| Centennial
celebration finale is Sunday
The Benedictine Sisters of Cottonwood invite the public to join them August 16, 1:30 pm, at the Monastery of St. Gertrude, to celebrate the Grand Finale of their centennial year – “1909-2009: Celebrating 100 Years ‘at Home’ in Idaho.” The celebration will begin with an outdoor Mass of Thanksgiving at which Bishop Michael Driscoll, Boise, will preside. The Cottonwood Community Choir will lead the music during Mass. A reception with live music and refreshments will be held on the monastery lawn following Mass and visitors will have the opportunity to tour Spirit Center and visit the Historical Museum at St. Gertrude and the Book and Gift Shop. The event will be held indoors in inclement weather. The centennial year has been a time for the sisters and their friends to honor the people and the story that have brought them to the present. They remember Mother Johanna Zumstein and the sisters who came to the United States from Europe, and Mother Hildegard Vogler, who moved her office from St. Scholastica’s Convent in Colton, Washington, to St. Gertrude’s on April 26, 1909, establishing the motherhouse in Cottonwood. Eleven subsequent prioresses are remembered for having answered the needs of their times by starting schools, building hospitals and providing social services, pastoral ministry, spirituality programs, leadership in communities across the region. As Sister Clarissa Goeckner, prioress, reflects upon and rejoices in the faith, courage, generosity and pioneering spirit that inspired our foremothers, she proclaims her hope that their “vision, heroism, ingenuity, faith and spirit of service will continue to be with us.” The Grand Finale event is hosted in gratitude for the Sisters’ families, former members, St. Gertrude’s Academy alumni and other students, patients, oblates, volunteers, co-workers and other friends, especially those on the Camas Prairie whose families are so much a part of the history of the monastery. All are invited to join the Sisters on the front lawn at the Monastery of St. Gertrude on August 16, at 1:30 pm, as they mark the end of the year-long commemoration of their centennial. For information, call 962-3224, e-mail monastery@stgertrudes.org or visit www.StGertrudes.org. Monastery of St. Gertrude – 100th Anniversary From August 2008 until August 2009, the sisters of the Monastery of St. Gertrude are celebrating 100 years “at home” in Idaho. During the year and as a monthly feature, the Historical Museum at St. Gertrude will be contributing a feature article entitled “100 Years Ago This Month” for the Cottonwood Chronicle. We hope you enjoy this historical venture. We welcome your comments. (Compiled by Sister Bernice Wessels, O.S.B.) Local News of the Benedictine Sisters (The following news items are from The Echo of St. Gertrude’s) At the dedication, the two side altars held two cases of relics which were sent to the Monastery from the nuns of Sarnen, Switzerland. On the main altar there was a beautiful ciborium from Fulda, Germany. Many of the sisters participated from the choir balcony, and the congregation was crowded on benches and chairs below since the choir stalls were not yet in place. (The following news items are from the Camas Prairie Chronicle, F. S. Wimer, Editor and Proprietor) M. F. Fuchs has assumed the temporary management of the Cottonwood Mercantile Company store. He will be there until a competent man is secured to take his place. The big steam shovel and a large force of men were brought up to the gravel pit south of Ferdinand. They will be working on re-ballasting the railroad track from Reubens to Grangeville. S. and N. Kurdy moved their merchandise into the new store building and will soon have a sizable amount of staples on display. They have plenty room and when they get stocked up they will have one of the largest supplies of goods in town. U.S. issues 1st Lincoln penny SOS is first used by an American ship, Arapahoe, off Cape Hatteras, NC. Ridgefield, a small town in the state of Washington, was founded. Indianapolis 500 race track opens and the first event is held at the Motor Speedway. Mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River. Welshman Fred ‘Tenby’ Davies beats Irishman Bert Day at Pontypridd to become world champion over the half-mile distance run. From August 22 to August 29, 1909, 22 of the world's leading aviators met at a racetrack on the Betheny Plain outside Rheims, France, to compete in the first organized international air meet. Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal. British SS Waratah disappears on its route from Sydney to London, 300 on board and missing. On August 26, 1909, the First National Conservation Congress, organized by the Washington Conservation Association in response to the Report of the National Conservation Commission issued in January 1909, opens at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on the University of Washington campus. The Goudi coup was a military coup d'état that took place in Greece on the night of 28 August 1909, starting at the barracks in Goudi, a neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Athens. The coup was a pivotal event in modern Greek history, as it led to the arrival of Eleftherios Venizelos in Greece and his eventual appointment as Prime Minister. At one stroke, this put an end to the old political system, and ushered a new period. Henceforth and for several decades, Greek political life would be dominated by two opposing forces: liberal, republican Venizelism and conservative, monarchist anti-Venizelism. A.H. Latham of France sets world airplane altitude record of 155 m - World's first air race held in Rheims France. Glenn Curtiss (USA) wins. The United States Army Signal Corp Division purchases the world's first military airplane. They buy the Wright Military Flyer from the Wright Brothers. Great Western Railway begins using its Fishguard terminus in Wales for boat trains in connection with the Cunard steamships on Atlantic routes as a first port of call. Canadian Pacific Railway opens the Spiral Tunnels to traffic on the line through Kicking Horse Pass. Mel Hein – American football player Lucille Ricksen – American actress Glenn Cunningham - runner Euclides da Cunha –Brazilian writer/sociologist |
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