St. Fidelis: A History of Memories
Our 2024 St. Fidelis Golf & Alumni Fest
Our Capuchin Classic Golf Outing was held on Friday, August 2, 2024, at Birdsfoot Golf Club in Freeport, PA. Since its beginning in 1994, the Outing has been a great supporter of our Capuchin Development Center while also nurturing relationships that have endured throughout the decades.
Although the Outing has been around for 30 years, this is the 10th year that the proceeds from the event have benefitted the Fr. Bill Wiethorn Scholarship Fund which helps to support the education and formation of our friars at the various levels of their lives as Capuchins: our Postulants in Philadelphia, PA; our Novices in Santa Ynez, CA; and our friar students in Washington, DC.
In these last 10 years, because of the hard work of David Schaffner (left, SFS ’81), Gina Pizzonia, Andria DeVit, our office staffs, and the invaluable contributions of volunteers, participants and supporters, we’ve managed to raise $250,000! As Dave says: "None of which could’ve been raised without all of the people that have shown up and donated to the cause.”
The "German Nuns" - Food, Charity, Devotion & Gratitude
May 28, 1952
Sisters Offer Shining Example of Cheerful Service;
Cooking, Sewing, Laundering Are Part of Daily Routine
By Peter O’Donnell
With faces wreathed in smiles while doing the most unenviable chores, our eight efficient Franciscan Sisters are shining examples of true handmaids of the Lord. Although cooking and laundering for 200 students, priests, and brothers is no easy task, never is there a sad face among these cheerful servants of God.
At the request of the Conventual Franciscans in 1929, five Servants of the the Holy Infant Jesus left their mother house in Germany and sailed for America. Their first home was in Staten Island, New York. In 1934, reinforced by the arrival of more Sisters from Germany, the Order was able to comply with the request of Father Sigmund Cratz, then Capuchin Provincial, that it staff the seminary kitchen and laundry.
June Memories: Meissner (1966), Caringola (1969), Wits & Nehrus
We've got some memories from the Fidelian from June 1966 and June 1969:
Mr. Meissner and Mr. Caringola were highlighted
at the end of their second and first years of teaching,
and two other articles seemed too hard to resist sharing. Nehrus??
Mr. Meissner Makes Mark On School As Teacher & Coach
by Jim Jones
Two years ago Mr. Meissner came to St. Fidelis Seminary mainly as an Algebra and Geometry teacher for the sophomores and juniors. Today Mr. Meissner has become a prominent and well-liked member of the faculty.
The Grandfather Ticks Away
Old Grandfather Starts Ticking
Again After Minor Surgery
FIDELIAN: March 10, 1972
After a silence of almost two years, our 66-year-old grand father clock is once again ticking and tocking, chiming and striking, in the chapel library corridor where it has stood and grown old for the past 33 years.
The clock, manufactured in Germany in 1906, was given to the seminary in 1939 by two alumni, Msgr. Andrew J. Pauley, rector emeritius of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Pittsburgh, and the late Father Wendel Wuenstel, former pastor of St. Henry’s Church, Mt. Oliver. They bought the clock when the art treasures of the former Mellon Estate were auctioned in 1938 and commissioned jeweler Frank Becker of Pittsburgh to repair and restore it.
March 1971: That Championship Season
In sports its not easy to be the team that wins its last game of the year and walks off with a championship but that’s exactly what happened on March 20,1971, when the St. Fidelis Falcons defeated WBS St. Nicholas 59-52 in Latrobe, PA.
Coach Jim Meissner knew they had a good team. After all they had played together since they were Freshman. They had size and rebounding, they had scoring, they had passing, and they had an unselfish bond among them. The season would tell just how good of a team they really were as they finished 20-4 for the season and won the P.C.C.I.A State Championship.
Join us as we “take a walk” through that season in pictures and word . . . And thanks to Jim Freeman ('71) for preserving the awesome video of the game!
___________________
St. Fidelis Wins Western
PCIAA ‘C’ Title, 68-66
Falcons Stage Late Ralley
to Decision Wilkes Barre, 59-52
Herman Quintet Outhits Cards
in Final Two Minutes, 10-2
By MIKE SURKALO Eagle Sports Editor
March 22, 1971
©1971, Butler Eagle, Butler, PA
Champions are made of superior stock, sturdy in performance and unwithering in the face of defeat.
The Falcons of St. Fidelis dealt in these superlatives Saturday night [March 20, 1971] at St. Vincent College by winning the PCIAA Class C basketball title, 59-52.
Trailing by one point with exactly two minutes to play, 50-49, coach Jim Meissner’s force outscored rival Wilkes Barre St. Nicholas, 10-2, under pressure conditions to l!take it all.”
If there had to be a No. 1 Happy Man in the audience, it was Meissner, guiding light behind the basketball program at St. Fidelis. But when this fact was mentioned by a close observer of the game, the Falcon mentor easily shrugged off the well-intended message and replied, “No, this was never a one man operation, so many people contributed to make this all possible, particularly Rich Caringola, our assistant coach, and Father Haas, with the JVs. They provided the background and basics.”
Meissner again gave thanks for senior guard Oscar Miller in keeping the Falcons a solid unit under fire and for his junior bench of Mike Catalano, who again contributed greatly. “Really, there’s no way to single out an individual.”
March 15, 1938: Heroes amid the Flames of the Fire
_____________"The Fire"__________
I often get asked about "the fire." It’s an event so significant in the history of St. Fidelis that, when it’s talked about, it’s just called THE Fire. So when we talked about setting up the History of Memories pages and went through some of the archives, it was clear what should be the first post.
Besides, the anniversary is in March. How's this for info: this is the 84th anniversary of the event, and the 2 student heroes who saved the day (and lots of lives!) would be 100 years old this year!
Some quick "fire facts":
Date: March 16, 1938
Cause: Unknown
Estimated Damage (in 1938 dollars): $300,000.00
Fire Companies: 4 volunteers fire deptments battled the blaze
Students evacuated: 66
Although the walls around the statue of St. Fidelis were burnt the statue itself was unharmed.