USA > New York > Niagara County > History of the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels : Niagara University, Niagara County, N.Y., 1856-1906 > Part 4
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" First. The name of the association will be the Niagara Alumni Association.
" Second. The Officers of the Association will be a President, five Vice-Presidents, Secretary, and Treasurer.
" Third. All will be eligible to membership who have spent one full year in the Seminary, and have left with an honorable record.
"Fourth. A yearly fee of five dollars ($5.00) will be exacted from each member to defray the expenses of Commencement Day Dinner. The Secretary will notify the members on May 15th of each year that their assessments are due, and all fees must be in the hands of the Treasurer by June 10th.
" Fifth. The annual meeting of the Association will take place at the Seminary on the last Wednesday of June, or on such date in that month as that on which the commencement exercises will be held.
"Sixth. That the Niagara Index be the official organ of the Association.
" At the conclusion of the ceremony of the Conferring of De-
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grees, the committee reported back to the assemblage. Rev. M. Carroll occupied the chair, owing to the unavoidable absence of Father Rogers. The Committee's report was unanimously adopted. The Niagara Alumni Association then proceeded to the election of officers. The result of the balloting was as follows: President, Rev. M. Carroll, '64, Brooklyn, N. Y .; Vice-Presidents, Revs. James Rogers, '61; J. P. McIncrow, '70; John J. Delaney, "78; M. A. Taylor, '76; W. K. Brown, M. D., '70; Secretary, Rev. E. W. McCarty, '70, Treasurer, Gregory L. Doyle, M. D., '57. A com- mittee of three, Revs. M. A. Taylor, J. C. Long, and J. J. Mallen, was delegated to draw up a circular to be sent to all the members of the Niagara Alumni Association, to those present as well as to those who were prevented from coming. All contributed to defray the expenses of printing the circular, and Rev. James O'Connor, of Rochester, was selected as temporary treasurer. He was author- ized to hand over the amount contributed to Rev. M. Cavanaugh, Treasurer of the Seminary, in trust for the Niagara Index. The Most Rev. and Rt. Rev. Prelates present were elected honorary members of the Association. On motion, the Association adjourned to meet again on Commencement Day, June, 1882.
" From the above condensed record of the proceedings of the organization meeting of the Niagara Alumni Association, it will be impossible to gather even the faintest idea of the great earnest- ness displayed by all the old students in regard to the project. That they, one and all, were heart and soul in the movement, was shown by the impassioned words in reference to 'Old Niagara ' that from time to time found utterance. Allusion was made to those absent ones who were deprived of the happiness of taking part in the establishment of a society that cannot fail to unite all the former students of the Seminary more closely together, to stimulate loyalty to Alma Mater, and to renew the acquaintances of long ago. Our editorial on 'A New Department ' was in print before we received authoritative information of the action of the Alumni in our regard. However, we can say that the Niagara Index is thankful to the Association for the interest manifested by it in its behalf, and it assures the members that it will endeavor to make the Alumni Department a most interesting feature of its columns. We ap- pend a partial list of those present at the organization of the Niagara Alumni Association. There were many others than those mentioned, whose names we were unable to obtain. So far as we could learn, there were present: Revs. M. Carroll, '64;
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M. Farrelly, '68; E. McCarty, A. M., "70; J. J. Mallen, A. M., '78; M. J. Malone, "75; N. J. McNulty, A. M., '80; J. J. Durick, '80; J. M. Everett, M. D., '68, of Brooklyn, N. Y .; Revs. James Rogers, '61; Wm. McNab, '66; E. Kelly, '68; B. B. Grattan, '61; M. Darcy, '68; T. S. Johnson, "75; Maurice Lee, "76; J. C. Long, '76; J. Quigley, D. D., "74; T. Donoughue, '68; D. J. Daley, '74; D. A. Walsh, "77; T. Carraher, "75; J. McGrath, "75; M. Ryan, "71; J. O'Loughlin, A. M., "79; E. McDermott, "70; P. Maloy, '61; N. Baker, '76; P. Birkery, "77; J. Roach, "79; P. S. Dunne, A. M., '78; N. Gibbons, '80; M. Connery, '69; M. O'Shea, "75; H. Connery, '81; T. Brougham, "71, and E. Mc- Shane, '72, of the Diocese of Buffalo; Revs. L. A. Campbell, '69; M. E. Mclaughlin, A. M., '77; W. Horan, '77; J. J. Delaney, "78; J. J. Flaherty, "79; L. Erhardt, "79; F. Henneberry, '79; P. J. Tinan, '81, of the Archdiocese of Chicago; Revs. J. F. O'Hare, A. M., '68; J. O'Connor, '68; J. P. Stewart, '66, of the Diocese of Rochester ; Revs. J. J. Hanlon, A. M., '72; W. O. Mahony, 74; J. L. Reilly, A. M., "74; J. J. O'Brien, '74; J. Maney, "74; J. F. Collins, A. M., '72; D. McGuire, '70, of the Dio- cese of Albany; Revs. P. McCabe, '74; J. T. Downes, "79; M. Salley, A. M., '76; M. A. Taylor, "76; J. C. Henry, '66, from the Archdiocese of New York; Revs. T. Sullivan, '67; M. R. Davis, '77, M. Fell, '77; A. Finan, '58, of the Archdiocese of Toronto; Rev. T. A. Casey, A. M., '69, of the Diocese of Erie; Rev. J. F. Loughlin, D. D., '68, of the Arch- diocese of Philadelphia; Rev. J. Barron, '80, of the Diocese of Dubuque; Rev. J. M. Day, '81, of the Diocese of Davenport; Rev. J. Lancaster, A. M., '76, of the Diocese of Hartford; Gregory L. Doyle, M. D., '57, Syracuse, N. Y .; Chas. Sutherland, '77, Troy, N. Y .; F. Wilber, '77, Lockport, N. Y .; J. F. H. McGinnis, "75, Chicago, Ill. ; Jos. J. Harrigan, '78, Albany, N. Y.
" On the evening of the day of the Silver Jubilee Celebration, the Alumni and Seniors gathered in the Seminary parlors to have one of those good old-time gaudeamuses which Niagara boys ever remember as a feature of their college life. It was an informal affair, bringing old tunes and old songs into prominence, and was enjoyed, we know, better than the best execution of the most carefully arranged programme could have been. The senior musical board came out in their easiest style; the halls echoed the refrains of famil- iar airs; the violin spoke out in pleasing strains; the piano danced in glee over the accompaniments to comical songs. Voices that we
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heard years ago, and faces that were familiar in days gone by, greeted us on every side. It seemed like a pleasant delusion as we heard the snatches of college solos spoken out from the lips of Rev. M. E. Mclaughlin and caught up by the scores of those who were wont to sing the self-same melodies in days long since past. The violin solos by Rev. M. A. Taylor were sweet ones; they carried us back in imagination to times of long ago, and, as he played, we could see the eyes of old companions instinctively turned to the face of Father Rice that looked out from the penciled perspective upon the gathering with the benign smile that used to be in days of yore. We could distinguish throughout the choruses the voices of Revs. Taylor, McNulty, Mclaughlin, Mallen, and Durick. The ‘Baron Von Stein,' 'Down the Banks of that Lonely River,' 'Oft in the Stilly Night,' were chorused forth in grand style. Every one was bound to sing and, therefore, every one enjoyed what was going on. It was a concert of the whole; all were partakers. Father Shaw was there, the busiest of them all in suggesting old-time airs. Every song, every note from the violin and piano seemed to us like so many snatches from the past. The way in which the assembly swelled the chorus of 'Old Niagara,' and the enthusiasm which greeted that old student song, spoke to us of the love for Alma Mater which inflames the breast of the Alumni of ' Our Lady of Angels.'
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ADDRESS, LETTERS, SILVER JUBILEE POEM
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BRARY OF UNION THEOLOG !! 'AL SEMINALE, *
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SOUTH VIEW OF MAIN BUILDING
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CHAPTER V
OUR SILVER JUBILEE (Continued) - ADDRESS OF ARCHBISHOP LYNCH - THE MUSIC - LETTERS OF REGRET - FATHER ALIZERI'S LATIN JUBILEE POEM.
" A Domino factum est istud, et est mirabile in oculis nostris." -Psl. 117.
R IGHT Rev. Bishops, Venerable Clergy, and Respected Fel- low Catholics - The text which I have chosen, not of a sermon or of a lecture, but of a simple narrative, you will find most appropriate when applied to the occasion which calls us together. God has done a work which could not be effected by the weak power of man. He makes use of simple instruments that His own power may be the better perceived in the grandeur of the work. Look around you here and see the magnificent prospect. The mighty Niagara River thundering as it winds its course through the huge gorge below, with its mountain banks draped, not with tiny grass, but with enormous trees ; Lake Ontario spread- ing out its placid bosom in the distance; a lovely landscape of hill and dale and blooming country at your feet. Then look around and you will see this magnificent Seminary, crowning the highest eminence of Mont-Eagle Ridge, with the cross on its dome appeal- ing to Heaven, and you must cry out in the depth of your soul: " Domine, Dominus noster quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra! A Domino factum est istud et est mirabile in oculis nostris."
But, to trace the history of the Seminary, we must go back to seek its beginning of life in a little embryo, as it were, from which the idea sprang and was brought into a sturdy reality by the gentle and strong hand of God. A picture of Niagara Falls was presented to a little boy in Ireland. He was enamored and enchanted with it. He gazed on it again and again with astonishment and delight, and, raising his heart to God, he anxiously inquired were there Catholics living around that place where they could so well adore God, the Creator of heaven and earth and of all things? This image, this thought, and this inquiry pursued him through life till at length he beheld multitudes of Catholics around the Falls with their temples of true worship, and with a college and seminary to train priests
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in a heavenly vocation; to offer up the most holy Sacrifice of the New Law, to give honor and praise to God forever and forever. This is the work of God; the idea of conception came from Him, and the means and the perfection of the work.
This boy became a priest of the Congregation of the Mission and yearned to cross the ocean to follow his countrymen, lest in seeking a home for their children from the oppression of the stranger they might lose treasures above all others the greatest, Faith and the sacraments, that give eternal life. In Ireland no one might be without the sacraments who would wish to secure them ; but in America he heard that many lived away from their min- istrations. The young missionary was destined for Texas, given in charge of the Congregation of the Mission under the presidency of Monsignor Odin, Vicar Apostolic, afterwards Archbishop of New Orleans. He landed there in 1846. But Texas was far away from Niagara Falls, yet the strong power of God will work out His designs with poor and simple instruments, suaviter et fortiter.
In the course of time, Monsignor Timon became Bishop of Buffalo, and our young missionary, happening to meet this venerable prelate, remarked to him that he had the privilege of having Niag- ara Falls in his diocese. Were there Catholics around it, and had they a church? " There are a few Catholics," was the reply, " but there is no church. Come to us and we shall have a church and a seminary also." A heavy sigh was the only response. The history of the various little ways and steps that blindly led the young mis- sionary, after a lapse of years, on to Niagara Falls would not be uninteresting, yet the narrative would be too long for the present occasion. He was on the point of death three times, was anointed once, and had no priest within a hundred miles of him, and was in an almost fatal malady at another time. He became afterwards Superior of the Seminary of St. Mary of the Barrens, Missouri; was sent in 1855 as delegate to a general Assembly of the Order at Paris, and there secured from the Superior-General of the Congre- gation, Very Rev. Fr. Etienne, permission to found a house of the Order in the Diocese of Buffalo.
On his return to America he was invited to give a retreat to the clergy of Buffalo, and during that time agreed, with the permission of the then Visitor, to accept a farm and a small house on the lake shore some miles from Buffalo, there to commence a seminary. Niagara Falls could not be thought of. Land there was very dear, and little to be sold; and even if there were, there was not sufficient
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money to purchase it, yet the young priest would turn from time to time towards Niagara Falls and say: "Thy will, O God, be done." An addition was being built to a small farm house on the lake shore to fit it for the commencement of a seminary. In the meantime the missionary was giving missions single-handed, preaching three times a day, and hearing confessions almost continually, even far into the night. He was prostrated by sickness, superinduced by fatigue and cold, and his old malady, chills and fever, returned.
He went to the bleak farm house on the shore to recuperate, but Bishop Timon soon came on to see him and ordered him to the Sisters' Hospital, and henceforth the lake shore project was aban- doned. It had been undertaken through pure obedience and under the pinch of poverty; but was always considered as not the place while there was a hope of procuring land at Niagara Falls for a seminary. At last a new idea came up. There was a good building then vacated in the environs of Buffalo, where the zealous Father Early had a home for orphan boys. It was proposed to open the seminary in this provisionally for the winter, and to wait on the Holy Providence of God for a better place. Accordingly, on the 21st of November, 1856, the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an appropriate festival for young ecclesias- tics, and on which our missionary made his vows in his order, a half dozen students were collected together.
These few boys could not occupy the time of two priests, so the good Father Monaghan was teacher, director, procurator, and fac- totum of the embryo college and seminary; whilst Father Lynch - we name him now - occupied himself in giving missions and collect- ing funds for the future establishment. During the Christmas vacation the idea of seeking a place at Niagara Falls was ripe for expression, and a visit was made to the place by the two priests. An obliging cabman told them that he knew of no land to be disposed of around the Falls, but that he thought that land could be procured far down the river towards Lewiston. Thither they directed their course, and found the Vedder farm for sale on the banks of the Niagara River.
The view from it was grand and sublime. There was a mag- nificent grove of trees then on the spot, since ruthlessly cut down. Returning they called on Mr. Vedder, near Suspension Bridge, and under his veranda, whilst the snow was falling thick and fast, a bargain was concluded for the farm of a hundred acres at seventy- five dollars an acre, payable cash down in one year. The purchasers
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were now, indeed, children of Providence. They had no money to speak of, and seven thousand five hundred dollars were to be paid in one year. This, indeed, was the folly of the Cross, yet there was a joy and a gladness all around.
A place was temporarily secured near Niagara Falls, where God would be worshiped in spirit and in truth, where the incense of sacrifice and prayer would ascend from the depths of big hearts to a good and merciful God. The year was passing by rapidly, but money did not come in fast. And to make matters more gloomy, Vedder was reported to have regretted his sale. Yet Father Lynch continues to give missions and to visit the Seminary occa- sionally. In the course of this year it was found that the trustees of the De Veaux College had over two hundred acres of land for sale adjoining the late purchase, and by the aid of Mr. Thomas, a very respectable merchant of Buffalo, this, too, was purchased, and then the debt was now more than trebled. There is need now of confi- dence in God and prayer. On this new farm there was a brick house used as a hotel. To this the Seminary was moved on the 1st of May, the month of Mary; for every move and undertaking was commenced on one of the festivals of our good and Immaculate Mother. Thus, the Seminary was called after her, under the title of "Our Lady of Angels," that the inmates might be, as it were, her angels in purity and fervor. The barroom of the hotel did very well for a sacristy, and a tenpin alley, with some improvements and extra blessings, was fitted up for a chapel.
Thus did our Lord take up his abode in another shelter attached to an inn. But the money must be found within a year to secure the purchase of the Vedder farm. The terms of the other farm purchased were easy. Now a stronger effort must be made, more earnest prayers must be offered up to God to secure and perfect His own work, for it never came into our heads for one moment that we were tempting Him by, what the world would call, our mad purchases, for we were convinced that God had chosen this spot, the most famous on this continent, that His name might be glorified, and the gospel truth go forth from a place which exhibits such grandeur in the temporal order. Masses and prayers for the souls in purgatory were the usual devotions of the day, and earn- estly was this duty performed both by priests and students. Beads and visits to the Blessed Sacrament were added, and became, as it were, the lightning rod that attracted the mercy of Heaven. Souls released from purgatory are powerful intercessors before the
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throne of God. Father Lynch, strong in his confidence in God, continued to give missions and retreats, and to collect funds for the Seminary. The Cathedral in Buffalo contributed a large sum, as did other places. All the subscriptions were not, however, paid in full.
There were many kind and good friends, and liberal ones, too. Bishop Timon gave the commencement of a good library, and Father Gleason often gladdened the heart of the good missionary, especially at one time on the cars; he first emptied his purse and then his pockets, and only kept what brought him to Waterloo. Mr. Maurice Vaughan was very generous and kind. The ladies of the Sacred Heart Convent, of Rochester, made large presents to the Seminary. We must omit many other names, but not that of Father Early. We must hurry on to mention one of the great marks of Our Blessed Lord's holy Providence.
Whilst giving a mission to the young men at the Cathedral of Buffalo, Father Lynch was struck down with what appeared to be erysipelas of the head. Many thought it was all over with him, that he had run his course; life and death were in the balance for a few days; the doctors and sisters had little hopes; he had been already on the point of death three times; he was anointed once and at death's door another time, but had no priest within a hundred miles of him, and still recovered. When the malady was at its height on this occasion, Rev. Father McGuinness, formerly of Brook- lyn, came to see him, but the patient could not speak. The next day the priest returned, and Father Lynch was able to say a few words.
The priest told him a very pleasant story - that he was saying masses and was praying to God for about three months to know His will as to what good work he should apply ten thousand dollars; that he was inspired to come to consult the saintly Bishop Timon for advice, and that the Bishop had sent him to Father Lynch. This good news hastened the cure of the sick man. What thanksgiving and gratitude to God pervaded all hearts! But then another dif- ficulty lay in the way - that the ten thousand dollars was locked up in a second mortgage on a Brooklyn church, and very serious reasons were adduced for leaving it there. In fact, the case was very embarrassing. The good, the zealous, the generous-hearted, the Columbkill of church-builders in America, Bishop Loughlin, chased away all difficulties, and the money, after much trouble, was obtained; hence, the first Bishop of Brooklyn can be justly looked upon as a joint founder of this establishment with Bishop Timon and the present Archbishop of Toronto.
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There is a little episode that may be added here. The ten thou- sand dollar cheque was to be forwarded to Suspension Bridge. It went astray, however, and every post office in the country was tele- graphed to, to search for this letter. This gave rise to a wide- spread report that Father Lynch was receiving every day cheques of ten thousand dollars, and that, in fact, he was going to found a second Rome on the banks of Niagara. The cheque had gone astray to Natchez, but it was found. Is not the finger of God here? St. Teresa used to say that a sixpence and Teresa would not go far; but sixpence, Teresa, and God Almighty could accomplish all things.
Let us now speak of the personnel of the house. Those whom the providence of God brought together were good, generous, and pious youths, but not all perfect. It would be frivolous to suppose that they were born before the sin of Adam. It is an awful respon- sibility to undertake to educate large numbers of other people's children, generally when passions are the strongest, and hearts and consciences yet to be formed. There was good will amongst them. Piety and an earnest love of the superiors and of the place are still the traditions of this Seminary. The idea was strongly impressed upon them that the house and grounds belonged to God, that they were His children, and should take care of their Father's property, that they were collected together to prepare themselves to be good citizens of the world and to save their souls at any rate, and that some were destined to become good priests to co-oper- ate with God in the salvation of souls, that no mean eyeservers, or hypocrites, nor immoral talkers should be tolerated amongst them, and a compact was entered into amongst the boys themselves to take means to banish any boy that was immodest in word or in deed, and that necessary removals should be made, generally at the Christmas, Summer or Easter vacation, in order to save the feelings of both boys and parents. The students at recreation time and on play days took delight in working the farm and doing many little things which saved money.
The rules were few, but well kept. Silence in the dormitory and study hall or on entering any house in the neighborhood was the most rigid. To banish the idea of eyeserving and acting only from fear of the Prefect, it was agreed amongst the students that a statue of the Blessed Virgin was quite a sufficient Prefect for the study hall. Accordingly, a small altar was erected in it, and a statue of Our Blessed Lady placed on it, and thus perfect silence and close study reigned, under the eyes of the Immaculate Queen of Heaven,
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amongst her good and devoted children. Our Holy Father, Pope Pius IX., of holy memory, hearing from Bishop Timon that the Niagara students, imitating those of St. Mary of the Barrens, had no Prefect in the study hall except the Blessed Virgin, the Pope, with his own blessed hand, wrote three lines under the Brief by which he accorded one hundred days' indulgence to the students every time they studied before this Prefect.
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His Holiness, some years before, expressed to Father Lynch his great surprise that the American boys that he heard were so wild and fond of liberty and hard to govern, should be brought to such perfect discipline. In reply, the priest said: " Holy Father, when those noble American boys are taken kindly and lovingly, and reasoned with, they are the easiest governed in the world; they can be brought to voluntarily acknowledge their own faults and to apologize for them; for one of the rules of our Seminary is, that a fault confessed is a fault condoned. The boys are truthful, fear- less, and honorable, and always keep their word." Tears rolled down from the large and brilliant eyes of the Holy Father, and he said he had great hopes of the American Church when young eccle- siastics showed such a spirit.
Our first examination was held a few months after the opening at Niagara. It was not a very brilliant affair, but there was some- thing very encouraging about it. A Bishop and twenty-six priests honored and encouraged the infant Seminary by their presence, and, not wonderful to relate, the twenty-six priests outnumbered the students by two, so that the clergy from the very beginning were the great patrons of this institution. Our very poverty was the source of future wealth. Being obliged to go around a good deal, not idly, the Seminary became known, and friends were procured. The very idea of Niagara Falls being the center for a college or seminary of the true faith acted as a charm. The cross on the Sem- inary building was a wonder, indeed, and an attraction. An old gentleman, a farmer of the neighborhood of Youngstown, drove up one day to the house and asked what was the meaning of the cross, adding that he had passed there for forty years and saw no such sign before. He was a stray waif from Ireland. In his early youth he was brought to this country and hired with a farmer, whose daughter he married. The cross brought back to his mind misty recollections of his old faith.
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