Belmont Abbey College - Spire Yearbook (Belmont, NC)

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•JC : • priory independent. A call was issued: Volunteers were des ired f rom St. Vincent ' s to transfer their vows to the new Abbey. Eight monks re- sponded immediately, and to these men was entrusted the duty of electing an abbot. On Bastille Day of 1885, the Reverend Leo Haid was elected the first Abbot of Mary Help Christians Ab- bey. Soon, two more monks joined them, and this Abbot and community of ten took possession of the college and Abbey of St. Mary. The college was reopened that September with an in- creased number of students. Abbot Leo was blessed the following month by the Bis- hop of Charleston in his cathedral there. The college expanded: an- other building was started and built from bricks made on the site. Many were the times that the monks and students were roused at midnight from a sound sleep to save the yet-undried bricks from a sudden down- pour. Throughout the rest of the nineteenth century, St. Mary ' s College and Mary Four •••• ••■■- ■•■•■-■ ■ ' •■»— ' y-f ' iwnMtmMM««

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lay brothers, and the four students (the Richmond boys and two from Charlotte) lived in the log house on the prop- erty, cleared fields, and at- tended to studies. In the fall of 1876, the frame building which was to house the Col- lege was begun. In 1877, three new students arrived at Maria Stein, the chapel was constructed, and the first Mass was celebrated on September 8. The chapel was blessed in honor of Our Lady under her title of Mary Help of Christians. The official opening of St. Mary ' s College took place in September of 1878. Father Stephen Lyons, O.S.B. was the first rector of the Col - lege, and Fathers Julius Pohl and Jerome Schmitt, O. S. B. , newly arrived from St. Vincent ' s, were the first teachers. 1879 saw a greatly increased enrollment of thirty-nine students. St. Mary ' s College was firmly established, and except for a few setbacks which were soon overc ome, faced the future with determination. In 1884, Abbot Vincent and the chapter of St. Vincent ' s voted the North Carolina from its Foundation to tt)e Present Three

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Help of Christians Abbey grew and expanded. New students continued to arrive at St. Mary ' s door, and new novices continued to make their profession of vows to the order of St. Benedict, placing themselves under the patronage of Our Lady of Help. More buildings arose from the soil of the Abbey. A new school was founded in Florida - a mili- tary school placed under the patronage of St. Leo. The Abbey ' s grotto was built in 1891, and the cor- nerstone of the new Abbey church laid in 1892. In 1894, another new foundation was begun, this time in Bristol, Virginia, for homeless boys. By 1900 there were 59 in the monastic community and 120 enrolled in St. Mary ' s Col- lege. In 1900, on the morning of May 1 9, during the monas - tic office of Matins, a fire was discovered in the new west wing of the college. When Bishop Haid saw it, he threw up his hands and implored, O God, save my monastery! Mass was hur- riedly said in the Abbey Church, with all vestments and chalices standing packed for removal. During the sacrifice the wind reversed itseld, sparing the remain- der of the College and mon- astery. This setback was far from insurmountable, however, given the spirit of those in- volved. Before the year 1900 was over, a new building had taken the place of the burned one. Having survived its bap- tism of fire, the college exerted a new energy: St. Leo ' s Hall was begun in 1906, and a new foundation in Savannah, f W y Five