St Alphonsus High School - Rocket Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 5 text:

gQD UNE e leo CK H101-1 CO,llill1iNCE.llEN T N UMBEK .- Q ai, X. -cc A92 SM 44 44 49 St. Alphonsus School 9 rr 9 ni-3 1foRMAL OPENING date of St. Alphon- sus School, September 2, 1883, marked the beginning of an active career in the field of Catholic teaching and learning. Since that time, more than fifty years ago, the Notre Dame Sisters have prepared hun-- dreds of young men and women to go forward into the world with a sure step, with heads lifted high, and with eyes shin- ing with the light of Catholic ideals. As years went on, the curriculum was gradually extended to include at lirst a two- year, then by 1905, a four-year high school course. ln 1910, a commercial course, which now requires two years' study, was added to the curriculum. 'llhe year 1923 marks perhaps the greatest recognizable success of the School in all its history. ln that year, a notification was re-- ceived on November 3 that St. Alphonsus .High School had been placed on the list of Class A fully accredited high schools. During the years intervening between 1900 and 1925, the Christian Brothers taught the boys' classes in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, and conducted a special commercial course for those boys who were grammar school graduates. VVhen the llrothers left in 1925, the elementary grades were again taught by the Sisters, and the commercial course for boys was eliminated. Another distinction which St. Alphonsus School has is the Sight Conservation Class conducted by Miss Mary McGuire, an alumna of Rock. This class, which aims to help children with deficient sight by supplying special attention and proper equipment, the only one of its kind in America under parochial auspices and the only one of its kind west of the Mississippi, is maintained by the St. Louis Circle of the International lfederation of Catholic Alumnae. From the earliest times, the watchword of the Rock School has been Progress Always improving, enlarging, rebuilding, it has raised itself to the dignity of one of those line. old Catholic institutions that adhere to high ideals of character and morals, and preserve the knowledge of the arts and sciences from generation to generation. 'llhe aim of the School has always been to raise the ideals of its students, to make them honorable members of the Church and responsible citizens of the State. Except for the excellent methods of the Notre Dame Sisters, this aim might not have been accomplished so well. 'llhese Sisters have always regarded each student as an individual, to be considered in himself with his individual abilities, talents, and personality. Among the many good Sisters who helped to make the School what it is today, Mother Petra, now deceased. is remem- bered as Superior of St. Alphonsus School and later as Pro- vincial of the St. Louis Province of Notre Dame Sisters. Mother Jolendis, likewise, once Superior here, is now the retired Provincial of the St. Louis Province. Other names dear to the hearts of the Alumnae might be mentioned here, such as those of Sister 'lleresa and Sister Cyrilla. Father Bond, who celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as a priest this year, Father Franzen and Father Brown, both deceased, and lfather Palmer, present Provincial of the St. Louis Province of Redemptorists, are only a few of those names closely asso- ciated with the School-names that will go down as great in the story of the Church and Catholic education. The Old School has now seen more than half a century of active service. Probably it is one of the oldest high school buildings in the city of St. Louis. The mellowness of age combined with the happy atmosphere of youth has made and still makes it dear to the hearts of its present students and its loyal graduates. ow The Faculty Reverend Wlilliam H. Reintjes, C.Ss.R.. . . ......, Rector Sister Mary Cecilia, S.S.N.D. .......... ...... P rincipal Sister Mary Leonardine, S.S.N.D. .,........ .Yice-Principal English, Latin, Religion Sister Mary llasilia, S.S.N.D. Mathematics, Typewriting Sister Mary Bernardo, S.S.N.D. Music Sister Mary Callista, S.S.N.D. Physics, Typcwriting Sister Clement Marie, S.S.N.D. Conunercial Science, Religion Sister Mary Justin, S.S.N.D. Colnniercial Science. Religion Sister Mary Justinian, S.S.N.lD. Religion, Social Science Sister Mary Noreen, S.S.N.D. English, Religion Sister Mary Remigia. S.S.N.D. Conunercial Science. Religion Mr. Henry Abeken Physical Education Miss Gertrude Kirschbaum English, Latin Miss Florence Mallon Expression

Page 4 text:

T UP 'lf fo ' C C5 vu IEEI M O -...gba ts- 3 '95 f ROCK HIGH COMMENCEMENT NUMBER Messages to the Graduates Congratulations to the graduates of St. Alphonsus Grade, Commercial, and High . School Classes of 1936. VVith God for your strength, and Mary for your guide, may Christ be glorified in your lives. May you carry, lifted high up unto the end, unto the throne of God, unto the feet of Mary, unstained, unblemished, unlowered, the white and blue of St. Alphonsus School! -VVM. H. REINTIES, C.Ss.R. 089 Graduates of '36: This is the fight worth while today: To have ideals and cling to them, To live your life in your own good way In spite of the scoffer who may condemn. Your Alma Mater bids you go forth to defend the principles and to uphold the ideals you have found to be noble and true. Thus your high school educa- tion will become for you the certain means of attaining that success which she desires for you. -SIS-TER MARY CECILIA, S.S.N.D. 059 Smiling and with heads high, go you graduates to strive for the one prize for which we are all Working-happiness. And on the way you may try this old-fashioned but unfailing recipe: Take a large quantity of cheerfulness and let it simmer without stopping. Put with it a brimming basinful of kindness,-then add a full measure of thought for other people. Mix into these a heaping tablespoon of sympathy. Flavor with essence of charity. Stir well together and then carefully strain off any grains of selfishness. Let the whole be served with love sauce and the fruit of the spirit. -P. I. FORBES, C.Ss.R.

Page 6 text:

5 09' OP 0? 0544971 ,LO oi all ROCK 111514 CO,ll,llliNCEMENT NUMB Q wH'K V Us 2 ,BQ +1 Father Bond, Friend of Children, 50 Years a Priest HIC GRADUATING ciaxss of '36 will always remember this year not only as graduation year, but also as the year that marks the fiftieth milestone in the priestly life of the Hfriend of chil- dren, Father Bond. Many of the readers of The Rocket will recall happy days and pleasant memories spent in the company of this loving priest. Father Bond was born December 28, 1858, in Port Gibson, seven miles in from the river. His father was Richard George Bond of London, England. He was a Confederate Veteran of the Civil VV r and died shortly after the war was over. His mother was nne Archbold Kavanagh of the Kavanagh Family of Borris, County Carlow, lreland, although she was born in Kilkenny. She died in Port Gibson, March 8, 1880, aged 54 years. She was a descendant also of the Butler Family of Mississippi, a little town about forty miles south of Vicksburg, a A Kilkenny, four of her grandmothers being of that family. The Butler Family was the direct descendant of Matilda, the sister of St. Thomas a Becket of Canterbury, the martyred prelate. Walter Kavanagh, her father and Father Bond's grandfather, married Catherine Doyle, the niece of James, Bishop of Kil- dare and Leighlin, the celebrated I. K. L., a compatriot of Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator. Dr. Doyle was Father Bond's great-granduncle. Father Bond was educated in his native town from 1864 to 1874. He went to Mt. St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Mary- land, from 1876 to 1878, after which he went to the Redemp- torist Seminaries at Chatawa, Mississippi, Kansas City, Mis- souri, and iinally to Tlchester, Maryland, where he was or- dained priest on March 25, 1886, by Cardinal Gibbons. VVork for twenty-live years, his last mission being at Maple- wood, Missouri, in 1913. During the fifty years of his priesthood, Father Bond has been stationed in the following Redemptorist houses: St. Louis, six times, Kansas City, three times, Detroit, three times, Denver, for three years as pastor, New Orleans, Chicago, Davenport, DeSoto, and Kirkwood. Stationed in St. Louis in 1888, he was given charge of the three sections of the Holy Family Society which he reorgan- ized. In 1889, he founded the Young Ladies' Sodality and was Director of it several times. He gave instructions in the dif- ferent classes of St. Alphonsus School, St. Louis, for many years. For one year, during Father Firleis Rectorship, he was Director of the School, during the Superiorship of Mother Estelle. He was the Director of the Girls' Sodality and organ-- ized a Reading Circle in every class. During Father Maginnls Rectorship, he organized all the children of the school into a Total Abstinence Society and was also Director of the Knights of Father Matthew and The Ladies' Auxiliary for many years. He was also the Director of the Catholic Knights of America, The Young Men's sodality, and the Sanctuary Society. On August 2, 1915, he was made Editor of the Rock Church Cal- endar and he has edited it to the present day. Father Bond has witnessed many changes in St. Louis and the Nation. He has witnessed the development and growth of the Redemptorist Order, especially in the VVest. No account in human words can tell the story of the glorious achievements of this happy warrior of Godis army. lt is writ- ten golden letters in the record of eternity. In January, 1887, he went to New Grleans to make the Second Noviciate under Father Louis Cook, the well-known Redemptorist Missionary, and in june, 1887, he went with Father Cook to Detroit, Michigan, as a member of the Mission Band. His first Mission was at Port Huron, Michigan, in September, 1887. He was employed principally in Mission in the service of the King. ow The Alumnae The pupils of St. Alphonsus, the beloved children of 1 ather Bond, extend their heartiest congratulations to the priest they love so well in the year that marks the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination, and pray that he may spend many happy veais OYALTY TO ALMA MATER-love and devotion for good old Rock-these ideals were not meant for mere sentimental reflection on Graduation Day. They mean Action, Worle, Spirit long after commencement day has passed. After leaving Rock a friendly bond still ties you to the school you love, that bond is the Alumnae Association of St. Alphonsus High School. Because its motivating force is the welfare of the school, it is a peppy society with some new activity always in the making. The records for this year, a long list of activities from Homecoming down to the successful Paint Box Revue and Dance, proves that the St. Alphonsus Alumnae is a live organ- ization. Initiation and a banquet formally introduce the graduates into the Association of the Alumnae, where with the many who before them have left Rock as students yet have not severed their relations with their Alma Mater, they strive to attain the ideals of the Alumnae Association by their noble lives and service to their school.