NOTABLE PASTORS AND ASSISTANT PASTORS OF

ST. MARY OF THE SEVEN SORROWS

CATHOLIC CHURCH

1837-1859: Bishop Richard Pius Miles, O.P.

1863: Assistant Pastor, Father Abram Ryan, Poet Laureate of the Confederacy. The church was dedicated as a neutral zone and used as a military hospital for Union and Confederate troops. Over 300 men died on her floor during this period.)

1894-1914: Bishop Thomas Sebastian Byrne

1941-1953: Monsign Thomas P. Duffy, Protonotary Apostolic. Assistants - Fathers George W. Behling, Leo H. Ringwald, Edward J. Cleary, Angcio Lenzi, Charles M. Williams

1953-1974: Monsignor Charles M. Williams, Vicar General, Chancellor, Protonotary Apostolic. Assistants - Fathers Vincent J. Hines, Thomas F. Cashin, Thomas J. Lynch, Albert Buchignani, Richard Gill, John McMurry, Alex Maxwell, James Judge, John Henrick, Richard G. Buchignani.

1974-1981: Pastor - Richard G. Buchignani. Assistants - Fathers Gilbert D'Souza, S.J., J. Kevin Dowling, William Nolan.

1981- present: Pastor - Father James Norman Miller Father Miller, son of James and Elizabeth Miller was born in Nashville and attended Cathedral School and Father Ryan High School. He studied at St. Ambrose College, Iowa, and St. Bernard Seminary, Cullman, Alabama. Ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 1959 at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville by Bishop William Adrian.

Father Miller's father proposed marriage to his mother before the statue of the Blessed Mother in St. Mary's and later married in St. Mary of the Seven Sorrows.

Father Miller is known for his memorable and instructive homilies and his wry sense of humor. On the first and third Sundays of each month traditional Latin Mass is said by Father Miller. He is also a chaplain at the Veterans' Hospital in Nashville and a retired Lt. Col. of the Air Force. Devotion to the church, the Blessed Mother, our country and his parish are the hallmark characteristics of Father Miller.