Bill > S0864

This resolution, a Senate Resolution from South Carolina, congratulates St. James the Greater Catholic Mission on its 200th anniversary and commends it for its enduring faith, resilience, and long-standing service to Colleton County and the state. The resolution highlights the church's unique history, originating in 1826 as a rural, African American Roman Catholic parish that has continuously existed since before the Civil War, and notes its historically intact campus including a church, school, and cemetery. It recounts the church's origins, built by Irish plantation owners to worship with enslaved African Americans, and its survival and growth after emancipation, with the crucial role of formerly enslaved catechist Vincent de Paul Davis and later Father Daniel Berberich in re-establishing the congregation and rebuilding after a tornado. The resolution also acknowledges the adjacent schoolhouse, built in 1901, which educated over a hundred African American students until integration, and emphasizes the congregation's perseverance through slavery, natural disasters, and other hardships, tracing their faith back to ancestors who preserved it for forty years without a priest. Finally, it recognizes the extraordinary story of the parishioners, whose roots are tied to enslaved individuals and Irish Catholic planters, and whose graveyard holds both congregants and early Irish settlers, appreciating the mission's dedication and commitment to serving the community and the state.

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=0864&session=126&summary=B