’46 and Forward

STORY

Saint Vincent College marks 1846 as the date of its founding, but its story arguably began in 1809. More than 4,200 miles from Latrobe, Sebastian Wimmer was born on January 14, 1809, in Thalmassing, Bavaria. The son of tavern owners, Wimmer would study law and theology, eventually becoming an ordained priest in 1831 at age 22.

A year later, Wimmer arrived at St. Michael’s Abbey at Metten, which had just been re-established by Bavaria’s King Ludwig I. Wimmer received the name “Boniface” after the English Benedictine monk responsible for the conversion of Germanic tribes to Christianity in the eighth century.

It was a prescient name for the man who would become the father of American Benedictine monasticism.

Hearing the experiences of German missionary Father Peter Henry Lemke, Wimmer realized there was a dire need for German-speaking priests in the U.S. to offer the sacraments to German Catholics. “Language saves faith” became his rallying cry.

In 1842, Wimmer asked Abbot Gregory Scherr to build a seminary in Germany to educate missionaries to send to the U.S.

The Abbot said no.

Wimmer modified his plan and asked again a year later. Once again, the Abbot said no. The pattern repeated, and each time, Abbot Gregory’s answer remained the same.

Father Paul Taylor, president of Saint Vincent College, views the Abbot’s reticence as a blessing. ANY INSTITUTION WITH MORE THAN 175 YEARS OF HISTORY IS BOUND TO FACE MOMENTS OF JUBILATION AND ADVERSITY— MOMENTS THAT TEST THE METTLE OF THE COMMUNITY, SPUR NEW GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY, AND DEFINE ITS CHARACTER. THE STORY OF SAINT VINCENT COLLEGE IS ONE OF OVERCOMING OBSTACLES AND RISING TO THE CHALLENGES OF THE MOMENT, MOVING FORWARD, ALWAYS FORWARD.

“In a way, it was good because in each time, Wimmer’s plan grew and changed,” Father Paul explained. “It sharpened to the point where his final request wasn’t to have a seminary in Germany to educate priests to send over, but rather to actually establish a monastery in the U.S. that would train priests to minister to the German Catholics in the area.”

With his appeals to the Abbot yielding little, Wimmer published an anonymous article in the Augsburger Postzeitung on November 8, 1845, an article known today as the Foundational Charter of the Order in America.

Wimmer’s article focused on three areas: the plight of German-speaking Catholics in the United States, the good work of the missionaries there, and most importantly, what he felt was the missing piece.

“The third part was that the solution Wimmer saw was precisely a Benedictine monastery,” notes Father Paul. “That the life and culture and work of monks met the need in the most particular way. The Dark Ages had a need, Medieval times had a need, the Reformation had a need, and now in this time of missionary work, there was another need.

“The Benedictine ideal of stability could be adapted to this new world, this mission territory, where a monastery in the U.S. would provide this

stable home of monks. That when people needed their children to be baptized or they needed to bury the dead or receive the sacraments and even more, that they would need to be educated, the monks would always be there.”

Wimmer’s article caught the attention of the King, leaving Abbot Gregory with little choice but to let him go.

In September 1846, after a 28-day boat voyage, Wimmer and 18 others arrived in New York before moving to Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh Bishop Michael O’Connor gifted land in the Laurel Highlands, and at age 37, Wimmer established Saint Vincent as the first Benedictine Monastery in the United States.

In 1849, several young men from the town of St. Marys, arrived at Saint Vincent. As Father Paul explains, “their priest sent them to here and said ‘Father Boniface Wimmer is a good man, and he will take care of you.’ They wanted to go to college. They wanted to be doctors, accountants, and lawyers.”

And go to college they would, with the classical curriculum studied by seminarians serving as the model.

Wimmer and the Benedictines at Saint Vincent adapted to the needs of the community, and the great tradition of Benedictine education in the United States had begun.

WIMMER AND THE BENEDICTINES AT SAINT VINCENT ADAPTED TO

THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY, AND THE GREAT TRADITION OF

BENEDICTINE EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES HAD BEGUN.

Wimmer dreamed not only of establishing schools for Benedictine study, but of a magnificent church to serve as a worthy place of worship on the Saint Vincent College campus. This dream would begin to take shape in 1891, four years after Wimmer’s death. Following a Solemn High Mass on December 21, 1891, ground was broken for what is today the Saint Vincent Basilica. Monks working on the grounds produced between 12,000 to 15,000 bricks per day, and stone was quarried nearby at Donohoe Station and the Kuhn’s farm.

The designer was the renowned GermanAmerican architect William Schickel, whose works also include Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Church in Rochester, New York, Manhattan’s Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Boston.

The cornerstone was set in October 1892, but a pause in construction from 1893 to 1895 delayed the completion of the Church until 1905. On August 24, 1905, on the 50th anniversary of the elevation of Saint Vincent to an abbey, Bishop J.F. Regis Canevin led the consecration of the Church.

“A church is not simply a building,” noted thenArchabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, in the 2005 book, The Saint Vincent Basilica, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, One Hundred Years, edited by Kimberly A. OpatkaMetzgar. “It possesses a sacramental character whereby it becomes the visible means of personal faith—encounters with the Divine Presence. In the liturgy for the dedication of a church, we read: ‘We thank you now for this house of prayer in which you bless your family as we come to you on pilgrimage’.”

For more than a century, this archabbey church, now a Basilica, has stood as a symbol of God’s presence, the enduring legacy of Boniface Wimmer, and the heart of Saint Vincent.

In the winter of 1963, college students were enjoying Christmas break on an icy January morning that would rattle the Saint Vincent community.

“I was a sophomore in college,” noted Brother Norman Hipps, an alumnus who would serve as the 17th president of the College. “I was with my brother in Pittsburgh. My brother was a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon. I was staying at his place when my classmate called and said, ‘Turn the television on. Saint Vincent’s on fire!’”

It was Monday, January 28, 1963, and it was bitterly cold. A blizzard hit the area over the weekend, and snow and ice covered the double quadrangle of buildings that served as the center of activity for the College, prep school, seminary, and monastery.

A prep school student, Ronald Palenski of Alexandria, Virginia, was the first to raise concern when he asked Father Colman McFadden during morning study hall if there was a chimney in the Benedict Hall biology lab.

“My heart almost stopped,” Frater Colman later recounted, “because I knew there wasn’t.”

The smoke Palenski spotted wasn’t coming from a chimney; it was coming from the roof.

Students were evacuated quickly. Several priests attempted to douse the flames with extinguishers, but it was too late. Father Ferdinand Lillig, Saint Vincent fire warden, sprang into action. Fire companies from Latrobe and Greensburg were called. As the firefight continued, 29 additional companies joined in the response.

“The fire got out of control because it was on a terribly cold day and when they hooked up the hoses, the water force was limited,” said Brother Norman. “It froze. They had to run hoses down to the monastery reservoir and break through the ice.”

It would take hours to bring the fire, the cause of which was determined to be faulty wiring, under control, and firefighters remained on the scene for days. No serious injuries or fatalities were reported, but the damage was significant.

While the fire spread quickly through the interconnected buildings, the Basilica was spared.

Latrobe Fire Chief Earl Dalton offered a detailed account in a letter to the Archabbey Prior, closing by writing: “Take care, don’t worry, a bigger and better Saint Vincent is in the making.”

Nearly 50 years later, Brother Norman echoed that sentiment.

“Buildings were destroyed. The church that was constructed in 1835 before Boniface Wimmer came was destroyed. The bell tower that was an iconic symbol. But, you know, it seemed to open things up. The new monastery building was constructed, and then the science center in 1969. It just seemed to expand what before seemed to be a much more enclosed space.”

In the wake of a devastating fire, the Saint Vincent community would rally and rebuild.

Charred buildings release plumes of smoke following the fire of 1963.

LORETTA SCALZITTI, C’83

For more than a century, Saint Vincent provided men with an education rooted in Benedictine tradition. By 1977, however, College administrators recognized the importance of welcoming women into the Saint Vincent community.

Although it would take several years of planning before Saint Vincent welcomed its first cohort of women, the first degree awarded to a woman by Saint Vincent came sooner.

Loretta Scalzitti was taking evening courses at another institution but wasn’t satisfied. Her boss, a Saint Vincent alumnus, thought she’d do better in another setting. “He said ‘How about starting to take accounting classes at Saint Vincent?’” remarked Scalzitti. “He said ‘I think you’d do well there.’ So I did.” Before the College was fully coeducational, Scalzitti was one of only a few women taking courses; in most of her classes, in fact, she was the only woman. “Other than my accounting-required core classes, I took a lot of electives. I really didn’t think when I started I was going for a degree until I had so many credits, and I finally figured, ‘Okay, let’s go for it.’”

There was some debate over whether Scalzitti could receive a degree from Saint Vincent prior to the official transition to coeducation, but a call from Brother Norman let her know she would in fact be the College’s first female graduate. Unfortunately, she didn’t walk at Commencement: she had an important meeting at work that day.

Saint Vincent officially became coeducational in the Fall of 1983, and the change was welcomed.

“I was attending Seton Hill, but my major business classes were at Saint Vincent,” said Jan Albright, C’84. “That was the way it worked back then. I was going to get a great business education from SVC, but it would have a Seton Hill diploma on it. So, when Saint Vincent announced it was going coed, I was probably the first person to apply.”

Like Scalzitti, Albright looks back fondly: “I gained self-esteem and self-confidence at Saint Vincent. In many of my business classes I was the only female. It prepared me for the business world in the ‘80s.”

Albright graduated with a business finance degree. Her career includes a position as senior vice president of Wachovia Bank, working with small businesses and start-ups, and working with Project Scientist, a non-profit that encourages and engages young girls in STEM fields, carrying the opportunities she experienced at Saint Vincent forward.

Jerome Oetgen’s Always Forward: Saint Vincent Archabbey 1949-2020 chronicles the recent history of Saint Vincent, including the election of Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, who Oetgen refers to as “The Second Founder.” Serving as archabbot from 1991 to 2020, Archabbot Douglas would oversee major developments that propelled Saint Vincent into the 21st century.

Shortly after his election, Archabbot Douglas told the community, “We do not know what 1996 or the year 2000 will bring. We do not know what tomorrow will bring. Yet we live in hope. For Saint Benedict, hope is the hallmark of the monk.”

A two-and-a-half-year celebration beginning in 1994 marked the College’s 150th anniversary. The commemoration began with a service in the Basilica attended by over a thousand people, including Duke Max of Bavaria and Latrobe native Fred Rogers. The Basilica itself underwent an extensive restoration completed in time for the closing ceremony on December 10, 1996.

But construction on the Saint Vincent campus during Archabbot Douglas’ abbacy wasn’t limited to the Basilica.

Kennedy Hall, later renamed the Robert S. Carey Student Center, received a new pool, bookstore, student lounge, and snack bar, as well as renovations to its athletic facilities and offices, new locker rooms, a fitness center, and new student chapel.

Rooney Hall, named after Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney, Sr., was built in 1995 for the dual purpose of housing students during the academic year and the Steelers during training camp. The neighboring Saint Benedict Hall was constructed a few years later. The new residence halls overlook Chuck Noll Field and a 1,000plus seat grandstand and press box, which were constructed in 2007.

The Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve, named for the late wife of golf legend Arnold Palmer, was established as a home to gardens, wetlands, and an environmental learning center, while the Fred

M. Rogers Center was constructed as a conference center and home to the Fred Rogers Institute, including an archive of Rogers’ writings, personal effects, TV props, and puppets.

Other projects include the construction of the Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion in 2014 and an extensive expansion and modernization of the library, now known as the Latimer Family Library.

The skyline of Saint Vincent was also altered. In 2000, inspired by William Schickel’s 1891 design, two new 55-foot spires were installed atop the Basilica, each adorned with a 10-foot cross.

In 2020, having reached age 75, Archabbot Douglas announced his retirement. Oetgen would write, “the consensus among those who knew Saint Vincent well was that Archabbot Douglas’ leadership had transformed for the better the institution and the community that comprised it.”

In June 2020, Father Martin de Porres Bartel was elected as the 12th archabbot of Saint Vincent. One hundred and seventy-five years after Wimmer’s journey across the Atlantic, Archabbot Martin would guide Saint Vincent through the uncharted waters of a pandemic—and beyond.

“The life of man is a struggle on earth. But without a cross, without a struggle, we get nowhere,” wrote Wimmer. “The victory will be ours if we continue our efforts courageously, even when at times they appear futile.”

The story of Saint Vincent is one of determination: facing challenges with courage, finding opportunity in the face of adversity. This determination guided Wimmer to America in 1846, and it guides Saint Vincent still.

“Today, our time, our age, our culture needs the stability of Benedictine monasticism more than ever,” noted Father Paul. “Stability that offers people a security in spirit and in belonging, offers a place where people can come to pray and learn. That people can become resilient because they tap into the stability of this 1,500-year-old establishment, and that they can stand strong because they belong to something that is that old and that strong and that stable. That’s what Saint Vincent can do for society today.” ♦

From top: Herman and Sis Dupré Science Pavilion, Rooney Hall, Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve, and Fred M. Rogers Center.