A southern sympathizer, he left his duties at the seminary and became a well-known chaplain in the Confederate army. A statue in Mobile, Alabama commemorates him as the “poet-priest of the Confederacy.”From the author, David O’Connell Georgia State University…
“Entitled Furl That Banner: The life of Abram J. Ryan, the Poet Priest of the South, it will be published by Mercer UP of Macon GA, and will hopefully appear before the end of calendar 2005.”
“Trained as a Vincentian and steeped in Vincentian spirituality, Ryan was one of the foremost Catholic preachers, orators and poets of the 19th century. Due to a personality conflict with a superior, he left the order and never really recovered. But he left behind many artistic and spiritual gems. His final days were tragic indeed, as he wore down his already frail health trying to get preaching opportunities around the country to pay off the mortgage on a convent in New Orleans.”
From Google… “Abram J. Ryan”
“After studying priesthood at Niagra University in New York State, he attended the Our Lady of Angles Seminary. He was ordained just before the beginning of the Civil War, and entered the Confederate army as a chaplain. He served in this capacity until the end of the war, delivering sacraments to the soldiers on both sides. In the hour of defeat he won the heart of the entire South by his poem, “The Conquered Banner,” in which exquisite measure was taken, as he told a friend, from one of the Gregorian hymns.
“The Conquered Banner” was read or sung in every Southern household, and thus became the apotheosis of the “Lost Cause”.
Bio and Picture
“The Seminary, of St. Mary of the Barrens in Perryville provides another perspective on the war. When the Union of the Confederacy instituted conscription, men owning more than 20 slaves were exempted from serving in the army. The Seminary was already well known and a number of southern landowners sent their sons here, both for an education, and to escape the dangers of the war. Father Abram J. Ryan taught at the seminary at the outbreak of the war. A southern sympathizer, he left his duties at the seminary and became a well-known chaplain in the Confederate army. A statue in Mobile, Alabama commemorates him as the “poet-priest of the Confederacy.”
Poet-Priest of the Confederacy (last paragraph)
Catholic Encyhclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia article
For more information contact
David O’Connell
Professor of French
Department of Modern and Classical Languages
PO Box 3970
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30302-3970
(MCLDJO@langate.gsu.edu)
