The Ghost of Christmas Past

By Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
December 18, 2019

“Stille Nacht, hellige Nacht” are the opening lyrics of the German Christmas carol that is probably one of the most recognizable of the season. Originally translated into English as “Silent Night” by Bishop John Freeman Young around 1859 or 1860, it has become a holiday staple. Story & Song is presenting a program this Saturday (21st) at 4 pm to showcase the song and talk about the translator’s ties to Fernandina Beach.

The past weaves interesting threads around us. Story & Song’s write-up tells us that Bishop Young had ties to Florida and Fernandina. He was originally ordained in Jacksonville. Upon becoming bishop, he was sent to Jacksonville. While serving in Jacksonville, Bishop Young acquired the home of Confederate General Joseph Finegan. He turned the property into the Bishop’s school (or St. Mary’s Priory).

That stirred my curiosity. Thus, I turned to Wikipedia to see what I could find about Finegan. He was the general in charge of the Confederate forces in Florida. He was victorious in the state’s only major Civil War battle – the Battle of Olustee. Afterwards he led the Florida Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia.

According to Wikipedia, Finegan built a 40-room mansion on a site between 11th and 12th Streets and Broome and Calhoun, where the Atlantic Elementary school is now. That was before the war. It would have been the site Bishop Young acquired as it had been seized at the end of the Civil War but Finegan recovered it.

One of the pleasures of being retired is that you can pursue any item of interest without considering deadlines. In pursuit, I went to the Amelia Island Museum of History website and searched their archives. If you enter “General Joseph Finegan,” you will see two photos of the house. Entering “Young, John Freeman” brings up records on the Episcopal Priory.

We sometimes take for granted that we are in the present, our parents represent the past, and anything before that doesn’t touch us. This mini-research project of mine made me realize that, as Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” We live in history and it is a much larger sphere than we might assume. It will be interesting to hear what the Saturday lecture has to say about Bishop Young and his ties to our town.

Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. Evelyn is vice-chair on the Amelia Center for Lifelong Learning and is on the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.