St Vincent College - Tower Yearbook (Latrobe, PA)

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SAINT VINCENT COLLEGE LATROBE, PENNsvL.vANxA Gentlemen of the Class of 1962: There is a tinge of the sentimental in farewells, perhaps in- evitable, perhaps not entirely undesirable. But leavetakings are part of life. You men of the Class of 1962 follow in the footsteps of prede- cessors who, through more than a century, have gone forth from the gates of Saint Vincent with reluctant eagerness and wistful anticipation. You have rounded out a major experience in your lives, an experience that is unique. There are other ways of acquiring an education of sorts, but there is simply nothing to substitute for going to college. Traditionally and popularly academic life is thought of as serene and sheltered. People leave it to go out into the world. Whatever the illusion or the reality about the tranquillity of the groves of Academe, life in an institution of higher education can never be stat- ic. And if it is authentic, it must be intense. College is a place for wrestling with ideas old and new, for pondering unchanging values in a rapidly changing World. Perhaps as you look back over the past four years you smile at the callow youth who has developed into a man. You think of all that went into the process, and you realize that you leave with an accumu- lation of debt and a precious store of memories. All of it has become and will remain a part of you. Within the walls of Saint Vincent you have become familiar to the point of second nature with the motto: Pray and Work. For more than fourteen centuries it has summed up the well-balanced regime Saint Benedict set up for his monasteries and schools. It is a motto to hold fast to, particularly in the era of increasing leisure that is opening up before men of all classes. Fully practiced the motto will enable you to live a highly human life, a life Worthy of a Saint Vincent man. We bid you Godspeedg may His blessing go with you in allyour ways . votedly your s , -, .t.i Quentin L. Schautg O.S.B. ' ' ' President 28

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Ute Chancellor As Chancellor of St. Vincent College, Arch- abbot Denis Omer Strittmatter, O.S.B., D.D., governs over the administrative council. But he is the spiritual head of the community as well. The growth to his present office is re- flected in his unique biography. Rt. Reverend Denis Omer Strittmatter was born in Hastings, Pennsylvania, August 18, 1896. After early training in parochial schools at home, he entered St. Vincent Preparatory School in 1910 and matriculated -at St. Vin- cent College in 1914. Upon completion of his sophomore year, he was admitted to the Novitiate ot' St. Vincent Archabbey. On july 2, 1917 he professed his temporary vows and three years later, he was solemnly professed as a Benedictine monk. july 24, 1923 he was ordained to the priesthood in the St. Vincent Archabbey Church by Bishop Hugh C. Boyle, D.D., Bishop of Pittsburgh. His first duties consisted of parochial charges, but later he served as director of St. Emma's Military School, Rock Castle, Virginia, from 1929 to 1947. In September 1947 he returned to St. Vincent College to assume an adminstrative position. September 8, 1949 he was unanimously elected Coadjutor Archabbot with full jurisdic- tion oi St. Vincent Archabbey and College: Rt. Rev. Alfred Koch, O.S.B., S.T.D., arch- abbot of St. Vincent since 1930, had received permission from the Holy See for a coadjutor. Upon the death of Archabbot Koch, Archabbot Strittmatter became the sixth Archabbot of St. Vincent. Most Rev. john F. Dearden, S.T.D., coadjutor bishop of Pittsburgh, con- ferred the Solemn Abbatial Blessing upon Archabbot Strittmatter and presented him with the insignia of the Archabbot Crnitre, crozier, ring, pectoral crossj, at solemn ponti- fical services in the St. Vincent Archabbey Church, November 25, 1949. Eleven bishops and twenty abbots were present for the oc- casion. Upon his installation, he became the reign- ing symbol of Benedictine stability, and he now serves as a vital artery in the Mystical Body. His leadership extends over the St. Vincent community and the Benedictine con- gregation throughout the United States and his authority is sealed in Christ. 1 1 l X x ' El Wi.. Agni .57 iiannnu u W 2 g ' IA g 'N'

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Reverend Quentin L. Schaut, O.S.B., M.A THE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE T 29