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Chapter 33

This webpage reproduces a chapter of
The Life of Charles Nerinckx

by
Camillus Maes

published by
Robert Clarke & Co.
Cincinnati, 1880

The text is in the public domain.

This page has been carefully proofread
and I believe it to be free of errors.
If you find a mistake though,
please let me know!

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 p613  Appendix

I.

Hymns composed by Father Nerinckx, and offered by him to Right Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, on the occasion of the consecration of Bardstown Cathedral, August 15, 1819.

Celsissimo et Reverendissimo Domino Dno. Flaget.

An essay on the Assumption of the glorious Virgin Mary, particular patroness of St. Thomas Seminary.

August 15, 1819.


Hymn.

Come ev'ry pure and loving soul,

Harmonious concerts raise,

Sound Mary's praise from pole to pole,

Oh! strike your sweetest lays!

Let's sing on this, our festive day,

The triumph of our Queen,

Who mounts aloft and wings her way

To Heaven's realms serene.

The Son Divine, whom once she bore

And nourished at her breast,

Disdains to let her body pure

With sinful mortals rest.

 p614  It was not meet that sacred fane

Of very grace divine,

Never defiled with sinful stain,

Should rest in human shrine.

From earthly chains at length set free,

She leaves this world below —

She flies, O God, she flies to Thee!

Whence purest pleasures flow.

Ten thousand thousand angels bright,

In sweet melodious song,

Attend their Queen's triumphant flight,

And 'round her joyous throng.

She sweeps the fields of ether pure,

Borne on the wings of love;

Seraphic spirits fly before,

And lead the train above.

They soar beyond the azure sky

To heaven's golden sphere;

The blazing portals open fly,

And welcome in the fair.

"And who is this, like troops array,

This dread and glorious one?

Fair as the moon, or opening day,

And chosen as the sun?"

Thus from within. — The Heavens nod,

And all the courts exclaim:

"She's mother to our Savior God,

And Mary is her name!"

 p615  The King of ages, awful bows,

The Son leaps from his throne —

This greets his Mother, that his Spouse;

Their Queen the heavens own.

Refulgent rays of heavenly light

Gleam o'er the Virgin's face;

She takes her seat at Jesus' right —

The source of all her grace.

O Mary, now enthroned above,

Star of this boist'rous sea,

Receive the expressions of our love,

And guard us safe to thee.

To God the Father, and the Son

Born of the Spotless Maid,

And Holy Spirit, three in one,

Be endless honor paid.


Some pious sentiments on the flowers
which adorn the altar.

Soft, beauteous plants of nature fair,

Which fost'ring hands with caution rear,

Or in the woods spontaneous grow,

Where purling streams in murmurs flow;

The fairest off'ring nature yields

To deck the fane or grace the fields!

Few, holiest ones of teeming earth,

Few rightly know to rate your worth.

Who can behold with pensive eye

The varied tints with which you vie

Even with the starry-vaulted sky,

 p616  And not adore the potent hand

Which formed the hills and trembling land,

And from an undigested pile

Called forth the world, and bid it smile!

All nature chants her author's praise,

In mute, indeed, yet noblest ways;

But you, fair flowers, above the rest

Acquit yourselves of this the best.

I plucked you when the morning dew

Increased your native blushing hue;

I placed you by my Savior's side,

Where now you spread a fragrance wide,

While wafted on the breezy tide

Before the Lord you spend your bloom

And sweetly fill the sacred room.

Who will me grant, sweet plants, like you,

To Jesus forever true,

Before the Lord to spend my life,

Far from the noisy crowd of strife?

Oh! had I from my early years,

When infant age the soul endears,

Clad in the robes of innocence,

E'er paid my Lord the sweet incense

Of fervent, holy, loving prayer,

Free from the world's tumultuous care!

Ah, when shall I diffuse around,

As meads with flow'ry verdure crowned,

The odor sweet of virtue's works?

But ah! my torpid soul still lurks!

The gentle brooks, the verdant plains,

E'er laud their God in silent strains;

And shall not I pay to his name

My homage, too, so just a claim?

Yes, Savior God; yes, Jesus dear,

Hence, Thee to serve shall be my care;

 p617  For Thee I'll spend life's fleeting day,

Till laid beneath the cold, damp clay;

Nor shall the grave's consuming sod

Debar my soul from Christ, her God!

For Him I'll live; for Him I'll die;

To Him I'll rise beyond the sky.

No more, ye flowers, I wish your lot,

For soon your pleasing bloom must rot;

But my immortal soul shall live

In endless bliss, if I now give

To God my life, and in the embrace

Of holy love preserve His grace.

O heavenly love! O sweetest thought,

Which soothes a life with evils fraught!

Arise, O child of faith! illume

The dark precincts of mortal tomb;

Hold forth, display your cheering light,

Dispel the gloomy shades of night!

 p618  II.

Ecclesiastical Superiors of Loretto.

1. Rev. Charles Nerinckx, Founder and Superior 1812‑24
2. Rev. Chabrat, Superior 1824‑34
3. Rev. Walter Coomes 1834‑35
4. Right Rev. Bishop Chabrat 1835‑46
5. Rev. David A. Deparcq 1846‑64
6. The Right Rev. Bishop of Louisville 1864‑69
7. Rev. J. F. Wuyts 1869‑

III.

Mother Superiors of Loretto.

1. Ann Rhodes by Election 1812
2. Mary Rhodes " 1812‑22
3. Juliana Wathen " 1822‑24
4. Isabella Clarke " 1824‑26
5. Sabina O'Brien " 1826‑32
6. Josephine Kelly, " 1832‑38
7. Isabella Clarke " 1838‑42
8. Generose Mattingly by Episcopal Appointment 1842‑43
9. Berlindis Downs " 1843‑46
by Election 1846‑52
10. Bridget Spalding " 1852‑58
11. Berlindis Downs " 1858‑64
12. Bertha Bowles " 1864‑70
13. Elizabeth Hayden " 1870‑76
14. Dafrosa Smith " 1876

 p619  IV.

Statistics of the Loretto Society, in 1879.

Name

Established

Place

No. Sisters in 1879

Professed

Novices

Loretto Mother House

1812

Marion Co., Ky.

65

40

Calvary Academy

1816

Marion Co., Ky.

30

Bethlehem Academy

1832

Hardin Co., Ky.

30

St. Vincent's Academy

1839

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

18

St. Benedict's Academy

1842

Portland, Ky.

20

Loretto Academy

1847

Florissant, Mo.

30

St. Ann's Academy

1847

Osage Mission, Kan.

20

Convent of Our Lady of Light

1852

Santa Fé, New Mexico

20

8

Our Lady of Guadalupe

1859

Taos, New Mexico

14

St. Joseph's Academy

1863

Cairo Ills.

18

St. Mary's Academy

1864

Denver, Col.

6

St. Augustine's Academy

1864

Lebanon Ky.

7

Annunciation Academy

1864

Mora, New Mexico

6

Immaculate Conception Academy

1864

Las Vegas, New Mexico

6

St. Joseph's Academy

1865

Edina, Mo.

5

St. Catharine's Academy

1865

New Haven, Ky.

6

St. Mary's Academy

1870

Elizabethtown, Ky.

6

Visitation Academy

1870

Las Crusas,º N. M.

8

4

St. Mary's of Loretto Academy

1873

Montgomery, Ala.

12

Loretto Academy

1874

St. Louis, Mo.

18

St. Joseph's Academy

1875

Earlington, Ky.

3

Loretto Academy

1876

Bernalillo, New Mexico

3

Loretto Academy

1876

Pueblo, Col.

5

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart

1877

Conejos, Col.

5

St. Mary's Academy

1877

Moberly, Mo.

7

Loretto Academy

1878

Springfield, Mo.

5

Besides the above institutions, the Sisters of Loretto have charge of three parochial schools in Louisville, three in St. Louis, Mo., one at Florissant, Mo., one at Cape Girardeau, Mo., and one at Springfield, Mo., attended to by thirty sisters in all. And besides the academies at New Haven and Lebanon, they have a negro school in each place.​a


Thayer's Note:

a The list given here seems to include only United States foundations, since it omits at least one on foreign soil, the Loretto Academy at Niagara Falls, Ontario, in Canada. Founded in 1861, it was operated by the Sisters as a girls' school until 1969 or 1982 (sources differ), and then until 2005 as a retreat center; and played a fairly important rôle in the history of American railroading, of all things! (And with that as bait, you'll find that story elsewhere onsite: A. F. Harlow, The Road of the Century, p241). The property was bought in 2007 or thereabouts by the Sheraton Hotel chain, which plans to build several high-rise buildings on the site but to keep the old buildings as a conference center.


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Page updated: 8 Nov 09