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2 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.