Villanova University - Belle Air Yearbook (Villanova, PA)

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1892 to 1917 college STUDENTS' NIGHT at the OF ST. THOMAS OF PROGRAM. VlllXNOVA ther improvements were effected. A new college hall was opened. There were valuable additions to Lab- oratory equipment. And a two year pre-medical course was introduced, designed to meet Pennsyl- vania's requirements for extensive work in chemistry, biology, and physiology. On January 10, 1912, between two and three o’clock in the afternoon, while the clerics were chanting Office in the monastery chapel, St. Rita's Hall took fire and was almost entirely destroyed. It was replaced in the same year by a new building, the chapel of which was blessed on the feast of St. Augustine, August 28th. In the summer of 1914 the clerical students were re- moved to a separate house, which had been donated to the college by Mr. Bernard Corr — St. Mary's Hall. Mr. Corr's generosity made it possible to remedy the previously existing condition of having postulants, novices, and professed all housed in the same build- ing. After the novices and professed were moved to St. Mary's, they were better able to live in community with others who were under the same vows. In 1917 Fr. Dohan was succeeded by the Rev. James Dean, who, since 1893, had been almost continuously connected with the college in various capacities. The Dramatics Society was organized in 1899 with the Rev. Mr. Bernard Daly. O.S.A.. as its ilrst moderator. What is significant about the Rev. Mr. Daly's connection is that he was also moderator o( the debating society. The societies had an organization and pur- poses somewhat similar and it was from the Debating Society that the Dramatics Society recruited most oi its members. The Society's first producton was a four act play. The Man in the Iron Mask , held at the College Hall on December 21. 1900. Hugh Boyle Callahan was cast in the title role. Six months later the Society presented Richelieu at the Walnut Street Theatre In Phila- delphia. with Mr. Callahan again in the title role. However, there was no scarcity of other student organizations or activities. Besides the Dramatics Society were the Glee Club, the Debating Society, the Sodality of the Sacred Heart, the Martinelli Lyceum. In 1904 an orchestra was formed In combination with the Glee Club but was abandoned the next year. The Library Society and the Engineering Society both came into being In 1906. and in 1909 the Commercial Society was founded. Villa nova held Its first Musicals in 1906 and its first Students' Social in 1907.

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CONSTITUTION P' b AWS ▼ULASDYA C0LL16S (kntra OaOANIZED, JUNE. 1876. PHILADELPHIA : D. J. OALLAOH», PR-, 403 DILLWVN STRUT. 1878. Below: In left inset Is Very Roy. M. J. Goraqhly. O.S.A.. the Provincial from 1902 to 1914. In right lnsot Is J. Stanley Smith. ’93. former Alumni President and a present college trustee. The sixty first annual banquet of the Vlllanova Alumni Association, held at the Hotel Walton in Philadelphia, brouqhl the announcement that Mr. Bernard Corr had given the college SI00.000 for the erection of a new provincial scholasticate.