Firefighter Leroy McAtee and Captain H. H. Buddy Edwards

Incident March 19, AD 1954 Mobile, Alabama

The police were making their customary patrol in downtown Mobile on Friday, March 19. The patrol area included the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the center of Catholic life in the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama. At 2:55 a.m., the police noticed smoke bellowing out of the century-old majestic building and immediately called it in as a fire in progress.

It was a three-alarm fire, and crews from all over the city converged on the inferno, hoping to extinguish it quickly and save the beautiful church dedicated to Our Lady. Apparently, a homeless man gained entrance into the cathedral’s basement and, under the influence of alcohol, lit a fire there in an attempt to warm himself.

A total of twenty-seven water lines were used in the three-hour effort to subdue the flames. The acting Fire Chief, Dan Sirmon, stated it was the most difficult fire to contain in Mobile’s history.

Msgr. Timothy J. Pathe, the cathedral rector, appeared on the scene, and his first thought was to retrieve the Blessed Sacrament from the conflagration. Firefighters forbade him to enter the cathedral. “I have to save the Blessed Sacrament,” pleaded the rector. Two firefighters responded to his plea: Firefighter Leroy McAtee and Captain Buddy Edwards. Providentially, the two had been altar servers and were familiar with the layout of the cathedral; that would be important because of the black smoke obstructing their vision. Additionally, having served Mass there for so many years, they knew where the key to the tabernacle was kept—important since they would need to retrieve the Blessed Sacrament. Msgr. Pathe instructed the two firefighters that the tabernacle contained two ciboria and a luna, which contained the consecrated large Host for exposition and benediction. 

The two firefighters, amid flames and intense heat and black smoke everywhere, began working their way toward the high altar. McAtee first retrieved the tabernacle key. The firefighters recalled the floor beneath them was growing hotter and hotter. Time was of the essence. Then he and Edwards opened the tabernacle and recovered the Blessed Sacrament: two ciboria and the luna. No sooner had the two firefighters accomplished this sacred task and began heading outside when the floor upon which they stood to retrieve the Blessed Sacrament fell through and opened up a large cavity into the consuming fire below. Had they delayed even a couple of seconds, they would have fallen victim to the fire. 

The two successfully navigated the harrowing path to safety, whereupon they entrusted to the apprehensive monsignor the precious Body of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Monsignor Pathe expressed his profound appreciation for their personal devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and for their willingness to put their own lives in jeopardy to save Jesus. Receiving the ciboria and the luna from the hands of the firefighters, Monsignor and an accompanying priest hurried off to the chapel inside the chancery, only one block from the fire, to secure the Blessed Sacrament. 

Archbishop Thomas J. Toolen expressed his personal gratitude for the heroism of the firefighter Leroy McAtee and Captain Edwards. 

Reflection On The Martyrs Of The Eucharist

The fire occurred in the early hours of March 19, which is also the liturgical celebration of St. Joseph. St. Joseph was chosen by Divine Providence to watch over and protect Jesus, the Bread of Life. In this sense, St. Joseph was foreshadowed by Joseph the Patriarch, the son of Jacob and Rachel, in the Old Testament. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and taken as a prisoner into Egypt. Through a series of providential events, Joseph gained the favor of the pharaoh and was given charge of all the stored wheat in Egypt, in preparation for a future famine. He was the protector of the wheat. When the famine struck, it affected the whole land, including his brothers. When the people complained to the pharaoh that they needed wheat to make bread for their sustenance, his response was “Go to Joseph” (Gn 41:55). 

“Go to Joseph,” the great protector of the wheat, the one entrusted with the earthly bread for life, and he will feed you with sustenance for this life. St. Joseph, however, is the real protector of the Bread of Life; he is the one entrusted with heavenly Bread for divine life. 

Though the two firefighters on their sacred mission to save the Bread of Life did not mention being guided by St. Joseph, he must have been there, guiding each step they took, preventing harm to them and especially harm to the One he protected while he lived. Now, from heaven, St. Joseph still protects the Bread of Life. 

Should anyone desire to grow in greater devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, then “go to Joseph.”

This is an excerpt from Martyrs of the Eucharist: Stories to Inspire Eucharistic Amazement by Reverend J. Francis Sofie, OP. Martyrs of the Eucharist: Stories to Inspire Eucharistic Amazement is a profound collection of twenty-nine stirring stories, curated into four distinct sections: those who died attending Mass, those who died celebrating Mass, those who risked their lives defending or protecting the Eucharist, and those whose deaths are connected to the Eucharist.