St Francis Minor Seminary - Via Yearbook (Milwaukee, WI)

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i951 The First Provincial Council of Milwaukee The ORDINARIEs-1886 mp Rt. Rev. M. Marty, D D. Rt. Rev. John Vertin, D.D. Rt. Rev. Kilian C Flasch, D.D. Rt. Rev. John Ireland, D.D. Most Rev. M. Heiss, D.D. Rt. Rev. R. Seidenbush, D.D. GNOIAIVICI EIEI'IIHIIF 999?

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es 1887-1889 SAINT FRANCIS SBMINARY The Monsignor Rainer Period HIS CHAPTER in the history of the Seminary should be very inter- esting, indeed, to all who have been privileged to be students here during the making of the period of which it treats. This chapter of memoirs proposes to recount the outstanding events . which transpired between 1887 . and 1906 and add in its own i way to a complete picture of the ' epoch. The Very Reverend Joseph Rainer, whose desire through all the long years that succeeded was to oHer his lifeis work for the en- couragement of hundreds to priestly zeal, rose to the highest honor in the institution at the beginning of the scholastic year in 1887. Thus it is that this chapter begins with his accession to the Rectorship and concludes with the Golden Jubilee of the Semi- nary. Without doubt, his name, after those of Heiss and Salzmann, is the one most frequently recalled by the lovers of the Salesianum. He has won this admiration through years of tireless service, and truly deserves to be the chief figure of the present chapter. From the outset, we see him carrying high the banner of the institution. He, in the vast majority of instances, represented the institution on great solemnities. In his first year as Rector we find him present at the consecration of the Right Reverend Thomas Bonacum as Bishop of Lincoln. Exactly one year later he represented our Alma Mater at the consecration of the Right Reverend J Hennessy as Bishop of Wichita. Both were former students of the Seminary, were consecrated on the same day of the year, November, the thirtieth, and in the same place, St. Louis. This first year of his Rectorship seemed to presage great things: it was a cardinal one in his long ser- vice. Hardly had the school year begun when a most signal honor was conferred upon the Seminary. It was on September, the twenty-eighth, that His Emi- nence, James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Balti- more, accompanied by Archbishop Heiss of Milwau- kee and others, visited this hallowed institution and spoke to the students. The eminent Cardinal and great Statesman sealed the students, respect by con- ceding the following day as 8free8. Though the dignity of Church and State were nobly represented in this scholarly Cardinal, yet the kindly solicitous Rector was not at peace until he had obtained the privilege of paying honor to the Pres- ident, Grover Cleveland. Eight days following the visit of Cardinal Gibbons the train bearing President Cleveland halted at St. Francis station to give the students the coveted opportunity of seeing and hear- ing His Excellency. President and Mrs. Cleveland appeared on the rear platform and received the en- thusiastic greetings of the students. The student body had one other like privilege in the closing months of the century when it gathered at the station again. Pres- ident McKinley it was this time who appeared on the rear platform of his special train to receive the spirited greetings of the seminarists. Pope Leo XIII, who by his high statecraft and Christian leadership had ever attracted the whole worldis esteem and respect was signally honored throughout the world in the year 1887 and especially in the year 1893. On December 15, 1887, the Semi- nary celebrated the golden jubilee of the priesthood of His Holiness and on February 19, 1893, solemn- ized the golden jubilee of his episcopal consecration. The Patron Feast in 1889 is well worth recording, for it marked the blessing of the new altar picture by Archbishop Katzer. This picture, which represents the episcopal consecration of St. Francis de Sales, was ever a central point of love and just pride for the Rector. In after years, he enjoyed repeating its story, thus making vivid for those of later years what he had watched with his own eyes from begin- ning to completion. The picture was painted by Mr. J. Schmitt of Covington, Kentucky, and was begun on the ninth of the previous August. The last day of April following, marked the first century since the inauguration of George Washing- ton as President of the United States. The thought of this historic event brought from the pen of the Rector that poem which is familiar to many of his Latin students, his Carmen Saeculareii. The day was begun with a Solemn Votive Mass in honor of the Immaculate Conce tion, celebrated by the Rector. The afternoon broug t forth a rogram of seven speeches, which Fittingly representeniD the character and make-up of our nation; for, as the speeches were seven-fold in number, so they were likewise seven-fold in language. It is noteworthy that, within this same year, fell also the first centenary of the establishment of the Catholic Hierarchy in the United States. The Very Reverend Rector attended this latter celebration, which was made memorable by the opening of the new Catholic University. The close of the year brought the welcome news of the consecration of an Alumnus, the Right Rev. James B. Cotter, as Bishop of Winona, Minn. 1351

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$3:b The year 1890 was one of sickness and death in the annals of our beloved Seminary. iiWhen sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions? The year was begun with an epidemic of influenza and la grippe which resulted in a hgrippe vacation? It was not far spent until news was re- ceived of the death of a former Rector and world- renowned liturgist, the Rev. Innocent Wapelhorst, O. F. M. This news was followed shortly by the re- ception of a telegram which caused the institution to halt its labors and enter upon days of deep mourning. The telegram, coming from La Crosse on March, the twenty-sixth, bore the sad report that the beloved Archbishop of Milwaukee and first Rector of the Seminary, the Most Reverend M. Heiss, had de- parted this life. On April the first, after the solemn services at St. Johnis Cathedral, his remains were borne to St. Francis, here to find their final resting place. After a solemn funeral Mass was sung on the following morning, his body was interred beneath the sanctuary in the Seminary chapel. Since that day many, with prayerful respect, have passed the marble slab which marks the crypt wherein his remains repose. 1890-1894 The Archdiocese was without a Pastor until three days before Christmas, when a cablegram from Rome brought the glad tidings that Bishop Katzer of Green Bay, a former professor, was to be elevated to the See of Milwaukee. As Archbishop-elect he sang a Pontifical High Mass on the following Patronal Feast of the Seminary, but it was not until the last day of ' June that he solemnly entered Milwaukee and was elevated to the dignity of Archbishop in St. Johnis Cathedral. On the twentieth of August, His Eminence of Baltimore, James Cardinal Gibbons, as the Holy Fathefs emissary, brought the atchiepiscopal pallium to the new Archbishop. This was a red-Ietter day in the history of the Seminary, because, after the magni- ficent ceremonies, it was host to the Most Reverend and Right Reverend Prelates and the Reverend Clergy who numbered about four hundred. The Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore presided at the banquet which took place in the lower study-hall. The new Archbishop himself acted as toastmaster on this occasion. Three outstanding events have been recorded in the Seminary,s history for 1892. The Salesianum was the scene of a diocesan synod which was con- voked by the Most Reverend Archbishop Katzer. After His Grace had celebrated Pontifical High Mass, the Synod was opened in the Seminary hall. The second day of the convocation opened with a Solemn High Mass of Requiem for the deceased bishops and priests of the province. Adjournment ceremonies followed a Solemn Votive Mass in honor of the Blessed Trinity, on July, the fifteenth. The second major event of the year was the solemn cele- SAINT FRANCIS SEMINARY bration of the Very Rev. Rector,s silver sacer- dotal jubilee. The occasion was graced by the presence of the Bishops Schwebach of La Crosse and Messmer of Green Bay, together with more than two hundred priests. The fourth centenary of AmericaTs discovery was the last of the great events of the year which found response within the Seminary walls. The Vet Rev. Rector most properly started the days celebration with a Solemn High Mass of thanks- giving. In the afternoon, a program was rendered in the hall and was composed of addresses in many languages but the principal feature of the program was the rendition by the choir of a Latin ode, written by the Rector to commemorate the event and set to music by the Rev. C. Becker. The year which follows was, for the greater part, without its illustrious Rector, who had gone to Europe. He returned on October, the fourteenth, and was 'welcomed by the frofessors and students who escorted him from the rai road station with a torch-light pro- cession. It may not be at all impossible that the large torch-Iight, which at this present writing is still stored away in the loft of the sacristy, was used in this to- cession: its very appearance prompts us to conciliide that it is a remnant of bygone days. It is interesting to note that the matters which transpired during the Rectoris absence, as found in the Souvenir of the Golden jubilee, are chronicled without date. This urges us to conclude that the Rector himself was the chronicler. We repeat one of his entries since it is of interest to all who wish to note the various improve- ments which have, from time to time, changed the appearance of the Seminary: TTDuring the summer vacation the new Procurator made some extensive improvements in and about the Seminary. The base- ment of the theological department was thoroughly repaired and the front of the main building received a more pleasant and attractive appearance? Turning from the material to the intellectual endeavors, we are quick to note that, thrice during the period treated in this chapter, intellectual vitality jumped the bounds established by classroom disci- pline and burst forth into theological disputations. One of these disputations occurred on the thirteenth of May, 1893, in the presence of the Most Reverend Archbishop and the Reverend Rector of Marquette College, Father Rogers. Three theses taken from the tract 'Tde incarnation? were defended by the Messrs. C. Stehling, W. Dwyer, and J Boedecker. The second of these disputations, held on the seventeenth of December, 1894, touched upon the interesting question of the validity of Anglican Orders and was discussed in the presence of Bisho Messmer of Green Bay and other notables. The thir disputation was of a historico-theological character. It was held in the Seminary hall on the twenty-second of May, 1896. i371