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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
But the fire had eaten away the rope.
The Macon fire department was called, but when
it arrived it found that the college building was so
far from the street that the lengths of hose on hand
could not reach the upper floors. Over 6,000 feet
of hose, four pumps and two chemicals were at work
at the fire, but the efforts of the department did
not prevent the complete destruction of the building.
Homes Welcome Students
There were thirty students at the college at the
time of the fire, all of them novitiates of the So
ciety of Jesus. Twenty Jesuit Fathers also made
their home there. Homes of Macon people, many
of them non-Catholics, were thrown open to the
homeless students and priests, and accomodations
were also generously provided for them at Hotel
Macon and Hotel Dinkier. The day following the
fire they were transferred to The Villa, a country
place outside of Macon, owned by the Jesuit Fathers.
Later eighteen of the students, members of the
senior and junior classes, and two professors were
sent to the old Sacred Heart College, Augusta, where
they will be located temporarily. Besides the price
less books in the library and all the furniture, the
supplies of the college and the effects of the priests
and students, the fire destroyed one of the most
tion, and offering to cooperate in rebuilding it.
Rev. Dr. William Russell Owen, pastor of the First
Baptist Church, introduced at a meeting of the
Kiwanis Club a resolution of sympathy for the loss
sustained by the Jesuit Fathers. It was adopted.
The Rotary, Lions’ and Civitan Clubs adopted simi
lar resolutions. Non-Catholic neighbors of the col
lege are circulating petitions urging the Fathers to
rebuild.
Very Rev. E. A. Mattern, S. J., the head of the
Jesuit Fathers in the New Orleans province, arrived
in Macon the day following the fire. He has not
announced what the plans regarding the future of
the college are, but it is believed in Macon that it
will be decided to rebuild on the old site.
S. Stanislaus’ College is one of the leading Catholic
institutions in the South. It was founded in the
seventies by Bishop Gross, later named Archbishop
of Oregon City by Pope Leo XIII. It was originally
called Pio Nono College, and designed for diocesan
students for the priesthood and for others desiring
a college education there.
After a few years as a diocesan college and semi
nary, Pio Nono was acquired by the Jesuit Fathers
as a novitiate for the New Orleans province, and
the name changed to St. Stanislaus’. The college
building was five stories in height, surmounted by a
St. Stanislaus College After the Fire
beautiful and valuable hand-carved altars in the
world. It was carved for the Chapel by a Mr.
Hynenes, a native of Spain, and an architect Dy
profession, who came to St. Stanislaus’ to study for
priesthood in the Jesuit Order. While in Macon he
carved the altar. In addition the other Chapel
equipment was destroyed, but the Blessed Sacrament
was removed by one of the Fathers before the flames
reached that part of the building.
In the cellar was the winter’s supply of coal,
eighty tons, which was still burning a week after
the fire. The safe, in which were stored many val
uable papers, was saved. Everything in the building
was reduced to ashes, nothing being left when the
fire department retired but the jagged section of
the walls.
Macon People Sympathetic
The people of Macon sympathized deeply with the
Jesuit Fathers and with the Catholics on the great
loss they sustained. The Chamber of Commerce
addressed a letter to the officials of the college ex
pressing its regret at the destruction of the institu-
tower in the center, and erected at a cost of $150,000
decades ago. It was in the country when it was es
tablished but the city grew out to it, and at the
time of its destruction it was situated in one of he
best residential sections of Macon. The college, with
its one hundred or more acres of lawns, trees and
gardens, was one of the show places of the city.
Most Rev. Michael J. Curley D. D., Archbishop of
Baltimore, will assume his new duties without cere
mony at the end of November. He has already is
sued an appeal for the Catholic University of Amer
ica, of which he is ex-officio chancellor.
An attempt is being made to fix a definite date
for Easter. A conference will be held at the Vat
ican next April, Cardinal Mercier presiding, at which
the matter will be considered.