For more information on writer Walt Garlington as well as resources on the Orthodox view of the departed, the meaning of a Saint and their veneration, explanation of old vs new calendar, and funeral hymns and prayers, click here.
By Walt Garlington
Before we get to the Southerners of the past whom we normally honor and pray for, we must take a moment to pray for those Southrons who died in the Nashville Christian school shooting this past Monday. Here are their names: Evelyn, Hallie, William, Cynthia, Katherine, Mike, and Audrey.
The addition of the shooter is not an accident. St Silouan the Athonite (1938), echoing our Lord, stresses that one who does not love his enemies does not have true love for God, has not acquired the Grace of the Holy Ghost, and will not find peace.
Dear friends, if you have time, please pray for these members of the Southern family on the day they reposed. Many thanks.
Editor’s note: My apologies for the belated publication of this monthly series. Fortunately, it’s never too late to pray for the departed. – DM
April 1st
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.: One of New Orleans’s great jazz musicians.
https://selu.libguides.com/BlackHistorySELA/marsalis
April 2nd
Gen. A.P. (Ambrose Powell) Hill: Amongst the best generals serving under Lee. Both Jackson and Lee called upon him as they stepped into the life beyond death. [His photo is on left of the feature image at top.]
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/hill-a-p-1825-1865/
DM: I highly recommend the quality documentary “A.P. Hill: Confederate Warrior.” Also, be sure to check out the lovely photos of Hill’s reinterment, which took place on January 22 in Culpeper, Virginia. My family and I were honored to attend the reburial with our friend Jim Jatras, who wrote, “Proud to be part of outpouring of love & respect for the life & legacy of gallant Virginia cavalier Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill Jr, late of the CSA … May his noble memory never fade, nor the ignominy of his vile detractors be forgotten.”
April 3rd
Richard Weaver: Perhaps the greatest defender of Southern ways to be born in Dixie
https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/weaver-richard-malcolm-jr
April 6th
Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston: One of Dixie’s leaders during the War, killed at the Battle of Shiloh.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/albert-sidney-johnston
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4334/albert-sidney-johnston
April 7th
Judge Jackson: He helped the Southern folk-art of shape-note singing to blossom.
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/the-colored-sacred-harp/
April 9th
Appomattox Day: If you have time, please pray for the South on April 9, Appomattox Day, the beginning of our sojourn in captivity. Do some fasting as well if you can. The Holy Fathers tell us and show us over and over again that humility attracts the Grace of God.
DM: Although I was remiss in publishing April’s Remembrances on time, praying for your neighbors and your “earthly and temporal homeland” is always a good thing.
April 11th
Caroline Gordon: One of the South’s best writers of novels and short stories.
https://www.visitclarksvilletn.com/plan/clarksville-connections/literature-and-journalism/caroline-gordon/
April 11th
Gen. Wade Hampton III: A fine calvary officer in the War; he was chosen to succeed JEB Stuart as the leader of that department after he was killed in battle. After the war he served his State of South Carolina in political office. A more dedicated man to the cause of Southern independence would be hard to find.
https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/wade-hampton-iii-1818-1902/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/439/wade-hampton/photo
April 12th
Gen. Richard Taylor: He lived and fought in Louisiana before and during the turbulent War years and was buried there after he died.
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/richard-taylor/
http://www.la-cemeteries.com/Notables/Civil%20War/Taylor,%20Richard/Taylor,Richard.shtml
DM: Dr. Clyde Wilson wrote that one of the two best Confederate memoirs is Taylor’s “Destruction and Reconstruction.” The quick-witted writer, courageous military leader, and great citizen of the South, Taylor (who also happened to be the son of President Zachary Taylor) didn’t take too kindly to when “a German immigrant once vaingloriously instructed him on how to be a proper American.” Sadly, humility is anathema to the Yankee ethos.
April 13th
Col. Edmund Rucker: A leader under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in the War, he lost his left arm at the Battle of Nashville. After the War, he led the industrial development of Birmingham, Alabama.
https://www.geni.com/people/Col-Edmund-W-Rucker-CSA/6000000017376848156
April 22nd
Fr. Abram Ryan: An eloquent poet and priest beloved of people across the South.
https://catholicism.org/priest-poet-patriot-father-abram-j-ryan.html
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7494769/abram-joseph-ryan
https://www.docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/ryan/ryan.html
April 25th
Donald Davidson: Another outstanding 20th century defender of the South and an excellent writer of poems, non-fiction prose, and ballads.
https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/donald-davidson/
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2013/06/philosopher-poet-donald-davidson-agrarian-south.html
April 26th
Confederate Memorial Day for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi.
https://www.southernagrarian.com/holidays/
April 26th
Don Andrés Almonaster: A wealthy Spanish civil servant who lived in New Orleans during Spanish rule of Louisiana. He gave very generously to rebuild the city after the Great Fire of 1788. Two of his notable benefactions are what would become Charity Hospital and the St Louis Cathedral in which he is buried.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andres_Almonaster_y_Rojas
April 28th
Jack Hinson: A family man in Tennessee trying to stay neutral in the War. When Yankees murdered two of his sons in cold blood and mutilated their corpses, he became one of their deadliest enemies as a sniper.
https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/the-story-of-civil-war-sniper-jack-hinson-and-his-rifle/247860
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/jack-hinsons-one-man-war/
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are! Anathema to the Union!
♱ Our Holy Mother Mary of Egypt, 1/14 April
One of the greatest saints of the Church and an icon of the extraordinary fruits true repentance can produce. Our venerable mother Mary of Egypt was a desert ascetic who repented of a life of prostitution. She lived during the sixth century, and passed away in a remarkable manner in 522. The Church celebrates her feast day on the day of her repose, April 1; additionally, she is commemorated on the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt, the fifth Sunday in Great Lent.
Source
For the original life of St. Mary by St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem
“Troparion — Tone 8“
The image of God was truly preserved in you, O mother, / for you took up the Cross and followed Christ. / By so doing, you taught us to disregard the flesh, for it passes away; / but to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal. / Therefore your spirit, O holy Mother Mary, rejoices with the Angels.
“Kontakion — Tone 3“
Having been a sinful woman, / you became through repentance a Bride of Christ. / Having attained angelic life, / you defeated demons with the weapon of the Cross; / therefore, O most glorious Mary you are a Bride of the Kingdom!
Source
DM: I pray my Protestant and Catholic friends had a joyous Easter and that my fellow Orthodox have a truly blessed Holy Week and Pascha. Christ has Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!
