Evening star., 1921-11-27

!
\ that right?
Brother Basil said; 81 will see.
| Have seat
/ And he opened a door and showed
| the Rambler into a very plainly fur
! pished room, where on the walls were
/ holy pictures. the CrucifiX. a portrait
| of Cardinal Gibbons. portraits OF Ia
! nous Brothers. and little object set
| in velvet plaque which the Rambler
/ old not understand and which was a
| gift from a Pope. The place was still.
\ but the sound of solemn and pious
song came from A distant part of the
| building. The chant ceased. and i
! heard many men moving along cor
ridor. | only heard their footsteps.
did not hear voice.
| The door opened and Brother Bs sill
| entered with another Brother very
| kind and scholarly man. ] sort OF
| felt il IN my bones that ] was to be
assailed with Latin and asked from
Nothing like it. They were very
simple gentlemen. plain Of speech
| and kind of manner. but they had
never heard of the Rambler and one
of them seemed to have faint recol-
lection that The Evening star was
| published in Baltimore. And the
Rambler found it hard to keep Off
| the subject Of a catalogue or pros
pectus. But as Brother Basil. director
of the community. and Brother Supe-
1 SpN 'HN
| Rambler came 10 understand this:
| He was in the Christian Brothers
| Navitiate and Normal School. one Of
| the schools of the order where young
men are trained and educated for the
/; religious life. There is Junior novi
! tiate for boys from thirteen to sixteen
years old who have presented them
| selves and where the equivalent OF
| high-school education is given in
| worldly subjects. hut always with an
\ scholasticate or normal school. the
senior novitiate. and the community
proper. Brother Francis is the mas
| ter of novices and Brother Leonard
| director of novices.
! A small company of Brothers from
Baltimore in 1879 opened a school on
a farm of l1s acres which had been
] bought from Rear Admiral Ammen.
| There were about twelve Brothers in
\ the company, and they began in
small brick building: which has been
| torn down. The present building was
dedicated in 1885,. The farm is now
of about 3s1 acres. comprising wood
| land. orchards. vegetable gardens
poultry lots and athletic fields.
Brother Basil handed the Rambler a
set of post cards. one of them show
ing the base ball field with young
novices at play. -,I
| IL X =
lT%HE BrotherS nave arran geo large
rectangular swimming pool,
which is fed by pretty little stream
| that flows from the grounds. There
/ are four districts of the order in the
United States-Baltimore. New York.
St. Louis and California-and this
college on the old Ammen lands is
the novitiate and normal school of
the Baltimore district. The chaplain
is Father Staunton. and the chapel in
the big brick building is as beautiful
as chapel can be. Father Staunton
says mass in the little parish church.
st. Josephs, which the Rambler
pointed out among the tall and slen-
der cedars. 1t was the church which
Admiral Ammen and his wife at
tended and in graves near il rest
many Of the good people of that sec
| ton of Prince Georges county. From
| the high land on which st. Josephs
I stands you may look over to the
Ammen home in the groves oil spruce
and cedar. the home that was once
| incloeed with hedge Of holly trees.
F, Near this little church is solemn
plot of land where small white mar
BILE headstones in ranks mark the
graves of Brothers. The inscription
IS the spiritual name of the deceased.
| the date of his death and "R. ]. z.
The first grave on which the Ram
bler's eye fell was marked Brother
! Tobias Died Sept. 26. 1919. This
| the head of st. Johns College, and
vas one of the best known and most
loved men of Washington:
The Rambler has not exhausted the
notes of his visit to Ammendaie. ana
must tell you more about it another
| time. Before bringing this narrative
| to its close. the Rambler turns to the
| Catholic Encyclopedia, that il may
tell you something of how this order
came into being. Here are few
paragraphs:
The Institute of the Brothers of the Chris
tian Schools is society Of male religious
| approved by the church but not taking holy
orders, and having for its object the per
| soual sanctihcation of its members md the
| Christian education Of yeuth, especially OF
the children Of artisans and the poor II
educn tfonai institution. but its principal OBJ
ject il the direction of elementary gratuitous
/ schools: This congregation was founded IN
| de la Sale. then a canon VI the metropolitan
| church OF that city.
produced among the multitude by their igno-
| rance of the elements Of knowledge. and. what
was still worse. of the principles of religion.
| ignorant. was led, almost without premedi-
tated design; TO take up the work Of the the
1
last will of his spiritual director, Canon
Roland. he first busted himself with con-
solidating 4 religious congregation devoted to
| the education Of poor girls. He then seconded
! the efforts Of 4 jealous iayman. NJ. Nyel 10
multiply schools for poor children. Thus.
guided by Providence. he WINS led to create
an institute that would hare no other mission
| than that Of Christian education. However.
| il would be serious error to intimate that
| until the end of the seventeenth century the
| Catholic Church had interested herself but
| little in the education Of the children Of the
people, In France. from the fifth to the six
| teenth century. many councils were held.
! especially those of yaisin In h29 and Aachen
| in SIT. which recommended the secular clergy
and monks to instruct children.
| This authority gives many other
references along the same line, and
then treats of "The Spirit Of the In
stitute." 1.-The Schools in America"
and "The Methods of Teaching
The Rambler must stop here. but a
another time he will carry you back
| to the old homes of &C. Jacob AM
men, Admiral Daniel Amnen and the
Novitiate and Normal School of the
Christian Brothers at Ammendale. in
Prince Georges county, thirteen
miles from Washington.