About Saint Frances of Rome · Alma, Georgia
St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church is a bilingual Catholic mission parish in Alma, Georgia, in Bacon County, belonging to the Diocese of Savannah. It serves the faithful of Alma together with Good Shepherd Church in Hazlehurst and St. Rose of Lima in Baxley as a single tri-parish community, sharing one website (goodshepherdsaintrose.com) and one pastor. The parish's current church building was dedicated in 2019 to replace earlier worship space serving the small but growing Catholic population of Alma and the surrounding Wiregrass region. Weekly liturgy is offered in both English and Spanish, reflecting the area's Hispanic Catholic community.
- Established
- 2019
- Patron
- Saint Frances of Rome (1384–1440)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Savannah
Why belong here
St. Frances of Rome is the Alma-area home of a faithful, bilingual Catholic community where English- and Spanish-speaking families worship side by side. As a mission parish paired with Good Shepherd (Hazlehurst) and St. Rose of Lima (Baxley), it offers the warmth of a small, close-knit congregation with the stability of an established diocesan mission. The 2019 dedication of its own dedicated church building means the parish now has a permanent, visible Catholic presence in Bacon County for the first time — a wonderful reason to join or visit.
Mass times at Saint Frances of Rome
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturdays 5:00 PM – 5:30 PM
About St. Frances of Rome
St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church is a bilingual Roman Catholic mission parish serving the small city of Alma in Bacon County, Georgia. It is part of the Diocese of Savannah's Valdosta–Brunswick Deanery and is officially listed by the diocese as a mission of Good Shepherd Church in Hazlehurst, sharing its priests with Good Shepherd and St. Rose of Lima in Baxley. The parish takes its name from St. Frances of Rome (1384–1440), an Italian noblewoman, wife, mother, and mystic who founded the Oblates of Tor de' Specchi and is honored as a patron saint of widows.
- Patron: Saint Frances of Rome (1384–1440)
- Status: Mission of Good Shepherd Church, Hazlehurst
- Deanery: Valdosta–Brunswick
- Diocese: Savannah
- Languages: English and Spanish (bilingual liturgy)
History & the 2019 Dedication
The Catholic faithful in Alma, Georgia, had long been served as an outreach of Good Shepherd Church in Hazlehurst, gathering in shared or borrowed spaces. That changed in spring 2019, when a new church dedicated to St. Frances of Rome was formally blessed for the tri-parish community. A published account of the dedication — written by Michael J. Johnson and distributed through diocesan press — noted that nearly 400 members of the Alma, Baxley, and Hazlehurst Catholic communities came together to celebrate the dedication of this new church building. The 2019 dedication marked the first time Alma had its own purpose-built Catholic church and is the foundation of today's parish identity.
- April 11, 2019 — Dedication of the new St. Frances of Rome Church in Alma
- Nearly 400 members of the tri-parish community attended the dedication
- The 2019 dedication gave Alma its first dedicated Catholic worship space
Mass & Liturgy
St. Frances of Rome celebrates Mass bilingually in English and Spanish to serve its diverse rural congregation. The official parish website (goodshepherdsaintrose.com) lists the Saturday Vigil Mass at 7:00 PM as the parish's principal weekly liturgy; the Diocese of Savannah directory also notes a Sunday 6:00 PM Mass celebrated in Spanish. Confessions are heard before the Vigil Mass on Saturdays.
- Saturday Vigil Mass: 7:00 PM — Bilingual (English/Spanish)
- Diocese listing: Sunday 6:00 PM — Spanish
- Confessions: Saturdays, 5:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Visiting Alma
Alma is a small city in Bacon County in southeast Georgia's Wiregrass region. St. Frances of Rome sits at 1497 W 12th Street in Alma (mailing address: 1497 12th St. W, Alma, GA 31510), with easy access from U.S. Route 1 and U.S. Route 23. The parish shares its website, phone line, and pastoral team with Good Shepherd Church in Hazlehurst and St. Rose of Lima in Baxley — a single Catholic family spread across three small Georgia towns.
- Address: 1497 W 12th Street, Alma, GA 31510
- County: Bacon
- Parish family: Good Shepherd (Hazlehurst) and St. Rose of Lima (Baxley)
Contact & Directory Listing
Parish contact information is administered jointly with Good Shepherd Church in Hazlehurst. The Diocese of Savannah parish directory lists a single phone and fax that routes through the Hazlehurst office, and a single shared website for the three-parish community.
- Phone: 912-705-8927
- Fax: 912-366-0239
- Website: http://www.goodshepherdsaintrose.com/
- Diocese of Savannah parish directory: www.diosav.org