St Bernards High School - Bernardian Yearbook (Fitchburg, MA)

Page 19 text:

! ‘ ‘ We had our fun in rehearsing for our entertain- Lment, in decorating the gym, and in dancing be- tween times. emenmer’ Such a variety and abundance -of refreshments as we served was never surpassed by any pre- vious class.

Page 18 text:

Our CHEMISTRY EXHIBIT Ess Bee Chemists I durdle USENOLD CHEMICA H 7m, Research tNKS POLIBER ; All members of the che have been working on inc jects since last Fall and th productions were displa auditorium the first week j assortment was vast, ver and varied. Soap seeme: favorite project of the gir boys with their lofty sky turned to towers. Drilling towers for evi from salt mining to oil ¢

Page 20 text:

THE FIGHTING 69TH The Fighting 69th takes its name from the famous New York regiment of World War I. The name is most appropriate as the FIGHTING 69th of today pledges itself to a life of greater purity and engages in a spiritual battle in defense of more decency in word, action, and dress. The entire student body was made more con- scious of the dangers to their purity by an assembly on October 27, under the auspices of the Blue and Gold. These seniors conducted the panel discus- sions: Anthony Anzalone, Catherine Donelan, John Carbone, Anne Grenier, Frances LeBlanc, Richard Menard, Margaret Provenzani, Anthony . Romane. On 'the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Con- ception, 548 Bernardians were installed in the FIGHTING 69th and pledged themselves “to live and fight for the ideals of the 6th and 9th Commandments .. .” 16 MARIA GORETTI Maria Goretti, patroness of the FIGHTING 69th, lived in the dank Pontine Marshes, which had caused the death of her father. There was no time for school nor play for little Maria; nothing but hard work, but she never complained. But even before her First Holy Communion, Maria, twelve, was troubled at the attentions which Alessandro, nineteen, was forcing upon her. Then one hot July afternoon, when Maria’s mother was working in the fields, Alessandro entered. Maria refused to give up her purity and fought with all her strength, crying out that it was a sin. The infuriated boy stabbed her fourteen times. The dying Maria willingly forgave her murderer and asked God to forgive him also. This “St. Agnes of the 20th Century” was can- onized June 24, 1950, her mother being present. Eight long years of prison life had passed for Alessandro, but all that time his soul seemed dead within him. He was very silent, sullen, and unrepentant. Then one night as he lay asleep on his pallet, he seemed to be in a garden filled with fra- grant flower. But the dazzling whiteness of the lilies attracted him and the figure in white bending over them as she gathered them and twined them into a garland. Then when she turned and came near him, he recognized Maria. She extended her lily-laden arms and told him to take them. He trembled as he held them, especially when the lily nearest him caught fire and disappeared leaving a white flame glowing in its place. Thus all the other lilies disap- peared and the figure with them. Alessandro awoke to a new life, a life of tears and repentance.