This month From the Archives concludes the series based on entries in Mother Gonzaga Brexel’s “diary” which relates the story of the sisters who came from Konitz to the Perry County hills.
After many trials and tribulations, by the end of August, 1876, “the last of our group of travelers (from Konitz) arrived from Buffalo—Sister Cyrilla and Sister Isabelle; a novice, Sister Clara Dorschel, came with them.” September 1 marked the long-awaited and hoped-for opening of the new school. The sisters welcomed four students: three day pupils and one boarder! Mother Gonzaga notes, “that was, indeed a tiny group compared with the crowds of students we had left in Germany. Nevertheless, we began with great courage and heaps of trust in Divine Providence and God blessed our good will.”
Early View of St. Aloysius Academy, New Lexington, OH
As has been the case in other education-based ministries, the number of children attending the academy began to increase almost immediately. By the end of the first session there were eight residents and 18 or 19 day students. By the start of the second term on February 1, 1877, even more students were enrolled; “twenty-four new day pupils were registered in one day.”
“On the feast of St. Francis, October 4, Right Reverend Bishop Sylvester Rosecrans solemnly blessed our academy. A big crowd of people came to the celebration, while four priests from surrounding parishes came as assistants to the bishop. . . . The people were so taken up with everything that with one voice they declared, ‘We have never seen anything like this here in New Lexington!’ From that day on, the academy was called ‘St. Aloysius.’”
The academic year proceeded uneventfully as far as the school was concerned. The “big” story was the news that Mother Alphonse Houben, the new general superior, and her companion Sister Stanislaus were coming from Europe. When they arrived in New Lexington they brought with them two additional sisters from Germany for the academy. The two-week visit seems to have been particularly welcomed by the little community who had so recently been uprooted from their lives in Konitz. The presence of the visitors coincided with the close of the school year and the “very first entertainment for the public” which was rather ambitious, consisting of 16 spoken and musical numbers! The program “was thoroughly enjoyed by the spectators and with it we closed the first year of our work with the students of St. Aloysius Academy.”