(jyz% emarkable z^issionary (^Movement of our own day St. Columbans NEBRASKA U. S. A. J ■i • ^ -1 V* > Mis Eminence Cavdinal Van Mossum, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, directs the activities of the Catholic Missions throughout the Rome, Palace of Propaganda^ Api’il 14tb.,,1923, I I The Very Rev, Edward J. McCarthy, St. Columbans, llebr. Very Reverend and dear Father; I have received with real pleasure the bound copy of The Far East which you were so^good to preseri't to me some time ago, and I am happy to find in it an occasion to address you some words of approval and encouragement. The greatest event of the past year, as it has been so well described in the present volume, was the opening and dedication of your new Seminary, a fact of the highest importance, not only for your still young and very deserving Society, but also for the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. This Mission Seminary will be a memorial and a light-tower. It will remind Catholic parents of their duty to promote vocations which they may find in the hearts of their sons and daughters. Catholic parents should be proud to have one or more missionaries among their children. This Seminary will also remind Catholics that material means are required for the development and mainten¬ ance of mission work. And so, as I have said, the dedication of this Seminary is of the highest importance for the Church in the United States because a more fully Catholic activity in favor of the missions will cause a higher and more fruitful spiritual life among Catholics. As a sign of my gratitude I pray most fervently that Jesus through' the intercession of Our Lady may bless all those who contributed in any way to this great work and I bless v;ith all my heart you and your co-operators, the staff of your Seminary and all your pupils. Yours faithfully in Christ, pagan Tvorld. : 'vine ST. COLUMBANS IN 1918 The First Home of the Society at Omaha, Nebraska, 1918-1922 T. COLUMBANS is the American headquarters of the Chi¬ nese Mission Society of St. Columban, an international Cath¬ olic missionary organization, established to supply priests, sisters, and brothers to th^CatholioALssions of Chiria., The need for such a Society and the vastness of its scope will be readily seen when we remember that China with its four hundred million people has within its borders almost one-fourth of the population of the earth, or approximately four times the population of the United States. To accomplish its purpose St. Columbans maintains seminaries for the education of priests exclusively for China. It supports these priests and assists them in their various fields of work. It maintains parishes, churches, and schools throughout the territory committed to its care. It employs teachers and catechists, and promotes Christian education among old and young. It founds and equips dispensaries, and other charitable institutions for the poor and suffering, and by such means extends the Catholic Church and its influence for good. Above — St. Columban s Seminary St. Columbans, NebrasJ^a Below — St. Columban s Preparatory College Silver CreeJ^, New York f I j The Society of St. Cohiniban was founded in 1918, and sent its t/ j first mission band of seventeen priests to China two years later. With¬ in the first five years of its existence it nnmbered over two Inindred and fifty members, including priests, sisters, brothers, medical doctors and students. In addition, it normally employs some two hundred native auxiliaries—catechists and teachers—to help cai*ry on its work in China, it has opened over two hnndred churches in its mission field, and supports as many parochial schools. The Society of St. Colnmban takes its name from the illnstrions Irish Missionary, who evangelized eastern France, the npper Ehine- land, Switzerland, and iiorthern Italy in the opening years of the seventh century, aiid whom Pope Pins XI speaks of as ^‘a saint who from ont the halo of his heaveidy glory shed such light upon history that it still illumines the world.” ■V ■ j Rt. Rev. Monsignor Calvin, to whom Si. Columbans owes its first inspiration. T. COLUMJ>ANS owes its origin to the Right Reverend M o n s i g n o r Edward J. Galvin, present Prefect Apostolic of St. Colnmbans’ Missions at Hanyang, China. F’atlier Galvin was a yonng priest in the Diocese of Rrooklyn, New York, when he first received the inspiration to devote his life to the missions of China. In the spring of 1912 lie departed for his new mission field, and worked in the province of Chekiang nntil the earl^^ years of the Avar. AVhen tho Erench missionaries in China Avei'e drafted for military service. Father Galvin saAV the urgent need of making an appeal, throughout the English-speaking Avorld, for priests to take care of the abandoned missions. Consequently he returned to the United States in 1916 and from there to Ids natiA^e Ireland, Avhere he Avas im¬ mediately joined by five yonng priests from Alaynooth. The project Avhicli they outlined for the foundation for a neAV missionary organi¬ zation Avas api)i‘oved liy the Holy See Avithin a feAV months, and re¬ ceived ready sympathy and encouragement not only from the Pishops of Ireland but of America and Australia as Avell. Within a year the ncAv moA^ement had receiA^ed such an inqietus that its success Avas assured, and Father Galvin returned to America, Avhere he had received his first inspiration. This Avas in November 1917. The folloAving year, at the invitation of Archbishop Ilarty, he estab¬ lished his headquarters at Omaha, and published the first American edition of the FAR EAST, the official organ of St. Colnmbans. From the outset, his efforts Avere blessed Avith success; his little office at Omaha became a busy place; the circulation of the Magazine began to groAv; and before the end of the year the Society Avas canonicalh^ established in the Diocese of Omaha, on December 14, 1918. [Page 4iV The first Priests of the Society of St. Columhan in 1917. Today the Society numbers over 100 priests. The task that lay before the newly established Society was by no means an easy one. American Catholics were to a great extent unprepared for the message of foreign missions, for America was then, and is even now, in many respects itself a missionary country. At the end of the last century there was scarcely a diocese in the United States that did not look to Eu- rope, particularly to Ireland and Germany, to supply it with priests; and where there were priests enough, pastors and peo¬ ple were either building churches and schools, or paying off their in¬ debtedness on their newly-formed parishes. In such circumstances one can scarcely wonder that people showed little interest in the foreign missions at the time St. Columbans was founded; and yet, as after events showed, it was necessary merely to bring the knowledge of the missions to the Catholics of the United States in order to inspire their ready generosity and enthusiasm, so that where, in 1918, there were only a few struggling missionary societies, today there are, at least, tw^elve organizations sending mis¬ sionaries from America to the mission fields of Asia, Africa, and the South Seas; and many of these institutions are being supported by the generosity of American Catholics. Best of all, the young people have caught the enthusiasm, and under the banner of the Students’ Mission Crusade there are enrolled over lialf a million boys and girls imbued with the mission spirit, and zeal¬ ously working to advance the cause by prayer and sacrifice. What may we not hope for a future in the hands of these, the men and women of tomorrow? In such an atmosphere as this, St. Columbans has been growing, and, with God’s help, doing its part to develop. That there were difficulties, we may take for granted, and thank God for them for they are the hall-mark of His approval. The Society of St. Columban today has two seminaries in the United States, one the senior seminary, at St. Columbans, in the Diocese of Omaha, founded in 1922; and the other a Preparatory College, at Silver Creek, New York, in the Diocese of Buffalo, founded in 1924. St. Columban’s College at Silver Creek is situated on the shores of Lake Erie. With its vast blue expanse of water stretching away into the distance, it affords a scenic environment in which a boy’s soul may expand and come nearer to his Creator. In the winter when the lake is frozen for two or three miles from the shore, our boys can glide over its smooth surface, and in the warm summer days the mile or so of soft sand beach on the college grounds and the clear, cool water offer an irresistible invitation. Buffalo, only thirty miles away, is a city of six hundred thousand people, the eastern harbor of the Great Lakes and a commercial distributing center for Western New York. Dunkirk, a town of forty thousand inhabitants, and the center of four railroad systems, is only a few miles from the college, bring¬ ing it within easy reach of all the large cities east of Chicago. The country around Western New York and Canada across the waters of Lake Erie, has an inspiring missionary tradition, for it is sacred to the memory of men like Jogues, Brebeuf and Lalement, the martyred apostles of North America. Can we doubt that those who are trained in such surroundings and reminded of such a tra¬ dition will imbibe something of its inspiration, and oik' day carry even to the ends of the earth the same faith which these heroes sealed with their blood on Ameri¬ can soil? From our Prex^aratory College at Silver Creek our students pass on for their higher studies to St. Co¬ lumbans, Nebraska, in the heart of the Middle West. St. Columbans, like Silver Creek, has the advan¬ tage of being near a large city. Omaha, which is only eight miles away, and within easy reach by a high speed electric car, is a city of two hundred and thirty-five thou¬ sand. The seminary itself,—a new [Patin- Seven] ST. COLUMBANS 'Theological Students atDalgan Parhjrelandi ^^^eUni of St Col Col u fn bfi H M L Students and Staff at St. ColmnbansfNebr. Jirst Students and Postulants Trom JJastralia ST. COLUMBANS ajorces mbans Students and Staff at Silver CreehjT^Y. yhilosophy Students \at St. Senans, Ireland navies in China Ohe ^Missionary Sisters of St. Columban ST. COLUMBANS building built in 1922,—stands on a sightly hill overlooking the Mis¬ souri. St. Columbans’ central position near a large railroad center, as Omaha is, makes it an ideal business and administrative headquarters. Like Silver Creek, too, St. Columbans is situated in the midst of a country rich in missionary traditions. Out over the plains that sweep away to the west is the spot where, four centuries ago, one of the first missionaries of the west gave his life for the faith. Across the river is the site of Father De Smet’s old mission; and here on these hills, perhaps this very hill on which St. Columbans stands, he preached and baptized and held council with the Indians. Stretching for twenty miles southward is a splendid panorama through which the Missouri winds, whose muddy waters bore these heroic missionary pioneers, who laid the foundations of Catholicity in the Middle West. St. Columbans is only in its infancy, but who can set limits to the designs that God may have in store for it ? The mission spirit is rapid¬ ly taking hold of the Church in America; and day by day we see signs of a greater future and greater opportunities, even though they may come through difficulties. It would be strange indeed if God did not use tliis new nation with its twenty million Catholic people, full of a deep, fervent faith, as He used the nations of the old world to spread His Gospel among men. The future, indeed, is full of hope for this latest recruiting ground for the forces which the Lord needs to carry the message of His love to human hearts. ST. COLUMBANS Glimpses of Student Life at St. Columbans I ST. COLUMBANS St. Columban s Mission is an International Missionary Organization The dark coloi’ed portions of this map show the countries where the Columban Missionaries are beinj? trained and equipped for Chinese Missions. liiver at HanKow-HrrowShows£ocatipn of St. CotumbansHeadquarters in China ^llE ‘‘Chicago of China’’ is the name sometimes given by Americans to the group of cities where the Ilan and ^ JL Yangtse meet—Hankow, Hanyang and Wuchang. Their size, central i)osition and commercial importance certainly puts one in mind of Chicago, hut in their relations to one another they remind one rather of New York, Brooklyn and Jersey City, separated as tliey are by the great rivers from which two of them derive their names. In one of tliese cities, namely Hanyang, six hundred miles into the heart of China, St. Columbans has its missionary headquarters. These cities form the chief industrial and commercial center of China. The Yangtse, on which they are situated, is navigable to ocean going boats as far as Hankow, wliich thus becomes the largest river port in the world. By means of the huge waterways that meet here and tlieir subsidiarv network of canals, these cities have become an emporium for the Avealth of distant provinces. They are also con¬ nected by railroads Avith Pekin, the capital, in the north, and Canton and Hongkong in the south. The priests of our first mission band, headed by Monsignor Galvin, landed in China in 1920. For the first feAV months they rented some houses from the Hanyang Iron Works. Later on they bought a Protestant mission hosjAital AAdiich had gone info bankruptcy. This ST. COLUMBANS IN CHINA Christian Brothers who are assisting the Columhan Fathers in their work^ building li a s since become the mission headquarters; and the first home of the Society in China now serves as a college for boys, under the direction of the Christian Brothers. The central loca¬ tion of the Columhan mission field, its teeming population, and the facilities for communication make it an important cen¬ ter for the diffusion of Catholic education and the institutions established by our missionaries at Hanyang have already attracted students from distant provinces. The Prefecture Apostolic of Hanyang runs along the valley of the Han in a northwesterly direction from Hanyang. It has a total popu¬ lation of five million souls, of whom not more than twenty thousand are Catholics. Conversions during recent years have averaged approximately two thousand souls a year and there are at present over ten thousand catechumens being prepared for Baptism. On account of the ignor¬ ance of these poor people, in regard to Catholic teaching, and the difficulties of giving them proper instruction through lack of priests and funds to pay catechists and teachers, it usually takes a consider¬ able time to prepare them properly for Baptism, no matter how well disposed they may be. The Prefecture is divided into a number of large districts, over each of which there is a resident priest. Within this district there are a number of smaller mission stations which the priest visits per- ST. COLUMBANS IN CHINA iodically. These stations are usually attended to by a native catechist or teacher, who is employed by the priest to prepare catechumens for Baptism and conduct schools for the children. The Columban Fathers are assisted in their work at Hanyang by the Irish Christian Brothers and the Loretto Sisters from the United States. The Brothers have charge of a college for boys with an aver¬ age roll-call of two hundred and fifty. They also superintend the boys’ primary schools within the city. The Loretto Sisters conduct primary schools for girls and have charge also of an embroidery school for Chinese women. The total personnel of active workers in the Prefecture numbers 226, including priests, brothers, doctors, sisters, lay auxiliaries, teach¬ ers and catechists. The people among whom our missionaries labor are exceedingly poor and unable to do anything themselves to support the Church. They are for the most part living in densely populated towns, where the struggle for life is hard, or in the country districts on little farms of not more than an acre. They are a good, simple people, kind and courteous, who in spite of their paganism have retained many of their natural virtues. They are always anxious to hear the Gospel truths nhe 'Jirst 15and of^[pretto Sisters in Cnina ST. COLUMBANS IN CHINA 4 ? , §,-151 '7irft"Home of theydission in China How Christian Brothers College and make splendid Catholies once they are converted. All that is necessaiy to bring them into the Chnrch is a larger number of priests aiul the funds necesary to support them. Surely God wishes these poor sonls to he saved for whom onr Divine Lord shed His precious blood just as He did for us.