Evening Star Newspaper, September 27, 1931, Page 78

10 THE SUNDAY STAR, WA HeRrRoOIC FIGURES OF GEO The Seed of the University, the First States, Was Sown With the Estab in 1634 and the Early ‘“Nomadi Permanent Gollege Founded in Today, and Its Great Program By Gilbert LLaGorce REAKING ground for another building at Georgetown University within a month’s time calls to mind the roman- tic history of the first Catholic institu- tion of its kind in America, when the labors of inspired pioneers made possi- ble the dreams for a seat of learning in the New World. To the immortal days of the first settlers’ landing upon the shores of Maryland in 1634 may be traced the forces which gradually paved the way for the foundation of Georgetown Uni- versity in 1789 as an established haven of clas- sic, scientific and religious education beside the beautiful Potomac. The seed of Georgetown was sown when the first Maryland Mission was established in 1634 by Fathers Andrew White and Ferdinand Poulton, Jesuit missionaries, who preached the gospel to the Indians of Piscatoway and Ana- costan tribes along the banks of the Potomac, then called the Cohonguroton, or River of Swans. With never a hesitant thought of the many unkpown dangers before them, these brave pionecrs carried the holy word into the abodes of the savage tribes, and with their breviary, beads and Cross, together with their justice and manly fairness, won the admiration and friendship of the Emperor of the Piscato- ways, who in time became converted, was bap- tized and later married in the Catholic Church at St. Marys City, Md., by Father White, To this ceremony came Gov. Leonard Calvert and various settlers to cement the bond of loy- alty established by these Jesuits between the Indians and the whites. From the days of Pioneer Father White to the distinctive scholar and beloved priest, Pather W. Coleman Nevils, who today heads the institution, Hes a span of years filled with the deeds of men who have made famous the history of not only a college, but a State and even a nation. HE immediate desire of these pioneer priests |1 - was to establish a seat of learning to stand side by side with the advancement of re- ligion. In 1639 Father Poulton wrote to the provincial of their order in England concern- ‘ing the feasibility of such a plan. In reply to Ahis letter, as recorded by J. Fairfax McLaugh- lin, author of “College Days at Georgetown,” #s » + the English Provincial of the Jesuits, Pather Edward Knott, used these memorable words: ‘The hope of establishing the college which you hold forth I embrace with pleasure, and shall not delay my sanction to the plan when it shall have reached maturity.’” With this first tangible base upon which to foster the dreams of founding & college not so distant from the present city of Washington, the unceasing efforts of the Maryland Jesuits advanced through the years fraught with re- fentless persecution, hardship and adversity, though never allowing the torch of learning to .fall from their grasp nor become entireiy extinguished. From these glorious pages of educational his- tory, the growing forces of the college’s founda- tion lead onward through the nomadic school as it may be termed, since the stress of the bitter times seldom permitted its permanent es- tablishment in one place. Several locations of the school are well defined: First, at St. Marys in 1634. Next, Calverton Manor, on the Wicomico River, from about 1640 to 1659, directed by PFather Thomas Copley and one Ralph Crouch, an able teacher attached to the Jesuit educators. Then in 1677 near Newtown Manor, in southern #aryland, presided over by Father Forster and Thomas Hothersall, a Jesuit scholastic. Forced by the “violence of enemies to forsake southern Maryland, the de- voted fathers crossed Chesapeake Bay and halted for a time on the Eastern Shore, then a veritable wilderness. With the fall of the House of Stuart in 1746, the scattered sons of Loyola sought shel- ter within the friendly walls of Bohemia Ma- nor, near Town Point, on the Bohemia River, a famed classical community of teachers pre- sided over by Father Poulton, namesake of the first priest in charge of the Maryland Mission. M;, to Georgetown Heights in 1789 under Father John Carroll, where it has since flour- ished into the splendid university of today. To this institution at Bohemia Manor went the flower of the young manhood of Maryland, among them the Brents, Neales and the Car- rolls, to thrive under the training of these sincere and talented masters, It was from this institution of learning there emerged the noble Carroll cousins, John and Charles, who crossed the sea to finish their courses at St. Omer, in French Flanders, thus to equip them- selves in special branches for the brilliant part they were to take in America’s fight for independence. The eminence of venerable Georgetown Uni- versity was not attained in a day, we are re- minded, but to that end was joyfully contributed the labor of a rounded century. The history of Georgetown is inseparably connected with that of Father John Carroll, first Archbishop of Baltimore. His were the idea and inception; his the task carried out against the strongest opposition, and to him went the happiness of 8 realization of his efforts when the insignia of a prince of the church was placed on his head, for with added power and financial sup- port, together with his great and unswerving love of education, he was able to foster the growing school until the end of his days. The story of Father Carroll’s work preceding the foundation of the permanent college in 1789 may be found in interesting detail in the writ- ings of John Gilmary Shea, but with later developments and with the special honor accorded the 10 student presidents of the col- lege we find many illuminated pages of history. EV. W. COLEMAN NEVILS, 8. J., today president of Georgetown Unlversity, while carrying on his splendid program as rector of the institution, brought to completion the first step of a plan which he has fostered for years: The erection of & memorial to Andrew White, Jesuit missionary of the Colonial days. Father Nevils labored successfully at his self-imposed task, finding his inspiration in the words of a distinguished alumnus of Georgetown: “Let it rise on the college campus in lofty proportions, fashioned by hands as nearly approaching the plastic skill of those of an Angelo or Canova as the age possesses.” Father Nevils planned the memorial, directed the architect who drew the plans for the first building of the group, and spent much of his days and part of his nights in aiding the work. Copley Hall, now completed, is one of three buildings to be erected; a science and recitation hall will complete the group, which will inclose on three sides a quadrangle. The finished work will then be officially dedicabed as the Andrew White Memorial Quadrangle, and the great [ s Panoramic view of Georgetown University;—the main building group shown edifice on the right of the main group is Copley Hall Dormitory. In the mid and on the extreme left stands the Georgetown Oservatory. The unive labor of Father Nevils in fulfilling the mandate of the alumnus will have been accomplished. In choosing a name for this first building of the group it was decided to honor the mission- ary whose ashes in an unmarked grave rest in the lMttle colonial cemetery of St. Inigoes, St. Marys County, Md. Father Thomas Copley, S. J, who landed on the shores of Maryland in 1638, might indeed have been honored by a handsome monument, not only because of his personal achievement, but also because of his family. He was a descendant of the redoubtable Lord Hoo Hastings, K. G., whose banner, the Black Lion of Hoo, fell in battle at St. Albans in 1455. And, sgain, his grave might have borne the Golden Welks of Sir Willlam Shelley, ancestor of the renowned English poet. Queen Elizabeth, - too, was a relation of his; ‘a maternal cou of his was a godchild of the militant que The family may also be traced to Lord Bac famous literateur of Shakespeare's age, Father Copley rejoiced much more that he cousin to Blessed Robert Southwell, the po martyr of the Jesuits, and to Richard Si hurst, friend of Blessed Edmund Campion, other Jesuit martyr. Father Copley, while occupying the posi of professed father of the Society of Je nevertheless retained his worldly rank, as w and was recognized in this capacity both Maryland and England. That Father Ph Fisher, prominently mentioned in earlier 1 land annals, is an alias of Father Copley h been firmly established. It is interesting to ,note that Father Cop View of Priests Point at the mouth of the St. Marys River, where it flows into ; the possession of the Jesuit Fathers since the earliest