Siena College - Saga Yearbook (Loudonville, NY)

Page 9 text:

COLLEGE, named for the Frana St. Bernardine of Siena, was founded in September, 1937, by the Franciscan Fathers of the Province of Most Holy Name. At that time, and until June 20, 1938, when the cornerstone of the main building was laid, the College was operated under the Charter of St. Bonaventures College of Allegany, in the State of New York. The first year, all Classes were held in what is now the Monastery. This large resi- dential building, erected in the last century, was subjected to extensive alterations during the summer of 1937 in order temporarily to accommodate the ninety students and eight faculty members of the beginning semester. There were three Classrooms-two 0n the main floor, and one in the basement-and a small library. Most of the rooms still retained some of the atmosphere of their former state, and studies were pursued before Ereplaces and marble mantelpieces. A recreation center was located in an old barn which, if it could be returned today as it was then, would stand upon the driveway slightly to the east Of the front entrance. It was His Excellency, the Most Rev. Edmund F. Gibbons, BlSllOp of Albany, who asked the Franciscan Fathers into the Capital District to establish here the only Catholic college for men in the east-central area of New York State. When the College was opened for the

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SAINT BERNABDIN E 2 a; Siam f ARDINE was born of a noble family assa, in Siena, the eighth of Septenr ber, 1380. Left an orphan at the age of six, he was brought up by pious aunts. Distributing his patrimony in charity, at twenty-two he received the habit of the Franciscans 0n the eighth of Septem- ber, 1402. He was ordained two yearslater. In 1417, Bernardines gift of e10- quence, foretold by St. Vincent Ferret, be- came manifest and his missionary life really began at Milan, at the close of that year. His reputation and fame spread, his auditors sometimes numbering 30,000. Pius II, who as a youth had heard him, records that the saint was listened to as another Paul. Penitents, we are told, Hocke ed to confession iilike ants. He gave new impetus to devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus by urging the use of the initials IIIS. Blessed Albert 0f Sartiano bears this grand testimony to his powers: iiThis truly eminent man, Bernardine, the greatest ornament 0f the Franciscan Order, taught the people with wonderful wisdom and discernment and labored to maintain them in their good dispositions. . . . From this it is easy to conclude what must have been the results of his aposto- late for the pacification and reformation of all classes of society. A papal commission acquitted him of a Charge of heresy, so malicious and futile that Pope Martin V commended him for the very teachings claimed by his accusers to be heretical. He refused three bishoprics. He be- came Vicar-general 0f the Franciscans in 1437, but in 1442 he persuaded the Pope to accept his resignation in order that he might resume his preaching. Bernardiue died on the twentieth of May, 1444. Miracles multiplied after his death and he was canonized by Pope Nicholas V in 1450.

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F irst College Building first time on the 22nd of September, 1937, His Excellency invoked the blessings of the Church upon the new institution and de- livered afterward a brief speech to the ninety students who comprised the first Class. He declared that this ceremony inaugurated . . . one of the most important works which has been done in the Diocese of Albany. Nine months later, upon the occasion of the laying of the cornerstone, Bishop Gib- bons again addressed the students and faculty. We are grateful, he said, for this op- portunity to bless and erect a building dedia cated to God's glory and to the sacred cause of education. This college will stand for truth. The members of the faculty during the first year were: the Rev. Cyprian Mensing, O.F.M., Ph.D., Dean of Studies, and the Rev. Fathers Lambert Zaleha, Adalbert Ca1- lahan, Lawrence J. Kidder, Joseph Vann, Benjamin Kuhn, Alcuin Shields, Bernard A. Tobin, and Mr. John R. Wilkinson. The first permanent building was opened on October 17, 1938, to the ninety returning students of the Erst year, and 160 new en- rollees. Many additions were made to the faculty at this time, and Fr. Cyprian was made president of the College, which was now independent of St. Bonaventures and Operated under a temporary Charter granted by the University of the State of New York. Evening courses were offered for the Erst