|
| August
28, 1892, seven Benedictine Sisters came from St. Benedict's
Convent in St. Joseph, Minnesota to teach at the St. Patrick
Parish School. This began over 100 years of Benedictine presence
in Wisconsin. Father A.B.C. Dunne (left) who requested Benedictine
teachers for St. Patrick Parish and Sister Anatolia Langford,
the first superior for the new mission in Eau Claire and one
of seven pioneers who answered the call in 1892. |
Father
John Heagle, who served with the sisters at St. Patrick Parish
in the 70's shared these thoughts during the centennial celebration:
"Something
about monasticism is a part of everyone's life -- the hunger
for God, seeking the face of God ... And somewhere, somehow,
in its simple way, the Rule of Benedict speaks to that hunger.
The Rule of Benedict and the way of Scholastica, the way of
your lives and the heritage you have handed on to us speaks
of:
 | an
awareness that to become fully human we must learn to
love and be loved, |
| a
realization that we need a place to belong -- not just
geographically, but places in the heart, |
| a
conviction that we need both freedom and authority, |
| a
belief that even as we join in common prayer and worship
we must also learn to pray in solitude, |
| and,
finally, a commitment that if stability is vital in our
lives, so is openness to transformative change. |
This
is the heritage that you are handing on to us, that you are
living and inviting us to know. You are gift to us, and
you are promise to us. And in you and through you and
for all of us today -- 'That in all things, God may be
glorified.'"
During the centennial year, many treasures surfaced from the
archives, including excerpts from a letter written to Sister
Leone Treacy by John Carpenter, a former student at St. Patrick's.
The letter was written at the time the old St. Patrick convent
was being demolished: "So
let them begin their demolition. They won't destroy our memories
...whatever our fate, or God's will, we need not be too concerned
as to the eventual outcome. Saints Benedict and Scholastica
have been on the job helping God in the management of his
world since about 515 AD". "Apparently
the work in Northwestern Wisconsin demanded the best that
this ancient monastic foundation had to offer. For over
three quarters of a century, a steady stream of sturdy, indefatigable
laborers took up lodging in the old convent by the railroad
tracks. Please God, may they be around St. Patrick's as long
as the Benedictine Order is in business". "Do
not be concerned or skeptical this coming spring if you hear
that, in the midst of the cracking ice of the Chippewa and
the fussy sounds of switching on the Milwaukee-Soo lines,
someone avows that just at dusk the undulating chant of Laudate,
Dominum Omnes Populi was heard. It was just some dear
old friends performing the Opus Dei the work of God, at the
same old site in the Chippewa Valley."
 A
centennial billboard designed by Sister Marilyn Welsh greeted
travelers along Brackett Avenue in Eau Claire during the month
of August, 1992:
|
