brien and Adeline Fink.

These early parish records have been microfilmed by the Georgia State Department of Archives and History and may be examined by the public. The original records are housed in the church rectory. On the fly leaf of the first book of records is inscribed: “I hereby beg Mr. Terence Doonan of Atlanta, Georgia to keep this register under lock and key until a resident priest shall take charge of it. He shall have administered the Holy Sacraments, in order to make record.” The signature is that of John Barry, V.G. Doonan had been one of the engineers who completed the railroad from Augusta to Atlanta in 1846 and among the first Catholic settlers in Atlanta.

Atlanta photographer Van Buren Colley, who serves as historian of Immaculate Conception, wrote in his HISTORY OF THE DIOCESAN SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: “With the arrival of the family of Terence Doonan, it seems that Catholicity in Atlanta had at last gained a solid foot-hold.”

Mr. Colley’s book, along with Atlanta Historical Society president Franklin Garrett’s ATLANTA AND ENVIRONS, is the source of an excellent account of the early history of Atlanta and its first Catholic citizens.

Among the early missionary priests who came to hold Mass in Atlanta were “Frs. Barry and Duggan from Augusta, Fr. Shannahan of Macon, Fr. J.F. O’Neill Sr. from Savannah and Fr. Birmingham from Edgefield, S.C.,” according to Colley.

Of the early priests in Atlanta, none have gained the reputation of the famed Fr. Thomas O’Reilly, who was appointed pastor of the “Atlanta Catholic Church” in 1861 and served until 1872. Fr. O’ Reilly’s courageous stand to save the city’s churches during the burning of Atlanta has long been an integral part of the history of the city. In 1945 a monument to his memory was unveiled.

In part, it reads: “By his courageous protest to the federal forces, preparing to burn and evacuate the city, he saved from the conflagration the following buildings then located in this vicinity: the Atlanta City Hall and Courthouse; the Church of the Immaculate Conception; Saint Philips’ Episcopal Church; Trinity Methodist Church; Second Baptist Church, and the Central Presbyterian Church.” The monument was erected by the several churches and the city of Atlanta.

Unfortunately, Fr. O’Reilly did not live to see his church emerge as the edifice today’s parishioners and visitors to Atlanta can admire. The cornerstone for the church was laid during his pastorate on Sept. 1, 1869. The next day, a story in THE ATLANTA DAILY NEW ERA reported that the Rt. Rev. Bishop Verot of Savannah had “performed the beautiful and impressive ceremony of laying the cornerstone of the new Roman Catholic Church at the corner of Lloyd and Hunter Streets.” A special platform for the dignitaries present had been constructed, and the Atlanta newspaper noted that the grandstands “also afforded seats for a large number of ladies.” According to the reporter of the day, “Shortly after ten o’clock the venerable looking Bishop with his retinue of clergy and altar boys, the latter carrying candles, crucifix, water, salt, and other things to be used in the ceremonies…presented a very imposing appearance in their rich and elegant robes.”

On Wednesday, Dec. 10, 1873, the Church of the Immaculate Conception was formally dedicated by Bishop William Gross of Savannah. Fr. O’Reilly, however, had died the year before in a Virginia sanatorium. His struggle during the War Between the States had ruined his health and ended his ministry at the age of 41.

Although the church has undergone several restoration periods, including that of the federals, since its formal dedication nearly a century ago, the basic, outward appearance remains the same. The most extensive renovation occurred just before the 1969 centennial of the church’s dedication.

In 1954, Archbishop Gerald O’Hara of Savannah-Atlanta, decreed that the church henceforth would be known as the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, “in honor of the 100^th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception.”

The present pastor of the Shrine, Fr. Thomas J. Giblin, a priest of the Franciscan Order, feels that many of his parishioners today return to Immaculate Conception because of strong bonds with the past.

“A lot of the people here are living in memories of the past,” he says. “They were baptized here, their parents and perhaps even grandparents were baptized here and there is a strong feeling of dedication to the past.”

Fr. Giblin, a native of New York, first came South in the fall of 1967 when he as assigned to Moultrie, Ga. He is pleased that is now pastor of “the granddaddy of all the Catholic churches in North Georgia.” He became pastor in September 1970.

“It is rewarding to see so many people returning here because their families have been associated with Immaculate Conception for so many years,” he says. “Although the families have not lived in the neighborhood for years, the children and grandchildren still return.”

His main concern, however, is that the ties with the past will vanish. “As older members of the congregation die, there is a danger that there will be no one to carry on the history of the church. To keep the place going, you must have people.”

One former parishioner, Carolyn Heck who now lives in Savannah Beach, Ga., wrote the BULLETIN last month: “At one time I was a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church and as a writer I have compared the altar there to a cathedral within a cathedral, thus the reason for my poem.”

Perhaps the poem Ms. Heck composed is a good example of the memories of the venerable shrine which Fr. Giblin feels compels people to return. Her description of the altar at the Shrine follows. CATHEDRAL WITHIN A CATHEDRAL

White marble throne

Streaked with lines of gray—

Inspired old-age before the

Newness fades.

Your spires mount heavenward

In turret form,

Before the stained glass window

Where Christ lies born.

Then, the agnostic brusquely asks:

“Who do you house inside

the tiny tabernacle with

gold inlaid door?”

And Faith replies:

“The chalice of salvation,

therein lies my God!”

And suddenly the non-believer

Grows numb with cold,

In the dark and empty chapel

Of his soul.

The wide activities currently underway at the Shrine indicate that the church will still be active when its bicentennial rolls around in 2069.

Among the several active parish organizations is the Holy Name Society, headed by Eddie Gasperini. From September through June, the society hosts a breakfast following the 9:15 a.m. Mass on the second Sunday of each month. The Altar and Rosary Society falls under the presidency of Mrs. George Aseff and Alexander O’Kon leads the parish’s Vincentians. One of the newer organizations within the parish is the “GTO,” or Getting Together Organization for young marrieds.

The priests at Immaculate Conception are housed in a rectory which was built in 1880. Needless to say, the necessary renovations have been made to assure their comfort. At times things do get rather hectic around the rectory, according to Fr. Giblin. Due to the Shrine’s proximity to Grady Hospital, the Franciscan Fathers are often summoned to the hospital. In addition to the frequent calls from the city’s busiest emergency room, the rectory receives a telephone call each morning at 9 a.m. and the names and room numbers of new Catholic patients are taken.

Assistant pastors at the church are Fr. Rayner Dray and Fr. Neal O’Brien. Fr. Dray also serves as part-time chaplain at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center. The rectory is also home for Fr. Raymond A. Beane, chaplain at the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, and Fr. Raphael L. McDonald, director of the Resettlement Division of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.