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10. Migrations, Movements, and Ministry: Catholicism in the South,1845–1900
- University Press of Florida
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ten Migrations, Movements, and Ministry Catholicism in the South, 1845–1900 x news of Confederate general robert e. lee’s surrender to Union general Ulysses s. Grant on april 9, 1865, struck sorrow throughout most, yet not all, of the american south. soon after this event, a Catholic priest in Clarksville, tennessee, brooded over this news. first scribbling down some lines that month, he finished the poem in May in his parish rectory at immaculate Conception Church in Knoxville. The poem was eventually entitled “The Conquered Banner,” and its stanzas became a requiem for the lost Cause. The first and last stanzas read as follows: furl that Banner, for ’tis weary; round its staff, ’tis drooping dreary; furl it, fold it, it is best; for there’s not a man to wave it, and there’s not a sword to save it, and there’s no one left to lave it, in the blood which heroes gave it; 334 and its foes now scorn and brave it; furl it, hide it,—let it rest! furl that banner, softly, slowly! treat it gently,—it is holy— for it droops above the dead. touch it not—unfold it never, let it droop there, furled forever, for its people’s hopes are dead! on June 24, 1865, “The Conquered Banner” appeared in a Catholic newspaper in new york City. This poem would forever be linked to the Confederate cause, as would its author, fr. abram Joseph ryan.1 ryan was an able poet, a stunning orator and dramatist, and a priest who engendered many myths, especially concerning his birthplace and whereabouts during the Civil War. recent biographers of this southern poet-priest have sought to separate fact from fiction. His parents were born in ireland, and so too were his two older sisters and a brother. Just prior to 1835, the ryan family immigrated to norfolk, virginia; however, the future priest was born on february 5, 1838, in or near Hagerstown, Maryland. in 1840 the family moved to ralls County, Missouri, about one hundred miles northwest of st. louis, and it was there his younger brother david was born in 1842. in 1846 the family moved to st. louis to open a store, and there the future priest stayed until adulthood.2 in the fall of 1851, young ryan entered the school st. Mary of the Barrens, operated by the vincentian order in Perryville, Missouri. Three years later, he decided to join the vincentians (formally called the Congregation of the Missions). after his father’s death in 1858, the twenty-year-old seminarian was sent to a major vincentian seminary near niagara falls, new york. There he became familiar with the New York Freeman’s Journal and Catholic Register , published in new york City. James McMaster, its editor, “was violently opposed to the abolitionists, whom he saw as enemies of Catholicism, and it was in part for this reason that he supported the south in its differences with the industrial north.” The seminarian’s oratorical and theatrical talents so impressed his superiors that the vincentians obtained a dispensation from rome to ordain ryan at twenty-two, two years before the mandated age. on september 12, 1860, in st. louis, in the presence of his family, abraham Joseph ryan was ordained as priest of the vincentian society by archbishop Peter r. Kenrick of st. louis. By early 1861, ryan changed his name from abraham to abram, as many of the slaves in Missouri were calling him Catholicism in the south, 1845–1900 d 335 [44.204.94.166] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 09:46 GMT) 336 d Part III. Resistance, Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Regionalism, 1845–1900 “father abraham”; also, ryan detested any association with president-elect abraham lincoln and his abolitionist-tainted republican Party.3 during the summer of 1861, while ryan was still at st. Mary of the Barrens , his pro-Confederate opinions began to cause concern to his superiors. They sent him to niagara falls, new york, that september, but ryan, feigning illness, left his duties at the seminary in new york in order to appear with Confederate general Pierre Beauregard in nashville in february 1862.4 in april 1862 ryan went to a Catholic parish in illinois, where he stayed until august. He was again in st. louis after leaving the vincentian order, but not the priesthood, on september 1, 1862. Meanwhile, his seminarian brother david left the vincentians and departed for Kentucky to enlist in the Confederate army in...