September 20: Walls of Stone

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Today is September 20th, and our story is Walls of Stone. On September 20th, 1863, the Battle of Chickamauga ended, and the Catholics of Chattanooga, Tennessee couldn't have been happier. Catholics had lived in the Chattanooga area for at least 20 years by the time the American Civil War began. Throughout the 1840s, they gathered for Mass in individual homes. By 1852, however, they had their first resident pastor, the Presbyterian convert, Father Henry V. Brown, and within a few years of his arrival, they raised sufficient funds to begin building a proper church.

In 1863, St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church was nearly complete when Union Major General William S. Rosecrans began his disastrous pursuit of Confederate General Braxton Bragg's Confederate Army of Tennessee. After routing Bragg's troops in the Tallahoma Campaign, Rosecrans' superiors ordered him to solidify the Union's victory on the Western Front by cutting off the fleeing Confederate general and forcing his surrender.

Unfortunately for Rosecrans, due to a badly written order sent to one of his officers, that pursuit backfired, and soon Union forces were retreating to Chattanooga. With the Confederate troops bearing down on the city, Rosecrans, himself a convert to Catholicism, ordered his men to demolish Saints Peter and Paul Church. He desperately needed the stone for fortifications and culverts that could protect his troops.

In the church's walls, he found stones aplenty. Nobody knows how many lives the church's stones spared, some for certain, but not enough for Rosecrans. to win the day. He lost the battle in the most humiliating defeat of his career, and Washington relieved the general of his duties in the war's Western theater.

After the Battle of Chickamauga ended, it took 25 years before Saints Peter and Paul's parishioners could build again. Their second pastor, Father William Walsh, laid the cornerstone for a new church in 1888. Two years later, the bishop dedicated the new building, a brick and stone Gothic structure featuring stained glass windows designed by Louis Tiffany. Now known as the Mother Church of East Tennessee, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church became a minor basilica in 2011.

Even in conflict, the church stands as a sanctuary for people and principles alike, providing both spiritual and, sometimes, literal shelter. Consider how your parish or local faith community provides support during crises. Find a way to contribute this week, even in a small role.

Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader Podcast. Join us tomorrow, September 21st, for another story of faith and courage in America.