by Roz Young
Brother John A. Brueck had a fever on Dec. 26, 1855, and after baking about 60 four-pound loaves of bread, he went to bed in the afternoon. About 11 p.m. a light disturbed him, and he got out of bed and opened the door. He saw flames coming from the carpenter shop. At the same time, Brother Anthony Heitz, on the floor above, shouted, "Fire! Fire!"
Brueck ran to get water. When he gained entrance to the kitchen by breaking a window, there was no water. They aroused the sleeping brothers, who began dashing around the building, gathering up articles to save.
Brother Damian Litz, director of the boarding school, went to the boys' dormitory, and woke them. He directed the boys to take out the beds and bedding, and then helped the brothers clear the chapel, the study room and classrooms.
The weather was severe. Snow lay about 18 inches deep; the thermometer registered 10 degrees below zero.
The Dayton Daily Gazette of Dec. 28 reported that two fire companies responded to the fire alarms, but gave up when they encountered such severe weather. When one company returned to its engine house, a messenger from the college told them that Father Meyer had offered $100 for their help. A group of volunteers then went with their engine to the scene of the fire.
By 4 a.m. the building lay in ruins. Father Meyer took the boys across the street, where a neighbor, Mrs. Kiefer, prepared breakfast for the boys. After the meal they were sent home.
Meyer said, "The Good God thought this house too comfortable and fine for poor religious, and hence He allowed it to be burnt."
The fire was probably caused by sparks from a stove in the carpenter shop dropping onto shavings, Father Juncker invited Father Meyer and several others to the rectory of Emmanuel Church. Three brothers lived in the house in the vineyard, with two laymen. Nicholas Viot, owner of a house under construction nearby, offered the use of his house for two months. Most of the Nazareth staff went there, but there was no heat. Meyer and two other brothers who had gone to the Emmanuel rectory soon joined them there.
Brother Brueck wrote of his experience after the fire: "It was on a Monday morning about nine o'clock when we left Nazareth. I, still sick with fever, was sitting on the spring wagon and riding around town on that bitter cold morning. As Mr. Becker (a layman Father Meyer had befriended and who drove the wagon) had to call here and there, it was after one o'clock when we arrived at Viot's house. I did not feel well and much less so after the kind reception I received from brother Damian Litz for not coming in the morning, as I was expected.
"Being ordered into the kitchen, I begged him pardon ... as I had to go to bed at the same moment. I was shown by Brother Dilger into a room upstairs, which had no doors. In fact there was no inside door in the house, and the walls were glittering with ice. ... I went to bed; Brother Dilger put some blankets on me and I slept nearly 24 hours, and that all in one string.
"It was about ten o'clock the next day when I awoke. A strange feeling came over me when I took notice that I was in a room without doors and glittering with frost. When I came downstairs, I was greeted with, 'He who has risen from the dead.' I was installed (as) cook the very minute.
"And now it was on me to show my skill in the culinary art, that is, to prepare beans for about a fortnight, three times a day in so many ways that they always appeared to be something else than what they were."
Father Meyer, after much contemplation, proposed to discontinue the school and keep only the farming activities. By the beginning of March 1856, all the brothers were reunited in the old farm building on the vineyard hill.
The farmhouse was not large enough to house all the brothers. Some of them moved into Mr. Becker's house, which had rats, and after one storm the floor was covered with mud. Snow blew in through the cracks in the walls and frequently covered the men in their beds. They used the snow to wash themselves.
Roz Young is a columnist, author, historian and lifelong Dayton-area resident. Address: Dayton Daily News, P.O. Box 1287, Dayton, Ohio 45402. Phone messages can be left at 225-2289.