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27514
CROSSROADS
In response to some inquiries
about the meaning of
Crossroad’s logo.it symbolizes
the four fundamental
areas in the universal
education of man-intellectual,
physical, social, and spiritual-
with the basic Christian symbol
(the cross) at the center. The
very word “crossroads” has a
special significance to an
Abbey alumnus, the Belmont
crossroads being a sort of
weekend point-of-departure to
thousands of former Abbey
students. At graduation they
left the Abbey and the
crossroads to go each in his own
direction and into various
walks of life. If you look closely
at this design you will see four
arrows, each of them pointing
to and from a central point.
This two-way concept is vital to
truly effective alumni activity.
Private institutions of higher
learning are approaching a
cr o s s roa ds--S ur V i V a 1 or
oblivion! We at Belmont Abbey
intend not only to survive but to
progress. You, our friends and
alumni, can help. We’ll meet
you at the . . . crossroads.
Foster E. Goodrich, Stanley Home Products
(Tlf^irTnan^ Dies BAC Prepamtory School Alumnus
FOSTER E. GOODRICH
Belmont Abbey College counts
itself among those who have
suffered a grevious loss in the
death on December 12 of Mr.
Foster E. Goodrich of Westfield,
Massachusetts. Mr. Goodrich,
an alumnus of Belmont Abbey
Preparatory School, was
Chairman of the Board of
Stanley Home Products, In
corporated, a company which
operates in a dozen countries and
has a number of American
subsidiaries engaged in
manufacturing and marketing.
He was Director of the Third
National Bank of Springfield,
Massachusetts, the Frank
Stanley Beveridge Foundation,
Inc., Stanley Park of Westfield,
Inc., and the Westfield YMCA. A
former member of the alumni
boards of both Belmont Abbey
College and Colgate University,
he belonged to the Methodist
Church, the Newcomen Society
in North America, the New York
Sales Executive Club, the Ex
plorers’ Club of New York City,
and the Wisdom Society. He
served as honorary chairman of
the Noble Hospital building fund
drive in Westfield, and in 1972
received the Outstanding Citizen
Award of Greater Springfield.
Mr. Goodrich was a man of
extraordinary creative powers -
professional, civic, and social.
He was an innovative business
leader of national stature, a
force in civic affairs who ef
fected real human improvement
in the conditions around him,
and an enthusiastic sportsrnan -
a man who took the gift of life at
Its full value. He gave his ample
talents to making the very best
of life for hin.self and for
everyone whom his influence
could reach.
Among his commitments that
marked his as one of those
responsible men upon whom
others depended, was his
sustained devotion to this in
stitution. He whas long been a
benefactor of Belmont Abbey
College, and he is remembered
with gratitude for his loyalty, as
well as with pride in his
achievement.
He is survived by his six
children and five grandchildren
and by his brother, Malcolm
Goodrich, of London, Ontario,
Canada.
Belmont Abbey Historical Notes
by
Jerome Oetgen, O.S.B.
In four years Belmont Abbey
will celebrate the one-hundredth
anniversary of its founding.
Recently several noteworthy
attempts have been made to
outline the history of the Abbey
(including Father Sebastian
Doris’s manuscript in the
College Library and Brian
Tisdall’s and Tom McGrath’s
short article, “Abbey Tradition;
From Whence Our College
Came,” in the first issue of
Agora published in 1961). But a
great deal of primary material
remains to be studied and the
definitive history of Belmont
Abbey is yet to be written.
Some of the most important
source material for a history of
Belmont is to be found in the
archives of St. Vincent Ar
chabbey, Latrobe, Penn
sylvania. In August of 1875
Bishop James Gibbons of Rich
mond wrote Abbot Boniface
Wimmer, O.S.B., of St. Vincent,
offering 500 acres of land in
Gaston County, North Carolina,
to the Benedictines in Penn
sylvania. During a visit to the
missions in North Carolina, the
Bishop said he had received
from the Rev. Jeremiah J.
O’Connell “the offer of hiS fine
farm as a gift to a religious
community who would cultivate
it and who with God’s blessing
would make it a religious center
around which Catholicity would
grow.” “This place,” Bishop
This elysian scene shows BAC when the monks
also farmed part of the property.
Gibbons continued, “would
answer well for a college as we
have no (Catholic) college
between Washington and Mobile,
except in Georgia.” (Archives of
St. Vincent Archabbey, Gibbons
to Wimmer, Richmond, 1 Aug\ist
1875).
Abbot Bonifac^; Wimmer
accepted the olier of the Bishop
of Richm_^nd, and in the spring of
1876 he sent Father Herman
Wolf, O.S.B., to Father O’Con
nell’s estate in Ga^jon County. In
the months followed Abbot
Boniface sent several priests and
breVners from Pennsylvania to
North Carolina, and their reports
- amounting to several hundred
letters written to the Abbot of St.
Vincent between 1876 and 1887 -
form the major portion of the
source material on the history of
Belmont Abbey to be found in the
archives of St. Vincent.
One of the most into- ;sting of
these letters was written by
Brother Philip Cassidy, O.S.B.,
in the fall of 1876, six months
after Father Herman had settled
on the O’Connell estate. Brother
Philip was a native of Bor-
nacoola, Ireland, and had been
sent to North Carolina by Abbot
Boniface to teach English in the
proposed Benedictine College
near Garibaldi, N.C. (The town
of Garibaldi’s name was
changed to Belmont in _ the
nineteenth century. The
monastery founded by Father
Herman on the O’Connell estate
was originally called Mariastein
which Brother Philip anglicizes
and calls “St. Mary’s of the
Stone.” The name of the
monastery was later changed to
“Mary Help of Christians”
which is still the official name of
Belmont Abbey.)
Brother Philip's letter was
written immediately after he
arrived at the monastery. He
had left St. Vincent during the
inird weei; of October 1876, and
before going to North Carolina
had stopped at the Benedictine
Priory in Richmond, Virginia,
(See NOTES, Page 7)
On The Inside:
Looking Back, Page 2
Alumni News, Page 2-1-
Alumnus Profile, Page 3
Focus, Page 4
SPORTS, Page 5 -
News In Education, Page 8 -