St Marys College - Dial Yearbook (St Marys, KS)

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HISTORICAL g a X ' ' : ■ : X K X X X Rev. Joseph Keller, S. J., arrived at the mission, bringing the first news of the intended ramification. Accordingly plans for a college building were drawn up, a seal, hearing the legend “virtuti et Scientiae” encompassing an image of the rising sun, was designed and engraved and an application for a charter made. On Decemlier 24, 1869, St. Mary’s was empowered under the laws of Kansas to confer degrees and other academic honors. St. Mary’s, though the first school to rear its walls above the level of the plains, was the eighth to receive a charter in Kansas. PRO-CATHEDRAL OF BISHOP MIEGE The college took as its name the title given the humble Pro-cathedral of Bishop Miege, S. J., St. Mary’s of the Immaculate Conception. Much of the work of instruction in these early days was carried on by Brothers. John Murphy, S. J.; Martin Corcoran, S. J.; John Kilcullin, S. J.; and George Bender, S. J., were efficient teachers. What St. Mary’s boy does not know “Brother George”? He has remained associated with the college through all the intervening years and the mention of his name recalls fond memories to the students of the past as well as the present. Age and years, which have left their heavy impress upon his once agile frame, have failed to cool the ardor of his devotion or dim his recollections of the school where he has labored so long and so well. SODALITY AND PHILHARMONIC SOCIETIES On the feast of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8, 1869), Father Patrick J. Ward, S. J., the president of the newly chartered institution, organized among the students the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin. This organization is affiliated with the Roman Prima Primaria under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin and the patronage of St. John Berchmans. Father Ward acted as its director during its first year. An inspection of the minute hooks show that meetings were sometimes held in the college parlor and sometimes in the various class rooms. Since the erection of the first chapel in 1884 the meetings have been held in the chapel. DIAL ANNUAL v ■ V v - [j A K a « X One Hundred Seventy-Eight

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HISTORICAL BISHOP MIEGE On the 24th of May, 1851, Rt. Rev. J. B. Miege, S. J., having been raised March 25, 1851, to the dignity of Bishop of Messenia and Vicar Apostolic over the country inhabited by the red man, lying between the Rockies and what might l e called the western boundary of civilization, arrived in St. Mary’s to make the humble mission church his Pro-cathedral. About this time the towns along the Kaw began to spring into being. Father Gailland, writing of this particular period, says: “This region took on a new aspect. Before this it had seemed a vast desert. Now villages and towns are rising on all sides and the country is being filled with a multitude of people. The population of the city of Leavenworth, which on account of its favorable situation surpasses all others, has within the space of two years increased by 2.000. The more important towns that have lately sprung into being are Doniphan, Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, and Osawatomie. On the 9th of August, 1855, Bishop Miege left St. Mary’s to establish the seat of his bishopric in Leavenworth, that flourishing town being more in keeping with the dignity of his office and affording him more ample opportunity for carrying on liis work. Rt. Rev. J. B. Miege, S. J. The little Indian shrine which graces the eastern slope of observatory hill and looks out over the athletic fields was erected during these early mission days. An earnest desire to foster the spirit of Christian piety and to enkindle devotion to the Blessed -Mother of God were the motives which prompted Father Diels, S. J., to erect this modest shrine of the Blessed Virgin. THE CHARTER Again the endless sequence of years mechanically pursue their silent course. Throughout thirty-two years of persevering endeavor, unremitting toil and zealous exertion the mission had continued in its fierce struggle with the vicissitudes of fortune and the unsettled conditions, adapting itself to the needs of the shifting and everchanging character and habits of the race to which it ministered. From 1851 when Kansas was made a territory, and left to decide the slavery question for itself, until the close of the Civil War, the entire community had witnessed the chaotic conditions that accompanied the long and bloody conflict. By 1865, however, peace had finally been established and the constant influx of whites liad metamorphosed the quiet plains, and a thriving town had grown up within the very shadow of the college. It was decided upon, therefore, by the provincial, Rev. Father Cossemans, S. J., that a boarding school should lie founded at St. Mary’s. On May 12, 1869, Rev. Maurice Gailland, S. J. 5 DIAL ANYMUAL One Hundred Seventy-Seven

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: - r V ' • FIRST BUILDINGS The foundations of what is now known as the Old College were laid on the 31st of May, 1870. There was to be a stone basement and a superstructure of brick four stories high aiid 80 feet long. This building was to be one-fifth of the entire plan and was to form the central part. The building was opened Jan. 26, 1871. At this early date there were 150 boarders, 20 day scholars, 4 Fathers, 1 scholastic and 17 lay brothers at the institution, and the campus embraced 1,334 acres of land. The Indians by this time were slowly vanishing before the oncoming white population and though the Fathers wished to follow and continue their missionary work among them, the Father Provincial kept them occupied with college activities. During the school year of 1870 the Philharmonic society came into being, its object being to add solemnity to the religious, national, and literary festivals and to give its members an opportunity of improving themselves in the practice of music. Today this society comprises the Choir, the Glee Club, the Orchestra and the Band. V •J y PHILALETHIC AND ACOLYTHICAL SOCIETIES Two years later, January 1, 1872, the Philalethic society was organized. At a meeting of thirty of the students of that date a constitution and by-laws was formulated and adopted. The society in its early days differed somewhat from the present Philalethic. It was not only somewhat exclusive but its proceedings were secret. At the outset its object was “to furnish good reading matter and innocent amusement to its members, to train them for transacting any kind of business, and to foster a taste for literature and eloquence.” It was in December, 1876, that the Philalethic as now constituted came into l eing. The Reading Room Association then became a separate organization and exercised the function of “fostering a taste for literature,” while the Philalethic confined itself from thenceforth, “To accustom its members by means of literary discussion to speak with fluency and ease and to afford them an opportunity of acquiring information on useful subjects.” The initial debate was held Dec. 17, 1872. Jzi DIAL ANNUAL One Hundred Seventy-Nine