Boys Central High School - Maroon Yearbook (Butte, MT)

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REV. BROTHER DENNIS C. MAHONEY Principal

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His arrival was providential, for it coincided with his brother's decision to leave the world. In fact preliminary preparations for the winding up of Edmund's business were already far advanced. To Ed- mund, who at this critical stage of his career so sorely needed guidance and advice, the presence of his brother was invaluable, for, in addition to being a doctor of theology, Father john was familiar with the lite and practices of religious societies both in Spain and Italy. Edmund's plans were fully discussed from every angle: monastic life, community life, religious observance and practice, in short, everything that could have any bearing on his future as a religious. And so, the small mustard seed that was to become the huge tree overshadowing the entire world - the Christian Brothers - was planted. So it was, after much consultation with his brother and the Bishop of Waterford, that Edmund Rice opened his first school in New Street in Waterford. Two zealous young men joined his undertak- ing and threw themselves into the work of educating youths with whole-hearted enthusiasm. But, un- fortunately, their enthusiasm and zeal soon waned and they gave Edmund Rice notice of their resignation. Mr. Rice pleaded with them, offered them higher wages, promised them better conditions in the near future if they would only not desert him in this his hour of need. But they turned a deaf ear to his appeal and left him to carry on his work single-handed. They had none of that self-sacrificing zeal and generosity that overlooked defects in the hope of replacing them with virtue. Very frequently in the days that followed, Edmund Rice must have knelt in the solitude of his room and, with his arms out- stretched, exclaimed: Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice. Christ must have heard Edmund's prayer, for within a short time, two other young men came to aid in the work of Catholic education. It was on june I, ISO3, therefore, that Edmund Rice and his two disciples, Thomas Grosvenor and Patrick Finn, moved into their new residence at Mt. Sion, Water- ford, and began their career as Religious. From that time on, postulants came slowly, but in ever-in- creasing numbers, to the infant Congregation of Holy Mother Church. Schools began to be opened in other cities of Ireland - Cork, Carrick-on-Suir, Dungarven, and Limerick. So great was the reputation of the Christian Brothers, that, at the time of Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice's death in IS44, there were altogether in Ireland and England twenty-four schools in which seventy Christian Brothers were educat- ing about eight thousand pupils. During the thirty years that followed the death of the Founder the Congregation spread rapidly in Ireland and more than sixty new foundations were made. But across the Irish Sea in England the picture was anything but cheerful. The sixteen schools in operation there gradually dwindled in num- bers of Brothers until finally only two schools remained. These, too, failed and in l88O they, like the other Brothers' schools in England, were closed. It was not until fifteen years later that the Brothers returned to England to take over the management of Prior College, Bath. Since that time, the numbers of Brothers in England gradually increased until it received the status of a Province, having a juniorate, Novitiate, a House of Studies, eight secondary schools in which there are nearly four thousand pupils, and an orphans' home. Before Brother Rice died, he had the privilege of seeing his Congregation spread, in addition to Ireland and England, to The Rocku - Gibraltar, where Protestant missionaries were doing their best to proseletise the Catholic population there. At the request of the Holy Father, the Brothers opened a small school to educate the Catholic children. They remained in Gibraltar until World War ll when they and their pupils were evacuated to Tangier, only to return in April, l945, to resume their mission of the Christian education of the young. The Brothers opened their first school down underu in Australia in IS69 at the invitation of the Bishops. So great has been the progess of the Christian Brothers in the Southern Continent that, at the present time, there is hardly a town of any importance in Australia that has not a Brothers' school. There are upwards of seven hundred Brothers conducting eighty educational establishments which com- prise Boarding and Day, Secondary and Primary Schools, Agricultural Training Schools and institutions for orphans and deaf-mutes. Addressing the great Eucharistic Congress held in Melbourne in I934, Arch- bishop Mannix stated: I must not forget to say that we owe much of our prosperity to the labors of the Christian Brothers here during the last fifty years. The fame of the Christian Brothers spread to North America, and at the request of the Hierarchy the Brothers opened their first school on the American continent at St. john's, Newfoundland, in IS76. The year l906 witnessed the arrival of four Brothers in the city of New York where they opened the boys' department of All Saints School under the patronage of Rt. Rev. james Power. Other establish- ments followed in quick succession across the States to the vast industrial city of Chicago, to the mining center of Butte, and on to the Pacific seaboard to the great cities of Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, Los Angeles, and our latest foundation, Salinas, California. Shortly afterwards in l897 the Christian Brothers established in Kimberley, South Africa, their first school. Three years later at the request of ecclesiastical Superiors a school was opened in the Eternal City of Rome At no period in the history of the Congregation have so many new foundations been made as during the years since l93O. I addition to enlarging many of the existing communities, twelve new foundations were made in Ireland fifteen in Australia nine in America, seven in England, six in South Africa, and two in India, making a total of over fifty new Communities. Truly the Lord of the Harvest has blessed this work humbly begun by Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice one-hundred and fifty years ago. The mustard seed he planted in a remodeled house in l802 has grown into the massive tree whose branches embrace the entire world. The small flame Edmund Rice lit on Mt. Sion has radiated its beams of light and hope throughout the world. Others saw it, and from it lit their lamps. Not until the last of these lamps has been extinguished will the story of Edmund Ignatius Rice and the Christian Brothers be completed. fa-f-QQ? 1 nga , 1:4 X 0 'X rt: I , fl I 0 . P L ' 'ff 5 9 Shortly before the turn of the present century, the Brothers opened a school in Calcutta, India Y at . . I . ' . fy' .. - . , ,, . xx n f' .7 1 i' ' ' l ' ' x f M I Q , 9 H I 1 Q - -- s , ' -- G X lr, : ' . c H I X Q f N Q uf , X 3 C W

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FACULTY REV. BROTHER LAWRENCE A. FELLOWS REV. BROTHER IOHN j. DONNELLY Vice Principal FACULTY