St. Benedict the Moor, A Beacon of Light
“In May 1874 two Benedictine priests arrived in Savannah to work with the city’s African-American community and constructed a church four blocks north of here. In 1889 a new building was constructed at this site. The Society of African Missions staffed the parish from 1907 to 1968. Staffed by Franciscan Sisters, St. Benedict’s day school operated from 1907 until its closure in 1969 due to integration. The school’s alumni include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The sisters also staffed the orphanage established by Mother Matilda Beasely, the first African-American woman in Georgia to belong to a religious order. The current building was constructed in 1949.”
In 2008, the Georgia Historical Society partnered with Walmart and Sam’s Club to present St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church on East Broad Street here in Savannah with its historical marker. St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church is Georgia’s first black church and Savannah’s 2nd. This church is one of the most historical churches in Savannah, but to the parishioners the church is so much more than history. The people at St. Benedict view the church as a beacon of light for the Savannah/Chatham County area. The church is wildly active in the community and prides itself on being more than a church. Church historian, Fred Foster, comments, “right now there are so many churches…open their doors on Sunday and close them after the service and that space is not used to help individuals during the other days of the week”
On November 17 around 11am, I had the privilege of interviewing the church historian of St. Benedict, Fred Foster. We spoke for over half an hour and Foster had many things to say about the church and the people of the church. I was even able to establish a common bond between myself and Mr. Foster, his daughter had actually moved to Hampton, Virginia, where I’m from and attended Hampton University which is actually not too far from my house. Mr. Foster became a part of the church about 50 years ago when he was 25 and almost at the end of his service in the air force at Hunter Airfield. Foster joined the church just when many changes were going on within the Catholic Church as a whole. As the Catholic Church went through many changes, and they were no longer as structured as before, obviously St. Benedict also was going through these changes.
Foster describes the people of the church as “a family,” he discusses how he has friends who were at the church before he joined and were still there. He talks about how the people of the church don’t allow live in the little neighborhood surrounding St. Benedict. The church has parishioners ffrom all over Savannah and Chatham County. “I could always tell that after mass, people don’t rush and leave off they stand around and talk…so it’s almost like there’s a joy in greeting…your fellow parishioners and just having conversation with them.” Foster remarks fondly as he talks about the values of the parishoners. Foster even ended up meeting his wife at St. Benedict’s. Her family had been a part of this church since the 1800s.
He speaks for a bit about the effects racial discrimination and segregation had on the church in its first stages. “The church has never closed their doors to anyone…its always been integrated but the community has not always been…integrated,” Foster tells me about the church, however a lot of programs that were started by the church were started in order to offer colored people what they deserved but may not have had the ability to have. This includes the school that was started in order to give African American children an education. The church was first started by Reverend Bergier and Rev. Wissel in 1874 as a as a way for the Benedictines to spread their religion among the African American population of Savannah. In 1876, the Yellow Fever hit Savannah, this took the life of Rev. Bergier, with this, the Benedictines left. Afterwards the members still tried to carry on worshipping, some African Americans were allowed to stand in the balconies of the Sacred Heart Church according to Mr. Foster. In 1889, the Benedictines had returned and contructed a new church on the current site. Since then the church has been realizing that they were “no longer a mission church, but a church with a mission.”1 Since then the church has been actively involved to hold true to their mission to be a “beacon of light” by being heavily involved in the community whether through the school or by other forms of community service. Foster mentions that he hopes to see in the future that St. Benedict has completed a center for senior citizens. This center would provide them with resources and knowledge of what resources are available to them. It would also be a center that would provide community for the senior citizens of the area who might live alone. This center that Foster hopes to see would be a community for the senior citizens of Savannah.
Foster, himself, talks about how much the “rich history” of the church fascinates him, “…that’s what I like so much...ever since 1874 they’ve really been right within a four block area.” We talked more about the building of Mother Beasley’s house across the street from the church and how her history has intertwined with St. Benedict. Mother Beasley ran an orphanage for young African American girls in the late 1890s at the site of St. Benedict.
We also discussed for a moment, the building in between the church and the parish office. I had mentioned that it was funny that the one of the SCAD Historic Preservation buildings was sandwiched by this historic church. After mentioning this he started to tell me about the history of this building and all of their past neighbors. The building use to be a convent for the women who worked at the church. After it was a convent, it turned into a transition center for women just getting out of prison. Foster made the joke that “it’s continued to be a convent now for women who’ve been incarcerated, it’s the same principle.” After it was a transition center for women, it turned into a transition center for men until finally it became a historic preservation building by SCAD.
On Sunday, November 9 I attended a service at St. Benedict. It was an interesting experience, attending a Catholic mass when I was raised at a Protestant church. I’ve attended one Catholic mass before though, and it was very strict and traditional. The massI attended at St. Benedict was quite far from that. The mass still held the traditional elements of any Sunday church service, however it felt very relaxed. One point that really struck me was during one song, the whole congregation got up and starting walking around the church. As they walked around I noticed one woman who had been sitting in the aisles with the rest of us, walk up to the choir and embrace a woman who had been singing with the choir. After they embraced, she sat down with her arm around her friend and started singing with the choir. This, to me, truly inhabited exactly what Fred Foster had been saying in our interview. He said that the church was like a family. I interviewed with Foster after my time at mass but I couldn’t help but think of this event as he said that. During the service as well, they spoke of a young woman who had been “raised” by the church. It was announced that this young woman would be playing Division I basketball for the University of Oklahoma. I’ve heard of many churches who “raise” children before, but when the announcer spoke of this young woman’s accomplishments the whole church spoke out and with one another. I could hear their words of approval and genuine happiness at her accomplishments. Foster hadn’t been over-exaggerating when he compared this church to being a family.
Continuously throughout the interview, Foster talked about how involved the church is with the community, how the church is a beacon of light for the community. With everything I heard from him and everything I saw at the Sunday mass, I couldn’t agree more. St. Benedict the Moor is truly a beacon of light in the Downtown historic Savannah.
https://soundcloud.com/dorothy-douglas-1/interview-with-fred-foster
By: Dorothy Douglas
