Archives Display: Ade Bethune

Have you ever seen or heard of the works of Ade Bethune?  In honor of Pope Francis declaring 2016 a Holy Year of Mercy the archives are displaying a variety of artwork by Ade Bethune depicting the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy and Spiritual Works of Mercy.  Ade Bethune was a world-renowned liturgical artist and social activist. Ms. Bethune was especially talented at drawing Biblical scenes and saints.  Her drawings normally would tend to be ordinary people doing chores and performing acts of mercy.  Later on in her life Ade Bethune was asked to do pieces for churches such as creating crucifixes, statues, stained glass and designing churches.

The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy are:

1.       To feed the hungry

2.       Give drink to the thirsty

3.       Shelter the homeless

4.       Visit the sick

5.       Visit the prisoners

6.       Bury the dead

7.       Give alms to the poor
 




The display includes both cards and drawings depicting the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy and two drawings of Spiritual Works of Mercy.  There are also cards of St. Peter Claver, St. Margaret and St. Vincent de Paul.  Ade Bethune was responsible for creating all of the blocks that were used to create these images and carved some from wood, while others were made of metals such as zinc and copper.

Ms. Bethune also did many works with churches and stained glass windows.  The works currently on display are a hand drawing of St. Theresa and a depiction of the completed window.  The display also features her sketches for the Precious Blood Monastery in Brooklyn, New York which was done in the late 1930's.

For more information on the history of St. Catherine University, visit the Archives and Special Collections online or in person in Room 62 in the lower level of the Library; open Monday-Friday from 9:30-4:30

New in the Archives: Cold War Sanitation Kit

Katies are always prepared for what ever strikes next and the Cold War was no exception.The St. Kate's campus was a fallout shelter for students and the surrounding neighborhoods. Look around campus and you'll see the weathered metal signs on Whitby, the Visual Arts Building and most other buildings. In the spirit of Katie preparedness, the reading room of the Archives and Special Collections features some items from the fallout shelters in a new display including a new addition to our collection: a sanitation kit!

The fallout shelters had to be prepared for an nuclear attack at any moment, and supplies were provided by the Civil Defense Department and included food, water, medicine, and sanitation kits.

The Archives and Special Collections recently acquired an original sanitation kit, left over from the fallout shelters on campus. The kit includes everything necessary to create a functioning bathroom for 50 people. The barrel itself is the body of the toilet and would have a plastic liner installed before use, a toilet seat would be added as the final touch. The kit comes with rolls of toilet paper but recommends that the toilet paper is used sparingly and divided among the group.

When the barrel is full there are brief instructions for disposal. The kit would just stay in the shelter until the all clear is given and people can move out of the fallout shelter and back into their homes. One can suppose that living in a fallout shelter you would have bigger problems and concerns than a cardboard toilet.

The display includes maps showing the fallout shelter in the Whitby basement and a map of St. Paul with all fallout shelters marked. There is also a letter to Mother Antoine informing her that St. Kate's will become a casualty and mass care center in the event of a nuclear attack. The display includes a small card with instructions in the event of a nuclear attack, what you should do depending on where you are, and if the attack came with warning or not. The card stresses to stay put until the all clear.

For more information on the history of St. Catherine University, visit the Archives and Special Collections online or in person in Room 62 in the lower level of the Library; open Monday-Friday from 9:30-4:30

New in the Archives: The Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities

Did you know that College of St. Catherine alumni were instrumental in establishing interracial justice in the Twin Cities during the 1950s and 1960s?

The Archives and Special Collections recently acquired organizational records of the Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities (CICTC). The CICTC was started in the spring of 1958 by several young people in the local community. Troubled by segregation and the struggles of minority groups in the United States, the group based its mission on “striving to apply Catholic principles on racial matters and racial problems faced by the local communities".

The collection was donated by Patricia Parlin Caponi, a 1952 graduate of the College of St. Catherine. She was a founding member of the organization, serving as Secretary from 1958-1959. A 1959 member list shows the organization had over 100 members, including photographer Gordon Parks and a large constituency of nuns, priests, and other clergy. 

Notable CICTC events included speakers on race relations, a yearly Human Rights Workshop, and community outreach. In fact, the first CICTC Human Rights Workshop was held on our campus with free attendance for students. You can read the full article in the October 14, 1959 issue of The Wheel.

  

Along with local events, the group partnered with the Friendship House in Chicago, Illinois. The Friendship House had created a Home Visit Program in which Caucasian participants would visit Black homes, encouraging positive dialogue and understanding between the races.

Thanks to the efforts of Patricia Parlin Caponi, her sister, Nancy Parlin, and other alumnae, the Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities was able to make a positive impact during the turbulent times of the late 1950s – mid-1960s. One more reason to be proud to be a Katie!

Archives Display: Victorian Valentines

Valentine's Day is drawing near--have you gotten your valentine a card yet? If not, maybe you can draw some inspiration from these gems from the Victorian period! The Victorian Valentine Collection was donated to the St. Catherine University Archives and Special Collections by Helen Schoenheider in 1988. Schoenheider attended St. Kate's from 1924 to 1925. These early cards of love date all the way back to 1840! The collection has over 100 valentines dating all the way back to 1840! Some are even just for friends.

The collection contains the work of numerous artists such as Louis Prang (1824-1909), who was a German immigrant that settled in Boston in 1850. He was known as the "father of the American Christmas card" after he introduced Christmas cards to the American market in 1875.

Other notable artists and companies within the collection include Raphael Tuck & Co., McLaughton, Esther Howland, and George C. Whitney Manufacturing Company. Pictured below is a German mechanical card. They were called mechanical because of the unique way they popped out to the viewer. This particular card was made somewhere between 1890 and 1910, when they were extremely popular.





To see more Victorian valentines, visit the February display in the St. Kate's library, which can be found just behind and to the left of the circulation desk.

For more information on the history of St. Catherine University, visit the Archives and Special Collections online or in person in Room 062 in the lower level of the Library; open Monday-Friday from 9:30-4:30

Found in the Archives: Chemistry Classroom Photograph

February 7th is National Periodic Table Day, an unofficial holiday celebrating the publication of the first table of the elements on February 7, 1863.

The Archives and Special Collections has this picture of Whitby Hall room 121, which was used as a chemistry classroom.

The photograph, taken around 1918, shows a poster of the periodic table hanging on the wall to the left. The poster is enlarged below.

The text underneath the poster's title indicates the table is "according to Mendeleev . . . revised and corrected to 1910 by Dr F W Clarke."  The periodical table St. Kate's students learned in the early 19th century, with its 70 elements arranged into 8 groups and 12 series, is much simpler than the 118-element table chemistry students use today.

Found In the Archives: College of St. Thomas Panty Raid Letter

Ahhh...the good old days. Dating back to the late 1940s, a panty raid was a college prank in which large groups of male students attempted to invade the dorms of female students and steal their undergarments as the trophies of a successful raid.

Considered the first post-World War II college craze, the panty raid originated in 1949 at Illinois's Augustana College, eventually sweeping through colleges in the United States. For many college students, this prank was carried out as a humorous protest against dormitory curfews and and restrictions placed on male visitors.

Letter from Sister Marie James, CSC Dean of students, 1973

According to a letter we found in the 1972-1973 College Association Annual Reports, a group of students from the University of St. Thomas (at the time, College of St. Thomas) were successful in their raid, however this victory came with a price.

In the letter, Sister Marie James, CSC Dean of Students, itemizes the expenses incurred during the panty raid. The total cost is $33.00, including 2 emergency exit glasses ($2) and one hour to check out damage ($6). She also reiterates the severity of the prank, reminding the St. Thomas students that "... an entry such as you made the other night adds additional costs which really, in justice, should be born by you boys."

By the mid-1970s, the fad had run its course and we suspect that this was the last time a panty raid was carried out by our neighbors from St. Thomas. Fortunately, the relationship between our schools remains strong, even after a prank like this!

Until 1977, St. Thomas was an all-male campus with St. Kate’s students taking on the role of cheerleaders and homecoming queens. This, combined with the proximity of our campuses, organized social events, and a shared commitment to Catholic education, make the history between our two campuses unique.

This letter is one of many unique items you will find in our Archives! Learn more about the history of St. Catherine University online and in person in Room 62 of the Library, open Monday - Friday from 9:30-4:30.

Found In the Archives: Marie Curie Letter

In honor of the announcement of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly awarded to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich, and Aziz Sancar "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair," the St. Catherine University Archives contains a 1933 letter written by Mme. Marie Curie, inviting Sister Antonius Kennelly to visit her famous laboratory in Paris.

Letter from Marie Curie, April 4, 1933

Here is a translation of the letter:

Sir,
It goes without saying that S. Antonius Kennelly will receive a warm welcome to my laboratory and that she will be able to visit it. However, I am not sure to be in Paris at the particular time when she is supposed to come, and in that event, I will have my daughter Mme. Irene Curie-Joliot welcome her for me.
Best wishes,
M. Curie

In case your brain is overloaded from everything else you're studying this semester, here is a crash course in why this is so exciting! In 1898, Mme. Curie and her husband Pierre discovered radium and were awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics, making Mme. Curie the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

After her husband's death in 1906, Mme. Curie continued to devote her life's work to the study of radium. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity. In later years, she was assisted by her daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie, in her radioactivity laboratory in Paris. Following in her parents' footsteps, Irene and her husband, Frederic Joliot, won the 1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

Sister Antonius was assigned the study of chemistry to fill a need for a chemistry assistant at the College of St. Catherine, but she grew to love and excel in the field. She received her BA in chemistry and language from St. Catherine in 1926 and her MA in chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1929. Encouraged by College of St. Catherine President Sister Antonia McHugh, Sister Antonius earned her Ph.D. from the University of Munich, Germany in 1933. In Germany she studied under Dr. Heinrich Otto Wieland, who won the 1927 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

It was during this time that Sister Antonius requested to visit Mme. Curie's laboratory in Paris. As she recounted in a 1957 speech, this request was granted by the French National Director of Education in 1933. During the visit, Sister Antonius was given a tour of the facility by Irene Joliot-Curie. The visit ended with a meeting of Mme. Curie herself, who Sister Antonius described as a "quiet little lady in black". It goes without saying that this encounter was one of Sister Antonia's prized memories, as she described how her "heart went still at the opportunity to meet this remarkable woman".

After she returned from her studies in Europe, Sister Antonius continued her career at the College of St. Catherine, first as faculty in the Chemistry Department and later serving as the third President of the College from 1943-1949.

This letter is one of many unique items you will find in our Archives and an example of the rich history of the community of women who founded our campus and continue to inspire us.  Learn more about the history of St. Catherine University online and in person in Room 62 of the Library, open Monday - Friday from 9:30-4:30.

October is American Archives Month!

Did you know that October is American Archives Month? Visit our archives display in the CDC atrium October 5-16 and discover unique pieces of St. Kate’s 110-year history!  We'll also be tabling October 13th.

Have you ever wondered what a gym uniform looked like in the 1940s? The yoga pants and leggings we wear today would definitely shock our fellow Katies!

Now we can access our student transcripts with the click of a button. Take a look at one student's paper transcript booklet from the early 1900s. Anyone interested in taking a course called Domestic Science?

 

Feeling groovy? Pages of a yearbook from 1973 will show you the differences (and similarities) between us and the women who called St. Kate's home over 40 years ago.

Illustration from La Concha, 1973

From recent history, we have Dew Drop Bop memorabilia and a DVD of Spring 2014 Commencement. Just think, some day your photos and memories may be a part of the St. Catherine University Archives!

Watch Twitter and Facebook for more highlights of St. Kate's history during October. For more information on the history of St. Catherine University, visit the Archives online or in person in Room 62 of the Library, open Monday- Friday from 9:30-4:30.

It's #TBT time

We love posting #TBT pictures because we have so many great historical pictures in our Archives. Our #TBT picture this week? This great snapshot of a St. Kate's championship basketball team from the 1920s.

You can search through our St. Kate's digital collections to find great items, too. On the Archives website, just look at the Online Resources. We have photography collections, St. Kate's historical publications (like old Annual Reports), past papers of the St. Kate's presidents, and so much more.

If you want more help navigating the Archives, just ask - archives@stkate.edu.

Archives Photographs Part of Digital Public Library of America

Photographs from the Archives that were contributed to Minnesota Reflections, a project of the Minnesota Digital Library, are now part of the Digital Public Library of America.  A total of 59 images from St. Catherine were added to the DPLA site.

View St. Kate's photographs on DPLA

The Digital Public Library of America brings together resources from across the country into an online portal for discovery and use. It also encourages the development of apps that provide creative ways to search and visualize the items contained in the DPLA.

Explore all 505 photographs from the Archives on the St. Catherine Digital Collections

Archives Display: May Festivities

This month's display features items from St. Kate's Archives relating to May Fête and Dew Drop Bop. Throughout St. Kate’s history, students have marked the passage of the academic year and the arrival of spring with a festival held in May.

Originally called Whoopee Day, the tradition was begun in 1938.  From 1939-1986, students celebrated it as May Fête, an annual event similar to May Day. An article in the April 24, 1947 Wheel described it this way:

For freshmen who have heard much talk and seen little action, May Fete is the school's contribution to Living A Life of Confusion and most of the planning is done behind locked doors . . . witness the soph skit and senior Varsity Show.

The May Fête revelry included a May pole dance (with the lamp post located inside the campus gate on Randolph Avenue serving as the May pole). Students gathered along the streets of campus to watch a parade in which Freshmen dressed in thematic costumes (often relating to their studies or extracurricular interests), drove cars that were decorated with balloons, flowers and other adornments. In the afternoon, Katies enjoyed the chance to take canoe rides on Dew Drop Pond. May Fête activities concluded with a play performed in honor of the senior class.

Students perform a May Pole dance.

In addition to providing fun, one of the purposes was to raise funds for a major project on the campus.  The first project was converting a former greenhouse into an addition to the student tea room in Whitby.  The second was to raise enough money to erect a shrine to Our Lady of Peace. It took 5 years, but the Shrine was dedicated in 1943.  The statue still stands on campus, now located on the south side of the CDC.

Since 1987, the annual May celebration has been known as the Dew Drop Bop. Whereas May Fête involved pageantry and performances such as a parade and a play, the Dew Drop Bop is similar to a modern day carnival held on the Quad.  The event features rides, games, crafts, live music, and food. Dew Drop Bop is an opportunity for students to socialize and celebrate the end of another academic year. True to its name, the Dew Drop Bop culminates with a dance held in the evening.

This display will be on view during the month of May on the main level of the St. Paul Library, in the case in front of the video of the carrels. Stop by to learn more!

This Week in St. Kate's History: May 4th Matters

May 9, 1970 Pioneer Press headline

On May 4, 1970 four students of Kent State University were fatally shot and nine were wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen. Today we remember our fallen peers and the terrible loss of life that day 45 years ago.

Following the shootings, St. Kate's students, staff, and faculty joined together with more than 1,250 other universities to stand in solidarity with Kent State.

Students voted 510-410 against a general social and academic strike. But 110 students who voted against the strike still wanted some form of positive action. This feeling, combined with the enthusiasm of the 410 students supporting a strike, caused the student government to call for prayers, letters to Congress, and cancellation of all social events.  The cancellations included May Fete, the end of year celebration we now call Dew Drop Bop.

On May 9, 1970 many St. Kate's students and faculty marched from campus to the Capitol steps--joining protesters from 9 other schools along the way.  Together Archbishop Leo Byrne and Governor Harold LeVander declared Sunday, May 10 a day of prayer for those at Kent State and everyone affected by the war.

Classes continued as scheduled, although many discussions centered around what happened at Kent State. While May Fete was cancelled, booths were still set up.  But instead of the usual food and games, they provided students phone numbers and addresses of congressmen.

Students also held prayer vigils in the chapel, participated in 36 and 60 hour fasts, and gathered signatures from the Highland Park area for a petition calling for the removal of American troops in Cambodia.

Read the full article about St. Kate's students and their response to Kent State on the Digital Collections. To learn more about other institutions who protested the shootings at Kent State search #May4Matters on Twitter or Facebook and visit the photo website.

Earth Day Archives Display

In honor of Earth Day, April 22, this month’s display highlights the work of Mel Knapton, groundskeeper at St. Kate’s from 1967 - 1976. Known as “Mr. Green Thumbs,” Knapton was recognized for his efforts in making St. Kate’s one of the most beautiful urban campuses in the nation. In addition, he was a pioneer of ecological and sustainable practices in landscape gardening long before these were widely used.

Knapton was awarded the Blue Flame Ecology Salute from the Blue Flame Gas Association in recognition of his achievements in ecology and conservation in 1972. That year, Knapton released 10,000 ladybugs on campus in an effort to control other insect pests while avoiding the use of potentially harmful pesticides.

Knapton’s work was recognized on a national level when St. Kate’s was named one of the top five best kept campuses by the Professional Grounds Management Society in 1975. He attended the awards ceremony in Williamsburg, VA and noted that St. Kate’s was the only school not on either coast that was given an award. An article was written about this achievement in St. Paul's evening newspaper, The Dispatch.

This display will be on view during the month of April on the main level of the St. Paul Library, in the case in front of the video of the carrels. Stop by to learn more!

Archives Display: Winter Wonderland

Katies have always found ways to have fun during the brutal Minnesota winter. Whether it was organizing a day for tobogganing by Dew Drop pond, or using cafeteria trays as sleds, students kept themselves entertained.

The February display features photos and other items from St. Kate’s Archives, which document these winter amusements. The photo at right shows winter carnival snow queen from 1940, Margaret Bishop, sitting atop her ice throne, with her attendants (from left to right: Beth Sheets, Kathleen Kressbach, Lucille Dickof, Mary Jane Sweeney).

These items will be on display during the month of February on the main level of the St. Paul Library, in the case in front of the video carrels. Stop in to have a look!

Adé Bethune Lecture Series: Dr. Judith Church Tydings Lecture

Adé Bethune in her later years

This week Dr. Judith Church Tydings, Ph.D., delivered the final lecture in the series on Adé Bethune, titled "Adé Bethune, Renaissance Woman: Creative Living and Aging." The lecture was part of Adé Bethune: The Power of One Person, a celebration of the centennial of Bethune's birth.

Tydings is an expert on women and aging. Her dissertation, “Old Yankee Women: Life Histories and Cultural Significance,” contains information about her experience living with Bethune. During her lecture, Tydings discussed her relationship with Bethune and her creative approach to aging.

In addition to being an active member of the community, Bethune was a pioneer in many fields, including liturgical design, graphic design and architectural criticism. Tydings listed Bethune's numerous accomplishments and stated that if she were alive today, her genius would be widely recognized. Tydings noted that Bethune is best known for her illustrations in The Catholic Worker, yet these drawings account for a relatively small percentage of her artistic output. Tydings suggested that Bethune ought to be recognized as a multi-media artist, not merely “The Catholic Worker artist.”

Tydings described her experiences living with Bethune during the final three summers of her life. She noted that despite the challenges brought about by the aging process, such as cataracts, Bethune worked ceaselessly until the end of her life. In her last years, she focused on building an intentional living community for the elderly called Harbor House in Newport, RI. Based on her belief that traditional nursing homes did not sufficiently meet people’s needs, Bethune designed Harbor House according to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which is a psychological theory that focuses on how people can achieve their full potential. Bethune's adaptation of Maslow's pyramid is shown below.

Adé Bethune's adaptation of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Archives Display: St. Kate's Veterans

Private Verla Phillips, 1944

In honor of Veterans Day, there is a display featuring items from St. Kate’s archives that were collected by Verla Phillips. Phillips served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. She was originally from Minneapolis and was deployed to Italy to serve in the Army Air Force. During her time in service, she kept a scrapbook, which she filled with keepsakes, news clippings, postcards and other mementos she collected.

Items from her scrapbook include a WAC calendar, a newsletter and a nursing pamphlet published by the American Red Cross. She also kept ticket stubs and playbills from performances she attended during her time in service. 

In addition to items collected by Phillips, the display also features articles about St. Kate’s students who served in the military. In the 1940s, several students formed the St. Catherine's Veterans' Association (known as the K-Vets), a club for students who had served in WWII. An article from The Wheel shows members of the K-Vets looking at photos and reminiscing about their military days.

Another article features a story about former service women who were pursuing an education at St. Kate’s under the G.I. Bill. One of the women featured in this article is Catherine Moore (later Sister Anne Joachim Moore). She went on to become the president of St. Mary’s Junior College, which is now the Minneapolis campus of St. Kate's.

This display will be on view for the month of November on the lower level of the St. Paul Library, in Archives and Special Collections, room 62.

St. Kate’s Alumna Apprenticed with Adé Bethune

Icon of the Mother of God and Christ the Teacher,
designed by Adé Bethune.

St. Kate’s alumna Martha Greenwood Spaans, ’63, assisted Adé Bethune in creating the Icon of the Mother of God and Christ the Teacher, currently on display at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery. Spaans spent the summer of 1964 working as an apprentice in Bethune’s Newport, RI home, where she set up a silkscreen shop in the basement. According to Spaans, “Adé showed me two large penciled icons she drew on white paper, one of Jesus and the other of the Madonna. She wanted to make them into large plaques for use in churches and chapels.

"I ordered clear birch boards to be cut to size for the plaques. I built drying racks so I could print one color at a time and all the boards would be drying in a convenient area close to where I was silk-screening. Adé and I got together at her big worktable upstairs and decided upon colors for the two icons. Adé watched for hours as I worked with her drawings and cut a stencil with an Exacto knife for each color on the icons.”

After the printing process was complete, Bethune sent Spaans to Boston to purchase gold leaf from her Russian gold dealer. Spaans applied the gold leaf to the halos and completed the icons, which were then sold through Bethune’s St. Leo Shop Bulletin. 

Bethune taught apprentices like Spaans throughout her career. She founded a workshop along with fellow Newport artists Graham Carey and John Howard Benson, which they cheekily called “John Stevens University.” Contrary to its name, John Stevens was not a university, but a working studio founded on the principle of quality craftsmanship. At John Stevens, students such as Spaans learned through hands-on apprenticeships with the artists. Bethune (whose childhood nickname was Lion) referred to the shared living and working area in her home as “Lion College” and dubbed her apprentices “cubs.”

Archives Display: Dance Cards

Many people are familiar with the phrase “my dance card is full” however there was a time when this expression could be used literally. In the past, dance cards were a fixture at formal dances at St. Kate’s and other academic institutions. The November display features a selection of dance cards from St. Kate’s Archives, as well as photos and documents related to these dances.

Dance cards from St. Kate's Archives

Not only did dance cards provide a place for students to record the names of their dance partners, they also functioned as a program for the evening’s entertainment. Information on the cards included the name of the band playing, a list of planning committee members and chaperones, and occasionally a menu (as seen on the dance card on display from St. Kate’s 1939 Junior Prom).

Several dances were held every year, each one sponsored by a different club or planning committee. These events were formal in nature and often centered around a carefully selected theme. For example, the drama club, known as the Laboratory Players, sponsored the Fall Formal Dance in 1964. The theme they selected was “On Broadway.” Documents on display from the Archives show that the club planned to decorate using a theatre marquis, with street lights and park benches, which they planned to borrow from the city of St. Paul.

The dance cards will be on display during the month of November on the main level of the St. Paul Library, in the case in front of the video carrels.

Adé Bethune Lecture: Dr. Judith Church Tydings, Nov. 18, 6:30 pm

"Adé Bethune, Renaissance Woman: Creative Living and Aging"

Tuesday, November 18
6:30 pm
Visual Arts Building lecture hall

This will be the last in a series of lectures commemorating the centennial of liturgical artist, writer, and social activist Adé Bethune (1914-2002).

Harbor House designed by Adé Bethune.

Tydings will discuss how she knew and experienced Adé Bethune during the last 10 years of her very active life. She will explore how Bethune applied Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to her life and to the design of the community housing for elders that she founded in her eighties, Harbor House in Newport, Rhode Island.

Tydings received her M.A. in History in 1959. She returned to graduate school in her sixties, earning a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland in 2010. Her dissertation, "Old Yankee Women: Life Histories and Cultural Significance," contained a chapter on Adé Bethune. As part of her doctoral research on women and aging, Dr. Tydings lived with Bethune for a time during the final years of her life.

The lectures are presented in conjunction with the exhibition Adé Bethune: The Power of One Person at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery through December 19, 2014. The exhibition draws from items in the University's Adé Bethune Collection and each speaker has used the Collection for their research.

Co–sponsors of the lecture series are: the Myser Initiative on Catholic Identity; Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Paul Province; Alumnae Council Lifelong Learning Committee and Friends of the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery.

For more information about the exhibition and lecture series see http://www.stkate.edu/gallery/14-15/ade_bethune.php

Adé Bethune and the Church of St. Paulinus

Two artworks from Adé Bethune’s first official commission as a liturgical artist are currently featured in the exhibits, Adé Bethune: The Power of One Person, on view at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery and Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality in the Carondelet Center. One of these works is a full-size cartoon for the church’s stained glass rose window, the other is a sketch of five saints, which were painted in the church sanctuary.

Bethune's sketches of saints for the Church of St. Paulinus

Bethune is highly regarded for her work as an illustrator, writer, activist, and liturgical artist. Throughout her career, she acted as a designer/consultant on nearly 300 churches all over the world. The first of these was the Church of St. Paulinus in Clairton, Pennsylvania.

In 1936, the church pastor, Father Joseph Lonergan, commissioned Bethune to create several works for the church. He had seen her illustrations depicting the Stations of the Cross, which were published in the March 1935 issue of The Catholic Worker. Father Lonergan had a strong interest in Neo-Gothic works, so Bethune was a natural choice for these commissions. Her sketches depicting five saints is reminiscent of traditional Russian icons, with their dark outlines, bold colors and the use of gold leaf.

Bethune’s sketch for the painted panels of saints for the Church of St. Paulinus is on display at the Carondelet Center through November 10. Her cartoon for the stained glass window at St. Paulinus is on view at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery through December 19.

For more information, visit:
http://www.stkate.edu/gallery/14-15/ade_bethune.php

http://wisdomwayscenter.org/ade-bethune-the-power-of-one-person.html