Kirwin High School - Corsairs Log Yearbook (Galveston, TX)

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To the Christian Brothers of Kirwin Boys High School, and their companions throughout the United States I am very happy that the publication of The Corsair's Log gives me the opportunity to congratulate the Institute Of The Brothers Of The Christian Schools on the completion of one hundred years of teach- ing in the United States of America. At the same time, I thank the Brothers who are now at 'Kirwin, and all who labored there, since their coming, for the notable work of education done: and, for making Kirwin what it is acknowledged to be, a first class high school for boys. That was a great day for education, two hundred and sixty-eight years ago, when Father Iohn Baptist de LaSalle, now Saint Iohn Baptist, saw the crying need of caring for a great mass of boys, poor boys, growing up in ignorance in France. The Protestant Reformation had been in existence nearly a century and a half: Calvin and others had carried its false teaching into France, where it was finding a field ready for the cockle it sowed. Many Synods of the Church, and some of its great Councils, particularly the Third Lat- eran and that of Trent had legislated for the education of the poor. St. Peter Fourier and - St. loseph Calasantius had done much in THE MOST REVEREND establishing schools where many boys re- CHRISTOPHER E, BYRNE, D,D, ceived gratuitous instniction. Founder of Kirwin Hiqh School It was the crying need for more such that engaged the sympathy of Father Iohn Bap- tist. He was anxious to provide an adecruate body of teachers trainedin fixed methods of teaching. He might be called the Father of Normal Schools. Christian Doctrine was to be the most important study, but it was not to be a memory lesson only. The teachers were to be vigilant and so guard the boys from oc- casions of sin. They were to give good example, and so place before the boys models to follow. And, then they were to instruct so that the boys should know what it was that their right and duty to know. Subjects were to be taught in the language of the Country where the school existed. St. Iohn was probably the first to introduce into primary and secondary schools the simultaneous method , namely, the intellectual development of a whole class of boys in the one lesson So devoted and well prepared were his teachers, that in spite of the opposition he met. his schools spread rapidly in France and far beyond, within twenty years, there were Christian Brothers' Schools in Rome. Of course, at the outbreak of the French Revolution the Brothers' schools, like every- thing else Catholic in France suffered. Their property was seized: some Brothers were im- prisoned: some transported: some put to death: and some died of neglect and starvation. The Brothers were never great writers of books, they were too busy teaching boys. But, they did write books for their school work, and, on a great variety of subjects. And, in French, German, Italian, Spanish, English, Flemish, and Turkish. They have given text- books on Christian Doctrine, reading, arithmetic, and geometry, history, geography, me- chanics, chemistry, zoology, botany, pedagogy, literature, philosophy, drawing, shorthand, and more. All of which shows the diversified talents of the Brothers. It was another great day, when in 1845, the Most Reverend Samuel Eggleston, Arch- bishop of Baltimore invited the Brothers to the States. Two years later they were in New York, and in St. Louis in 1849. Today, they are all over the Country, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf: and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, carrying on more than one hundred schools, in about fifty dioceses: their pupils are counted by the tens of thousands. Their graduates fill important places in political, professional, and business life: they are Christian gentlemen, as will be every boy of Kirwin if he remains true to the lessons of the Christian Brothers. April 22, 1948 Bishop of Galveston.

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PROGRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS fA Dedicationl The spring of 1948 crowns a century of glorious achievement for the Christian Brothers in America. Their twofold aim-to produce good Christians and intelligent citizens-has been thoroughly fulfilled. Through one hundred years of faithful service and unflinching devotion to the cause of Catholic education. they have steadily raised the Torch of Knowledge ever higher in the New World. Theirs is a proud heritage. undaunted by defeat. Today there are five flourishing provinces in the United States-those of Baltimore, New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, and New Orleans-Santa Fe. The story of each is but another chapter in the timeless record of Educational Progress. FOUNDATION OF THE BALTIMORE PROVINCE In 1841, only four short years after the Brothers had established themselves in Canada, news of their success as educators reached the ears of Archbishop Eccleston in Baltimore, Maryland. He accordingly be- sought the Brother Superior to send some teachers for his Cathedral School. Brother Aidant, the Canadian provincial, could not provide any help at the time, but replied that if the prelate would send candidates to Montreal, they would be trained for the American schools. Five Baltimore youths volunteered for this service, but only one survived the rigors of the novitiate to don the religious habit on August 6, 1842. He was Brother Francis, the former Iohn McMullin. first Christian Brother from the United States. Brother Francis taught in Canada until 1845, when bad health forced him to return to his home in Baltimore. There his mother's loving attentions speeded his recovery to such an extent that, by August of the same year, he was able to take charge of the upper class at Calvert Hall School. Assisted by a young Irish-Canadian, Brother Edward, he began his work in earnest-a lifeling task that marked the be- ginning of the Baltimore Province of the Christian Brothers, the oldest in the United States. THE BROTHERS IN NEW YORK Hearing of the splendid work being accomplished by the Brothers in Baltimore, Archbishop Iohn Hughes of New York wrote the Superior General C1848j, inviting the Brothers to teach in New York City. His offer was gratefully accepted: on the feast of St. Anne, Iuly 20. 1848, Brothers Pastoris, Stylien, Albien, and Andronis arrived in New York from France. They undertook the administration of St. Vincent's School on Canal Street, and were fortunate in securing the services of Iohn Barat, a youthful French-American parishioner, who gave them lessons in English and assisted with the Sunday School Catechism classes. Barat later became Brother Iohn Chrysostom, the first Brother to conduct religion classes for public school children and young working people. Thus was a great new field opened to the sowers of religious zeal. ' DEVELOPMENT OF THE ST. LOUIS PROVINCE The year 1849 witnessed the extension of the work of the order into the Mississippi Valley. Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis had repeatedly petitioned for Brothers to teach in his diocese. His entreaties at length bore fruit. From Canada Brothers Gelisare, Peter, and Dorothee began the long trek westward. After a tedious journey by rail, stagecoach, canal, and river, they arrived in St. Louis on August 25, 1849. Here their privations were scarcely lessened. They were forced to sleep on the floor of their sm-all Cathedral school: food was scarce, and donations were always welcomed. Yet two short years saw the rise of the Christian Brothers College of St. Louis, the first institution of the order in all the Americas to function on the collegiate level. At present the St. Louis Province boasts of 311 Brothers and an era of un- excelled prosperity. FIRST CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION San Francisco's Archbishop Alemany spent fifteen years attempting to bring the Brothers to California. He even made a special trip to Rome to seek the Holy Father's intercession. However, epidemics of yellow fever and cholera, bitter aftermath of the Civil War. had sadly reduced the number of existing American Brothers. It was not until 1868, after a solemn Papal request, that Brother Iustin and seven companions left New York by steamship for San Francisco. Upon arrival, they assumed the direction of St. Mary's Col- lege, the Archbishop's training ground for native clergy. A new province was set up immediately, with jurisdiction over any houses to be opened on the Pacific Coast. In 1943 the Brothers of the California Province celebrated their diamond jubilee, recounting with pride that 70,000 students have graduated from their schools. SOUTHWEST BEGINNINGS In response to a call from Archbishop Lamy, four French Brothers completed the perilous journey from Kansas City, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the year 1859. The Comanche Indians were still on the warpath at this time, and the trails westward were fraught with hidden dangers. Nevertheless, St. Michae1's College was successfully founded, and in the course of a few years other communities were opened. forming a separate district. This district was affiliated with the St. Louis Province until 1916, when New Mexico, Colorado, and Louisiana were united as a special province for a group of confreres who had twice suffered for their faith, having been exiled from France in 1904 and from Mexico in 1914. The final groundwork was then laid for the foundation of the New Orleans-Santa Fe Province, which currently comprises educational institutions in New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Louisiana, and old Mexico. In 1931 the Brothers were welcomed to Galveston, Texas, by Reverend I. S. Murphy, pastor of St. Pat- rick's Church. They have since conducted Kirwin High School through a period of increasing good fortune. PLEDGE FOR THE FUTURE lt seems most prophetic at this time that we should celebrate the culmination of a century's loving labors for God and country. In the midst of mankind's current enigma of hate and fear, we, the senior class of Kirwin High School of the year nineteen hundred and forty-eight, proudly dedicate this issue of The Corsair's Log to the Christian Brothers of America, in humble recognition of their noteworthy contribution to univer- sal understanding and cooperation. With such inspired comradeship always before us, we cannot fail in the eventual attainment of world peace. X

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A xg :If le CHRISTIAN BROTHERS AMERICAN CENTENNIAL ai ff BOARD REV. IOHN I. RUDDY President of School Board St. Patrick's Church Latin 100 DIRECTORS M14 fm 045 wad 511062425 M-nr Q RIGHT REVEREND MSGR. RIGHT REVEREND MSGR. DANIEL P. O'CONNELL MARIUS S. CHATAIGNON St. Mary's Cathedral Sacred Heart Church iw