Evening star., 1942-10-18

The colorful 50-year history of st.
Anthony's parish in Brookland is
being recalled today with a solemn
high mass planned for noon in the
church building at Twelfth and
Monroe streets NE, opening a
three-day golden jubilee celebration.
Only II Catholic families lived
within the confines of the parish
when it was founded in 1892 by the
Rev. Henri Hyvernat, then a profess
sor at the new Catholic University
and later to become the we'll known
head Of the university's department
OF Semitic languages.
Today the parish boundaries
roughly Fourth. street to Eighteenth
street NE. and w street NE. to the
Maryland line-encompass an esti-
mated 1000 Catholic families or 5000
parishioners. Members of Al reli-
gious orders, located in Washington
so they may take advantage of the
study facilities at Catholic Uni
versity, make st. Anthony's perhaps
the most polyglot parish this side of
Rome. Nowhere else in America can
representatives of so many different
Catholic orders be found among the
parishioners.
C. U. Gave Impetus.
The impetus toward the founding
OF st. Anthony's came from the
establishment of Catholic University
in 1889. Many of the priests and
lay professors settled in Brookland
DR.. Hyvernat and several others
taking residence at Theodoron, the
home. Of Miss Antoinette Margot.
Miss Margot fitted one floor of her
large residence as a chapel, where
daily mass was offered.
Foreseeing the rapid growth of
the area around the university, DR..
Hyvernat obtained permission to
have Brookland, then part of the
area served by the Dominicans,
established as a separate parish.
Date of the official founding was
May 18, 1892, and Miss Margot' S
home was the first place of worship.
At her request, the new parish was
given the name of her patron saint.
st. Anthony of Padua.
The first parish church, located
on the present site, was opened in
1896.
Schools Enrolment 900.
Parish halls and school buildings
have since been added. The parish
now operates a grade school and a
high school, with total enrolment
Of 900, under direction of the Sisters
of st. Benedict.
The present church, Of yellow
brick construction, was completed
in 1899 and dedicated by Arch
bishop Curley
The Rev. John J. Coady, who
became pastor in June, 1941, follow
ing the death of the Rev. Patrick
E. Conroy, is the eighth to serve
st. Anthony's. He previously had
been pastor of st. Mary's Church
in Rockville, Md, for years, and
for IA years assistant pastor at St.
Matthews Cathedral in Washington.
Since 1881, he has taught course
in canon law at Mount st. Mary's
Seminary in Emmittsburg, Md.
Other pastors of st. Anthony's, in
addition to Fathers Hyvernat and
Conroy, have been the Revs. De-
siderius c. De Wulf, Edward M.
Southgate, Eugene Harmon, Thomas
Williams and Pasquale de Paola.
Bishop McNamara to Preside.
At the solemn pontificial mass
which today opens the jubilee cele-
bration, Bishop John M. McNamara
will preside as the representative of
Archbishop Curley.
Pontificant of the mass will be
the Most Rev. Michael J. Keyes,
Titular Bishop of Aeropolis and
formerly Bishop of Savannah. The
Very Rev. DR.. ..Ignatius Smith, Dean
of the school of philosophy at Ca
tholic University, is to deliver the
sermon.
Deacon of the mass will be the
Rev. Thomas j. Sweeney and the
subdeacon, the Rev. Michael Egan.
Both are former curates of the
parish. The Rev. John S. Spence,
curate at the Cathedral of st. Mat