St. Mary's Catholic Church 2020 Christmas Eve Mass

Please join us here for Christmas Eve Mass live from St. Mary Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Church in Georgetown, SC. Celebrant - Rev. Christopher Beyuo Cantor - Tom Macedo Altar Server - Michael Carlton Lector - Mary Roberts Infant Jesus bearer - Abygail Soucie-Youmell A brief history of St Mary's: There was no official Catholic church in Georgetown until after the Civil War. Just prior to the war, beginning about 1856, a group of Catholics met in the home of Arthur Morgan to worship under traveling priests. Once the war ended, the group became a station of Stella Maris on Sullivan's Island. William Morgan's home at 732 Prince Street served as quarters for the mission priests. Morgan, son of Irish immigrants John and Mary Morgan, was born in New York on February 5, 1853. The oldest of four children and the only son, Willie took responsibility for his family when his father died on September 13, 1865. When Arthur Morgan died in 1878, his nephew, William Morgan, began hosting the group and made his home a quarters for the visiting priests. However, the Catholics of Georgetown strongly desired sacraments. In 1898 Father Charles DuBois Wood was assigned to the budding church. Each week he rode his horse, Dan, from his church in Florence to Georgetown. Father Wood sought approval from Bishop H.P. Northrop to build a church for his Georgetown flock, and with the bishop’s blessing, a lot at the corner of Highmarket and Broad Streets was purchased and ground was broken in October of 1899. Father Wood said the first Sunday Mass in Georgetown in over thirty years on October 29, 1899. The cornerstone of the present church was laid on Thanksgiving Day of that year. The church was officially dedicated on January 5, 1902, by Bishop H. P. Northrop. The name St. Mary was given to the church in honor of the mother of Christ, however name is also said to honor the mother of William Morgan. Bishop Northrop mentioned “His Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Ransom” during the dedication of the church, effectively naming the church St. Mary, Our Lady of Ransom. The church is of pressed brick with granite trimmings of Romanesque style architecture. Originally the church was in the form of a Latin cross, but this no longer exists since the church was renovated and enlarged in 1967. Among the most outstanding features of the church are the four large memorial art glass windows created by Franz Mayer Company of Munich, Germany. They are considered to be exceptional works of art. The two windows dedicated to John and Mary Morgan, W. D. Morgan’s parents, represent “The Good Shepherd” and “St. Mary of Ransom.” The two windows dedicated to John and Catherine McFeely represent “The Flight into Egypt” and “The Apostle John Writing the Gospel at the Isle of Patmos.” These priceless treasures cost $400.00 a pair at the turn of the Twentieth Century. St. Mary's Catholic Church is listed in the National Register as part of the Georgetown Historic District. St. Mary Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Church 317 Broad Street, Georgetown, SC 29440 https://stmaryourladyofransom.org/