The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-05-19

instruments that guard the lives of a community in health and in sickness.
 Republication today is a neces- sity in most families. Adequate in surance is provided that the aver age wage-earner may provide for the emergency. Few miss the op- portunity; many utilize 1t. The result--nn ever increasing demand for hospital facilities which has resulted in not merely St. Mary's, but every hospital expanding. St. Francis of Hartford two years ago; now st. Mary's of Waterbury; to- morrow St. Raphael's of New Ha- ven. The direction Is always for ward, never backward.
 Story Starts In 1906
 The chronological story of St, Mary's starts back in 1906 when the beloved Monsignor Slocum bought the Butler Frost property facing Union Square for the hospi- tal. The following year on Sep temher g the cornerstone was laid. It was a great ceremony with the Catholic societies of Waterbury joining to make the occasion the historic one that 1t should have been for the community,
 State and church was well rep- resented with also the military out in force. Gov. Rollin s. Woodruff and Mayor William Y. Thoms on the one side, Bishop Michael Tierney and Monsignor Slocum on the other. The well-known and still highly respected Captain Daniel F. Fitz- patrick was marshal of the great parade.
 Eloquent Tribute
 Rev, John Neale gave the address of the day and his closing remarks arc fitting to quote today .. "1t has been beautifully said that q deed Is never done till 1t has ceased In It's consequences. Most em- phatically is this true Of the work which we have this day performed We have laid stone In the earth. Upon 1t as q corner is to be erected n structure for Christian charity a monument eloquent Of our love for him from whose garments there still goes forth healing virtue.
 "Who shall tell the consequences of this deed? We shall pass away, but this building shall remain. our children and our children's children shall be gathered to their fathers and their places here shall know them no more, but these walls shall still enclose the sick, these gates shall still swing open to the suf- fering of every race and creed, these holy sisters shall still soothe tho brow of pain: generations Of the afflicted shall come and go and all the while the blessed con sequence of this days work shall go on, mounting to the skies, and only when the judgment Is set ana the book opened shall the world know how much Of good has been done by this new St, Mary's Hospi' tal."
 Sadness Present
 A touch of sadness, perhaps, ting- cd the dedication ceremonies on February %, 1909, for had not Monsignor Slocum and Bishop Ticrncy both passed away several months previous. No ordinary oi the diocese, no pastor of the church In their stead, though, the able Monsignor John Synnott, adminis- trator of the diocese, and the late Rev. James r. O'Brien, administra- tor of the Immaculate Conception, presided. The former blessed the new building, while Father O'Brien celebrated the first Mass In St. Williams Chapel.
 Mother Xavier and her little band of sisters and nurses moved quiet ly into position and St. Marys Hospital was open to public use which almost immediately was taken advantage of, as on March 9, William Corden came through the doors, its first patient. During those first "A hours four patients were admitted and the first op- eration within the walls was per- formed by the late Dr. Charles A. Monagan, father of the present president of Waterbury's Board of Aldermen. Attorney John Monagan, Dr. Monagan was assisted by the lata Nr anrnard O'Hara tho