Carroll College - Hilltopper Yearbook (Helena, MT)

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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

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These two things would afford much satisfaction to my apostolic life. And I think that, with prayer, patience, and work, these things will come.” Can we doubt that the “prayer, patience, and work” of the saintly Bishop Brondel have found their fruition in MOUNT ST. CHARLES COLLEGE, which is the ideal for which he strove and one of the ends of his apostolic labors? Bishop Brondel did not live to see a Catholic college in Helena; but the realization of his hopes was effected by this successor. Bishop Carroll, who. fitted by training and ability, was enabled to establish the College under the supervision of the diocesan clergy. The immediate predecessor of Mount St. Charles College was St. Aloysius Institute on Catholic Hill. St. Aloysius School, Helena’s first Catholic school for boys, and St. Vincent’s Academy, its first Catholic school for girls, were opened at the same time, in the beginning of January, 1870. Both buildings were situated on the east side of Ewing Street, across from the old frame church, which had been built in 1866; they occupied the site of the present St. Vincent’s Academy. The building used by the boys was the old printing establishment of The Rocky Mountain Gazette the predecessor of the Helena Independent. The Jesuit Fathers had bought the building in the winter of 1867-68, and lived in it until the arrival of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth in October. 1869 It was then given to the Sisters, who lived in it for a few months, until they moved into the original St. Vincent’s Academy, their first school for girls. This latter was a two-story frame building of twelve rooms, and from the beginning was open to both boarders and day-scholars. The old Gazette building was fitted up as a day-school for boys. It was a typical early-day structure, built partly from weatherboards and partly from pine slabs standing upright. One-half was roofed with boards and the other half with earth or clay; rough planks made the floor. Later the old Gazette building was moved and replaced by a new frame structure of larger dimensions, and this served as the boys’ school until the increasing attendance at the Academy necessitated its use for the girls. Subsequently we find the boys attending classes in the old frame church, which had been moved back to give way to the second Church of the Sacred Hearts. When in the spring of 1876, the brick church was ready, the old church and the sacristy of the new church were used as class rooms for the boys. This condition still persevered at the arrival of Bishop Brondel in 1883 and continued until 1890, when the old church was torn down to make room for St. Aloysius Hall, which served as a school for boys and as a parish hall. By 1906 there was enough demand for a boarding school for boys to justify Bishop Carroll in planning residence quarters. Without the assistance of Sister Cornelia of St. John’s Hospital, who generously took upon herself and her community the bur- Paye t went y-sei'Cii