The Old St. Mary’s Church Website Review

Authored by Karen Beverly

http://oldstmaryslis204.wordpress.com/

Website Created by Lisa Brigandi, Jill Moretto & Meghan Tucker

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A photograph of the Old St. Mary’s Church on June 5, 1906, just two months after the earthquake.

This website seeks to preserve the history of Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco, California.  Once destroyed in a fire following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Old St. Mary’s Cathedral was completely restored and rebuilt by 1909, ultimately allowing the church to overcome an unfortunate situation and remain able to continue their Paulist mission.  The documents presented on this website are divided into four categories: the history of the Old St. Mary’s Church, what the church was like before the earthquake struck, the aftermath of the earthquake, and the restored St. Mary’s Church.  The presentation of these documents allows viewers to see all of the changes that the Old St. Mary’s Church endured as well as the church’s strong and persevering Paulist mission. Continue reading

Reverend Walter Elliott – The Duties of Parents

Authored by: Sarah Miller

Sermon on the Duties of Parents

Sermon on the Duties of Parents

In the 1850’s, America began to split apart in the wake of the Civil War, and it was because of this impending segregation that Father Isaac Hecker founded the Paulist Fathers in 1858. Hecker believed that the root of America’s troubles was the lack of common religion, and that “there must be a “Church” in America and not denominations, for only this kind of religion could prevent sectional and political differences from leading to hostility”. [1] With this vision in mind, the Paulist missionary’s set out in an effort to calm the impending war. Continue reading

Walter Elliott Spiritual Journal: The Lessons of Death

Authored by Zach Housel

Walter Elliot Spiritual Journal

The Lessons of Death

The Lessons of Death is a section of the Walter Elliott Spiritual Journal. Walter Elliott; a priest and missionary for The Paulist Fathers organization, wrote the journal. The Paulist Fathers is a Catholic Organization that dedicates itself to finding a mutual understanding across religious lines, cross-cultural understanding, peace, justice and human liberation. They advocate for justice and healing and reconciliation; seek out the lost, alienated, hurt and broken. They also endorse welcoming followers back to the church. Continue reading

Old St. Mary’s Collection

Authored by: Alexandra Mercado

This is a picture of Old St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, California during the Golden Jubilee

The Old St. Mary’s Collection at the Paulist Fathers Archive Washington, D.C.

The artifact shown is a digital image of a photograph. This image is  titled “smgjd_028_Watermarked.jpg” and is from the “Old St. Mary’s Collection,” which belongs to the Paulist Fathers. This narrative will first discuss information about the original photograph, then it will discuss the digital version of the image, then it will discuss the Paulist Fathers and objects related to this image and it will conclude with information about the Academic Service-Learning involved in creating this narrative.

Continue reading

Spiritual Journal of Walter Elliot

Authored by Meghan Tucker.

Image_00031The Spiritual Journal of Walter Elliott is a hand-written journal from the late 1800’s that includes many topics of faith, such as blasphemy, mortal sins, hell, death of sinners, and lessons on death, amongst other topics. Walter Elliott was a Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Saint Paul the Apostle Church. Saint Paul’s is the mother church of the Paulist Fathers, the community we are serving for our Academic-Service Learning project. The Paulist Fathers have housed this document in their archive at St. Paul’s College in Washington D.C. and requested the help of the St. John’s University Department of Library and Information Science Department community in its transcription. In 1891, Walter Elliott wrote Life of Father Hecker[1], which is a book about the life of the founder of the Paulist Fathers. Walter Elliott was ordained as a priest into the Paulist Fathers Parish in 1872[2]. Continue reading

Spiritual Journal of Walter Elliott – Hell

Authored by: Jill Moretto

A page from the Spiritual Journal of Walter Elliott on the subject of Hell.

A page from the Spiritual Journal of Walter Elliott on the subject of Hell.

This object is part of a six-page excerpt from the Spiritual Journal of Walter Elliott.  Walter Elliott, born on January 6, 1842, was one of the first missionaries with the Paulist Fathers, a group dedicated to spreading the word of God and reaching out to immigrant communities, those who are alienated, those who question or seek faith, and people of diverse racial, cultural and economic backgrounds.[1]  Elliott was ordained a priest in 1872 and around that same time, authored a spiritual journal where he discussed fourteen individual topics related to religion and Catholic Christianity.  Continue reading