The Story of the Mountain
Mount Saint Mary's College and Seminary

Rev. Thomas R. Butler, of Philadelphia, the sixth President, had been ordained  three years before. He is said to have been of an affable, charitable disposition, and was much liked by the congregation of which he had charge for that period. An experience of his while President may as well be told here. He had once $10,000 in bills on hand, pending an investment. Called to Baltimore on some important business in the interest of the College, and not wishing any one to know of the money being in the house, he deposited it in a place which he knew would not be thought of. He was detained longer than he expected, and on his return immediately made the final arrangements for investing the $10,000. But what was his horror to find that he had forgotten where he had concealed the money! His agony was inexpressible, and he searched every possible place of deposit. He could neither eat nor sleep, nor could he satisfy the questioning of those who saw how seriously indisposed he was. Sensitive as a woman, his mind at once leaped forward into all the possibilities consequent upon the loss; his hasty journey to Baltimore, his subsequent agitation, and his complete inability to prove his own integrity and innocence what would not be the implication? Two days of search passed the third had nearly drawn to a close, when, sitting in the library, his throbbing, agonized head held between his hands, his eye lighted upon the title of some abstruse work on the uppermost shelf. In an instant all was clear. Springing to his feet, he took down the volume, and there between the leaves, the notes were resting safely just as he had placed them.

Rev. Thomas R. Butler, Sixth President, 1834-38

Father Hughes gave, on April 9th, in a letter to Mr. McCaffrey, the first intimation that Brute was to leave his professor's cathedra for that of a bishop. The Second Provincial Council had recommended the establishment of a diocese in Indiana and had nominated him.

Indiana had in 1749 three missions of the Jesuits, one of them at Vincennes. In 1778 Father Gibault, Vicar-General of the Bishop of Quebec, who still exercised jurisdiction there, persuaded the people, all French-Canadians, to join the revolted colonies, and administered the oath of allegiance to the United States in the Church with all solemnity. Bp. England thought Brute unfitted, on account of his studious and retiring habits, for the harrassing life of a pioneer missionary bishop, but we shall see how mistaken he was; and the new prelate showed his ability in the line of administration by persuading two persons who held a large mortgage on the College and were alarmed at reports of its condition to allow their money to remain. [These were probably the ladies at Frederick.]

While these things were a-doing, conditions at the College showed signs of disturbance. President Butler was sick in Philadelphia and Deacon McCaffrey, Vice-President, on May 4, 1834, wrote to the Council expressing indignation at charges, made against himself and his brother, and resigning his office and his seat in the Council. However, he was doubtless induced to reconsider, for we read that on the 8th of May, 1834, Mr. McCaffrey, Vice-President, writes to President Butler, who was convalescing in Philadelphia and New York. "Look to the favor of the Irish," Mr. McCaffrey continues, "the most generous of the generous, but take care of their prejudices and national sensibility. In New York how difficult will it be to steer between parties!"

On the 17th he writes to the same: "I send you on the inside page a crude plan of a society without a government, since the formation of a government would necessarily stop for a time the whole business. . . . Father Hughes preached, here, at the Convent and at Emmitsburg, the same day."

[His reference to the society shows that the project of a community was not allowed to rest.] "Many longing for your return. Come with a bag of money and you will find it apology, should apology be needed, for everything or anything. . . . Give my sincere respects to our intended superior Father Deluol. ..."

Father Hughes wrote to Brute’ from the same city on June 10th, as we read in the former's "Life" by Hassard:

With regard to anything being done for the education of clergymen, I despair of it until the bishops and colleges or college shall understand each other and themselves better. It is a subject on which there is too great a variety of opinion, and on which each superior looks only to the boundaries of his own jurisdiction.

This state of ecclesiastical education seemed to be the choice of both bishops and priests at the late Council; and although it may do during the continuance of remittances from Europe (which should be sent, it strikes me, for the support of missionaries in the East), it will not do without some such support. I maintain that there are resources enough in the country for the education of priests and the establishment of a college or colleges. But if nothing is done by the bishops, those resources cannot be reached. For instance, the bishop's domestic Seminary here, I am sure that not one out of five of the Catholics in the city are aware of its existence. Yet the bishop would desire that the clergy and people should support it. But no plan proposed no system organized no prospects held forth nothing to direct, nothing to encourage. And in reference to the general subject of clerical education at the Council, it was identically the same.

How. then, with all my solicitude. I might add apprehension, for your house, to which I am bound by so many ties of attachment how can I do anything? I do not, indeed, believe that in the present distress anything could be done, no matter how great might be the effort, and I am really at a loss to see how poor Bishop Kenrick expects to succeed with his establishment.

But the indifference or supposed hostility which is felt in Baltimore for the Mountain has weakened the confidence of all at a distance. And it will be difficult to find inducement for the people to espouse warmly a cause which is conceived to be neglected, if not thwarted, by those who should most delight in its prosperity.

To which Father Brute' sent this characteristic reply:

I think much of your letter on the Seminaries. Think well on it; digest some plan ; let not the first Council pass without realizing more for it. This is the all in all. Else "in vanum laboraverunt;" harvest on all sides and no laborers, or too few and imperfectly prepared. Adieu, adieu! God alone! All in all, God and our eternity! God and our sacred altar! " Altaria Domini virtutum!" B. Brute’.

At the close of the school year 1834 a list of prefects to serve during vacation was made out, and each member of the Faculty, assisted by three masters, served for one of the six weeks. This shows that a considerable number of boys remained during the summer recess, and thus learned to know thoroughly, to cultivate and to love the "Mountain," which was in truth for many of them the home of their childhood and youth:

The remaining members of the Seminary will be called upon to serve as third prefects and all the gentlemen of the house are requested to use every exertion to render the boys who remain here happy, and to lighten each other's burdens by willingly taking charge of bands and directing the amusements of the pupils. Those named u first prefects are at liberty to interchange their weeks so also are the second prefects bat no exchange of two can be made between 1st and 2nd prefects. Those who go on notions are requested to state distinctly to the President their intention to return in time to keep their week, or to give him in writing the promises of friends who are willing to keep in their places. T. R. Butler, Pres. of College June 20, 1834.

Bulls for the new bishop of Vincennes came July 21, when Father Brute was giving a retreat to the Sisters, and he first opened the documents on his knees in their chapel, going the next day to Baltimore.

His associates at the College were sadly upset at the prospect of his leaving them forever, and President Butler wrote to Father Wheeler, S. S., July 24: "I must try to calm the panic and counteract the alarms of all ... and endeavor to prevent, not the Will of God, but what I fear is the proposal of man. . . . Who will attend the Convent? Who will teach Theology ? We must have some aged and learned man or what can we do? . . ." In fact, the College clergy petitioned against Brute's removal.

Meanwhile the latter made a retreat, decided to leave the decision whether he should accept the mitre or not to Bishops Flaget and Chabrat, from whose jurisdiction the new diocese was to be formed, and went back to work on his terraces. On receiving expression of their opinion, he left his cherished Mountain home, not to return as a member of the family, in; September, 1834.

The parting, says the historian, " was as the tearing away of heartstrings, for he loved every foot of ground, every tree and every stone connected with it. He had loved the College,, worked for it, fought for it, suffered for it, and with it had weathered the storms which had threatened its destruction. Possessing as he did the quality of strong local affection, and remembering as we do the scenes through which he had struggled from the days of the log houses to those of the stone mansion, the expression of his sorrow and regret can well be left to the imagination, until in its proper sequence the letter is given in which it overflows into words."

We must accompany Brute’ to his wild western mission, and let himself tell the story. Writing to the "Leopoldine " of Austria, a society devoted to procuring vestments, etc., for poor and foreign missions, he says :

"At the time of my appointment I had been for many years Superior and Professor of Theology in the Seminary connected with the College of Mt. St. Mary's, near Emmitsburg, in Maryland. Although a large number of priests now on the mission in the United States had been sent out from this Seminary, at the time of my appointment they were not able to aid me either with priests or money. The Sisters of Charity at St. Joseph's, the Mother-House, made me a present of two hundred dollars to assist in establishing myself in Vincennes. On my way to Bardstown, where I was to make my retreat previous to my consecration, I visited my respected friend Dr. Purcell, the Bishop of Cincinnati. H& kindly accompanied me as far as Louisville and then returned, whilst I proceeded on my way to Bardstown, where I once more had the happiness of meeting my father and friend, the venerable Bishop Flaget, the Patriarch of these Western Missions, upon which he has labored above 43 years twenty-five of them as Bishop of Bardstown, having jurisdiction over the whole western country. I was also permitted once more to embrace my old friend Bishop David, who, having resigned the coadjutorship of Bardstown, has been succeeded by Bishop Chabrat.

"At the time of my arrival Bishop Flaget was about leaving for Cincinnati to consecrate the large German Church which had been lately erected. I spent a few days in visiting the different institutions of the Diocese, the College and Seminary at Bardstown; the beautiful Institution of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, founded by Bishop David; the House of the Sisters of Loretto, founded by the Rev. Mr. Nerinckx, both having several Academies and Schools under their care. I Tinted also the flourishing College of the Jesuits (St. Mary's) regretted ray much that my time would not allow of my to die Dominican Convent and Novitiate of St. Rose. By the time I had finished my retreat (from 4th to 12th October) under Bishop David, Bishop Flaget had returned from Cincinnati and I set out with him for Louisville, where Bishop Purcell joined us. Crossing the Ohio, we proceeded towards St. Louis, across the vast prairies of Illinois, and half-incognito passed through the town of Vincennes."

In a cheerful letter to Bishop David from "Salem, half way between Vincennes and St. Louis," he gives a detailed account of this journey, which of itself was no slight undertaking in those days. Once they were caught in a violent storm upon the prairies and suffered severely from wet and cold. He draws as usual a lively picture of their mishaps and adventures, of Bishop Flaget, "l'incomparable," as he calls him, drying his Breviary before the fire, etc. They spent only an hour and a half at Vincennes " without the guns firing, or the bells ringing, or a grand procession, or anything." But to resume his memoranda:

"It was a source of great happiness and consolation to me to pass so many days in the company of these holy bishops and to meet that most excellent Prelate, Dr. Rosati of St. Louis, who on the 25th of October, assisted by Bishops Flaget and Purcell, consecrated his new and beautiful Cathedral, which was an occasion of great joy to the whole city. A large body of the militia, and even the United States troops from the barracks near St. Louis, assisted at the ceremony. Two days afterwards, on the 28th of October, "the day of the holy Apostle St. Simon (my patron) and St. Jude, I was consecrated in the same Cathedral by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Flaget, assisted by Bishop Rosati and Bishop Purcell. The Sermon for the occasion was preached by the Rev. Mr. Hitzelberger."

The next day the new bishop addressed a Pastoral Letter to his diocesan subjects, opening with the words: "Simon Gabriel, by the grace of God and the appointment of the Holy See, Bishop of Vincennes. . . ."We make room for one paragraph that was directed to non-Catholics:

"Addressing thus our Catholic brethren, we forget not that portion of our flock which unhappy contentions, misleading in times past their ancestors, separated from their common mother. Happy to see them daily forgetting those times, and inclining, we hope, to come and enjoy with us all the means ordained for our salvation, looking upon us as the ' ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God,' we will not cease to claim humbly and affectionately from them that confidence from which prejudice or misrepresentation cannot keep long estranged hearts of goodwill, men of good sense. Let them be at least convinced that sincere love and respect towards them are duties which we mean never to forget."

The new bishop wrote the following letter to Father Hilary Parsons, who was slowly dying at the Mountain. Brute was all heart, and all the preoccupation of this new government could not prevent his visiting, in spirit at least and by letter, his sick brother at the Mountain.

Louisville, Kentucky, Saturday, 27^th, September, 1834.

J. M. J. Behold me near your bed my letter I would say, for I can no longer visit this good invalid every day. Some one of our friends, Mr. Butler, Mr. Whelan, perhaps Mr. Sourin, Mr. Flaut, delivers it to you. They have already given you an account of the journey to Louisville here on the Kentucky shore Indiana on the other side. I am with Mr. Abel and Mgr. Flaget is with us, as well as Mr. Ferneding, a German priest, who visits both sides of the river, but who will, I hope, in the future be assigned to Mgr.'Flaget. And it also appears that Mr. Badin will go to live at Wayne, which he has served from Michigan. Thus, you see, with Mr. Lalumiere, there are three priests four if Mr. Picot comes five if M. St. Cyr remains at Chicago besides Father Petit, who will continue his visits, I hope, and some of the priests of Kentucy, four I believe, stationed nearest to the Ohio will, as necessity demands, visit a few points on the opposite shore, mine. Oh ! dear brother Hilary, pray a great deal for these beginnings pray, that is your holy occupation, the magic of your weakness, and a means for all good, for an influence so strong, so powerful above all that which is generally claimed for it in spite of the expressive words of our Lord ask for me this leading spirit of true prayer and that of union with and abandonment to the Will of God, May his goodness preserve in you that calm and that peace which has edified us all.

Tomorrow, your good day. your holy communion Mgr. Flaget will say the 10 o'c. Mass. we the first. Mr. Abel has a large beautiful church containing 130 or 140 pews, an organ, etc., and he will soon have too many Catholics for one building; it will be necessary to erect another. There are eight Sisters of Charity here (of Mgr. David, same rule of St. Vincent, differing somewhat from that of St. Joseph's), who have a well-built house beside the church with a similar Gothic front 25 orphans, a pay and a free school. We see with the same pleasure everywhere these souls devoted and consecrated, as we are. to all the good that they can effect. Oh, if all this America should be one day Catholic we would rejoice all in heaven for having each made his feeble effort for this beautiful branch of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. He has shed his blood for her, but as everywhere, the unhappy children of Adam trample it under their feet. His truths, his graces those of their pardon, those of his Divine Eucharist, those of their union with his Saints, with Mary, those of their good death and of their Eternity. They live and die everywhere on this earth in this frightful indifference of sect or no sect, of purely animal life, of passions, of money, of pride of a thousand forms, of sensualities and pitiable excesses, etc., etc. What does one see as soon as one leaves some happy asylum, such as the Mountain or the Valley, religious houses or those of many good congregations where piety animates so many souls of these Christian families, where the Lord is known, loved and served and how many such do we find ? The remainder, as I perceive everywhere, is total indifference and desolation.

But it is not well to distress oneself regarding this state of the world, of our America, any more than of Europe, for in entirely Catholic nations it is the same abandoning and despairing of grace, still more culpable! We must save ourselves and save what we can of the souls who are on earth seeking God "Venit fillius hominis quaerere quod perierat" I know not what to do for this vast country which the church has given me to work; I am only resolved to apply myself here, with the greatest confidence and peace in our Lord. Pray earnestly, I repeat, for me; for all his laborers everywhere, beginning, of course, with the Seminary, which I never forget, and the blessed Valley.

We leave here on Monday for Bardstown. I will visit all around, St. Thomas, Nazareth, Loretto, the Jesuits of St. Mary's the Dominicans of St. Rose how great the consolation of these many places with their good bishops and clergy but so far as Indiana is concerned will she have her share in these benedictions ? Mgr. Flaget will return to Louisville to be on the 5th in Cincinnati for the dedication of Mgr. Purcell's large church ; who went home yesterday after having accompanied me here and after his return here and my retreat over, we will all go to St. Louis for the 26th and 28th then to Vincennes on all Saints Day I think Pray!

I am very often with you all in these first moments and would know so many things that I refer at last simply to God, having nothing but constant prayer for you, after these long years passed together; in the midst of so many difficulties the "quam bonum et jucundum habitare fratres in unum" so consoling for all for me ''God only," ''God only," not even a priest with me at Vincennes, with whom to take counsel but can I complain of what is the situation of so many in this country? Only I begin to perceive how distressing this want of counsel will become.

I do not dare beg of you, yourself, poor invalid, to reply to this letter which I have the pleasure of writing to you; our friends will do it, and by whichever hand, the pleasure will be the same, for my happiness has been to love you all, and I believe I have the hearts of all notwithstanding the grief I may have caused each.

I wish also to be remembered to each of the young men, not daring to name any in particular, — it would take the balance of the page, and finally to Sister Perpetua, each one of the sisters, your good infirmarian, and Veronica and Columba and the youngest, whose name the good God knows, my pen cannot find, then Polly, Miss Henry whose mother and sister and Henry Green I have just recommended to Mr. Ferneding on his first journey towards his " German Settlement" (McKenzie) at some distance, but knowing nothing of these Catholics near Salem: Read this to Miss Henry.

The young McCallion is doing very well in Cincinnati; tell this to his sister Betsy Bingham and Mrs. Marsh are very well. Embrace also to the brothers; may the good God bless the design of Charles and your care for him. Ah, if He would for that, prolong our life and keep you in the improved condition in which I left you. His holy Will our good Hilary and Mgr. Simon. There is time for one or the other or both to be judged before this letter reaches the Mountain!

What an admiral thing is this continual uncertainty of the moment on which depends Eternity! "Vigilate et Orate!" Veillez et priez! Watch and pray! My old Barney, Mary, Nace (slaves), I would not forget to ask their prayers as for the congregation their would be no end but at least the good doctor and his lady, and my friends of 25 years, Natty Elder, Mr. Brawner, etc."Claudite rivos!" Dieu Seul. S. Brute’

The postscript is in his own English.

M. Sourin: My dear M. Sourin, how grateful I am for your good care of my books make the best of them for usefulness as our friends or the young men may call for them, but preserve them carefully for times to come, times which may God grant such as you all desire, with me, one same heart, when you say

more fervently than I can myself "ignem veni mittere in terrain et quid volo nisi ut accendatur." I close after the high Mass said by Bishop Flaget an excellent organ, some truly splendid voices, but truly that sermon of M. Abel on the Sorrows of Mary, such touches from that immense and deep voice on the Sorrows of the Cross and that change of St. John for Jesus, as never better pierced my heart, and at the end Mgr. Flaget at first scarcely heard, and then such a voice as to beat M. Abel, announcing: 1. The German dedication; 2. St. Louis Cathedral; 3. The Bishop of Vincennes; and after some forcible beauties on that wonderful progress of the Church, such as could have prostrated a Beecher or a Breckinridge (noted Protestant preachers) to the floor of the Sanctuary, a return so tender, so pathetic to the Sorrows of Mary and an appeal to the priests, bishops and faithful to live nailed to the Cross with Jesus Christ and die with Him who died for our sins, etc. O truly faith and love are upon earth, in which pray that I may share, and be all more than ever undaunted under the weight of your cross. This all common to Sister Rose pray for S. brute.

It is best to tell the story of the journey to Vincennes and his first impressions in his own words: " On the festival of All Saints, at the request of Bishop Rosati, I officiated pontific-ally for the first time. During these days, which were a time of general festivity, there were sermons morning and evening, preached by the Bishops or some of the Jesuit Fathers, who have a large and flourishing college at this place (St. Louis), at present our furthest point, a thousand miles distant from New York, but with another thousand miles of territory extending beyond it to the Pacific, the frontier of these vast United States.

"Having left St. Louis with Bishops Flaget and Purcell, the Rev. Messrs. Abel and Hitzelberger and Petit, we arrived at Vincennes the 5th of November. Some miles before reaching the city, we were met by a number of the citizens, Catholics and Protestants, on horseback, who had accompanied the Pastor, the Rev. M. Lalumiere, a native of the State, and the first Priest ordained (by Bishop Flaget) for Vincennes. He was of course filled with joy in seeing a Bishop granted to his Indiana, and all the inhabitants seemed to share in it.

"The ceremony of the Installation took place the same evening. Bishop Flaget, who 43 years before had been the missionary priest here, when it was a simple trading and military post in the midst of the surrounding wilderness, proceeded to address the people with his usual fervor. Venerated and loved by all, himself in the 74th year of his age, he introduced to them their new Bishop, no longer young, being in his 54th year, and urged them to make a good use of the privileges which God in his mercy had bestowed upon them. Other instructions were given during these days. On Sunday I officiated pontifically, and on Monday my venerable colleagues took their leave, amidst the blessing of the whole population, to return to their respective dioceses. They literally left me alone. Father Petit was obliged soon to return to his college in Kentucky; M. Lalumiere took charge of the missions in the vicinity of Vincennes, but still 25 or 30 miles distant, and in the whole diocese there were but two other priests, one Mr. Ferneding, in charge of the two German missions 150 miles distant, and Mr. St. Cyr, whom Bishop Rosati had permitted to assist me for one year, and who was stationed at Chicago, with its 400 inhabitants, 225 miles off." [This St. Cyr used to say Mass at the house of Thomas Lincoln and his wife, both sincere Catholics. The youth Abraham Lincoln, who became President of the United States, used to help arrange things for the priest, and made six chairs for him. Thomas Lincoln's wife, Sarah Bush, was Abraham's stepmother, and brought him up, as his mother died in his infancy. So testified Archbishop Ireland, who had it from St. Cyr at St. Paul in 1866. See Griffin's American Catholic Historical Researches, July, 1905.

"The Cathedral Church of Vincennes is a plain brick building 115 feet long and 60 broad, consisting of the four walls, and the roof; unplastered and not even whitewashed no sanctuary not even a place for preserving the vestments and sacred vessels. Only a simple altar of wood with a neatly gilded tabernacle and a cross and six beautiful candlesticks, a gift from France, which were much in contrast with the poverty and utter destitution of the place. The house, built for the missionary, and now the Episcopal Residence, consists of a small, comfortable room and closet, 25 feet by 12, without, however, a cellar or a garret; a small plot for a garden lies between it and the Church, on the other side of which is the Catholic cemetery. Some years since, the town had a common burying-ground prepared beyond its limits, and for a while the Catholics had to bury their dead in it like the rest; but they resisted so resolutely they were at last permitted to bury in their own cemetery. An old wooden building, a short distance from the Palace, is occupied by the servant, and near it is a stable ready for the Bishop's horse, when he is able to get one. The people are mostly of French descent, poor, illiterate, but of that open, lively disposition which bespeaks their origin. They retain their faith, love their priests, but are negligent in attending to their religious duties. They are very remiss also in teaching their children their prayers and the Catechism, and this causes them to forget it themselves. Many also are in the habit of using profane language. It is true, and should be mentioned, that of late years they have been much neglected, and much of their former piety seems now to be rekindling in their hearts.

"The kind reception I met with on my arrival was followed up by generous gifts of provisions and other necessary things. Of money they have little, and consequently can give but little. A subscription list which was handed around some months after I came, with the intention of providing a yearly income for my support, did not reach two hundred dollars, and most of this was to be paid in grain, if they had not the money at the time. It may seem somewhat out of place for me to enter into such details, but they are necessary to show that although a parish priest, accustomed to the simplicity of seminary life, may find a sufficient support, yet the resources of the diocese are entirely inadequate to provide for its great and urgent wants, the education of young men intended for the priesthood, and the building up of those institutions of charity for orphans and others, without which religion can never be firmly established. The revenue from pews in my Cathedral is so small as barely to supply what is necessary for the altar and current expenses of the Church itself. Of some property which belongs to the diocese, but which at present brings no income, I shall have occasion to speak hereafter."

In a letter to Bishop Kenrick, dated December 18, 1834, he incidentally mentions that the pew rent in his Cathedral amounted to the enormous sum of $100, and that the subscription for the support of the pastor was $240, but not all of it paid. Still there is not a sign of complaint; his only demand, after all, is for priests. "I am resigned," he says, "to remain at Vincennes alone and attend the sick calls and do all the work myself but my great, my greatest want is priests for other places."

And so we leave the "Angel of the Mount," for the present, alone with God and duty in the wilderness. Veneration and love induce us to refer to the heartfelt eulogy passed by Archbishop Bayley in his " Memoirs of Brute "and given in an early chapter. Its sum is this:

"Father Brute’ was for 20 years the 'Angel of the Mount' angel in intellect and knowledge, angel in counsel, angel in conduct."

One who as a child entered the College just as Brute’ was leaving it thus sings of the holy bishop:

The Spirit of the Mountain I Glance around The terrace at our feet is hallowed ground; Climb that green hill those leveled walks that glide. Around the chapel, by the torrent's side. That shaded mound where still the Grotto stands. All these are relics now, touched by the hands. That led alike the shriven soul to grace. Or smoothed the frown from Nature's erring face. Question the valley hear how oft there trod, Missal in hand, along the weary road. A swift, frail shape, on some new mercy bent. That seemed to smile with angels as it went. Go further pierce the arching world beyond. The circle of those calm blue lines that bound. The Sanctuary; count the mitres scan. The vast results of that one Heaven sent man. Ask Mountain laymen, deep in stocks and deeds, why still they wear their medals, tell their beads. Ask that grey band of priests what trumpet call beneath Christ's standard ranged and armed them all. Ask either prelate, whose command controls the Christian being of a million souls, who first inspired his half-unconscious feet, to tread the heights where flamed the Paraclete? Hark! Prelate, layman, priest, together say: The Angel-Guardian of the Mount Brute’. George H. Miles.

Brute’ died before most of us were born, but the perfume of his virtues clings round the Mountain yet, and no one can look upon his picture, the frontispiece to Archbishop Bayley's sketch, without feeling that all they say of him must be true, for the " beauty of holiness'' beams upon that attractive face.

John McCloekey, future president, entered the Seminary this year. Francis P. Hennange, Philadelphia, brother of the former professor, left his library to the College, but unfortunately the donated books do not bear his mark.

Josue M. Young, a Harvard man, editor of a newspaper in Maine, and future Bishop of Erie, entered the Seminary this year. Florent Meline and Caspar Beleke came to teach. Of the latter we shall see more further on.

On the 9th of August, 1834, the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown, Mass., was burned by a mob. On the 9th of August, 1904, a professor from the Mountain wished to visit the spot. "Oh, there is nothing there," said a Boston alumnus. "What! nothing there, after 70 years!" There was indeed nothing there. The opposite side of the street was lined with houses, but enterprising Boston had not done anything with the convent site. Was the place cursed?

Special thanks to John Miller for his efforts in scanning the book's contents and converting it into the web page you are now viewing.