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

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IlilMlilLiL Durmnni lmwmifflihimiiBaihnfflff Page Eighteen

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jjt rfgfc THE DES FERES the same year, a central heating plant was erected. At the present time, the attendance at St. Norbert's is about 250. Among its graduates may be counted some fifty priests, and a large number of influential men in the various professions. During the rise and growth of the College the Fathers did not neglect their spiritual work. Missions in the Belgian peninsula were cared for, priests were sent to Canada, to Michigan, to Montana and to Chicago, to minister to the Catholic people of those communities. Others of the Fathers were sent to institutions of higher learning, such as the Gregorian College at Rome, the University of Louvain, the Catholic University of America, and Wisconsin University, to prepare themselves to present college courses at St. Norbert’s, on an educational par with those of the best colleges in the country. So phenomenal has the success of the work of the Premons-tratensians in America been, that the General Chapter of the Order has decided to erect St. Norbert's Priory into an Abbey, the only one in North America. The Holy Father, Pope Pius XI, has appointed Prior B. H. Pennings as the first Abbot. Although Father Pennings was not the first Premonstratensian to try to establish a house of his Order in America, an unsuccessful attempt having been made by Rev. Adelbert Inama in 1845, yet he was the first to succeed. Father Pennings was born in Gemert, Holland, June 9, 1861. He received the Premonstratensian habit on Oct. 26, 1879, and emitted the vows of religion on June 6, 1884. He was ordained to the priesthood in June, 1886, and seven years later, as has been mentioned before, was sent by his superior to America. He was appointed Prior of the American establishment in November, 1903. And as a fitting culmination to the fatiguing and zealous work he has done, he has now been consecrated the first Premonstratensian Abbot in North America. [!•' SerciilccH

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Rev. M. R. Lang, O. Praem. Rev. G. R. Rybrook, 0. Praem., S. T. D Rev. I. F. Van Dyke, O. Praem., B. A. Rev. B. N. Mollen, (). Praem., M. A. Rev. F. X. Exler, 0. Praem., Ph. D. '«■ ' XiHele n