Saint Lawrence Seminary Celebrates 150 Years

Soon after arriving in the United States and establishing the first, permanent presence of Capuchins in the country, Bonaventure Frey and Francis Haas realized that if the fledging jurisdiction was to survive, it needed to recruit and train local vocations. So it was that in 1860 they opened a school for boys that would become known as Saint Lawrence Seminary. On 3 June 2010, the seminary celebrated the 150th anniversary of that courageous and prophetic decision.

That the seminary exists at all is fairly remarkable since most high school seminaries in the United States closed in the 1970's due to declining enrollments. A Chapter of the Province of Saint Joseph (Calvary) discussed just such an option, but decided to do everything in their power to keep the doors open. The enrollment in recent years has been about 200 students, which is lower than at the school's height, but higher than in the 70's and 80's. Although only a small percentage of Saint Lawrence Seminary's students eventually become priests or religious, all are formed to become leaders in the Church and in their communities. Numerous bishops, priests and brothers were among the alumni who attended the anniversary celebration. Some of those present for the celebration are shown in the picture below. They are (from left to right, with alumni indicated by *): Br John Celichowski*, Provincial Minister, Bishop Octavio Cisneros*, Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn, Bishop Joseph Perry*, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, Bishop Jerome Listecki, Bishop of Milwaukee, Bishop Richard Sklba, Auxiliary Bishop of Milwaukee, Bishop Paul Schmitz*, Apostolic Administrator of Bluefields (Nicaragua) and Br Dennis Druggan*, Rector of St Lawrence Seminary.

In my remarks, I mentioned that running an educational institution might appear to be a strange ministry for an Order whose founder viewed higher education with some suspicion and forbid his brothers to have any book other than the breviary. I recalled, however, something that Br Raniero Cantalamessa said at the International Chapter of Mats in 2009—that Franciscans were once known for their work of evangelizing the lost. Using biblical images, he said that we were once more fishermen than pastors. Given that youth are overrepresented among the unchurched today, the education of youth may be among the most Franciscan of all ministries.

An Accidental Reunion

The General Minister and I recently completed our travels to various jurisdictions in North America: the Chapter of the Province of Mid-America, the centenary celebrations of the Province of Western America, the NAPCC meeting in Québec City, and a visit of the Pennsylvania Province. Understandably, everyone wants to maximize the time they have with the General Minister so we were constantly on the move during the three weeks he spent in North America.

While all the events we attended added, in their own way, to the General Minister's understanding of Capuchin life in North America, the celebrations in California of the 100th anniversary of the coming of Irish Capuchins to the West Coast stood out. The latest issue of the BICI has an article about the celebrations so I will not elaborate on them here. One event during these celebrations, however, rendered the experience even more memorable, thanks to a chance remark and the diligence of one friar.

Having just attended a symposium on the life of our former General Minister, Bernard of Andermatt, I knew that he was the first General Minister to visit the missions in North America, which he did in 1891 (the website of the Province of Mid-America has a photograph of Bernard of Andermatt taken during the Chapter of the Pennsylvania Province in 1891). I was struck by the fact that the itinerary of this General Minister from Switzerland included many of the same stops (Pittsburgh, Victoria, San Francisco, and Québec) as our current General Minister, also from Switzerland. Knowing that he had traveled to San Francisco to meet his brother, Edward, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1884, I wondered in an e-mail to Br Matt Elshoff, the Provincial Minister of Western America, whether there were still any descedents of Edward Christen in California. Matt asked the Provincial Secretary, Br Miguel Ortiz, to look into it. With characteristic diligence, Miguel managed to track down a grandson of Edward still living in Ferndale, California. Richard Christen and his wife, Ann, were invited to join the centenary celebration in Burlingame, California, on 15 April 2010, together with any other interested family members. In all, about twenty-five members of the Christen family were in attendance, bringing with them a photograph they had of Bernard of Andermatt and a copy of his biography of Saint Francis that he had given them.