[Apologetics] FW: Three Great Chaplains; The Confederate Lawyer by Charles Mills, 7/15/09

Wed Jul 15 12:32:12 EDT 2009

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Mills, 7/15/09

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FGF E-PACKAGE
THE CONFEDERATE LAWYER
JULY 15, 2009

Three Great Chaplains

by Charles G. Mills

GLEN COVE, NY -- The Chaplains Corps of the Confederate Army was
underfunded and underequipped by the Confederate Congress, and yet it
produced some extraordinary men. This is the story of three of them.

Father John B. Bannon, S. J.
        Father John B. Bannon was born and ordained in Ireland. His
maternal grandfather was part of the titled Irish aristocracy. He
immigrated to Saint Louis and was appointed pastor of Saint John the
Apostle Parish in 1858. In 1860, he served for about a month as chaplain
to a militia unit protecting Missouri from an attack by Kansas. In May,
he was captured by Northern troops near his parish and was released in a
few days. He then preached sermons in Saint John's that included
statements such as the War was between "the cross and the crescent, for
which the last, the Yankee substitutes the dollar; a war between
materialism and infidelity of the North, and the remnants of Christian
civilization yet dominant in the South."

        The Northern Army decided to arrest him, but he escaped through
the back door of the church before they could make the arrest and joined
the First Missouri Confederate Brigade as a chaplain. Father Bannon was
known for going onto the battlefield with his troops during the battle,
in defiance of Confederate Army regulations. There he administered
Extreme Unction to dying Catholic soldiers and baptized dying Protestant
soldiers who had never been baptized but wanted to be. In 1863, the
entire brigade was captured. Father Bannon was released and went to
Richmond.

        Confederate President Jefferson Davis asked him to undertake a
double mission in Europe. Father Bannon took a letter from President
Davis to the Blessed Pius IX and had several audiences with the Pope,
resulting in the Pope's letter to President Davis that infuriated the
Lincoln government.

        He then went to Ireland, where he handed out leaflets on the
docks warning those about to sail for America of the dangers of serving
in the Northern Army; he also prepared a poster that he distributed to
every parish in Ireland. The poster contained President Davis' letter to
Pius IX, Pius IX's letter to President Davis, and his own statement
expressing his confidence "that no Catholic will persevere in the
advocacy of an aggression condemned by his Holiness." Although
historians disagree how much Irish recruitment by the Northern Army
dropped, they do agree that it was significant. He never returned to
America. After the War, he became a Jesuit and lived until 1913.

Father Abram Joseph Ryan, C. M.
        Father Abram Joseph Ryan
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abram_Joseph_Ryan) was born in Virginia
and grew up in Saint Louis, where he went to a Christian Brother's
school. He studied for the priesthood at Niagara University in New York
and was ordained as a Vincentian in 1856. At the outbreak of the War, he
was teaching at the seminary in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

        In 1862, he joined the Confederate Army as a chaplain and served
throughout the War. His brother, a Confederate soldier, was killed in
action. Father Ryan wrote two poems about his brother's death. After the
War, he served in a number of parishes in Mississippi, Georgia, and
Tennessee. In 1866, he published a poem about the Confederate flag
called "The Conquered Banner"
(http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/confederate/postwar/banner.html), which
immediately became popular throughout the South and was memorized by
school children for generations. It was prominently featured in volume
I, issue 1, of The Confederate Veteran magazine. By this time, he was
the best known Confederate veteran chaplain.

        Much of his poetry for the rest of his life featured Confederate
themes. He was immensely popular and known as the "Poet-Priest of the
Confederacy" and the "Poet Laureate of the Confederacy." He died in 1886
in a Franciscan monastery. There is a statue of him in Mobile and a
stained glass window in New Orleans. A number of memorial plaques in
various locations recall his contributions.

Father James Sheeran, C. R.
        James Sheeran was born in Ireland and immigrated first to Canada
and then to Michigan. He was married and had two children. After the
death of his wife, he pursued a religious vocation and was ordained as a
Redemptorist in 1858.

        He was assigned to a New Orleans parish; when his Redemptorist
provincial asked for volunteers as Confederate chaplains, he
enthusiastically joined and served with the 14th Louisiana Regiment in
the Army of Northern Virginia. 

        He seems to have been a man of extraordinary courage and
determination in doing what he thought was right and a man who rarely
conformed to military regulations.

        One night, after ministering to the Confederate wounded in a
military hospital, he went to the nearby Northern military hospital and
found that their wounded were receiving no medical care. He indignantly
stormed into the room where the Northern military surgeons were and
demanded to know why they were not treating their wounded. They gave a
number of excuses, of which the only possibly persuasive one was that
they had no bandages. He then went to a number of leaderless Northern
nurses and, with an air of authority, ordered them to go to the
battlefield and take the shirts, handkerchiefs, and everything else
suitable for bandaging from the packs of the dead. When they returned
with a large quantity of bandaging material, he ordered them to go to
the surgeons and tell them they had plenty of bandages. Within hours,
the Northern wounded were receiving medical treatment.

        He won a number of confrontations with Confederate General
Stonewall Jackson. In one of his confrontations, he is supposed to have
said, "General Jackson, I want you to understand that as a priest of God
I outrank every officer in your command. I even outrank you." He even
won an argument with Jackson over whether he should have a tent, which
no one else had.

        He also emerged victorious in a confrontation with Confederate
General Robert E. Lee, who reluctantly gave him an indefinite pass
allowing him to go anywhere he wanted. He frequently crossed the lines
and was arrested  by in November 1964 by order of Northern General
Philip Sheridan. He wrote indignant letters to Sheridan and to Lincoln's
Secretary of War and obtained his release. After he was released, he had
a face-to-face showdown with Sheridan over the restrictions placed on
him and again prevailed.

        After the War, Father Sheeran was released from the Redemptorist
Congregation and became a very successful pastor in Morristown, New
Jersey.

        Father Sheeran died in 1881.    

###

The Confederate Lawyer is copyright (c) 2009 by Charles Mills and the
Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation, http://www.fgfbooks.com. All rights
reserved.

Charles G. Mills is the Judge Advocate or general counsel for the New
York State American Legion. He has 40 years of experience in many trial
and appellate courts and has published several articles about the law.

Read this on-line at:
http://www.fgfbooks.com/Mills-Charles/2009/Mills090714.html

Charles Mills biographical sketch:
http://www.fgfbooks.com/Mills-Charles/Mills-bio.html

Donate to the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation:
http://www.fgfbooks.com/Donate.html

Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation contact information:
P.O. Box 1383, Vienna, VA 22183
http://www.fgfbooks.com/

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