Thursday, January 12, 2006
FEATURE
Southern Cross, Page 3
Remembering Acadian Catholics of Saint Marys
and James T. Vocelle, their historian
n January,1933, James T. Vocelle contributed a history to The Bulletin
of the Catholic Laymen’s Association detailing the forced removal of
Acadians from their homeland after its forfeiture from France to England.
Decades after the event, in 1755, the country’s English rulers still feared a
lingering sympathy toward France on the part of the Acadians. This fear
resulted in the deportation of the hardworking and once-happy Acadian
people to other parts of the world. Those unwilling to go along with this
measure fled in boats or on foot as their homes blazed behind them.
Besides their presumed fondness
in the dead of winter, the unfortufor France, the Acadians appear to
nate 400 were informed that their
have been guilty of another
presence would not be tolerated in
“crime,” their unwavering Catholic
the colony of Georgia. They were
faith. The rich farmlands they left
expected to leave as soon as possiadded further cause for their banble. Ninety members of the group
ishment. The story of these disposdeparted for Long Island, but were
sessed people was tragic enough to
soon dispersed to other places.
inspire Henry Wadsworth LongSome Acadians who managed to
fellow’s narrative poem,
make boats for themselves trav“Evangeline,” and to have
eled to Massachusetts, but
their removal bear ever
feelings against them preafterwards the soubriquet
vailed there, too. Their
of “Le Grand Derangeboats and remaining possesment” or “The Great
sions seized, the unfortuDisturbance.”
nate wanderers were soon
No Catholics allowed
on their way again.
In his history, Vocelle,
Similarly, Acadians who
Rita H. DeLorme departed Georgia for South
himself a descendant of
displaced Acadians, brought to
Carolina found themselves suffermind his ancestors’ plight.
ing because of an act engineered by
Unwanted in the American colonies
South Carolina’s Governor Littlethey were sent to by the British, the
ton. The terms of this law decreed
Acadians were turned away at
that four-fifths of the Acadians who
almost every port they entered.
remained in the state should be disOnly Maryland offered them sancpersed throughout every “parish” in
tuary and the right to be Catholic.
South Carolina, excepting only
When 400 Acadians arrived in
Charleston. Additionally, they were
Savannah on two ships in 1755,
relegated by law to be indentured
John Reynolds, first royal governor
to anyone willing to take them on
of the province of Georgia, was
as servants.
busy in Augusta dealing out a
Back to Georgia via Haiti
treaty to local Native Americans.
Things improved for the embatThe arrival of these people from
tled and weary Acadians when they
Nova Scotia (or Acadia, as the
returned to Georgia following the
French called it) in Savannah was a
American Revolution and settled in
major problem for Reynolds. After
cities such as Savannah, Augusta
all, the colony of Georgia had been
and Saint Marys. Their path to
founded by James Oglethorpe with
Georgia had been routed through
the clear understanding that no
Saint Domingue (Haiti) which they
Catholics were to be admitted.
and other French settlers abanProvided the bare minimum of
doned when a slave revolt broke
sustenance by Savannah residents
out under the leadership of
Melkite priest to be ordained
in Augusta
eacon Christopher Manuele of
the Melkite Greek Catholic
Eparchy of Newton, will be
ordained a priest by Archbishop
Cyril Bustros of the Melkites in the
United States on February 26, at
10: 00 a.m., at Saint Ignatius of
Antioch Melkite Greek Catholic
Church.
Deacon Manuele, originally from
D
the Chicago area, has been
assigned to Saint Ignatius as deacon since early 2005 and completed
some of his early seminary training
there also.
This may be the first priestly
ordination celebrated in Augusta of
a Catholic clergyman of the
Eastern Rite.
Photo by Joseph A. DeLorme.
I
The original Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Saint Marys.
Toussaint l’Ouverture.
Other ports along the eastern
seaboard of the United States
besides those in Georgia received
the refugees. James Vocelle, paternal grandfather of author James T.
Vocelle, was one of a group of
Acadians who settled in
Charleston. James Vocelle left
Charleston for Saint Marys early in
the nineteenth century. There, he
met and married Angelique
Desclaux, a descendant of the
Comeaus, one of the most distinguished Acadian families.
In the history printed in The
Bulletin, Vocelle confirms that “it
was to what was then the prosperous seaport of Saint Marys that
many of the French exiles found
their way.” He adds: “Here in this
beautiful little haven on the
Georgia coast, the French clan
gathered until it has almost become
a French colony, and so numerous
did they and their descendants
become that at one time a parish
was established with a resident
priest.” Vocelle noted that, as of
1933 when his history appeared in
The Bulletin, the number of
Catholics in Saint Marys had
declined so much that “in the little
church where the writer was baptized in 1897, not another baptismal rite was performed until
1921, when the writer’s first-born
son was baptized there by the late
Father Joseph A. Petit, SM, of
Brunswick.”
Community leaders
Over time, the Vocelles became
community leaders in Saint Marys.
Lucien Marcellin Vocelle, father of
James T. Vocelle, was elected the
city’s mayor for two terms. Enabled to practice their religion
freely, the Acadians became a vital
part of the Catholic community in
the seaside town. The Catholic
faith adhered to by the Acadian
emigrants would fluctuate over the
years in Saint Marys, moving from
a room above a grocery store in the
beginning to a former bank building donated by Mrs. Marie Ponce
DuFour which was converted to the
chapel of Our Lady, Star of the
Sea.
As a boy, James T. Vocelle summoned local Catholics to this
chapel for Catholic readings by his
aunt whenever a priest could not be
obtained to say Mass. His Aunt
“Ta,” Vocelle wrote, had pledged
that “the light of faith would never
die out in Saint Marys”.
Today, a newer Our Lady Star of
the Sea, situated on Dillingham
Street, guides Catholic worshippers
to its doors while the original
chapel is maintained for special use
by local Catholics.
Although James C. Vocelle
(1897-1992) lived and practiced
law in Florida for much of his life,
he never forgot his Acadian roots,
as confirmed by three books he
wrote: A History of Camden
County, Triumph of the Acadians,
and Reminiscences of Old Saint
Marys. Vocelle is buried in old Oak
Grove Cemetery in Saint Marys as
are other descendants of Acadians,
including members of the DuFour,
DuBois (DuBose), Arnow and Fox
families, to name a few.
Columnist RITA H. DELORME
is a volunteer in the Diocesan
Archives. She can be reached
at [email protected].
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