Crawford County WI Archives Church Records.....St. Gabriel's Parish
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 27, 2007, 9:48 pm

ST. GABRIEL'S PARISH—A LAST CHAPTER 
Bishop McGavick

   Upon the retirement of Father Becker in 1916, the Jesuits, at the earnest
request of Bishop Schwebach, once again assumed the care of St. Gabriel's
parish. Meanwhile, the local college, the charge of which they had undertaken in
1880, had been alternatively closed and reopened as a school for boys. In the
first instance, it had been found necessary to discontinue the college in 1888
to make way for what was equivalently a Jesuit Seminary, in which the younger
members of the Society of Jesus engaged in the study of philosophy and theology,
preparatory to receiving the priesthood. After a lapse of ten years, however,
the college fortunately was re-opened, offering as before full classical and
commercial courses to both day students and boarders.

   As, year by year, the enrollment of the college continued to increase and the
reputation of the school spread abroad, further accommodations were provided.
New buildings, one by one, were added to the original 'Lawler Hall' to such an
extent that today the Jesuit institution at Prairie du Chien represents an
outlay of well-nigh $2,000,000. The seminary, reserved to Jesuit scholastics, in
the meantime had been transferred to Cleveland, Ohio.

   For a full quarter-century, the College of the Sacred Heart, later called
Campion College, attracted students from all parts of the United States and, at
times, from beyond its borders. Numbered among its faculty can be found the
names of men, who enjoyed no merely local reputation for learning and
scholarship. From its halls, hallowed by their presence, have gone forth to the
four quarters of the land, young men, by the thousands, into all walks of life,
but especially into the learned professions, with the mark of their training
clearly stamped upon them. But what is, perhaps, its greatest contribution to
education during its twenty-five years of service—as it is undoubtedly its
greatest glory—is the fact it has been the nursery of vocation unto hundreds of
priests and religious throughout its long career. In the ranks of the hierarchy
may be counted the names of three of its alumni, scores of others of lesser
dignity swell the ranks of the diocesan and regular clergy, while others, again,
have filled the office of superior of religious congregations.

   By the very fact of its presence, the town of Prairie du Chien became known
on both sides of the Atlantic, and, by the same token, has taken rank in the
educational world as a center of higher learning. Though the college department
was discontinued in 1925, the Jesuits still carry on their work of education at
the institution which today is known as Campion Academy. At present, students
from sixteen states are enrolled on its roster, with a few scattered
representatives from Canada and far-off Mexico. Especially since the removal of
the college in 1925, its student body ha*s increased steadily, year by year.
Campion offers the full high school curricula, the fundamentals of pre-college
work, together with military and athletic training. It ranks today as one of the
few large boarding schools; still existing in the West, with high standards in
academic work and an enviable reputation in athletics. As long as Campion
continues, the tradition of Prairie du Chien as an educational center will live on.

   But, besides the Jesuit schools on the old site of Fort St. Nicholas, Prairie
du Chien can rightfully boast of two other educational institutions: St. Mary's
College, a school devoted to the higher education of young women; and St. Mary's
Academy, a high school for girls. In the course of this writing, we have already
alluded to the foundation of St. Mary's Institute, from which, latterly, both
the college and academy of St. Mary's developed. For many years these two seats
of learning, under the direction of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, have
emulated the educational progress made by the two parallel institutions in.
charge of the Jesuits.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Centennial History of St. Gabriel's Parish
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN WISCONSIN
1836       1936
DR. P. L. SCANLAN, M. D.


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