St Norbert College - Des Peres Yearbook (De Pere, WI)

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 (’lay lies still, but blood’s a rover; Breath’s a ware that will not keep. Up, lad: when the journey’s over There’ll be time enough to sleep. Fourteen

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I'wjr Thirteen

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 THE DES FEFES |l A Short Review of the Life and Works of The Right Reverend B. H. Pennings The history of any great institution is principally the history of its great men, so it will not be out of place to insert in this book a brief summary of the labors and successes of our president, the Right Reverend B. H. Pennings, Abbot. His solemn investiture on May 27, 1925 as Abbot, the first Norbertine Abbot in America, was an important event in the history of Wisconsin, and in the history of America in general in as much as it represents the reward of years of constant struggles against countless hardships. It was in 1893 that the Premonstratensian Fathers of Berne Abbey, Netherlands, came to Wisconsin. They had been invited by Archbishop Messmer of the Milwaukee diocese, at that time bishop of Green Bay. In that year, the need for priests familiar with the French and Flemish language had become imperative. Through the medium of Father Broens of Sturgeon Bay, whose brother was a professed religious and priest of Berne Abbey. Archbishop Messmer learned that Fathers from that Abbey could be induced to come to America. Correspondence passed back and forth and finally the Rt. Rev. Bishop paid a personal visit to the Abbey. As a result Very Reverend B. H. Pennings, Rev. Lambert Broens, and Brother Servatius came to America 1‘tnjr Fifteen