Fr. Joseph Barry C.S.C. (1903-1985)

For 19 years (1963-1982) Father Joseph Barry, C.S.C.  served as a religion teacher and chaplain for the members of the football teams at Archbishop Hoban High School.  His name graces the Hoban gym. He consistently told the team to “play from your hearts”. Standing only 5’ 3”, he was a “man’s man”.  In the August 2018 issue of Notre Dame Magazine, John Wukovits tells the story of Barry’s chaplaincy for the 157th Regiment, a Colorado National Guard unit that was part of the 45th Infantry that saw action in Sicily and Anzio in World War II.  Few Hoban students knew of Fr. Joe’s service in the military, but so many remember a man who was there for them when times were light-hearted and when times were dim.  He played from his heart as a true son of Blessed Moreau. Fr. Joe Barry died on September 25, 1985.

Brother Edmund (Frederick) Hunt, CSC ( 1909-2005)

Born in Elwood, Indiana, Brother Edmund lived as a Brother of Holy Cross for seventy-three years. He passed away at age 95.  A 1935 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Brother Edmund received a Doctorate in Classical Languages at the University of Chicago in 1940 and later studied at the Sorbonne, Paris. His long and masterful teaching career inspired his students at the University of Notre Dame, at St. Edward’s University, and at several high schools of the Congregation of Holy Cross. From 1946 to 1952, as the first Brother President of St. Edward’s University, Brother Edmund set the institution on a course to become the second largest Holy Cross University in the country. His term followed the lean World War II years and heralded new growth at the university – indeed, many consider him the university “refounder.”  Among his many contributions, he led efforts to build the Alumni Memorial Gym, which was first used for the 1950 commencement ceremonies, at which the university conferred honorary degrees on Texas Gov. Allan Shivers and well-known Galveston businessman and philanthropist William Moody. In 1956, as a former president of the university, he supported efforts to form a lay Board of Trustees, a group that has guided the university since 1957. Brother Edmund also served the Congregation of Holy Cross at every level of engagement, perhaps most notably assisting with a rewriting of the Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Mother Augusta (Amanda) Anderson C.S.C, (1830-1907)

“Mother Mary Augusta was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1830 and entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1854.  When she was four her mother died and her father, in his grief, decided to seek a new life on the Kansas frontier. Until he could become established, he left Amanda with her aunt near Lancaster, Ohio. Her aunt was a devout Catholic who, in the absence of a nearby church, made provision in her home for traveling priests to celebrate Mass. She also enlisted Amanda to help minister to Indians on a nearby reservation, which imparted to her a lifelong missionary spirit.  At age 24 and after her novitiate in France, she was assigned as a seamstress and a teacher. At the start of the Civil War, she and two novices were sent to a hospital to care for the soldiers. They were horrified at the conditions and looking at her whimpering companions “pityingly,” Mother Augusta told them, “Now stop! You are here and must put your heart and soul into the work. Pin up your skirts.” In 1875 Father Lawrence Scanlan asked the Holy Cross sisters to consider starting a school in Salt Lake City. Sr. Augusta and Sr. Raymond Sullivan responded. Within a week they had drawn up plans for a school that would cost $25,000, and set out raising the funds. They visited every mining camp in the territory, which is where the money was at the time, and so successful were their efforts that the school opened in September 1875 with 100 pupils. It was the beginning of what became a huge ministry that eventually included several schools, Holy Cross Hospital, and St. Ann Orphanage. Following the approval of the Constitutions from Rome and 20 years since the separation from the Marianites, Mother Augusta was elected the first Superior General of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1882. Certainly she was a force behind the establishment of numerous houses, schools, and of getting the work done, but most affectionately she was known as a superior who was always concerned with the well-being of her sisters, putting them first and standing for their freedom and rights as women religious. She took over where Mother Angela [Gillespie] left off, and built an independent congregation that was well-situated to continue to grow and thrive. Mother Mary Augusta is recognized for her deep love for the congregation and willingness to sacrifice all for the good of the congregation. To many she was and still is remembered as a builder of houses and most importantly, a builder of her sisters, a liberated risk-taker” ( Information taken from an article by Gary Topping, Archivist, Diocese of Salt Lake City and Sisters of the Holy Cross, Capturing the Wind, 2015).