St Margarets Academy - Dayseye Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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JdaytMf, JuImIee Reminiscences A HALO of glory undimmed by time illumines the names of our heroic pioneers. Among the brave historic band who helped in the making of Minnesota and of the Twin Cities, the Sisters of St. Joseph who answered Bishop Cretin s call for teachers, have played no minor role. At eight o’clock on the night of October twenty-eighth. 1851. four Sisters boarded the Steamer “Saint Paul.” at St. Louis harbor, to sail for the then far north. They were Mother Saint John Fournier and Sister Philomene. both of France. Sister Scholastica Velasquez of Saint Louis, and Sister Frances Joseph Ivory of Loretta. Pennsylvania. As winter was nearing and the ice was fast forming in the river, the steamer made only the necessary stops, and landed in Saint Paul on the night of November second. On awaking next morning, the Sisters, after adoring and thanking God. went on deck to scan the surroundings of their “Field Afar. To those who hailed from Sunny France or from our own southern clime, the outlook on that cold November morning was rather bleak and desolate. But difficulties nourish the courage of the brave, and love of the Master they served, fed inspiration s flame. Bishop Cretin, having been notified of the Sisters' arrival, sent a French I 11 1

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 3$ Jd D yesye Mary Hardy.................. Ruth Norris.................... Virginia Benning Frances Wren .... Annetta McCann................. Frances Bonin.................. Louise Kloss................... Mary Peter..................... Helen Noethen............ . Catherine Quealy............... Catherine Murray ........... Erin Fleming .................. Margaret Cavanaugh ............ Verena Bernard................. Alice Culhane.................. Lucille Barbery....... Margaret Buckley............ Helen Hughes...... ............ [ ioi ..............Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor-in-Chief .............Literary Editor .....Art Editor Assistant Art Editor Compiling Editor Assistant Compiling Editor Business Manager Chief 'Typist History and Music Editor Drama and Poetry Editor Assistant Poetry Editor Alumnae Editor Editor of Personals Editor of Personals General Assistant General Assistant General Assistant

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cleric to conduct them to the home of Madame Turpin, who received them kindly, and ministered to their needs. A few hours later. Bishop Cretin, accompanied by an ecclesiastical student, came to welcome the Sisters, and to introduce them to the home prepared for them. The small structure that was to house them was the former Episcopal residence, the later Theological Seminary, and was now to be the first Convent in Minnesota. It was a small, one-story shanty, overlooking the great Mississippi. thatched and desolate. Through its cracks the blizzard moaned, and at its door the wild wolf often howled. But the Sisters came to teach, and they lost no time in making ready for their loved task. On November tenth, one week after their arrival, the first Saint Joseph’s Academy opened its doors to students in the Vestry of the Old Log Cabin Church on Bench Street. The record of struggle, development and progress that followed would require a volume in itself. Every story of pioneer life reads like a legend. It fascinates, it thrills, it inspires, it shames us. Poverty, indifference, hardship, labor, stubborn circumstances failed to dim the vision of our God-loving Sisters, who passed their spirit on to their successors. Seventy-five years of faithful service, and of generous clinging to high ideals are crystallized in forty-five convents, thirty-nine parochial schools, three academies, five hospitals, two orphanages and one college. May God speed and bless the work in the future as in the past, and may all who follow the Lamb under the banner of Saint Joseph prove as generous in His service as were the valiant pioneer Sisters. I 12 1