Brother Norbert (Leger) Bauer, C.S.C. (1871-1958)

Leger Bauer was born in France near Paris and attended public school. He entered Holy Cross in 1885 and made his first vows in 1888. His first assignment was to teach in grammar school, and in 1890, he began compulsory military service for the France which lasted until 1893. Because of religious persecution in France, he came to Notre Dame in 1901 where he was sent to teach modern languages at Holy Cross High School in New Orleans. In 1903, he was assigned to Columbia University (now the University of Portland) were he taught until 1921. He was then sent back to Europe where is served in the Congregation’s Procure Office in Rome for the next 26 years. This office was the liaison between the Vatican and the Congregation of Holy Cross. In 1946, Brother Norbert had the unusual honor of attending the beatification of his own blood brother, Blessed unnamed (20) unnamed (19) Andrew Joseph Bauer, O.F.M., who was one of 29 Franciscan missionaries martyred in the Boxer Rebellion, on July 9, 1900 in China. He personally presented a special biography of the martyrs to Pope Pius the XII at the ceremony. In 1947, he retired at Columba Hall and then to the Community Infirmary. Included here are two photos of Blessed Andrew Joseph in both Franciscan habit and traditional Chinese garb. (The Legacy Project composed by Brother Lawrence Stewart, CS.C. n.d.

Father Peter E. Hebert, C.S.C. (1886-1974)

image1 (23).jpg Peter Hebert came to Notre Dame in 1901 as a student in the “industrial school.” He received the habit in 1905 and was ordained in 1914. He received a Ph.D. in classical languages from Notre Dame, and from 1914-1956 taught Latin. He headed the classics department from 1931-39. During all of this time he maintained an active interest in botany and ornithology and achieved a credible excellence in both. Many of his students remembered him as a stimulating teacher and for his bird-watching hikes around the Notre Dame campus. A recognized authority on sedges of Berrien County, Michigan, Father Hebert had a part in naming some of them. He was one of the first members of the community to recognize and use the scientific possibilities of the Martin Gillen property at Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin where he spent many happy days botanizing on that wild land, identifying and recording various flora. He loved every inch of the Notre Dame campus and authored an exclusive catalog detailing the exact location and species of each tree, shrub and vine there. He also assisted Fr. Julius Nieuwland [of synthetic rubber fame] in establishing the University’s extensive herbarium. “Kind and docile, gentle, unobtrusive, of simple faith, with a profound acceptance of God’s will” were some of the characterizations used in the eulogy of this “true priest and gentleman.” (Excepts taken from Province Review, August 1974)

Sister Ann (Mary Rose Angela) Keating, CSC (1925-2019)

image1 (25) Sister Ann Keating said of herself in 1990 nearing age 65, “I’m a lioness; if you touch my cubs, I’ll protect them.” Sister had delivered at least 500 infants as a nurse-midwife during her 40-plus years in obstetric nursing at hospitals in California, Utah and New Mexico. Betty Ann Keating grew up in Sacramento, California, always wanting to be a nurse like her mother. She attended Holy Rosary Academy, a girls’ boarding school of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Woodland, California and entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1943 only under the condition that she would be allowed to pursue her primal vocation of nursing. As a student nurse she graduated from College of Saint Mary-of-the-Wasatch, Salt Lake City, Utah, with a Bachelor of Science in 1949 and was certified as a registered nurse at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. By 1969, as Sister Ann Keating, she had earned a Master of Science from The University of Utah, also being certified as a nurse-midwife. In 1970, already an experienced head nurse and director of nursing service at Holy Cross-sponsored hospitals in Salt Lake City and Fresno, California, Sister Ann was asked to be on the faculty as an obstetrics instructor at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in Watts, California, until 1974. After three years back at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, Sister Ann’s expertise in midwifery education continued at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Women’s Hospital (1974-1976), Loma Linda University San Bernardino Campus (1976-1977), the University of San Francisco (1977-1982), and San Francisco General Hospital (1982-1984). Notoriously camera-shy and shunning attention, she graciously accepted the 1991 Woman of the Year Award granted by the Fresno, California Committee on the Status of Women. At the time, Sister Ann was coordinating Women’s Health Services at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Fresno Women’s Network, and chaired a committee to provide opportunities for women to support each other in business, personal and professional growth by networking with one another. Sister Ann remained in Fresno until 2004 when she retired to Saint Catherine by the Sea, Ventura, California. There she pursued her interest in nurturing and became a master gardener in the civic community until 2017 when her ill health brought her to Saint Mary’s Convent, where she died. She said of herself, “I might not have had a child of my own, but I was a mother of many.” (Excepts taken from a eulogy by Sister Catherine Osimo, CSC)

July 27, 2019

Voice of Moreau: The immigration crisis is really just the story of salvation in disguise. The poor and the oppressed have been beaten up by governments and gangs and extreme weather. They risk everything, their fortunes and homes and even their families, in order to have a fresh start somewhere else. They journey through countless trials and make countless sacrifices, hoping to literally “cross” over the border into the freedom and joy of new life. The drama of immigration thus points unmistakably to our crucified Lord. He is inviting us to join him as he passes over from the dark forces of this world to the Sabbath rest of the next. Let us therefore be careful to not engage in the political and ideological debates surrounding immigration that miss its deeper spiritual implications. Let us constantly be on the lookout for strangers in the midst of our daily lives and assist them in “crossing” thresholds that will lead to life. Let us acknowledge our own interior immigration crisis as we ourselves struggle to live in the light: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deut 10:19). Ave Crux, Spes Unica!

Response: “Let us constantly be on the lookout for strangers in the midst of our daily lives and assist them in ‘crossing’ thresholds that will lead to life.” These words will resonate with anyone who works in a school where there are many students who are immigrating into the new world of school no matter the level. For many young people entering the “new” school causes them to feel like strangers in a strange land for quite some time. In all Holy Cross schools there are orientation days and programs to assist the new kids on the block to begin to feel more and more at home with each passing day. In Christian Education, Blessed Moreau writes a very detailed essay on “Students’ Relationships with Teachers” where he describes those students in our classrooms who are poor and oppressed: “spoiled, unintelligent, self-centered, opinionated, insolent, envious, without integrity, immature, lazy, or in poor health.” It is the responsibility of the teacher to invite these children to become fully enfranchised citizens of, let’s say, Algebra 1 or English 10. Because each classroom is a world unto itself, the teacher/leader, must see to it that all members of the class learn to treat all other members with respect so that all may cross the various thresholds that bespeak the education of both the mind and the heart. It is the teacher who demonstrates the love of the “stranger,” so that students can model Christ the Healer for each other. This is not an easy task for leaders of the many countries of the world, and it is not an easy job in a classroom with a population of 25 or 30. Yet it is the job description for all Catholic school teachers and those of us who teach in Holy Cross schools. Let no child feel alienated nor be allowed to alienate others. There are so many opportunities to educate hearts in our classrooms. May we have the competence to see and the courage to act so that strangers are strangers no longer because they have been welcomed with the love of the crucified Christ. Ave Crux Spes Unica!

Sister Mary (Mary Henry) Byrnes, CSC (1926-2019)

image1 (24).jpg The holiness of Sister Mary Byrnes was practical, immediate and helpful throughout her life. Though she folded her hands in prayer, she also set her hands to do all that makes a house a home or an institution a community. Violet Mary Byrnes attended public schools in Utah, until her last two years of high school graduating from Saint Mary of the Wasatch in Salt Lake City where she was influenced by the Sisters of the Holy Cross and applied to the Congregation soon after graduation in 1946. She was known as Sister Henry during her years as a teacher in Catholic elementary schools throughout California, from 1952 to 1968. Sister Mary Byrnes was best known for her helping hand where she served in many ancillary roles. One of the Latin titles for the Blessed Mother in Catholic tradition has been Ancilla Domini, Handmaid of the Lord. Sister Mary’s litany of practical roles in the community included: sacristan, housekeeper, infirmarian, driver, seamstress and office assistant. She especially enjoyed her time ministering with sisters and lay staff of Madonna Manor, Salinas, California, where she was a compassionate companion to elders in the facility sponsored by the California Catholic Daughters of America from 1995 to 2003. Sister Mary was also a gardener. In California, she won ribbons at the state fairs in Monterey County and later in Ventura when she was missioned at Saint Catherine by the Sea from 2003 to 2005. There Sister raised African violets and roses and sold her sweet peas to a local florist. Due in part to Sister Mary, God’s beauty was found on earth and now in heaven. (Written by Sister Catherine Osimo, CSC)

Brother Leander (James) McLain, (1842-1911)

image1 (19) In 1863, when James McLain was 23 years old, he enlisted in the Army of the Cumberland for three years of service. He was attached to the 15th United States Infantry, where he took part in all of the engagements with General Sherman in the famous March to the Sea. After the war, James joined the Brothers of Holy Cross receiving the name Brother Leander. For 29 years he was a prefect and teacher at the University of Notre Dame. Between the years of 1868-89 he was an officer of the St. Stanislaus Pilopatrian Society and of the Mutual Baseball Club. He also taught at St. Pius School in Chicago for two years. By his fellow religious and his students, he was known as a humble man. When the Grand Army of the Republic (GRA) Post No. 568 of Indiana was erected at the University of Notre Dame, Brother Leander became one of the charter members assuming the office of Vice Commander. Of interest regarding this post is that all the members belonged to various religious congregations of men; eight of whom were Brothers of Holy Cross (Brothers Cosmas, Raphael, Eustachius, Benedict, Ignatius, John Chrysostom, Agatho and Leander). In 1905, Brother Leander put the customary American flag on the casket of Father Peter Cooney, C.S.C. a Civil War chaplain. During the same year, Brother Leander was made aide-de-camp of the Grand Army Department of Indiana and was honored with a position in the National Army. In 1906, he was appointed superior of what today is known as the Old College. All in all, Brother Leander was a “religious of genial disposition, possessing an intellect trained to meet and master the many problems which confronted an educator.” When he died in 1911, his funeral was one of the largest seen at the University of Notre Dame in many years. In a letter from his friend General Abercrombie to Father John W. Cavanaugh, C.S.C., President of the University of Notre Dame, he paid this tribute to Brother Leander: “His was a useful life, an everlasting illustration to the youth of Notre Dame of a patriotic American citizen.” (Taken from the writings of Brother Edward Sniatecki, May, 1983)

Father Daniel Eldred Hudson, C.S.C. (1849-1934)

unnamed (17).jpg “Daniel Hudson was born at Nahant, Mass. in 1849. His father was a Methodist, and his mother a Catholic. In later years, Father Hudson used to say that it was his experience with Protestantism in his youth more than anything else that made him a good Catholic all his life. At fifteen he was working in the Boston Publishing House of Lee and Shepherd, publishers of the great writers of the flowering of New England. The young man knew Longfellow who visited his home in Nahant, and Lowell, Holmes, Whittier and Emerson. He had Longfellow’s approval of his early desire to be a priest. When he told the great, be-bearded man of letters that he was going to be a priest and a foreign missionary, the old man nodded gravely, and said ‘I am very glad you have such an intention.’ The idea of the foreign missions [eventually] faded from his mind, since in 1870 he said goodbye to home and family, and gravely, bravely, set out to be a Trappist monk in New Mallory, Iowa. But he never got to Iowa [because] he met an old priest on the train, a Holy Cross Father from Notre Dame, an old Civil War chaplain named Father Peter Gillen. Father Gillian persuaded Daniel Hudson to stop off at Notre Dame, ‘just for a little visit.’ Father Hudson’s little visit lasted just sixty-four years. …The Trappists lost a good contemplative; but Notre Dame gained a saint, and the Catholic Press of the nineteenth century a great and tireless editor. [He was] ordained on June 4, 1875 and was appointed editor of the Ave Maria. That was his first religious “obedience”—and his last: he kept it until failing health compelled his retirement four years before his death. He was not a campus image1 (20).jpg figure: in all his years at Notre Dame he was never in more than six of the forty-odd buildings. All this time he was too busy building the Ave Maria into the most widely read Catholic weekly in the English language. Father Hudson’s detached way of life, his utter rejection of the easy and pleasant, would have hardened many men, made them odd and eccentric. But through it all Father Hudson retained the delightful humor and polished, easy ways that delighted students who were lucky enough to run across him. [He] was not an obscure man, by any means. He died on January 12, 1934. Many distinguished people came to the funeral: and others, including the Pope, wrote letters to his superiors at Notre Dame consoling them upon their loss” (Sheedy, C.S.C., Rev. Charles. “The ‘Ave Maria’s’ Own Little Saint. Our Sunday Visitor. November 11, 1945.)

July 20, 2019

Voice of Moreau: In the spiritual life, we learn that we must keep our foot on the accelerator at all times. The moment we think that we’ve got it figured out and stop is the moment that the evil one enters into the nooks and crannies of our minds, leading us off track, subverting the whole operation. See the intensity with which Jesus travels to Jerusalem. See how he does not settle for temporal comforts nor “a place to lay his head” (Mt 8:20). See how he scolds Peter for being a stumbling block along the way: “You have set your mind on earthly things and not on divine things” (Mt 16:23). Are we really going anywhere on our journeys? Can we be honest and admit the times when we’ve gotten stuck or have abandoned the project of spiritual progress altogether? Do we spend ourselves so that we might finally arrive, with our Lord, at our ultimate destination? Let us therefore put our souls in gear, take up the triumphant Cross, and not stop following the path that leads to life. Half-way-there, close, five minutes away, down the street are not enough. We must finish (Jn 19:30) the race! Ave Crux, Spes Unica!

Response: Blessed Moreau writes, “If you want to attain the glory of paradise, imitate Jesus Christ insofar as it depends on you. Let yourself be deeply permeated not only with the good intentions of reaching that end but also of putting that imitation of Christ into practice” (Basil Moreau, Essential Writings, 205). Good intentions mean little without practical application. It has been said frequently this last year in these responses, that educators in Holy Cross schools must be called to the vocation of teaching. If one is called, then it does not matter what one teaches in a classroom or in a lab or on the athletic field. The vocation is a call to formation along with education. The very nature of bringing students to completion, demands the application of all knowledge for the building up of the Body of Christ. Teachers and students alike must take every opportunity to assess if they are on the pathway of charity toward all. The human journey has but one end: love of God and neighbor until the last breath. For those for whom this lifestyle is desired and practiced, it is easy to know when we get off track because our conscience will provoke us to sadness that we have strayed from taking up the Cross. Practically, getting back on the pathway requires but repentance and the reaffirmation to love God and neighbor again, and again, and so on. Whether we be a tortoise or a hare, we can finish the race if we have the humility to admit our weaknesses and rise above them each day. Ave Crux Spes Unica!

Father Augustine Mascarenhas, C.S.C. (1890-?)

unnamed (14) Augustine was the first Burmese to be ordained a Holy Cross Priest. He was a vigorous missionary from 1919 through the mid-1920’s as he contributed many articles about his missionary adventures to the The Bengalese. Biographical information about him after 1930 is scant to non-existent, and there is no definitive information regarding the date of his death. What follows has been excerpted from three issues of The Bengalese, the periodical that was published for subscribers to “[share] in the spiritual benefits of membership in the Bengal Foreign Mission Society” (The Bengalese, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. ii, September 1919). First: “On May 25, Augustine Mascarenhas was ordained to the Holy Cross Priesthood at Dacca by His Lordship, Bishop Legrand. He is the first native priest of the diocese. The young priest has returned to Ranchi to complete his theological studies with the Jesuit Fathers” (Vol. I, No. 1, pp 9-10, 1919). Second: “The darkest clouds have proverbially a silver lining…as Father Mascarenhas recently had the occasion to discover. [He] has been spending the first year of missionary life traveling from village to village in the Burmese district of the mission, visiting the native Christians and spreading the Good Tidings among their pagan neighbors. During a recent rainy season, Father Mascarenhas encountered many unnamed (15) obstacles on his journeys, and one trip in particular…was made memorable by water and by mud. The silver lining of the clouds that afflicted him…proved to be a number of unexpected conversions, and brought the young apostle so much joy that the hardships of the trip were quite outweighed” (Vol. 2, No. 7, p. 110, March 1921). And lastly, about his work among the Burmese Chins. “My head is full of plans and with God’s unfailing help I shall carry them out. Chief among them are these: 1. To open a convent for girls of this district at Sandoway; 2. To open a school for boys at Sandoway; 3. To open a commercial school for young Burmans and Chins; 4. To push forward a Chin lad of fifteen in his studies for the priesthood” (Vol. III, No. 3, p. 7, March 1922). Ave Crux Spes Unica!

Brother Isidore (Hurley) Alderton, C.S.C. (1886-1934)

image1 (18) In 1935, it was reported that “Brother Isidore, C.S.C. died fortified by the Holy Sacraments, at St. Joseph’s Hospital, South Bend, Indiana, October 17, 1934. April last he became ill with streptococcus inflection, which despite every effort to stay its ravages, proved fatal. Brother Isidore was born at Locks, Michigan, September 4, 1886. He was invested with the Holy Habit and entered St. Joseph Novitiate, Notre Dame, July 2, 1910. After a course of studies at the University of Notre Dame, he taught English and mathematics at Holy Trinity High School in Chicago. Keenly interested in the welfare of young men, he actively engaged in organizing parish and school clubs. He met with hearty response in this work at Holy Trinity, a parish then numbering 20,000 souls. After several years of fruitful labor in Holy Trinity, he was appointed Superior of Sacred Heart College, Watertown, Wisconsin, then, as now, the preparatory school for candidates for our Brotherhood. In this responsible position he further displayed the zeal and the talent for organization so characteristic of him. The Superiorship of Dujarie Institute, the house of studies for the Brothers of Holy Cross, Notre Dame, was Brother Isidore’s next appointment. During his term of office, the house was thoroughly renovated and partially remodeled; the beautiful grounds were extended and improved; and a gymnasium was built. Afterwards he taught at Columbia University, Portland, Oregon; Holy Cross College, New Orleans, where he served as Prefect of Discipline, and Cathedral High School, Indianapolis. At this school he was notably successful in promoting ‘drives’ that netted generous sums of money for the missions in India. Photography, his hobby, he placed also at the service of the missions, for Brother Isidore made handsome returns from the sales of excellent pictures. The welfare of his beloved Congregation was at all times the ideal that inspired him. He had a great devotion to St. Joseph, the patron of the Brothers, and to Our Lady of Sorrows, patron of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Peace to his soul” (Source unknown)

Sister Patricia (Mary Peter James) Mulvaney, CSC (1928-2018)

image1 (22).jpg At 80 years old, Sister Patricia Mulvaney said, “I never wanted to be in any other life except the one I chose”. At nearly 90 years old, she said “Yes” one last time to the Risen Jesus who embraced her with everlasting love, two days before the 67th anniversary of her vowed life as a Sister of the Holy Cross. Her devotion to family, Holy Cross, and the compassionate ministry of health care were at the heart of her long life. Sister Patricia’s zeal for Holy Cross may have come from her grandfather, Richard Seidel, a music professor at Saint Mary’s College (1890 – ca. 1930s) hired by Mother M. Pauline (O’Neill), CSC. She was preceded in Holy Cross by her aunt Sister M. Richardine and her older sister, Sister Mary (Vincent Clare) Mulvaney, CSC. Her younger sister, Sister Elisbeth Mulvaney, CSC, ministers at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Boise. Patricia Mulvaney applied to the Sisters of the Holy Cross after her first year as a nursing student in 1948. Having visited Saint Mary’s, she wrote Mother Una (Garrity) that she was so eager to enter the Congregation immediately “that I don’t know how I will wait the next six months.” She received the habit a year later. She completed her registered nursing degree in 1954 and her Bachelor of Science in 1955. By 1960, she finished her Master of Science in nursing administration from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., while teaching nurses at Saint Alphonsus Hospital in Boise, Idaho. From 1960–1963, she served as director of the School of Nursing at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City. Fully committed to a lifelong ministry of healing, Sister served as administrator of Saint Alphonsus until 1972 where “she became known for her forward thinking when she made a courageous move by relocating the hospital from downtown Boise to its present site.” She had assessed the risk and the opportunity in such a move, attributing its ultimate success to the dedicated board members and stakeholders. Sister Patricia Mulvaney served as a councilor for the sisters’ health region and then was elected as their Western Regional Superior (1975-1981), assuming leadership for the sisters not only in health care, but also in education, pastoral and justice ministries. Sister Patricia spent her years out of office researching geriatrics and managing the building of a new retirement facility for the sisters at Saint Catherine by the Sea in Ventura, California. In 1987, she chaired the Holy Cross Health System and transitioned into the role of president and CEO of HCHS until April 1989. She was elected that summer as General Councilor for Retirement until 1994. After a sabbatical, she served five years as the superior at Saint Mary’s Convent at the motherhouse. Saint Alphonsus Medical Center welcomed Sister Patricia back to Boise in 2000 where she attended to its healing mission for 12 years. While there, she established a palliative care program and received several awards: Star Garnet Award from the Idaho Hospital Association for promoting health care in Idaho; Woman of Today and Tomorrow award from the local Girl Scouts Council as a role model for girls for her visionary leadership; and the hospital’s 2003 Distinguished Citizen honor. Whatever recognition she received, she accepted it in the name of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. (Adapted from the eulogy written by Sister Catherine Osimo, CSC)

July 13, 2019

Voice of Moreau: Why the Cross? Why not some other form of executing our Lord? Human beings have come up with thousands of other, many more creative, ways to kill their kinspeople! Yet, the Cross specifically has been revealed as the most fitting way that God should die. It is the Roman impulse, the need for power and control, to impose one’s self on the other, which the crucified Christ is trying to redeem us from. Exposing a person and making them radically vulnerable, as they are hoisted up and spread out on two beams of wood, is mysteriously transformed into a grace-filled moment of trust and love. As if he is giving his last lecture with the Cross as his podium, this Master Teacher demonstrates that “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9), that the true power of a human person is the capacity to believe in God, precisely in the face of suffering and all the way through the extremities of one’s being. The Roman thirst for blood, thus, pales in comparison to the holy victim who thirsts (Jn 19:28) but gives his own blood in return (Jn 19:34). Ave Crux, Spes Unica!

Response: “[T]he true power of a human person is the capacity to believe in God, precisely in the face of suffering and all the way through the extremities of one’s being.” The daily news graphically reports one atrocious event of human suffering after another. When it would seem that events could not get more horrendous, they do. These reports about suffering humanity are perpetuated each day–often with a sense of hopelessness. Because the very nature of electronic media can desensitize us to this suffering, how do we remain aware of our duty to make a response other than that of shocked disbelief? What form for us does the love of God take as we watch or listen in the detachment of our homes? As followers of the crucified Christ, we are the outstretched merciful hand of our Savior to those who suffer. If one cannot physically respond, then one prays and prays again for merciful interventions by and from those who can actively respond. When we can physically respond, we pray and pray for “the courage to act,” so we become the outstretched hand of the Lord. Parents and teachers, process with your children and students the suffering that is global, and more importantly, that is proximate. Make plans to act and this action support with prayer. Let my actions be your actions, O Lord. Ave Crux Spes Unica!

Brother Romard (Paul) Barthel, CSC (1924-2016)

image1 (12) Born in 1924 in Evansville, Indiana, he was baptized as Paul Joseph. A good student both in grade school and high school, Paul attributed his academic success to the encouragement he received from his family. Attending Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville, he was taught by the Brothers of Holy Cross and liked their lifestyle and decided he wanted to be a teacher like them. In the fall of 1942, he took the night train from Evansville to Watertown, Wisconsin, and entered the Holy Cross postulancy program. He entered the novitiate in 1943, and in 1944 made first vows. Three years later, Brother Romard received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame and professed his final vows there in 1947. He was then assigned to Austin to begin studies at the University of Texas, earning his Ph.D. in Physics in 1951. Upon his arrival as a graduate student in Austin, Brother Romard also began a professional career of teaching physics and mathematics at St. Edward’s University, his home for most of the rest of his life. Along the way, he was called to leadership as the local superior at St. Joseph Hall, as Provincial Superior of the South-West Province and, at the international level, as First Assistant General of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He also served as superior of the Vincent Hall Scholasticate, as the director of candidate formation at Moreau House, and in numerous capacities at St. Edward’s University, including Board Chair. Brother Romard was never happier nor more fulfilled than when he was teaching in a classroom or laboratory. Keen on equipping his students with deeper understanding, he taught them not only how to solve a problem, but how to know how to solve it. Other keys to his successful teaching ministry of over forty years were his availability and the obvious care he showed toward his students inside and outside the classroom. A disciple of Blessed Moreau, Brother Romard strongly believed in the power of education to transform the lives of people and ultimately to change the world for the better. Reflecting on his role in the process, Brother Romard once said, “Teachers are key players on the team that is carrying out the Holy Cross educational mission. I am inspired by the great teachers – past and present – with whom I have shared this mission as well as the outstanding students I have worked with, students who have understood the Holy Cross mission and work at developing a similar mission in their own lives.” Later in life, he offered his personal reflections on the “Permanent Core of Religious Life.” He wrote, “Through our religious vows we profess that God is enough for us. We express this spousal love for God in radical love and service of neighbor.” Despite our human incapacity to live religious life perfectly, what characterizes fidelity to our vocation, he counseled, is the constant striving after the lifestyle, the persistent effort to need only God. Summing up his own life, Brother Romard wrote: “Expressing and growing in love for God by doing his will has been the unifying concept that puts my whole life together – religious, personal, professional. I believe that the life of a Brother of Holy Cross is a good channel for doing God’s will. More specifically, I believe that being a Brother of Holy Cross is God’s will for me. I have found great happiness and a sense of fulfillment as a Brother of Holy Cross (and happiness is not inconsistent with suffering). With the grace of God, I expect to die as a Brother of Holy Cross. And I expect to live forever as a result.” (Adapted from a reflection on the life of Brother Romard Barthel, CSC, by Brother Donald Blauvelt, CSC and Brother Richard Critz, CSC.)

Sister Virginia (Mary Genoveffa) Micili, C.S.C. (1927-1999)

unnamed (18).jpg “Jesus said, ‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, then I tell you solemnly [she] will most certainly not lose [her] reward.’ The gift of literacy—being able to read—also gives life and sustains it. This Sister Virginia did for fifty years and in a very special way for the last twenty-six” (Eulogy, no author). She was born in Elkhart, Indiana to Italian parents from Cosenza, Italy. Virginia graduated from Elkhart High School in 1944 and worked for a while at Miles Laboratories. She entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1946, and in 1947 she took first vows receiving the name Genoveffa. For the next 50 years she worked as a teacher in a “litany” of Midwestern missions. Among these was St. Mary of the Lake elementary school in Miller, Indiana. “She was my fifth-grade teacher and was the tomboy of the convent. She was the finest playground supervisor a boy could dream of. Sister Genoveffa organized all of the baseball games and was deadly when playing Red Rover. I remember her as an Olympic caliber marble player, winning everyone’s marbles and not giving them back” (Brother Philip Smith)! In 1965, while working at St. Vincent’s School in Elkhart, Sister Virginia realized that her students were not completing their homework because their parents were not literate. “I think that is when the Lord touched me on the shoulder,” she said in 1997. In 1966, she began an adult literacy program and was committed to its operation until shortly before her death in 1999. She became truly part of the heart with which Elkhart identifies itself: The City with the Heart. Upon her death in 1999, The Elkhart Truth, posted a front-page headline: “‘Mother Teresa of Elkhart’ dies”. Father Joseph Rulli who celebrated the funeral mass said this about her: “She had a vision and she went with it. She was Mother Teresa with an attitude!” Hundreds of people gathered for the celebration of her Golden Jubilee, a celebration she could not attend because she was in the last days of her battle with pancreatic cancer. Her niece said about her that “she touched everyone’s life she came in contact with. She respected every human being on the face of the earth. She always saw the good in everyone. She never wanted to see the bad.”

Father Daniel Panchot, C.S.C. (1938-Living)

image1 (15) He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and took his first vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1957 and was ordained in 1965. He wrote the following on the occasion of his 50th anniversary of ordination in 2016. “For me to reach 50 years as a religious priest of Holy Cross is an opportunity more for reflection than for celebration. As I reflect, I realize how Our Lord has accompanied me, or better said, has guided me in my efforts to follow Jesus…. I realize how Our Lord has protected me in the midst of much violence, such as that of the civil-military government of Chile in the 1970s. I was arrested the first time a week after the Golpe del Estado. During those years I also lived the richest personal experience of all my priesthood, as part of the ecumenical Comité Pro-Paz, which was formed by the different churches in Chile after the 1973 Golpe del Estado, to assist persons who were persecuted, and their families…. It was a great privilege to be part of the Church and to work with many other individuals who were willing to take the risks (and we paid dearly for it), to assist those who desperately needed help, and this without regard for their religious or political convictions. It was a living Gospel of Jesus, produced in a warm, loving and family atmosphere…. During those years I was arrested or detained a number of times, culminating with passing through the infamous Villa Grimaldi (the Auschwitz of Chile), and the detention camp 4 Ālamos (incomunicado) and 3 Ālamos (prisoners recognized as such by the government)…. After expulsion from Chile, I joined the Holy Cross Apostolates in Chimbote y Lima, Peru during 16 years, and where Our Lord so protected us in the extreme violence of Sendero Luminoso and MRTA (Movimiento Revolucionario ‘Tupac Amaru’). During these years several priests and religious were martyred, but we were spared for our missions…. At the beginning of the 1990s, our Lord had a new work for me in Mexico, as the province asked me to try to begin a program of vocations and formation for the religious life of Holy Cross with young Mexicans. There, I lived and worked for almost 20 years, and once more, we were protected from the arbitrary violence of organized crime, in which a number of innocent people were killed in crossfire. And finally, after 35 years, Our Lord brought me back to Chile, where I studied theology and worked for 10 years, to continue working in His vineyard. Reflecting on all I have lived, I realize that when we stand for the oppressed, we also receive blows. But, did Our Lord not promise us that? And we are committed to building His Reign, not ours…. I realize that during the decades Holy Cross men (and women) have been in Latin America, many have been willing to take risks in order to come near to, and to stand by, those in need. They were not reckless, but rather, steadfast, and in not a few cases paid dearly for that. It is good and a privilege to be part of the religious family and a Church with a history like that. After all, the Apostles for their part, went out of the Sanhedrin, joyful that they had been considered worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. (Acts. 5, 41)” (Edited by Brother Philip R. Smith, C.S.C., 2019)

July 6, 2019

In the Voice of Moreau: What we do with our bodies is who we become. We, for instance, become married to another person by giving our bodies over to that person in friendship and love. We become learned by showing up to class, going to the library and picking up books. We become alcoholic by taking our bodies to the bar night after night to drink. If our ultimate vocation, however, is to become children of God, what should we ultimately be doing with our bodies? Look to the Cross – our Lord offers his body to his Father in a child-like act of simplicity and trust. And though, very few, if any, of us will ever have the opportunity to present our physical bodies to God in such an explicit and literal act of martyrdom, we must, nevertheless, seek out occasions to put our bodies as closley as possible to the invisible God in the daily circumstances of our lives. This means stopping on the side of the road to minister to those in need, standing up for the dignity of the poor, and taking the risk of embracing the outcast. We become beloved of God, indeed, when we make the decision to physically be in these places, making a gift of ourselves to the One who identifies with “the least” (Mt 25:40). Ave Crux, Spes Unica!

Holy Cross Educator Response: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40). Being a parent and being a teacher are sacred vocations that require a “manner of living.” The Church teaches that parents, those who are authentic persons of faith, are the first educators of their children as they form the identity of the child as a member of the nuclear family, a member of the local and universal Church, and a citizen of the secular world. As Mary and Joseph did for Jesus, so too, parents construct a strong foundation built upon the teachings of the faith and the secular facts pertaining to survival “in this valley of tears.” When the child is still quite young, parents must make a serious, conscientious, and well thought out plan as they select the professional co-educators who will direct many years of the child’s institutional education. Then parents and teachers, together called to this vocation, do the work of education. Through consistent modeling of the behaviors of engaged life-long learning and scholarship, teachers and parents periodically call upon these children/students to die and to re-blossom as ever more proficient followers of Jesus Christ. This means that the adults create many opportunities for children to become self-gift. All Holy Cross schools assure that students have ample opportunities to give of their time, treasure and talent for God’s suffering people in the U.S. and in countries around the world. Parents and teachers alike must remind children of the many daily opportunities there are to “decrease so that others might increase” (Jn 3:30). This is a living martyrdom of offering our all for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. Ave Crux Spes Unica!

Sister M. Rose Bernard (Bernadette) Gehring, C.S.C. (1894-1938)

unnamed (16) “The main altar in St. Patrick church [South Bend, Indiana] was a gift from Mr. John Gehring and his only child, Bernadette, in honor of Mary Collmer, Mr. Gehring’s first wife and Bernadette’s mother. Mary died in 1918 and Mr. Gehring then married Louise Oberle Decker. Bernadette was born in South Bend and attended St. Mary’s school, St. Joseph Academy and received her B.A. from Notre Dame University. She entered the Congregation of Holy Cross on Jan. 2, 1920 and made her final profession August 15, 1925. Answering the call to go to India and serve the poor, she volunteered but first spent two years in Washington D.C. studying at the Holy Cross Foreign Mission Seminary. In 1927 she [was among the first four Holy Cross Sisters to serve in] Bengal, India. During her 11 years, Sister, with the help of others including Rev. Timothy J. Crowley, C.S.C., who was Bishop of Dacca, founded a native religious sisterhood called the Associates of Mary. [‘From the start Sister’s ability in forming these Indian nuns was evident. With no outward show of severity there was a closeness of convent discipline that was enviable’]”(The Bengalese, September 1938). “Given the primitive living conditions of the day what the Sisters accomplished in education and nursing is truly amazing. In 1938 Sister contracted a tropical disease and died on the anniversary of her profession, August 15, 1938.]’ She is buried in St. John Baptist Cemetery [beside Sister Jarlath, C.S.C.] in Toomiliah, Bengal (Bangladesh)” (St. Patrick’s Church 150 years, nd). An account of her last days is taken from a letter written by Father Lawrence Graner [who would become Archbishop of Dacca]. “[S]he had been doing well and was taken with a slight fever and this developed into a severe pain in her head. None thought it was serious, though Sister was in dreadful pain. Morphine injections gave her little relief. As she was constantly asking for the Sacraments, Father image2 (2) [Walter] Marks finally anointed her, though even then we thought the pain would pass at any time. By Saturday evening her pulse was almost gone.” Her condition remained the same on Saturday and Sunday. “Monday I [Father Graner] said Mass there and Sister was able to understand me and to open her mouth sufficiently to receive Holy Communion. But she was evidently falling into a comma.” She died two days later on the feast of the Assumption. (The Bengalese, October 1939) (Bottom photo from the Archives of the Sisters of the Holy Cross courtesy of Sisters Timothea Kingston and Joanne Becker).

Brother Leopold (Joseph) Kaul, C.S.C. (1836-1935)

image1 (11) Pictured standing next to his priest brother and his two sisters Brother Leopold was born in Baden, Germany. He was a violinist of rare merit, but, he had no wish to display his talents. Fortunately, he had brought his violin with him, but kept it concealed in his trunk. It was the practice of superiors in those days to search through all the belongings of a candidate. The superior found the violin and reported this to Father Sorin. Brother Leopold was called to Sorin’s office. Could he play the violin? Somewhat reluctantly, he admitted the fact. How well could he play? In his modesty, he declined to say. But Father Sorin had ways of finding out. And the result was that Brother Leopold was set up as a professor of violin. Over the next 40 plus years, he estimated that he taught over 600 Notre Dame musicians: violin, flute, cello, piano and voice. During these early years he also worked as the printer for the Ave Maria. Years later, when he had grown too feeble to be a professor, his desire to continue working was gratified by an appointment as the “candy-man” for the students. Known as Brother Leeps, he sold lemonade and cakes and cookies laying aside a tidy penny for the University. His “store” suffered many movings-about, but for two generations of Notre Dame students, “Leeps” meant largely “lemonade and fours.” The “fours” referred to a chocolate covered cookie, topped by a walnut. There were other confections, indicated by numbers of one, two, three, four, on up to sixteen, but “fours” was the popular number. His lemonade was mixed in great wooden tubs, and it was a hearty drink to students who were threatened with expulsion if they attempted anything stronger. For a nickel, the students of Father Cavanaugh’s regime could get a large glass of lemonade and two “fours.” Brother Leopold spent nearly 80 years as a man of prayer and work. As a tiny, shrunken old man he kept laboring to the very end. In the last ten years of his life, when he lived in the Community House [now Columba Hall], he would trudge along with his wheel-barrow, gathering twigs and branches that littered the grounds. He was forever busy. His humility was traditional and all his life he thought himself only the lowest of the lowly. “But one has only to look into the child-like simplicity of his face, into those faded, sightless blue eyes to catch a glimpse of an effulgence far from mundane.” (A compilation of many memories from many sources as found in Aiden’s Extracts).

Fr. Christopher J. O’Toole, C.S.C. (1906-1986)

image1 (14).jpg Christopher O’Toole was born in 1906 in Alpena, Michigan. He professed Final Vows in the Congregation in 1928 and was ordained a priest in 1933. After advanced studies in philosophy, he served as Novice Master, Superior of Holy Cross College in Washington, D.C., and Assistant Provincial of the U.S. Province. At the 1950 General Chapter, he was elected Superior General. O’Toole oversaw the moving of the Congregation’s General Administration to Rome, opening the new facility, which included both the Generalate and an international House of Formation in 1954. In 1955 Father Moreau’s cause for sainthood was introduced in Rome. Also during his tenure as Superior General, the Congregation opened missions in Ghana (1957) and Uganda (1958) in Africa. He also opened a school in northern Italy in an effort to recruit vocations. O’Toole’s years in office witnessed a steady growth in the Congregation to more than 3,000 brothers and priests by 1962. After leaving office, Fr. O’Toole served as Superior of the District of Texas and then as the first Provincial Superior of the Southern Province (Austin, Texas) when it was established in 1968. In later years, he was a hospital chaplain and campus minister at Cardinal Newman College in St. Louis, Missouri. Father O’Toole died 1986.