Carroll College - Hilltopper Yearbook (Helena, MT)

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The golden West! A promise from the sun Whose evening glory shines across the plains. The low hung band of molten gold afar Is limning serrate crests of Rocky chain. The one-time boundary of what belonged To men of ancient blood, bronze-limbed, and wild, The red. and what to hardy Pioneer. Lawrence K. Devlin, A', ’22. Vnge twenty-four

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I-lF riU ) S1 I‘oCM Although its actual accomplishment is of rather late date, Mount St. Charles College had its real inspiration almost fifty years ago. On April 7. 1883, the Right Reverend John Baptist Brondel, I).I)., was appointed administrator of the Vicariate of Montana; and on March 7, 1884, eleven months later, he was appointed first Bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Helena. As early as October 14, 1884, he wrote to the Association for the Propagation of the Faith: “An extraordinary appropriation is asked, as I desire to build a college for boys.” At that time there were laboring in the diocese, which included the whole state cf Montana, but eighteen priests, fourteen Jesuit Fathers and the four diocesan priests, Fathers Remigius DeRyckere of Deer Lodge, J. J. Do s rf Butte, L. S. Tremblay of Frenchtown, and E. W. J. Lindesmith, the U. S. Army Cha'-lain at Fort Keogh. The Reverend Frank J. Kelleher, former pastor of Virginia City, had returned to his native England. Only the first two of these belonged to the Diocese of Helena. The lack of diocesan clergy made it imperative that the Bishop turn to the Fathers of the Society of Jesus for the realization of this contemplated college. In June, 1887, was held the Second Diocesan Synod, at which were present six Jesuit Fathers and the following seven diocesan priests: Fathers Cyril Pauwelyn of the Cathedral, Remigius DeRyckere and Peter DeSiere of Deer Lodge, Henry Vande Ven of Butte, J. J. Dols of Virginia City, L. S. Tremblay. S.T.L., of Frenchtown, and E. W. J. Lindesmith. U. S. Army Chaplain of Fort Keogh. At this synod the diocesan clergy headed by their Bishop petitioned the Father General of the Society of Jesus, the Very Revernd Anton Marie Anderledy. S.J., for the establishment of a college at Helena. The petition was granted, and grounds were purchased for the purpose. Two tracts were obtained, the one at the site of the present St. Joseph's Orphans’ Home in the Valley, the other, a tract on which is located the Peter Beaudry home on Phoenix Avenue, north of the Northern Pacific right of way. A committee to solicit funds for the erection of the new college was appointed, consisting of Dr. William Treacy, John L. Henry, and James Walker. Several thousand dollars were subscribed, but not enough to ensure the success of the undertaking, and the long-hoped-for project was necessarily put in abeyance. The Bishop, however, still trusted that somehow his hopes would be fulfilled. In a letter to his brother in Belgium, the Reverend Charles Brondel, he wrote on May 1, 1899: “All that I need now is a good College with a classical course, and a sufficient number of good missionaries. Page tiveiity-eix