Fordham, the Early Years: A Commemoration of the Jesuits' Arrival in 1846

Oversized paperback, xi + 261 pages, b&w illustrations in text, NOT ex-library. Gentle wear from reading, book is clean with unmarked text, free of stamps, firmly bound. Editor's gift note taped inside the front cover. Spine shows minor wear only. -- "In 1996 Fordham University commemorated the 150th year of the arrival of the Jesuits at Rose Hill and their assumption of the administration of St. John's College. At the time of the commemoration, those who wished to read about each of the 1846 Jesuit pioneers were disappointed at the limited amount of published material about their lives. Numerous other questions arose, such as: the reasons behind the Jesuits' departing from France; details about their college in Kentucky; the conditions of their lives in Rose Hill; the pre-Jesuit history of St. John's College; reasons for the bishop's calls for help; and, the Jesuits' relations with Archbishop John Hughes. The purpose of this book is to provide answers to such questions, and ultimately to be a source of assistance to later historians who undertake to tell the full Fordham story. To help the reader who has a limited acquaintance with Jesuits, a glossary of Jesuit terminology is provided at the end of the book." -- Contents: 1. Coming of the French Jesuits to Fordham: An Overview / James Hennesey; 2. Restored Society of Jesus in France, 1814-1830: Why French Jesuits Came to America in 1831 / John W. Padberg; 3. French Jesuits at St. Mary's College, Marion County, Kentucky, 1831-1846 / Cornelius Michael Buckley; 4. Fordham Before the Jesuits: Bishop John Hughes and St. John's College, 1838-1846 / Thomas J. Shelley; 5. First Jesuits at St. John's College (Fordham), 1846 / Thomas C. Hennessy; 6. From Earliest to Latest Fordham: Background History and Ongoing Archaeology / Allan S. Gilbert & Roger Wines; 7. Archbishop Hughes and the Jesuits: An Anatomy of their Quarrels / Francis X. Curran; 8. Towards an Effective History of the First Fordham Jesuits / James R. Kelly; Glossary of Jesuit Terminology; About the Contributors; Index -- From the rear cover: "Father L. (who was under five foot tall) was hiking with students in the High Bridge section when a great gawk of a country man exclaimed: 'Gosh! Look at Tom Thumb!' A student named Ted, fearing no one and thinking the priest insulted, leaped over the fence and knocked the country man senseless with one blow of his fist. Father's gentle words to both parties reestablished peace." "Father B. impressed us as one who had faithfully devoted the energies of a wonderful intellect to the solution of the great problems of life. He had studied harder, looked deeper, seen better and clearer than we could ever hope to do into the vexed questions, the mysteries and the doubts that assail us. And, after all his study, he deliberately became a saint." "Repulsed from many a door in my search for food and work, I wandered on with my gripsack until toward noon I reached Fordham College, famished and footsore. I'd eaten nothing since the previous day. The college gates were open. I strolled wearily in without aim or purpose. An old Father, whose noble face I sometimes recall in my dreams, came over and asked kindly if I was hungry. I was fearfully so and said as much, although I did not mean to. I never saw a real live monk before. My Lutheran training did not exactly incline me in their favor. I ate, not without a secret suspicion I'd next be asked to abjure my faith-do homage to the Virgin Mary-which I firmly resolved not to do. The meal over, I was sent on my way with enough to do me for supper. I felt heartily ashamed of myself. I'm just as good a Protestant as I ever was, but I have no quarrel with the excellent charities of the Roman Church or with their noble spirit and management. I learned that lesson at Fordham, thirty years ago." (Jacob Riis).…