Sacred Heart College - Gradatim Yearbook (Belmont, NC)

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all furniture was displayed to best advantage, and a flag of the United States was unfurled from the roof. Ceremonies were delayed till the arrival by train from Charlotte of Sister M. Gertrude, Sister M. Joseph, Sister M. Veronica, and Sister Margaret Mary. At three-thirty in the afternoon the distant thumping of drums heralded the approach of a brass band procession from the Abbey. Students, lay-brothers, and priests were on their way with the Bishop to attend the dedication ceremonies. In suitable order all proceeded through the house accompanied by the nine Sisters bearing lighted candles. When all the rooms of the three-story building were blessed, the procession returned to the Chapel where the Bishop delivered an inspiring address and a fitting welcome to the ' good, holy Sisters. ' Later, in the main hall, the band played on and did not take its leave until its members gave three rousing cheers for Sacred Heart Academy. Here at Belmont, in September 1892. Sacred Heart Academy opened wide its doors. Here for the years to be she was destined to instill true wisdom, to infuse true knowledge, and to mould truly Christian characters. In the school annals are recorded the interesting facts and outstanding events of those first years at Sacred Heart. The first session registration was twenty-one. twelve boarding pupils and nine day students. The first student enrolled was Mary Applewhite of Cronly, North Carolina. At the first distribution of prizes, Mary Goforth of Belmont, N. C now Sister Mary Ignatius of the Benedictine Sisters of Bristow. Virginia, received the honor of the school as an English graduate. In 1894, Saint Mary ' s Dramatic Asso- ciation, with Sister M. Agatha as president, presented entertainments in honor of Father Felix and the Bishop. In 1895, outstanding musicals were given as well as the presentation of Father Felix ' s play. Pontia, the Daughter of Pilate. ' Later with Sister Cecilia as president, the students presented a number of plays including Witch of Rosenberg. ' ' A Dress Rehearsal. ' and Tyrolean Queen. ' In June 1908. the first issue of The Sacred Heart Echoes was pub lished. The Echoes of that time was a quarterly publication. An unforgetable feature of those early and the later years at Sacred Heart was the part Father Felix played in the educational and recreational life of the students. From the time the Academy was established until the time of his death in 1924, Father Felix taught classes at Sacred Heart. But it was not in the class-room alone that the girls learned to know and appre- ciate Father Felix. In their weekly hikes, their frequent outing excursions, and their seasonal nutting expeditions, he was their friendly guide and most delightful companion. Gentleman, scholar, and priest, he was dearly loved and genuinely revered for his kindly, sympathetic nature, and his whole- hearted interest in all that concerned the students. The passing of the years brought many changes to Sacred Heart — changes in the personnel of the teaching staff, changes in the members of the student body, changes in the very face of the school and the campus.

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attempted to establish themselves in several different locations in North Caro- lina before they made their permanent foundation of Motherhouse and Academy in Belmont. In 1869. in answer to an appeal from the newly appointed Bishop James Gibbons to the newly created Vicariate of North Carolina, three Sisters of Mercy from the infant foundation in Charleston. South Carolina, came to Wilmington. North Carolina, to undertake the conducting of a Catholic school in that city. The Sisters of Mercy of Charleston were not strangers to the people of Wilmington, for a few years previously they had braved sickness and possible death when they came to Wilmington to nurse the victims of yellow fever which then ravaged that city. Bishop Gibbons ' appeal for Sisters for his school was answered in the persons of Sister Mary Augustine Kent, Sister Mary Charles Curtin. and Sister Mary Baptist Sheehan who came to Wilmington on October 11. 1869. These three Sisters were the founders of a new institute destined to take root in this State. They were the pioneers of Catholic learning in North Carolina. They formed the nucleus of the Sisters of Mercy of Belmont. Between the arrival of the Sisters in Wilmington and their coming to Belmont, there elapsed several years before the occurrence of that providential event which led to their permanent establishment at Sacred Heart. In 1891. Bishop Haid, first Abbot of Belmont Abbey, wrote to Mother Augustine in Wilmington bringing her the news that he had been informed of the sale of a piece of property between the Monastery and the town of Belmont. The Bishop had desired for some time to have a religious Community of women to conduct a school for girls near the Abbey. The zealous Sisters were eager to work in unison with the Bishop ' s desire, and though unable then to finance the purchase, they complied with the wishes of Bishop Haid and accepted the offer. Encouraging letters about the proposed purchase were received from the Prior of Belmont Abbey. Father Felix, who then and in the years that followed, showed a kindly, fatherly solicitude for the welfare of the Sisters and in all that concerned them. Negotiations were completed, the property was purchased, and immediately plans for a school building began to materialize. On February 3. 1892. the first peg of the Belmont house was driven into the ground. On September 1, at 4:30 in the afternoon, Sister M. Catherine, as Superior, Sister M. Cecilia. Sister M. Agatha. Sister M. Xavier. and Sister M. Clare arrived in Belmont to begin this new foundation. Interesting, amusing, and inspiring are the events chronicled by the Community Annalist of those first days at Sacred Heart. The house was not quite finished when the Sisters arrived. Not at all comforting was the realiza- tion that their first night was to be spent in a house without doors, out in the woods, and in utter darkness: Sister Catherine had forgotten her candles and matches. For the dedication on September 8, Sisters and workmen vied with one another in their efforts to be ready for the big day. When at last the day arrived, the whole house was cleared of all evidences of preparations,

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In 1899 Academy space for students became more adequate when a new Convent and Novitiate brick building was erected and Professed Sisters and Novices moved from the frame Convent and Academy building, the first home of the Sisters at Belmont. The frame building was henceforth to be used entirely for the students. The dearest privilege granted them by this change was the converting of the Sisters ' Chapel into the school study hall. Still other changes for greater accommodations were made in 1 9 M when the Academy building was enlarged by the addition of a gymnasium, practice music rooms, and several private bedrooms with open sun porches. Then in 1922 the completion of Victory Hall — named in honor of Our Lady of Victory through whose intercession the building was made possible — was an event of genuine pleasure for students and teaching staff. Here were ample room and scope enough, for the time, for the growing needs of the school. The spacious auditorium, elegant single and double bedrooms, artistic music rooms, attractive art rooms, and interesting museum heightened the students ' joy and the teachers ' delight in the grand work of education. Again in 1928 the Sisters undertook still other enlargements. At this time the old gave way to the new. when the Academy frame building was torn down and in its stead the more adequate, more accommodating, and more imposing brick Admin- istration Building was erected. In this building the students were given greater facilities in class room space, in science laboratories, in library, periodical room, and reading room, and in recreation halls and dormitories. Unstinted outside recreational facilities, too, were provided in the large pavilion, the rose-covered summer-house, the rolled tennis court, and the concrete court marked for volley ball, badminton, and paddle tennis. These together with the expansive lawn have been the scenes of happy outdoor events, and gay, colorful parties that have become traditional in the life at Sacred Heart. Then who would attempt to estimate the influence for good that has been effected within the class rooms and study halls at Sacred Heart during all these years? Since its foundation fifty years ago, Sacred Heart Academy has endeavored to inculcate those principles and attitudes, those fine character- istics that are the essence of cultured womanhood. Using these as their norm, students and teachers have sought to keep pace with educational demands. With ever-increasing joy and enthusiasm they have acquitted themselves nobly of their duty to advance in age and wisdom before God and man. In its earlier years the Academy was not a high school in the strict sense of the word as it is today with its affiliations with school associations. It was, rather, a Southern finishing school in which emphasis was placed on