The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-06
STUDENTS
OF Holy Cross
College
HOLD RETREAT.
Thriving Nursery Of Higher
knowledge.

The annual retreat for the students
of Holy Cross College begins this eve
ming at s o'clock and will continue I'M
til Thursday. 1t will be conducted by
Rev. Thomas j. Cannon, S. j., former
ly president of Fordham College, New
York. During the retreat the students
will attend special services in the col
lege chapel in the morning ard eve
study hall at noon. The time of medi-
tation and prayer will be brought to
a close with high mass Thursday morn
ing, when the students will receive holy
communion in a body. There are now
290 students at Holy Cross and the
accommodations of the college are
taxed to the limit.
The priesthood and the professions
of law and medicine are the chief goals
for Which Holy Cross men usually
strive, and alumni of Mount st. James
may be found in one or other of these
fields of activity in almost every town
and city of New England.
When Benedict Joseph Fenwick,
bishop of Boston, founded the college
some 60 years ago, Worcester was but
a comparatively unimportant town
The magnificent property purchased for
the college was bought for sum that
would seem ridiculous today if men
toned in connection with so extensive
an estate. The college was then spoken
of as being situated near Worcester"
Now it is but a few minutes ride from
the city hall, and College hill has grown
to be quite an important and steadily
growing residential suburb
Holy Cross owes It's charter from the
commonwealth to the late Governor
Bullock. Its recognition by the state
was successfully opposed in the SOS
by the know-nothing party, which was
then in control. But the breaking out
of the war and the part which the
Catholic soldiers of Massachusetts took
in the struggle for the Union, changed
the spirit Of the times and obliterated
the bitter and senseless sectarian ha-
treds of the years preceding While
the great conflict was still in progress.
Mr. Bullock became the champion in
the legislature of the claims of the
college for a charter, and hav-
ing with him the full sympa-
thy and support of Governor
Andrew, the charter was granted, with
practically no opposition, and the col
lese was legally authorized to confer
degrees. The career of the institution
since has been one unbroken story
of progress and success. 1t has stead
lily grown in educational prestige. I'M
til now it occupies a recognized posi-
tlon among the country's higher insti-
tutions Of learning.
When the first main building of tho
college was begun. in 1S43 the sermon
at the cornerstone exercises was de-
livered by Rev. Charles C. Pise, D. d,
Speaking Of the location chosen for the
college, he said:
The site commands a wide prospect.
filled with hills, swelling with gentle
slopes. green knobs, bright streams and
richly cultivated fields dotted with
the houses of the husbandmen. In the
distance stands Wachusett, covered
with soft blue mist, holding his post
like giant sentinel. Within full view
are the dense buildings of the town.
and among them thespectators may see
the roofs or spires of churches, Calvin
list, Unitarian, Baptist, Universalist,
Methodist and Catholic, emblems of
the liberation that a free state can af-
ford to every sect and creed.
1.-THE spot. too, is consecrated in our
local history. Near it the venerable
John Eliot, well called the apostle
of the Indians" gathered together the
savages and founded among them the
first church of Worcester, in the stern
faith of the Puritan fathers of New
England. 1t is no coincidence, but a
remarkable opposition of events, that
a splendid edifice of Catholicism should
be reared where the first humble wig
wan church of Professionalism once
stood--the one, consecrated with the
voice Of prayer and the melody of
hymns in the Indian language, the
other dedicated with benedictions and
chants and psalms in the Latin
tongue"
"A sound mind in a sound body is
one of the notices of the college, and
athletic exercises and physical culture
are given their due share of attention.
The gymnasium, which extends the
whole length of the recently erected
wing, is one of the best equipped in the
state, while the extensive grounds af-
ford unlimited opportunity for outdoor
sports
There is a beautiful little cemetery
at the rear of the college, in which are
laid to rest the deceased members of
the faculty. This burial place is not
without its touching and interesting
story. Every year. when Memorial day
comes around, a delegation of Post 10,
G. A. r., drives up to the college from
st. Johns cemetery, when the exercises
there are finished, and the veterans
carry with them two wreaths These
they lay on two graves that are there
side by side. In one lies the body of
Father O'Hagan, who served in the fed
eral army as chaplain; the other is the
resting place of the remains of Father
Stack a southerner, who served in a
like capacity for the confederacy. Me-
mortal day knows no sectional distinc-
tions, and Post 10 honors alike the
memory of the man who served with
the boys in blue and that of him who
ministered to the brave fellows who
wore the gray.
When Oliver Ames was governor of
Massachusetts, he came to Holy Cross
on commencement day to confer the de-
grees, as has been the custom with all
governors for more than 80 years. His
impressions of the place were SO favor
able, and he liked the work of the college
so well that, in the last year of his ad-
ministration, he presented the institu-
ton with check sufficient to found a
scholarship in perpetuity The amount
he gave yields revenue enough to ed
ucate one student for the full course of
four years. The Oliver Ames scholar
ship is keenly contested for when the
rotation of years throws it OPEN and
the boy who gets it has to win his
spurs.
No finer views of Worcester and its
vicinity can be had, than those which
the eye takes in as one stands on the
college terrace on clear afternoon.
Tho busy city lies below in full piano.
rama. The imposing outlines of Wor-
cester academy, of the normal school
and of Clark University, stand out
| prominently from their commanding
locations, while here and there church
spires and other towers break the sky
fne in graceful variety. The scene al
night is far more beautiful. Hundreds
of arc lights flash like beacons from
the darkness below, while the steadily
Decreasing roar of the street traffic tells
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