Rare Aquinas Book Donated to Marquette University

William Warren and Marquette theology professor and rare book scholar Wanda Zemler-Cizewski look over a book Warraren and his wife, Constance, recently donated to Marquette: a 1526 edition of Joannis Petit's Sancti Thome de Aquino Ordinis Predicatorum Super Epistolos Pauli Commentaria Preclarissima, St. Thomas Aquinas' lectures on the Epistles of Paul.

This early edition is extremely rare – one copy is at the University of Barcelona and another at Georgetown University. Published in Paris, the book was in the collection of Sir Robert Throckmorton, 1st Barone of Coughton, Warwickshire, in the seventeenth century. Prior to World War II it was purchased bya friend of the Warren family and given to them because they were descended from Throckmorton. The book lacks a cover has its original binding, marginalia, and even traces of bookworms. Its vellum cover pages are part of an original thirteenth-century manuscript on the topic of angels, according to Dr. Zemler-Cizewski. (Marquette University)

Jesuit Schools Respond to Hurricanes

Flooding caused by Hurricane Ivan’s rains that poured down on the Ohio River Valley in September put a damper on the kickoff of the 50th anniversary celebration of Wheeling Jesuit University (Wheeling, West Virginia). The torrential ten inches of rain on Wheeling’s “parade” notwithstanding, students and faculty pitched in to help neighbors begin the process of rebuilding their lives, starting with some basic assistance such as cleaning up mud when the waters receded. Though flooding collapsed a water line, cutting off water to the campus, the university nonetheless opened its dorms and dining halls to nearby residents who needed food and shelter. University students, faculty, and staff spent a week assisting flood victims. Jesuit High in Tampa was spared when Hurricane Charley switched its course, but the school responded with a water drive that provided several thousand bottles of water and 200-gallon jugs of water to its neighbors who weren’t as lucky. Students also helped clear debris at the homes of some elderly in Punta Gorda. The threat of Hurricane Ivan forced Loyola University New Orleans and Jesuit High in New Orleans to close shop for four days in September; Spring Hill College, just up the coast in Mobile, Alabama, also closed in preparation for Ivan, but was spared.
Holy Cross Alum Awarded Pulitzer
	Edward P. Jones (College of the Holy Cross ’72), was recently awarded a Pulitzer in fiction for his novel The Known World. Jones’s novel is based on something he learned at Holy Cross: that in the 1800s some free African-Americans owned slaves. His book tells the story of a former slave in antebellum Virginia who purchases slaves to work for him. Jones was also named a MacArthur Fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for his work and contribution to society. (College of the Holy Cross)

Jesuit Airport Chaplain Helps Unstress Travelers, Employees

Jesuit scholastic Charles Barnes teaches and studies at Seattle University, but that’s just his day job. He’s also a part-time chaplain at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Barnes, originally from Los Angeles, says the sight of his clerical collar and the word “Chaplain” emblazoned in gold letters on his vest reassure travelers and employees, even when no words are spoken.

With recurring threats of airline bankruptcies, lingering trauma from 9/11, and cutbacks in jobs or pensions, Barnes says, “One of the big issues right now is employee morale.”

Air disasters are the times when the chaplain’s role is most visible to the public, he said. The Catholic chaplains respond to the sacramental needs of the victims and their loved ones.

“One of the largest things we can do is be a presence,” Barnes added. (Catholic News Service)

Major Benefit

Tenor Placido Domingo recently performed at a concert to benefit the Jesuits’ Universidad Iberoamericana in Tijuana, Mexico. The university’s foundation, directed by Fr. David Ungerleider, SJ, (at center—formerly of the Maryland Province, now a member of the Mexico Province) was raising funds to establish a research and educational program that will focus on problems facing Mexican and Central American immigrants to the United States.

The university, the alma mater of Mexican president Vicente Fox, is engaged in a major building campaign that includes a new gymnasium and auditorium and, very important for Tijuana’s residents, a new library. Seeing a need in Tijuana for more-adequate facilities to meet the demand for higher education, Fr. Ungerleider envisioned a state-of-the-art library.

The two-story campus facility, which opened in December 2003, will eventually house 140,000 volumes, a computer center, and conference rooms. It will also offer literacy classes for adults and children. A Biblioteca Loyola Bookmobile is already making the rounds of the neighborhoods in the area.

Remembrance of Things Past

• January 5, 1995—The Society’s 34th general congregation opens in Rome.
• January 6, 1656—Death of Andrew White, SJ, founder of the Maryland Mission.
• January 8, 1824-—Bp. DuBourg offers Jesuits a college that later becomes Saint Louis University.
• January 11, 1815—Charles Emmanuel, king of Piedmont, abdicates his throne and joins the Society of Jesus.
• January 19, 1945—Fr. Joseph O’Callaghan, SJ, receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism aboard the USS Franklin.
• February 5, 1991-—Death of Pedro Arrupe, SJ, retired Jesuit superior general.
• February 13, 1787—Death of mathematician and astronomer Roger Boscovich, SJ, in Milan.
• February 22, 1551—The Roman College (now the Gregorian) announces its opening: “Classes in Grammar, the Humanities, and Christian Doctrine—No Tuition.”
• February 28, 1957—Jesuit Volunteer Corps is founded in Oregon.
• March 2, 1606—Br. Nicholas Owen, SJ, is martyred in the Tower of London for constructing “hiding holes” for priests.
• March 9, 1764—Jesuits are ordered expelled from France.
• March 12, 1622—Ignatius and Francis Xavier are canonized.
• March 12, 1977—Rutilio Grande, SJ, is martyred in El Salvador.
• March 15, 1711—Death of Eusebio Kino, SJ, California missionary and cartographer.

Brebeuf Jesuit Prep Student Helps Seniors Get Online

When Brebeuf Jesuit Prep (Indianapolis) sophomore Daniel Kent (center) heard that a homebound senior citizen could not attend computer classes at the local public library where Kent was on the teen council, he was moved into action. He and his friends founded Senior Connects, now a nonprofit organization that teaches basic computer and internet skills to seniors where they live. In the past year and a half, Kent and friends have collected over 600 computers and opened computer labs in three Indianapolis-area senior-living facilities, where volunteers spend Saturday mornings teaching.

Octogenarian student Helen Lenke can now e-mail her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. “It’s added a whole new dimension to my life,” she says, adding that her teachers “make you realize the younger generation are a great bunch of kids.”

Kent wants to collect 1,000 computers and to open more computer labs in senior-citizen homes in the Indianapolis area. “We have so many computers, we’d love to find homes for them,” he said. (Indianpolis Star)

More about Senior Connects is at www.seniorconnects.org. Kent welcomes other Jesuit students to contact him (danielkent@seniorconnects.org) if they are interested in this type of program in their communities.

Canoe Adventure Raises Funds for Jesuit Parish

Fr. Matt Ruhl, SJ (right), pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Kansas City, took a unique approach this summer to fund-raising. To retire parish debt, he kayaked down the Missouri River over the route that Lewis and Clark did 200 years ago.

Starting on August 1, the journey continued for two months, during which Fr. Ruhl and friend Al Burroughs experienced being stranded in the middle of lake in a mudflat for a couple of hours (they finally managed to paddle through); enjoyed suppers with friends along the way; and celebrated mass under skies lit by meteors.

The pair made it home safely, covering over 2,300 miles on the 61-day journey, and the parish raised over $200,000.

Gonzaga College High vs. Georgetown Prep: A Gridiron Classic

More than 5,000 fans cheered on Washington, D.C. Jesuit rivals, Gonzaga College High and Georgetown Prep, in their first meeting on the football field since 1988. With less than two minutes left in a tied game, Gonzaga’s J.P. Sniezek came through with a field goal and a 17–14 victory for his school.

The event was more than about bragging rights—all proceeds from the game went to Washington Jesuit Academy, a Nativity-style school in the Capitol.

Looking For A Few Good Men

Jesuit novice Scott Gorman (right) shared his vocation story with students at Boston College High as part of Vocation Day, November 5th. This was a time that Jesuit communities, universities, colleges, and high schools across the country hosted an array of vocation promotion events and gatherings.

Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, superior general of the Society of Jesus, spoke to students at Creighton Prep and encouraged them to pursue a Jesuit vocation during his October visit. On vocation day, Creighton University held a special noon mass at St. John’s, the college church.

Marquette University put vocation ads in the student newspaper and on student TV monitors in residence halls; at the College of the Holy Cross, members of the Jesuit community staffed an information table in the student center.

Fairfield University Jesuits (Fairfield, Conn.) sponsored a pasta dinner for students, while Jesuit novices spoke to junior and senior religion classes at St. Peter’s Prep (Jersey City), and campus ministry hosted a lunchtime roundtable on “Finding Christ in Christian Service” at Regis High in New York.

St. Ignatius Mission Celebrates 150 Years

The Jesuits’ St. Ignatius Mission, 45 miles north of Missoula, Montana, celebrated its 150th anniversary this September with Native American songs and a procession of horses and wagons and participants in native costumes in a reenactment of the welcoming of priests to the area in 1854.

Pastor Fr. Drew Maddock, SJ, opened the ceremony, which also included an oral history of the mission.

In the spring of 1831 the Salish tribe sent four people to St. Louis to encourage Jesuit priests to come west and teach. In 1840, Fr. Pierre De Smet, SJ, traveled to the Bitter-root Valley in Montana and stablished the state’s first Jesuit mission, St. Mary’s.

The mission flourished, attracting Native Americans from many different tribes who learned skills such as carpentry and milling. Developments into the twentieth century included a printing press, a grade school, a high school, and then construction of the present St. Ignatius Mission. (Lake County Leader)

Web Sites of Interest

Jesuit Saints and Blesseds
www.sjweb.info/history/saints.cfm

A list of Jesuit saints and blesseds, accompanied by short biographies and occasional illustrations, is available on the Jesuit Curia’s web site. The list can be accessed by the name or the date of the liturgical feast.

Fr. Kolvenbach’s Visit to the United States
www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Kolvenbach
www.shc.edu/kolvenbach

Read the text or watch the video of Fr. Kolvenbach’s speech at Creighton University from this past fall. Fr. General also visited Spring Hill College, and the school’s site contains the text of his address and a photo gallery of the visit as well as biography and resource information.