St Ignatius High School - Ignatius Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Joe Zavadrl presents the frrst In a serres of four articles that wrll re tell rn words the stones that the starned wlndows rn the nave of Holy Family Church tell so brilliantly rn colored glass The weakened Iesurt shrfts hrs gaze to the young Chrnese boy who kneels by hrs srde Those thrn cracked lrps move slowly and Xavrer attempts to express the brtter drs apporntment that overwhelms hrs soul My son I dre a farlure God rn Hrs good ness presented me wrth countless opportunr tres for savrng pagan souls but what lrttle success my humble attempts have achrevedl To the people of Iapan I brought for the most part unrest rather than sprrrtual peace But however unworthy I may be what an honor rt would be for me to carry the Word of Chrrst rnto your natrve Cathay' Though even my beloved Father Ignatrus seems to have forgotten me may God remember my poor efforts My trral on earth rs ended may Hrs Wrll be done The Sarnt strrs slrghtly He thrnks not of the work he has done rn the past The thought of wonderful days at the College of St Barbara and of the Socrety s early years come not rnto hrs trred mrnd The great extent of hrs mrssronary actrvrty rn the vast drstrrcts of Indra and all the rslands up to Iapan rs all forgotten To hrm the frurtful weeks rn the Phrlrpprnes and the East Indres are as he rs humbly rnsrgnrfrcant Instead the apostle s thoughts are focused solely on the future on the Beatrfrc Vrsron The sprrrtual end to whrch he asprred durrng every mrnute of the forty srx years of hrs lrfe rs rn srght Suddenly the haggard face seems to regarn rts youthful composure The coura geous heart rs strlled Francrs Xavrer has departed agarn for a new land BLESSED PETER FABER Angels of God who guard thrs place gurde my every actron that my work here may add to the greater honor and glory of God The Iesurt preacher Peter Faber was prayrng He was about to enter the German crty of Worms and he never ventured rnto a new freld of labor for souls wrthout frrst seekrng help from the angels Moreover thrs companron of Ignatrus Loyola knew well that he would need heavenly assrstance more than ever before rf he was to perform successfully the drffrcult task whrch con fronted hrm Worms had suffered greatly from the destructrve tenets of the Protestant heresy Hrs was the job of reparrrng that damage Hopeless as the srtuatron may have appeared Faber was not the one to be drs couraged easrly Frequent prayers to hrs beloved guardran angel brought hrm more confrdence as he set to work Upon hrs arrrval the Mrssronary could frnd but two prrests rn the entrre crty who were not openly leadrng srnful lrves Thrs grrevous state of affarrs tended to rncrease the Iesurt s zeal rather than to drshearten hrm To make the people mend therr ways he realrzed rt would be necessary to reform frrst the clergy Surely gurded by the angels he so loved drove the forces of heresy from the crty and led the crtrzens back onto the path t Heaven The young prrests rntrmate unron wrth God and Hrs heavenly creatures had agarn brought success to hrs efforts Even from hrs youth Faber had possessed an rntense love for hrs Creator When tend rng hrs fathers flocks rn the Alps of Savoy the boy had made an early vow of chastrty After hrs entrance rnto the Unrversrty of Parrs hrs great prety had so rmpressed hrs fellow student Ignatrus that the young Savoyard was chosen by Loyola as hrs frrst companron Throughout Europe he traveled preachrng Gods Word and porntrng the way to Chrrst Hrs early death was recog nrzed as a heavy loss to the Socrety No man could have accomplrshed so much for God as drd Faber wrthout extraordrnary Drvrne assrstance And surely no man better deserved that help than thrs Iesurt whom we mrght well call the Apostle of the Angels . l 9 0 D , o o 0 1 ' - ' I . I I I I I I , . I I I - , ' I . . . Faber, with the help of a few other priests, . . . . ' ' 0 , , I . . - I I I I I I I I I I I - I . ' I I I I I ' . . . I . - ' I I I I ' I I , ' 1 , . 27 -

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by JOSEPH ZAVADIL 46 I ST. FRANCIS XAVIER Death is drawing near. The saintly head moves restlessly on its wooden pillow. The thin black-robed body that lies upon the damp, cold earth is losing its last few ounces of life. Disease has at last succeeded in overpowering God's greatest missionary, Francis Xavier. Those sunken eyes behold in the misty distance the goal for which he has long striven, but in vain. Never will he set foot on the shore of China. Never will he be granted the chance to convert to Christ the most numerous people of the East. bturieh wtnhums

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udllace fd a 04 pple by JAMES DAGENAIS 46 The lap was cold H1s teeth chattered and hrs numbed frngers shook as he trred to draw hrs water soaked racket more closely about h1m He had been srttrng rn the mrddle of the rrce freld for two days now and rt was nrght Hunger cold mrsery and fatrgue had begun to make therr appearance He Was a soldrer but you could hardly recognlze hrs unrform beneath the mud whrch covered hrm from head to foot H was unshaven unspeakably frlthy and al most exhausted from squattrng among the half grown stalks of rrce Absently he prcked a lump of mud from the sleeve of hrs Jacket and consrdered rts nutrrtronal value He cursed and dropped rt 1nto the water whrch rose almost to hrs warst He proceeded to curse methodrcally He cursed the young rrce stalks for berng rng v ater and the clouds of mosqurtoes whrch almost maddened hrm but most es pecrally he cursed the Amerrcans Yesterday he had been a man of power a loyal slave of the Emperor a member of hrs great army Hrs slrghtest wrsh had been carrred out lmmedrately But the comrng of the Amerrcans had changed everythrng Today he rs beaten he must flee alone The Amerrcans were searchrng for all the brave soldrers of Nrp pon l1ke hrm who preferred hrdrng to sur render He was afrard of the Amerlcans afrard of what they would do to hrm He had heard torres of the horrrble tortures undergone by loyal Iapanese at the hands of the bestral Amerrcans and he had no wrsh to suffer But even he knew that no one had ever recerved such rnhuman treatment as that meted out by Colonel Osato untrl recently commander of a prrson camp for Amerrcans The Colonel was not pleasant to look at He was short and bowlegged and was so obese that he could only waddle Hrs head was round and covered wrth close cropped greasy black harr hrs face puffy and of an unhealthy color hrs thrck lrps curled betray 1ng hrs 1nner coarseness and lechery Hrs nearsrghted eyes were mere slrts rn the sag grng fleshy face and gleamed wrth the malevolence of a devrl Hrs flarr for rnvent 1ng unspeakable methods of torture had earned hrm the trtle of The Beast The Beast was one of those who had fled when the Amerrcans arrrved and only one person knew hrs whereabouts A cold trred man crouchrng rn a rrce held was the only lrvrng soul who could tell where The Beast lay hrdden and he would never grve the Amerrcans the satrsfactron of knowrng But after all he argued to hrmself The And that was true They hated hrm wrth a frerce burnrng hatred The Beast had seen therr hatred for hrm rn therr eyes each trme he had ordered one of them to b beaten to death as he drd when angered He had seen therr hate vented on the only ones who could be therr vrctrms the Amerr can prrsoners They vented therr hatred rn countless drabolrcal ways each day and contrrved rn every way to manufacture for the Amerrcan dogs a vrsrble hell on earth The Beast had never remonstrated wrth the men for therr cruelty to the prrsoners He only saw to rt that hrs own treatment of them was even more devrlrsh than therrs Small wonder then that the Amerrcan occupatron forces were combrng the entrre area to frnd h1m But he knew every rnch of the country They would never frnd hrm that rs not unless some one of hrs country men knew where he was and would report that fact One man knew where The Beast could O I I I . , . - . I . 5 I . . I . I . . . I - . . ' e . too bitter to be edibleg he cursed the stink- Beast' was hated' by his own men. , ' e I ' I . . I . . I S . . I , , - , , , 28