Florida as mission territory

This image of Fr. Patrick Bresnahan
is from his memoir of mission work,
Seeing Florida With a Priest

While researching an early 1880s Catholic colony near Sanford, I found a fascinating book by Father Patrick J. Bresnahan on the excellent Central Florida Memory website. The 1937 Seeing Florida With a Priest recounts his journeys through Florida mission territory in the first decade of the 1900s. What's doubly interesting is that Fr. Bresnahan afterward became the first resident priest at All Souls Catholic Church in Sanford. That church's roots are in the early colony, whose history I'm exploring. Nice circle.

The dichotomy between ecumenism and religious prejudice in frontier Florida continues to intrigue me, and is found aplenty in the 97-page book and elsewhere. At the Sanford church and elsewhere in Florida, local non-Catholics often supported the building of Catholic churches. That seemed especially true in the 1880s. 

Meanwhile, Fr. Bresnahan writes of his first mission in Madison, Fla., in 1904, that "bigotry and prejudice were then rampant in that pretty town" (page 14).  One man who secretly attended mission services was regularly accused of being Catholic by his neighbors, because he tried to dispel misconceptions.

By the time a church building was under construction in Madison in 1907, "all the Catholics contributed generously, and some non-Catholics" (page 15). But all was not completely well. On the same page, Fr. Bresnahan tells how the sheriff threatened to arrest the Catholic church ladies for selling tickets for a giveaway of a patchwork quilt.

The raffle was part of a fundraising bazaar and supper. The town marshal came to the rescue, the publicity generated attention and the gala raised $400. My go-to inflation calculator website doesn't go back to 1907, but were that $400 raised in 1913, it would be the equivalent of $9,483 in 2015 dollars.

Once the church was built, non-Catholics converged to help form a robust choir for a two-week mission. "I left Madison with a feeling that I had done something to remove prejudice" (page 16), writes Fr. Bresnahan humbly. Soon after, he was in Tallahassee, where he found little bigotry despite the occasional "vomitings  of 'cheap' politicians" (page 18).

The above is just a sampling of what can be found in this valuable memoir, which was published by Economy Print Shop in Zephyrhills. I've not yet finished reading the book, but can't end this blog post without mentioning Fr. Bresnahan's encounters with Florida Crackers in Sopchoppy, "which is real country and 'cracker' village" (page 23). His experience bears quoting, because it corrects cultural history that, at times, still depicts pioneer Florida Crackers as backwoods bigots.

"The great interest exhibited during the mission was remarkable; it was conducted in the public school building. The natives, all 'crackers', vied with one another, unlike any other place, in giving me hospitality; and, they went so far as to get up parties for my entertainment, even though many had never seen a priest before. Moreover, they all seemed glad to find out what they had heard concerning priests hitherto were 'lies'." (page 23)

Ignorant backwoods folk? Hardly. The Crackers exhibited a genuine human dignity that contrasts starkly to the antics of some of the era's movers and shakers. There's a lesson in that.

Food, music a winning combo

This view of St. Peter Church in DeLand is from a 1906 issue
of the Florida Agriculturist newspaper. Credit: Chronicling America

Let me start by noting my delight at the discovery of the accompanying photo of St. Peter Catholic Church in DeLand in the Jan. 17, 1906 issue of the Florida Agriculturist newspaper. The newspaper was based in DeLand, and the photo was in an edition that included a feature on local churches.

My enthusiasm stems from the fact that I've had a tough time finding vintage photos of the original house of worship on the site, even in the church archives. A much larger Spanish-Mission-style structure now stands on the spot. So I am glad to show this image here, courtesy of the Library of Congress' wonderful website named Chronicling America.

I had been digging through early newspapers of DeLand to see how local Catholic news was covered by the media in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Not much turned up in  my admittedly small sampling. But I did find two gems, one of which even included a follow-up notice. Both items convey, across decades, a sense of the camaraderie and fellowship that must have existed among parishioners. And both illustrate how back in the day, as now, food and music proved a winning combination.

The first article was from the March 19, 1909 issue of the DeLand News. March is one of the most beautifull months in Central Florida, weatherwise, and the church choir took advantage by gathering for what was labeled "a most delightful outing." The report of the excursion merited Page 1 placement. Sixteen choir members chartered a Clarence Van Horne's boat named Duro, and went from Lake Beresford to Sanford and back again. "Brownies and kodaks were much in evidence." I wish some of those photos from the day still existed. The group stopped for a picnic lunch and, as might be expected, sang: "Being a choir picnic, it goes without saying there was music galore."

Several months later, the ladies of the church's Altar Society organized a supper and musical as a fundraiser The brief article in the Dec. 3, 1909 edition of the DeLand News was also featured on Page 1, and declared that the upcoming event was to be "high class in every respect." The night out was to take place in the new store building of G.A. Dreka, who was one of the parish's founding members and a leading businessman. The event was under the leadership of the Altar Society's "energetic president," Mrs. Will Allen. Would that we also knew her given and maiden names.

The supper and musical was a "decided success" that raised about $125. That's about $3,300 in today's dollars. Not bad at all for a small parish in a small town.