Designed Especially for the Instruction of the Slaves

In 1862, under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, there was printed by the Office of “The Church Intelligencer,” a special catechism to be administered and answered orally by those who could not read (slaves).

From Lesson One:

Quest. WHO made the world?

Ans. God.

Q. Who?

A. God.

Q. What did God make?

A. The world.

Q. Yes, God made the world. Did He make any thing else?

A. He made all things in the world.

Q. What are some of the things in the world?

A. Water, trees, cattle, and men.

Q. What?

A. Water, trees, cattle, and men.

Q. Yes, God made the world, and all things in the world:–Who then made you?

A. God.

Q. What were you made of?

A. “Of the dust of the ground.”

Q. How do you know this?

A. God has told me so.

Q. Where has God told you so?

A. In His own book, called the Bible.

During the course of the War, the Southern Book of Common Prayer — virtually identical to the 1789 book with minor changes to the prayers for the President and Congress necessitated by the new national government — was printed thrice at London. Two of the printings were intercepted by the Union Naval Blockade, making this a very rare book both then and now.

The Church in the CSA also made available abridged and adapted forms of the Prayer-Book for the soldiers fighting in the Confederate forces.

Author: Christian Clay Columba Campbell

Christian Clay Columba Campbell is a Roman Catholic of the Anglican Use. As Senior Warden of the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Orlando, FL), he organised the process by which the parish accepted the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, petitioning to join the Catholic Church. The Anglican Cathedral is now the Church of the Incarnation in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Personal queries should be directed to me at eccentricbliss dot com. View all posts by Christian Clay Columba Campbell