The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic church in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The current church building was completed in 1873 and is the oldest church in Atlanta, as well as one of the oldest standing buildings in the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The church traces its history back to the 1840s, when missionary priests from Augusta and Macon would hold services in the houses of Irish Catholic immigrants who lived in the city. By 1848, the Catholic population in the area had grown enough to warrant its own dedicated building, and a wooden structure was constructed in 1848 and dedicated as the Church of the Immaculate Conception the following year. During the American Civil War, the church's pastor, Thomas O'Reilly, convinced officials in the Union Army to spare the building and several nearby structures from destruction during their occupation of Atlanta. However, the church was severely damaged during the war and as the congregation grew during the Reconstruction era, it became evident that a larger building was needed.
In 1869, work commenced on a new brick structure, designed by Atlanta architect William H. Parkins in the Gothic Revival style, which was completed and dedicated in 1873. The church continued to grow through the late 1800s and early 1900s, and several parishes were carved out of the church's parish as the city's population increased. However, due to a change in demographics starting in the early 1900s, the church began to decline in membership, and by the late 1940s, there were discussions on selling the church. However, instead, the bishop of the church's diocese oversaw a restoration that was completed by 1954, when the church was dedicated as a shrine. In 1958, the church was placed under the care of the Franciscans. In 1982, the church suffered from a massive electrical fire that nearly destroyed the entire building, but it was restored by 1984. In 1987, the Franciscans returned management of the church to the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and their appointed priest, John Adamski, made sweeping changes to the church, such as by expanding outreach to the city's LGBT population and to people with AIDS, working with other nearby churches to provide more services to the area's homeless population, and opening the church to the public for guided tours to attract contributions from tourists. By the mid-2000s, the church had an estimated 325 families in its congregation, and roughly a third of its congregants were LGBT.
History Background The city now known as Atlanta was founded in 1837 under the name Terminus, in reference to its location as the "terminus" for the Western and Atlantic Railroad that had been built in north Georgia. Over the next several years, the city grew in size and importance, becoming a major railroad junction for the southeastern United States. Many of the people who had worked on the railroad's construction and operation were immigrants, and by 1850, of the roughly 2,500 people who lived in the city, about 10 percent had been born outside of the United States. These immigrants were primarily Irish Catholics who maintained their religion after settling in the area, which at the time was under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston. Beginning in 1845, priests from other Georgia cities such as Augusta and Macon would travel to the city to preach and perform Mass in the houses of the railroad workers. The oldest records from this mission parish date to 1846, when a baptism was conducted on August 9. From this time until 1849, John Barry served as the parish priest.
First church building
Through the 1840s, the Irish Catholic population of Atlanta continued to increase, driven primarily by immigration from Ireland due to the Great Famine. By 1848, the parish's population had grown large enough to necessitate a permanent church building. On February 23 of that year, a land lot located one block from Atlanta City Hall was purchased by the parish for $300 and construction commenced on a new building. Work on this new church was completed later that year, making it one of the first in the city to be built in the city. The building was made of wood with a white painted exterior, and its front had a small porch with stairs on either side. Inside, the church's sanctuary consisted of an alcove that had the phrase "Gloria in excelsis Deo" painted around the arch. Hanging behind the altar was a painting, a copy of The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.
In early 1849, Bishop Ignatius A. Reynolds of Charleston officially dedicated this new church building and also gave it an official name of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Prior to this, the church had no official name and was typically just referred to as the city's Catholic church. In 1850, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah was formed out of the Diocese of Charleston and included all of Georgia. At this time, DeKalb County, (which Atlanta was located in), was home to 34 churches, of which only one was Catholic. On February 13, 1851, after several years of relying on missionary priests, the parish received its first permanent pastor with the installation of Jeremiah F. O'Neill of Savannah, who used the church as a base for further missionary work into north Georgia and East Tennessee. On May 2, 1852, Bishop Francis Xavier Gartland of Savannah made his first visit to the church, where he administered the sacrament of confirmation on several individuals.
American Civil War In 1861, Thomas O'Reilly, a 30-year-old member of the clergy from County Cavan, Ireland, was named the pastor of Immaculate Conception. O'Reilly would serve as the church's pastor for 11 years, including the duration of the American Civil War, which began the same year he was appointed to that position. During the war, the church building was used as a military hospital for wounded soldiers. O'Reilly during this time ministered to wounded soldiers from both the Confederate and the Union armies, and on March 16, 1864, he was given a commission as an official military chaplain for the Confederacy. On September 2, 1864, during the Atlanta campaign, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's army captured Atlanta. Much of his army was made up of Irish Catholic immigrants, and Sherman was largely viewed as being a Catholic himself. Following the city's capture, Sherman ordered the civilian population to evacuate the city, though O'Reilly disobeyed his orders. At the time, O'Reilly was the only Catholic chaplain available in the area. and he continued to minister to soldiers in the city, including to many of Sherman's troops. In November, Sherman ordered that all useful infrastructure in the city be burned before he commenced with his March to the Sea. However, O'Reilly, convinced one of Sherman's officers, Henry Warner Slocum, to spare the church from destruction. O'Reilly alluded to a rebellion amongst the army's Catholic soldiers if the church were allowed to be destroyed, and Sherman acquiesced to his requests, stationing several guards around the church. As a result of O'Reilly's actions, Immaculate Conception, as well as several other nearby churches, the city hall, and several residential buildings in downtown, were among the only buildings to not be destroyed. Years later, in 1945, the Atlanta Historical Society would honor O'Reilly's contributions to the city with a memorial on the grounds of the city hall.
New church building Despite being spared from complete destruction, the church building had been severely damaged by shelling that had occurred during the conflict, and the building's use as a hospital had left the floors stained with blood. However, the church's congregation continued to grow in the Reconstruction era as the city recovered from the war. In 1866, four members of the Sisters of Mercy opened a day school and a boarding school for the parish. The church's Sunday school had roughly 400 members in 1867, while the church itself claimed 900 members in 1871. Around this time, J. J. Haverty, a future businessman who would go on to found the furniture company Havertys, served as an altar boy for O'Reilly. In 1868, Redemptorists visited Georgia and, during a week-long stay in Atlanta, heard 5,500 confessions and saw 23 converts join the church. That same year, the capital of Georgia was relocated to Atlanta, and construction on the new capitol building commenced one block away from Immaculate Conception. With the growth of both the city and the church in the postwar era, the wooden building proved insufficient for their needs, and the parishioners decided to move forward with the construction of a new church.
In 1869, the wooden church building was relocated to a corner of the church's property to allow the construction of a new brick building in its place. Local architect William H. Parkins was selected to design this new building, and it was one of the first major projects he would work on during his career in Atlanta. Parkins, who was the first architect to practice in Atlanta, would go on to have a lengthy career and would design several other churches in the city, of which today only Immaculate Conception still stands. Groundbreaking for the new structure happened in June 1869, and the stone for the building's foundation was provided by Patrick Lynch, a local Irish businessman in the stone industry who was responsible for some of the earliest paved streets in Atlanta. On September 1, the cornerstone of the building was laid. At the accompanying dedication, Bishop Augustin Verot of Savannah presided, while noted Catholic pastor and poet Abram Joseph Ryan delivered a sermon. Construction on the new building continued for several years, at a cost of between $75,000 and $80,000. In 1872, during the building's construction, O'Reilly died, with his funeral held in the old wooden church. His body would later be interred in a crypt underneath the main altar in the new church. Primary construction on the building lasted until 1873, and on December 10 of that year, the building was dedicated in a ceremony presided over by Bishop William Hickley Gross of Savannah. The wooden building was demolished the same year, and in fact, all of the buildings that had been spared destruction during the occupation of Atlanta would be demolished within the next 20 years. Despite the dedication, additional minor construction work continued until 1880, and the church's high altar would not be dedicated until January 10 of that year. Also in 1880, Immaculate Conception's pastor James O'Brien donated land for St. Joseph's Infirmary. This institution, operated by the Sisters of Mercy, was the first permanent hospital in the city.
In 1880, a rectory was constructed adjacent to the church. That same year, with the growth of the Catholic population in Atlanta, a second parish for the city was established out of territory spun off from Immaculate Conception. This new parish was originally known as Saints Peter and Paul, but after the construction of a new church building along Peachtree Street in 1898, it became known as the Sacred Heart parish. In 1903, another parish was established from former Immaculate Conception territory, and by 1908 there were four Catholic churches in the city. The late 1800s and early 1900s also saw several notable pastors serving at Immaculate Conception, including Benjamin Joseph Keiley and Emmet M. Walsh, who would both later become bishops. Also during this time, many Irish Travellers in the region would meet at Immaculate Conception once a year on April 28 to hold a mass funeral for their dead, with many Travellers buried in the city's Oakland and Westview cemeteries. By 1914, Immaculate Conception had a membership of between 1,300 and 1,500 and supported sixteen missions.
Decline and restorations