De La Salle High School - Delta Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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THF. ATHANASIAN !ftrott)er -Athanasius Brother Athanasius was the Director of the Brothers' school in Minneapolis. He opened the De La Salle High School in September. 1900. and remained here until 1903. when he was transferred to St. Louis. Mo. He spent fifty years in the Christian Brotherhood. On November 1. 1923. the anniversary of his golden jubilee as a Christian Brother, great preparations were made to honor him. That day. however, he lay on his dying bed in a Chicago hospital. The scene was a pathetic one. As he lay there suffering intensely, the delegates read to him the letters of congratulation from many cities where he had taught, newspaper clippings, encomiums from friends. Tears of appreciation streamed down his cheeks, but his only words were: Tell them all to pray for me. A few days later he died. He was buried from St. Mel’s Church. Chicago, about fifteen hundred Brothers' boys attending the requiem Mass. Reverend Father Duggan, C. M.. gave the funeral oration. Brother Athanasius was the arch-type of the old school of cultured educators. His scholastic attainments were deep and solid, and he added to these a quality of refinement that brightened his personality with a halo of gentleness. To all who came in contact with him he was a warm personal influence and a power of inspiration. The two great elements of leadership were his—the force of character to conquer reverence, and the attraction to capture affection. Culture and character are rarely woven without seam, but when they are. we have a living example of Cardinal Newman's famous definition of a gentleman and Chaucer's ' perfect. gentle knight. Add to these the note of personal sanctity, and you have Brother Athanasius. Green be the turf above thee. Friend of my better days: None knew thee but to love thee. None named thee but to praise. i 9 F

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THE A THAN ASIAN Brother Athanasius First Director of the D. L. S. Died Dec. 19. 1923 i 8 Y

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THE ATHAN ASIAN foreword pmrntHE Annual, herewith submitted to the indulgent attention of the many friends and bene-tl factors of De La Salle High School, is designed to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the local Institute of the Christian Brothers, which, by a felicitous juncture of events happens to synchronize with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the canonization of their venerated Founder. Saint John Baptist De La Salle. It was surely an auspicious omen of the success awaiting the Brothers in Minneapolis, that they should be called to labor here the very year in which the great Pope Leo XIII raised their saintly Founder to the final honors of the Altar. Impartial and enlightened historical opinion in the field of education had long before assigned to the Founder of the Christian Schools a position of pre-eminence among modern educational pioneers and reformers; and now by the process of canonization the Church not alone set the seal of her infallible testimony to his heroic virtue, but also confirmed, with a fresh sanction, the enduring merits of the work which his supernatural zeal, coupled with genius of a high order, enabled him to organize and perpetuate for the Christian education of youth. In the pedagogical methods which he either devised or improved upon, in the flexibility and adaptability of his educational program, which, while intended primarily to make gratuitous provision for the needs of the children of the poor, was yet sufficiently elastic to serve the interest of all classes of society and. in the Christian spirit of self-denial and charity which he sought to infuse into all the enterprises of his Institute, he made a contribution to culture and civilization which should entitle him to a place among the world s recognized benefactors, just as his personal sanctity has entitled him to be listed in the Church's catalog of Saints. As we review the work which the Brothers of the Christian Schools have accomplished during the last twenty-five years in Minneapolis, under the inspiration of their Holy Founder, we arc emboldened to say that their labors have prospered beyond all prudent anticipation. They are conscious, of course, that whatever success they may have achieved, must be attributed. in the first instance, to the inspiring encouragement and unfailing assistance of the great Archbishop Ireland who opened this new field to their enterprise as well as to the appreciative response and generous co-operation of the clergv and laity. It remained, however, for the present beloved Archbishop Dowling whose dominant interest in Christian education is known from coast to coast, to crown the work of the Brothers and to provide a larger scope for their activity by erecting the present beautiful, spacious and splendidly equipped High School which is one of the chief glories of the Church in this progressive diocese. Here the teachers and pupils, no longer hampered by the untoward conditions that prevailed in the old school are free to devote their energies to securing the best educational results. If. in this memorial Annual. De La Salle High School dwells with pardonable complacency upon its present flourishing condition, it points with a still more justifiable pride to the record it has achieved for the last quarter of a century in the lives of its Alumni whose future characters were determined and fashioned in no small measure within its walls during the plastic and impressionable period of youth. Several of its graduates have consecrated them- -i 10 F