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“The Phoenix & The Ashes” Chronicles the 1926 abduction of Norfolk, VA priest Father Vincent Warren, by the Ku Klux Klan, covered in the national media, e.g., https://catholicvirginian.org/news/bicentennial-time-capsule/time-capsule-february-10-2020/
Known as “The Mother Church of Tidewater,” the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception’s roots date back to 1791, when the parish was found in Norfolk, Virginia as St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, founded by a French priest, diverse immigrants, Haitians, and free and enslaved Blacks. It is the oldest Roman Catholic parish community in the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. The parish’s first church building was constructed in 1842, but was destroyed by an 1856 fire, because of its radical membership. It was also believed to be conducting interracial marriages.
The current Gothic Revival edifice was built over two years, 1857 – 1858. It was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1979. On December 8, 1991, in celebration of the church’s 200th anniversary, it was designated as a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II, a unique distinction, as it is the only African American Catholic basilica in the U.S. The Basilica’s rich African American culture and heritage are deeply rooted in its 1961 merger with Norfolk’s black Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church and School.
St. Joseph’s was found in 1889 by the Josephites, an order of Roman Catholic priests created after the Civil War, expressly to serve African Americans. St. Joseph’s provided the only Catholic high school in the city of Norfolk at that time and would also later become the home of the city’s first high school band. On September 1, 1926, its pastor Father Vincent Warren was abducted by the Ku Klux Klan and threatened to be burned alive, because of his association with blacks. He would emerge hours later, unharmed, a celebrated “Phoenix,” who continued his passionate advocacy for Norfolk’s black community.
Of the hundreds of African-American families who migrated to St. Mary’s in 1961 were Ammon, Theodore, Victor, Mary and Hallie Ashe. Descendants of “the Ashes” still attend the church today. The Phoenix & The Ashes tells the true story of what happens one evening, many years ago, when Victor, Mary and Hallie Ashe invited Father Warren and associate pastor Father Peter Hogan over to break bread and share libations. The engaging, delightful and insightful discourse that followed made for an evening chockful of local history. Father Hogan had the presence of mind to record the gathering on an old reel-to-reel tape recorder. Father Warren later had the recording transcribed into a hard copy document. Many years later, Deacon Calvin Bailey was alarmed to have found that, following an in-depth cleaning of the church offices, someone had inadvertently placed the document in a trash bin. Instantly, he knew he had happened upon a genuine treasure. The deacon gave it to me to develop it into a nostalgic stage drama. Yet, using the actual text from the lively, often comical and insightful dialogue recorded that evening, I opted to tell the tale of the 1926 abduction of Father Warren in a novel film.
Directed by Terrance Afer-Anderson (USA)