Raimundo de Ovies

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Raimundo George Cassidy Saulus de Coreno Muniz de Ovies (born January 8, 1877 in Liverpool, England; died August 31, 1962 in Atlanta, Georgia) was an Episcopal priest, author, newspaper columnist and radio host. He served as rector of St Andrew's Episcopal Church for seven years and spent most of his career as dean of the Cathedral of St Philip in Atlanta, Georgia.

De Ovies was the son of Julian and Eleanor (Cassidy) de Ovies of Liverpool. His father, a Spanish-born correspondent, had been banished from his home country for supporting the Carlist cause as an army officer. The family emigrated to New York, New York in 1887 and made their way to Boston, Massachusetts. Raimundo studied at the Boston Latin School, and then enrolled at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee to study theology.

De Ovies was ordained as a minister in 1903 and began his career as rector of Grace Church in Sheffield, Colbert County. He married the former Elizabeth Eggleston DuBose in 1902. He came to Birmingham as rector of St John's Episcopal Church in Ensley, and then was transferred to the newly-organized St Andrew's Parish in Southside on July 1, 1905.

While at the pulpit at St Andrew's, De Ovies partnered with Carl Hencknell and James Dedman to found Birmingham's Holy Innocents Hospital in 1911. On January 1, 1912 De Ovies was succeeded by Willis Clark and moved to Greensboro. After that he served a parish in Clarksville, Tennessee where he helped organize and operate a juvenile court and assisted the American Red Cross in efforts to combat the 1918 outbreak of influenza.

After World War I, de Ovies was called to lead Trinity Church in Galveston, Texas. He began using broadcast radio as a means of outreach that year, serving as an announcer on KFUI-AM. He returned to Sewanee in 1927 as Chaplain of the University. A year later he was offered the pulpit of St Philip's Cathedral, the mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. In the early 1930s, de Ovies supported the congregation's proposed move from downtown to Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood.

Beginning in 1930, de Ovies also began writing a regular column for the Atlanta Journal. A collection of those articles was published in 1934 as The Church and Family Relations by the National Council of Christian Social Services. A second book, Somewhere to be Had, was published by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate in 1937 and became a strong seller. He followed that with The Church and Her Children in 1941.

De Ovies announced his retirement from the pulpit on July 22, 1946, stepping down formally on December 31 of that year, but remaining part of the Diocese as "Dean Emeritus". In retirement he authored another book, But, Maybe You're Not Crazy. He officiated at novelist Margaret Mitchell's funeral in 1949. He also helped establish the Georgian Clinic, which offered treatment services for alcoholism, in 1953. De Ovies used his experiences there to author another book, Dear Drunks in 1958. He began another newspaper column for the weekly Metropolitan Herald the same year.

De Ovies' daughter and son-in-law were killed when their car collided with a freight train in Calera on February 22, 1961. That loss was followed by the death of his wife, Elizabeth, on October 2. He was present at the dedication of the long-anticipated new Cathedral building on May 13, 1962.

Publications

  • De Ovies, Raimundo (1934) The Church and Family Relations. New York: National Council, Department of Christian Social Service
  • De Ovies, Raimundo (1937) Somewhere to be Had. McClure Newspaper Syndicate
  • De Ovies, Raimundo (1941) The Church and Her Children. New York: Morehouse-Goreham
  • De Ovies, Raimundo (1947) But, Maybe You're Not Crazy: An Introduction to Psychiatry. New York: Tupper & Love
  • De Ovies, Raimundo (1958) Dear Drunk. Atlanta, Georgia: Herald Publishing Co.

References

  • Malone, Henry Thompson (1960) The Episcopal Church in Georgia 1733-1957. Atlanta: The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Atlanta
  • "Raimundo de Ovies" (September 17, 2016) Wikipedia- accessed September 25, 2017