Villanova University - Belle Air Yearbook (Villanova, PA)

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'ST. DELAWARE COOKTY. ANNUAL COMMKNCKMENT, Tk. onatKrrt — ■ top V . C cuoa ■ o CM. MEMOKY. ruiM MUSIC. SOCIETY Taoa Al music. ’' CY AOM1NTO FITLRO 1»K LAjNSTnr«; Jio.X. MUSIC. CHRISTI ANITV—iu result». I MI.AM 111 11 1- M U S I C ; nfsTmistme «trux»» iu cnrtrr.iR« oiones, MUSIC REV. AMBROSE MULLEN, O.S.A. Rev. John P. O’Dwyer, O.S.A., was the first president of Villa- nova. ... In the last Provincial Council held in Baltimore in May, 1849, Fr. O’Dwyer, by the most unanimous vote ever given by the Bishops, was elected to fill the Bishopric of Savannah.” Before consecration his health failed and he died in 1850 at the age of 34. Father William Harnett, Villanova’s second president, was a Philadelphian. He studied in Italy under the direction of Stephan Bcllesini, who has since been raised to Blessed. Fr. Harnett taught and officiated from 1843 to 1857. Father Ambrose Mullen, fourth president of the college. Educ- ated in Italy and ordained in Philadelphia, he served both as Prior and President from 1865 to 1869. The College Commencement Program for 1856, shown at left, is a cherished relic of Villanova’s earlier days. Apparently the procedure of commencement has changed very little through the decades. Musical recitals, student valedictories and the distribu- tion of diplomas and awards were the order of the day. REV. JOHN P. O’DWYER, O.S.A. REV. WILLIAM HARNETT, OAA.

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4 II Close-up of Rudolph House where Mass was said until the Chapel of Our Mother of Consolation was constructed in 1844. The col- lege bell in the locust tree was recast from metal salvaged front the bell of St. Augustine’s Church which originally was used in the tower of Independence Hall—the predecessor to the Liberty Bell. The old college bell has been located at the Church of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, O.S.A., Flushing, Long Island, and was brought to Villanova for the Centennial Celebration. Villanova in 1872 was not a large place. To the right is the College building, completed in 1844. In the center is St. Rita's Hall, which had been the old Rudolph home, and to the left the chapel and gymnasium. In the fore- ground is the Lancaster Turnpike, then little more than a dirt road, along which the stagecoaches traveled. It was nevertheless an important thoroughfare, as it is today, for it led to Conestoga where the famous wagons were made.

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The majority of the book» that formed the library at old Villanova were brought over from Europe by the pioneering Father . Students were required to take especial care of their own books while they were at the school. therefore, opened again on September 6, 1846, with an enrollment of twenty-four students. At the end of the year the first public commencement was held, July 1, 1847. After the first reopening things once again looked prosperous. Three priests, newly arrived from Italy, were on the faculty. On March 10, 1848, Governor Francis Shunk signed “An act to incorporate the Augustinian College in the County of Delaware and the State of Pennsylvania,” thus giving Villanova its legal existence. Villanova had been founded not only to educate men for the various professions, but to perpetuate the Augustinian Order in the United States as well. Up to this time the candidates for the Order had been sent abroad for their education. Now they were to pursue their studies at home. On May 18, 1848, Mr. Charles Egan was received into the novitiate. No mistaking the popularity of the famous bowler” hat among this group of late nineteenth century students. They are mostly prep kids. Father Patrick Moriarity was Presi- dent of the College from 1851-1855. In his day he was by far the best known Catholic preacher along the Eastern seaboard.