Circa October 1912
LOVING TRIBUTE
TO
Nazareth on Her Centennial
FROM
Bethlehem Academy,
Bardstown, Ky.
NAZARETH’S ELDEST DAUGHTER
Very Rev. Editor of “The Record”:
Bethlehem Academy, Bardstown, Nazareth’s Eldest Daughter, paid honor to Nazareth during her Centennial celebration of the past week. On Tuesday, October 15th, there was a Mass of Requiem offered up for the repose eternal of all the departed members of the Community. all the pupils of the Academy and all those of Saint Monica’s Colored School, approached, Holy Communion as a body for Nazareth’s sainted dead on that day and also a goodly number of the older members of Old Saint Joseph’s.
On Thursday, October 17, a Mass of thanksgiving was said for the multifold blessings God has showered on Nazareth during the past one hundred years. The pupils of both schools and a large number of the faithful were present. Dean O’Connell, who said the Mass, addressed the assembled Congregation, taking for his text these words from the Second Epistle of Saint Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 8th: “One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” He explained the meaning of the great celebration, co-ordinating his remarks on the spiritual phase of the Centennial. He elucidated the fact that the greatest act of thanksgiving he could make to God for His watchfulness over Nazareth, was the offering to Him of the most Precious blood of His only beloved Son in the sacrifice of the Mass, through which all blessings come to us. We rejoice not, he said, over the joy of a day or a hundred years, but rather over the happiness of an eternity which is promised to the Sister of Nazareth who has consecrated her life to God. She heard the voice of Jesus calling her: “Child, give my thy heart,” and entered the solitude of Nazareth where He could, without interruption, speak to her heart. It is the spiritual joy of a religious life over which we rejoice. He then explained how fleeting is the day of our life on earth, that will, however, be changed into an eternal day of glory for such as the Sister of Nazareth. After the services, the pupils repaired to their respective schools where a bountiful repast, prepared by the Sisters, awaited them. At twelve-forty, a special train took the students of Bethlehem Academy to Nazareth, and brought them back to Bardstown at four-thirty. On their arrival at Nazareth they marched in ranks to Nazareth’s hallowed Cemetery and decorated every grave with beautiful flowers. After this Dean O’Connell, standing at the head of the grave of Mother Catharine Spalding, the first Mother Superior of the Order, addressed a few words to the scholars and throngs of people who gathered to witness Bethlehem’s remembrance of Nazareth’s beloved dead. Prayers were said for the repose eternal of all the departed members of the Community. When this was done the pupils marched in ranks, having on their Centennial badges, to the vast auditorium to be present at the Centennial pageant given by the students of Nazareth Academy.