Annals of St. Ann's Hermitage: 1907

Visit of Brother Stratonique, Assistant, and Brother John, Assistant.

That year 1907 stays as a memorable year because of the visit of Brother Stratonique, Assistant, who was finishing his "tour of the world" accompanied by Brother John, Assistant of the Islands. They came from Canada with Brother Angelicus, Provincial, and three children chosen to join the small St. Ann's family.

Two of these children, Edouard Gagnon and Jean-Baptiste Villeneuve, came from the Juniorate in Levis, Canada.

Brother Statonique was happy to show Brother John the cradle of what he called: "A beautiful future province." His noble and grand wish was soon to be realized.

The two Brothers Assistants returned for the retreat which took place in July. Great was Brother Stratonique's satisfaction in seeing the little Community's progress. In a special talk he spoke of the great need for religious vocations to staff parish schools and educate the thousands upon thousands of children deprived of all Catholic education. He spoke of his great hopes based on his dear St. Ann's Hermitage which God had blessed as He had blessed and developed the first Marist Hermitage in Lavalla, so generously founded by Ven. Father Champagnat.

During the retreat the Juniors were sent to New York as in the previous year, where they spent pleasant vacations.

Bro. Boniface, Director. Recruitment.

During the vacations of this same year 1907 Bro. Boniface was named Director of the Community, which included Brothers and Juniors. He started a fervent campaign of recruitment and for this visited our schools in New England, greatly interested the Brothers in recruitment and, God helping, worked so well that at the beginning of December of that year the Juniorate counted 44 children.

The organization of classes was refined; the children were divided into three classes and a serious course of study began.

A New Heating System.

Since the house was filling up, it became necessary to make it more comfortable, especially better heated. A new and complete heating system, therefore, was installed, not without difficulty, for the plumber chosen, a certain Mr. Blondin from St-Hyacinthe, Canada, wanted at first to put in a heating apparatus which he had invented shortly before, but it proved unsatisfactory and had to be replaced.

General Overview. Conclusion.

The house, then, was gradually renovated. Little by little, after numerous repairs and transformations, St. Ann's Hermitage became a very favorable place for the formation of our young subjects.

Our endeavors, begun under the auspices of Good Saint Ann, had been visibly blessed by God and the successes obtained in 18 months were entirely consoling.

May we be allowed here to give a public testimony of profound gratitude to the Reverend Jesuit Fathers of St. Andrew who have always been sincere and devoted friends for us.

Religious Service.

It is needless to note that religious service was the cause of great anxiety to the Founders. It wasn't only a matter of finding a large property well situated for a house of formation; it was also necessary to furnish good religious service. It was the key idea of those of our Brothers who took a lot of trouble to find a suitable building and the conveniences needed to establish St. Ann's Juniorate.

If religious services had not mattered, other places perhaps would have been more suitable at first, but none of them could have fulfilled the wanted need like St. Ann's Hermitage. This is in fact what we'll see.

When the occasion came to buy the Juniorate property, Brother Zepheriny turned to the Rev. Father Gannon, then Provincial of the Jesuit Fathers, to guarantee religious services. With a good word from Rev. Father Pettit, then rector of St. Andrew and who had always been very devoted to us, Rev. Father Provincial promised us that service. Since then we have always had the best service possible.

The first eight months the Community, small in number, went to St. Andrew to hear Mass. At the end of that time Rev. Father Richards, who used to visit us from time to time, remarked how better it would be for the Community to have its own small chapel with the Blessed Sacrament. He offered himself then, and obtained the permission of his Superiors to come every day to say Mass in the small room which had been transformed into an oratory for the members of the Community.

From that time on we had the inexpressible consolation of possessing Jesus in our midst.

It would be interesting here to relate how we obtained all the items needed for this improvised chapel. As in many other circumstances, St. Ann knew how to provide. Through her we obtained from two charitable ladies in New York, Mrs. Ryan and Mrs. Picabia, the grand and splendid altar in sculptured oak, the sacred vessels, and everything needed for our worship.

And every day then we went to get and bring by carriage good Father Richards who wasn't afraid to take on himself this extra duty and to come every morning in spite of the bad weather and rigorous cold of that first winter, without counting that the room which served as chapel was far from being heated.

An overload of duties having prevented him from coming subsequently, Father Richards was replaced by the holy Father Coleman who came every day until he was appointed to the church in Pleasant Valley.

But our religious services were continued by the good Fathers, one of them coming every week by turns.

Towards the middle of 1906 the chapel was transferred to the large reception hall found to the right of the entrance. We used a smaller altar and the large one was put aside for later.

This small chapel, which could hold no more than 40 people, was also changed later on, to be definitively placed where it is today, except for improvements which were done as need arose.

In September 1907, the Community having increased in numbers, Rev. Father Williams was named Chaplain and took full charge of the religious services for that year. Needless to say that by his paternal goodness, his entire devotedness, his apostolic zeal, this Father soon conquered our hearts and won the affection of all, young and old. Consequently, what good did he not do among us! Who among us will be able to forget Father Williams after having heard him or seen him at work? For him, our Brothers in general and St. Ann's Hermitage in particular were his "dear little company."

Let us add incidentally that it was due to the intervention of this devoted Father that Father Shehan [sic] of St. Peter's Church asked for and obtained Brothers for his parish school.

Good Father Williams, having to go to Woodstock to complete his theological studies, left us on 8 September 1908, to the deep regret of the Brothers and Juniors.

Later, at every opportunity he had to come to St. Andrew he never failed to come to see us and to stay among us as long as possible.

After Father Williams religious services were regularly and devotedly furnished as previously.

That year Rev. Father Dinan, minister at St. Andrew, came regularly for weekly Confession and spiritual direction.

Beginning of the Novitiate. Transfer of the Chapel.

We are still in 1907. Seven students were old enough and seemed to have the conditions needed to be admitted to the Novitiate. Until that time the Novices had been sent to St-Hyacinthe, Canada, but that practice entailed many disadvantages. It was therefore deemed opportune to found a Novitiate in Poughkeepsie.

Besides, it was the great desire of the Superiors and of the Brothers of the entire Province.

With due permission from Rev. Brother Stratonique, now Superior General, and with the consent of Brother Zepheriny, Provincial, successor to Brother Angelicus who had been named Assistant, Brother Boniface, Director, was authorized to immediately start the transformations needed to the Juniorate building.

The building was rather small for both purposes, but encouraged by the project of putting up a new building everybody was determined to do the best with what we had.

As the Community chapel was really too small to accommodate all the personnel, Brother Director believed it was time to transfer it to the place it has occupied since. It was the place chosen by Rev. Brother Stratonique during his first visit.

However, that's not to say that it wasn't a sacrifice for all to leave the convenient little sanctuary where the religious offices were so devotional. The Community of 1907 will always remember the beautiful ceremony for the First Communion of seven Juniors which took place on 8 December.

This small chapel was to remain subsequently the oratory for the Juniors.

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