THE ABBEY BANNER - St. John's Abbey

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SESQUICENTENNIAL Saint John’s Prep School prepares to celebrate the Finale of the Sesquicentennial by Daniel Durken, OSB “There was poverty everywhere; a poor and miserable house; poor and scanty food; poor and bad lights.” (Abbot Alexius Edelbrock, OSB, one of the first Saint John’s students) The late August arrival of new and returning students to the Collegeville campus is a rite of passage to behold. Roads and walkways are clogged with pickup trucks, SUVs, trailers, U-Hauls, campers and cars, all bulging with the essentials for the academic enterprise—computer, TV, stereo, CD tower, play station, refrigerator, microwave, stuffed chair(s), couch, clothes, exercise and sports equipment, wall posters, cell page 4 The Abbey Banner Fall 2007 phone, snacks and beverages. It is unimaginable what the first five students brought with them when they arrived on November 10, 1857, at the seventy-five-foot-long wooden shack on the west bank of the Mississippi to begin school at the original Saint John’s. There is no record of their belongings, but Anthony Edelbrock, one of the original five who became Abbot Alexius, reminisced thirty years later about what he discovered when he got there: The 1891 Prep Latin 2 class: The student in the front row, second from left, is Henry Deutsch, the future Abbot Alcuin Deutsch, OSB (1877-1951), fifth abbot of Saint John’s Abbey. The teacher is Demetrius Juenemann, OSB. Abbey Archives The College regulations were read to us. We had to rise at 5 o’clock, say our morning prayers, attend daily Mass, then study and 7 o’clock breakfast, i.e., a cup of coffee—if such it could be called—and dry bread, no butter or molasses or sugar there. After breakfast free for one half hour, at 8 o’clock classes began and lasted until eleven; then dinner, a watery black
soup with plenty of bread in it. After soup came potatoes and meat, then bread. Our drink was water. After dinner, free time until one o’clock, then classes resumed. At three we received a piece of dry bread. This, with fresh water, was relished with a gusto. From 4 to 6 we had to study, at 6 o’clock supper. The first dish was again the indispensable soup, the rest usually as at noon. From 7:30 to 8:30 study time, then night prayers and to bed. The above reference to College regulations is a bit of an exaggeration. In February and March of the following year (1858) the school was chartered by the Minnesota Territorial Legislature and the Territorial Governor as “Saint John’s Seminary, the first Catholic institution of higher education in Minnesota.” But it would Prep study hall, now the offices of Institutional Advancement have been closer to the truth if the place had been identified as an elementary school or at best a high school or minor seminary. The five original students were young teenag- The 1894 student refectory ers. Anthony was just two months past his fourteenth birthday when he and his classmates moved into the shanty that also housed the five pioneer monks and the two Rothkopp brothers who thought they owned the property. With this humble beginning it is altogether fitting that the finale of our twenty-month Sesquicentennial SESQUICENTENNIAL celebration take place at Saint John’s Preparatory School on November 10, 2007. The Prep School traditionally commemorates this date with its annual Legacy Dinner. Hundreds of alumni/ae, benefactors, regents, monastics and friends are expected to attend this special occasion. A highlight of the celebration will be the presentation of the Armor Abbey Archives Abbey Archives The Abbey Banner Fall 2007 page 5
Page 1 and 2: Volume 7 • Issue 2 • Fall 2007
Page 3: The Need to Read by Daniel Durken,
Page 7 and 8: Daniel Durken, OSB are family” wa
Page 9 and 10: Abbey Archives Saint John’s missi
Page 11 and 12: Abbey Archives It was not until 188
Page 13 and 14: Pavilion blessed, Eucharistic devot
Page 15 and 16: FEATURE The plaque honoring Paul Sc
Page 17 and 18: Abbey Archives Abbey Archives The t
Page 19 and 20: department and served as prior of t
Page 21 and 22: Josie Stang has been appointed mana
Page 23 and 24: A tribute to Dan’s contributions
Page 25 and 26: is greatly appreciated as they spen
Page 27 and 28: Why a monk becomes a priest by Doug
Page 29 and 30: Lee Hanley Linus Thomas Aschemann,
Page 31 and 32: Abbot Timothy Kelly, OSB, re-electe
Page 33 and 34: Daniel Durken, OSB After twenty-six
Page 35 and 36: What is Your Spiritual Type? by Rob

THE ABBEY BANNER - St. John's Abbey

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