Mount Saint Mary Academy - Mountain Chimes Yearbook (Plainfield, NJ)

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UI' Lad GIHE' . . . And now we come to the paramount event of the school year, or perhaps of the entire history of Mount St. Mary's. lt seems incredible, and yet most fitting that the Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima should visit the Mount this year. lndubitably, this great privi- lege permitted us was an omnipotent sign climaxing the untiring diligence of our Sisters during their seventy-five zealous years of rapid progress. I4

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With the encouragement and approbation of His Excellency, the Most Reverend Thomas Joseph Walsh, D.D., LL.D., the Community further ex- panded by the purchase of the estate of Mr. George J. Gould, in Lakewood, New Jersey. This was the foresight and wisdom of Mother Mary Cecelia and Mother Mary Catherine and the undertaking commands our greatest admira- tion. As a result of this purchase, Mount St. Mary's College became the new Georgian Court College. lt is an ideal College for the student wishing home life and at the same time desiring the benefits of a Catholic College environment. This College has the highest accreditation and is affiliated with the Catholic University of America and Fordham University. The Most Reverend William A. Griffin, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Trenton, is the President Ex-Officio of the College. His profound wisdom has guided the College in all high-minded endeavors, and under his leadership, the spiri- tual and intellectual life of Georgian Court College has flourished. Sister Marie Anna, the residing President of the College, Sister Mary Giovanni, Dean, and the Sister Faculty possess that religious humility and brave fearlessness which has characterized the Sisters of Mercy through their years of educational progress. As we review the strenuous up-hill struggle, that now marks the Seventy- fifth Anniversary, we see that each year had its precious attainments. Provi- dentially, the Community of the Sisters of Mercy was blessed with strong, noble women as leaders, who placed each new project in education in the guilding Hand of the Divine Teacher. GEORGIAN COURT COLLEGE

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to the Mount . . . We shall never forget the feeling of ap- prehension that became a part of us that day in October when Sister Mary Leonard told us that the Pilgrim Virgin on her spiritual tour of North America would stop at the Mount prior to leaving our country on December eighteenth. The weeks that followed were ones of solemn preparation. Nine days be- fore, the entire student body made a public novena to Our Lady of Fatima. The great day dawned. At two-thirty on Wednesday, the seventeenth of November, Our Lady's Image, of world renown, entered the foyer where the students who were to be her escort to the Chapel waited. The proces- sion then continued to the white flowered Chapel while the girls entoned On This Day, O Beautiful Mother. As the Queen of Heaven was placed on her throne amid floral splendor the Marian Hour officially began. Monsignor Martin Madura, our beloved Academy Chaplain, addressed sincere words of welcome to the awe-inspired assembly of priests, sisters, students, and guests. Follow- ing the devout recitation of the Rosary and the singing of the beautiful hymn Veni Creator Spiritus , Reverend Harold Colgan of St. Mary's Church, Plainfield, gave an im- pressive sermon on the Message of Fatima. It is to Father Colgan that we owe our grati- tude for making this great honor possible. At the conclusion of his stirring talk, the devotees of Our Lady recited the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart, fol- lowed by the original hymn Our Lady of Fatima , composed by Sister Mary Xavier, of the Sisters of Mercy, Plainfield. Solemn Benediction and the veneration of Our Lady's Statue completed this blissful hour spent with Our Mother. Awe-inspired student body were greatly moved by the address of Reverend Harold Colgan.