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Bellarmine Magazine_Spring2013

CreWs’ VieWs Fr. Clyde F. Crews St. Joseph’s College: The light and shadows of a Bellarmine predecessor for Those KeePinG sCore, louisville hAs reCenTly buildings, built about 1826, is known as Spalding Hall and houses, found itself at the top of some intriguing rankings lists. Lonely among other features, the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History. Planet named the city the top travel destination in America for In the years before the American Civil War, St. Joseph’s College 2013. Esquire deemed it the “manliest city” in the U.S. Whatever. boasted a library of 5,000 volumes. Latin, French, Spanish and Hebrew One of our nearby Kentucky communities, meanwhile, was were taught, as well as “military tactics.” By the late 1830s, nearly 200 racking up a distinction of its own. Last summer, Bardstown found young men studied at the institution, most of them boarders. Much itself designated the Most Beautiful Small Town in America by Rand of the time, Catholic students were not in the majority. McNally/USA Today. Among the historic structures that add to that Not all the students were paragons of academic propriety. There community’s charm are the still extant buildings associated with were shadows across an otherwise idyllic landscape. The (Louisville) St. Joseph’s College, one of Bellarmine’s predecessor institutions. Catholic Advocate of Nov. 4, 1843, reported on “a very disgraceful out- break” among the older students. College officers were attacked, and books and papers were burned. During the 1850s, students were expelled for such offenses as blasphemy and bigotry. In one case a young man was sent packing for having chal- lenged another to a duel. In 1857, a dozen students were dismissed for excessive drinking. The early 1860s began with great promise. Of the 280 students enrolled at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, only 17 came from northern states. Graduation was moved up two weeks that year so that students could return south before additional travel restrictions took effect. That autumn, the school was shut down. With the college converted into a hospital, the first soldier-patients arrived on Christmas Day, 1861. Soon more than 300 patients crowded the facility. Finally reopened after the war, in 1869, St. Joseph’s resumed many of its antebellum tradi- tions. Grand banquets, sports events, “magic lan- tern” shows and Latin orations were once again Before the foundation of Bellarmine was announced on Nov. 17, common fare. But disorder was also back in evidence. In March 1877, 1949, the Archdiocese of Louisville had founded two previous insti- a drunken melee broke out and one student was stabbed. tutions of higher learning in this area. One was St. Mary’s College And yet, the students showed themselves a worthy lot in 1881 at the near Lebanon, begun in 1821 and closed in 1976. The other was St. time of the assassination of President James Garfield. They enacted an Joseph’s College in Bardstown. There were other Catholic colleges impressive tribute to the fallen leader, complete with muffled drums, that rose in Kentucky but these were mostly founded by religious draped arms, and the presentation of the national banner. communities, not dioceses. By the late summer of 1889, St. Joseph’s was shuttered. One St. Joseph’s was established for young men at Bardstown by of the brightly shining lights of Bardstown life was extinguished. the first Bishop of the West, Benedict Joseph Flaget (1763-1850), in But a heady legacy was left behind in a cadre of well-educated lead- the winter of 1820. It would become a prestigious school that spe- ers, as well as some architectural ornaments for the town. Some 60 cialized in educating the sons of southern families in the classical years later, with the announcement of Bellarmine’s foundation, the tradition. Among its alumni were state governors, U.S. attorneys- tradition –drawing from what was the highest and brightest in St. general, U.S. congressmen, senators and diplomats. Joseph’s heritage—was ready to continue. From 1848 until 1861, St. Joseph’s was staffed by Jesuit Fathers. When the college was forced to close by the Civil War in 1861, its (i am grateful to the research and presentations of Ms. Dixie buildings subsequently served as a hospital for troops of both North Hibbs and Mr. John Coulter as invaluable sources in our and South. Reopened in 1869, St. Joseph’s would finally be closed knowledge of St. Joseph’s College’s history.) for good in the late summer of 1889. Today, one of its handsome 50 BELLArMinE MAgAZinE


Bellarmine Magazine_Spring2013
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