by Roz Young
Daytonians wanting to find out anything about the history of the University of Dayton would have to look long and hard for any mention of it in Dayton histories. The DeBeers history of 1882 has one page of information, Robert W. Steele simply mentions the establishment of St. Mary's Institute in his 1896 history, and in the 1996 For the Love of Dayton there is a brief notation. Craig Mackintosh included a sketch of St. Mary Hall in his Dayton Sketchbook, and Robert Frame wrote one paragraph about it.
That is it.
Yet, in 2000, the University of Dayton will celebrate the 150th anniversary of its founding. One-hundred-fifty years in Dayton! Hardly a word in our histories.
The North American Center for Marianist Studies has just published a book, Father Leo Meyer's 13 Years at Nazareth, by the late Father John Graves, S.M. The book is a re-issue of an earlier work, but much material has been added from newly discovered writings and letters in various archives.
I know that, ever since I read the book, every time I drive down Brown Street I think about Father Leo Meyer and the hard times the Marianist brothers and priests had on that hilltop site between Woodland Cemetery and the Patterson Homestead.
This series of columns is based on information in this book.
In 1849, Father Leo Meyer was the superior of the Society of Mary's establishment at Strasbourg, in the Province of Alsace. He received a letter from the former mayor of Lucerne, Switzerland, telling that a request had been made by the pastor of Saint Mary Church in Cincinnati for three Marianist brothers to help in the church and school there. Meyer asked to be appointed, and Father Georges Caillet, superior general of the Society of Mary, granted Meyer's request to go to Cincinnati.
Meyer was 49, a man over six feet tall and weighing more than 280 pounds. He habitually wore a three-cornered hat and a cassock. Because he was unable to bend over to put on shoes or fasten them, he always wore leather slippers.
Meyer put his affairs in order and sailed from Le Havre on May 28, 1849, with a companion, Brother Charles Schultz. After 38 days crossing the ocean, the two landed in New York on July 4.
Traveling through Albany, Buffalo and Sandusky, they arrived in Cincinnati on July 16, only to find that the city was in the midst of a severe cholera epidemic. The disease claimed between 200 and 300 victims every day.
Bishop (afterwards Archbishop on July 19, 1850) Purcell asked Meyer to go at once to Dayton, which was also suffering a cholera epidemic, to assist Father Henry Juncker, pastor of Emmanuel Church. He remained in Dayton for a month, helping care for the sick and dying in all parts of the city.
While he was in Dayton, Meyer became acquainted with John Stuart, a member of Emmanuel parish. Stuart owned a 125-acre property on the Lebanon road (now Brown Street) and bounded by Woodland Cemetery and the Patterson farm. Stuart, who had formerly lived in France and still owned much property there, wished to return there.
He offered to sell his farm to Meyer for $12,000. Meyer's dream was to found a central house of the Society of Mary and establish a boarding school. This looked to him like a wonderful opportunity. He at once wrote to the Superior General for permission (and hopefully funds) to buy the farm.
In August, after the cholera epidemic had abated in Dayton, he returned to Cincinnati to assist at Holy Trinity school. Bishop Purcell welcomed him, encouraged his plans and granted formal permission to the Society to open schools in any part of the diocese.
The priest already in Cincinnati told Meyer they had not asked for a priest to be sent, but for brothers. Meyer replied that he had not come to meddle in their affairs but to see that the brothers obey the rules and cause no trouble. "Our brothers are not sent into a distant country without having a priest of the Society with them," he said.
Meyer asked the superior general to send four German-speaking brothers to Cincinnati. The four arrived in Cincinnati on Dec. 3, 1849, after a difficult journey. They were Andrew Edel, Damian Litz, John B. Stinzi and Maximin Zehler. They were soon put to work teaching in the Holy Trinity School, where Father Meyer and Brother Schultz were also assigned.
In January 1850, Father Juncker of Emmanuel Church, asked the Bishop to allow Father Meyer to serve as acting pastor while he made his trip to Europe. Father Meyer was glad to return to Dayton because he had been at odds with the pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Cincinnati.
Before he left Meyer wrote to the bishop, "Habituated to an active life, here I must stand in a corner from one Sunday to the next to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; in the eyes of the public I have the air of a criminal to whom permission has been given to celebrate Mass. In Dayton at least I will be of some usefulness."
When he returned to Dayton, he again met John Stuart and the two again talked about Meyer buying the farm. The farm had a pretentious two-story house on it, fields, pastures, paddocks, vineyards, barns and stables and a woodland, as well as two horses, two cows, a calf and six pigs.
Meyer hoped to use the mansion, as it was called, as a mother house for candidates for the brotherhood, and he also planned to establish a boarding school. The price of $12,000 also included the furniture in the house.
There remained one obstacle (In fact there was more than one, but he did not know it at the time.): He did not have $12,000.
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.