Thursday, April 10, 2014
At age 15, Rutherford Hubert McDonald narrowly escaped death when he ate a sprig from a poison hemlock bush believing it was a harmless plant. Due to the immediate aid of antidotes administered for two hours at Robert’s Drug Store in Kewaunee, he survived. It wasn’t Rutherford’s day to die. God had other plans for his life.
Rutherford McDonald was a descendant of Scotch-Gaelic Protestantism and New England Puritan blood. He was born in Ahnapee, Wisconsin in October, 1876. As a young boy, his faith was converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism by Abbot Bernard Pennings.
Father Bernard Henry Pennings was from the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, Norbertines, or White Canons. This Roman Catholic organization was founded at Prémontré, near Laon, France, on Christmas Day in the year 1120 by Saint Norbert of Xanten. Norbert entrusted five works to the order: praise of God by the singing of the Divine Office (ceaseless prayer); zeal for the salvation of souls; spreading devotion to Our Lady, especially in Her Immaculate Conception; spreading devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament; and leading a life of simple penance.
In 1893, Father Pennings was invited to come to Green Bay from Berne Abbey in the Netherlands to assist with spiritual needs of Belgian settlers in Door County. He established the home for the Norbertines in the United States. St. Joseph parish in West De Pere became part of the order in 1898. Abbot Pennings led the priory next to the parish and St. Norbert College was founded nearby as both a high school and college. In the late 1950s, the new St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere was built to house priests and brothers from the order.
According to In His Vineyard, a book of sketches of the bishops, priests and permanent deacons of the Green Bay diocese, Rutherford McDonald received his education in the classics at St. Norbert College and at Mt. Calvary and his theology training at St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee. He changed his last name from McDonald to MacDonald, presumably to better reflect his Scotch-Gaelic heritage which was derived from English and Scotch people who populated Northern Ireland counties.
Rutherford McDonald was a descendant of Scotch-Gaelic Protestantism and New England Puritan blood. He was born in Ahnapee, Wisconsin in October, 1876. As a young boy, his faith was converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism by Abbot Bernard Pennings.
Father Bernard Henry Pennings was from the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, Norbertines, or White Canons. This Roman Catholic organization was founded at Prémontré, near Laon, France, on Christmas Day in the year 1120 by Saint Norbert of Xanten. Norbert entrusted five works to the order: praise of God by the singing of the Divine Office (ceaseless prayer); zeal for the salvation of souls; spreading devotion to Our Lady, especially in Her Immaculate Conception; spreading devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament; and leading a life of simple penance.
In 1893, Father Pennings was invited to come to Green Bay from Berne Abbey in the Netherlands to assist with spiritual needs of Belgian settlers in Door County. He established the home for the Norbertines in the United States. St. Joseph parish in West De Pere became part of the order in 1898. Abbot Pennings led the priory next to the parish and St. Norbert College was founded nearby as both a high school and college. In the late 1950s, the new St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere was built to house priests and brothers from the order.
According to In His Vineyard, a book of sketches of the bishops, priests and permanent deacons of the Green Bay diocese, Rutherford McDonald received his education in the classics at St. Norbert College and at Mt. Calvary and his theology training at St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee. He changed his last name from McDonald to MacDonald, presumably to better reflect his Scotch-Gaelic heritage which was derived from English and Scotch people who populated Northern Ireland counties.
 |
| Rutherford H. MacDonald |
Rutherford MacDonald spent two years at St. Norbert College preparing for the priesthood. At the end of June, 1900, he took his vows of the order and sailed for Europe--Holland and Belgium to be exact--to spend a year in the convent. During his stay in the Abbey of Berne, Heeswijk, in Holland, and the Abbey of Tongerloo, in Belgium, Rutherford was allowed to write home to his family once a month. In one letter, Rutherford (fr. Norbertus) described his time there like this: "I am contented and well satisfied here... all I have to think of are my studies and my religious duties... I am firmly convinced as ever that it is my vocation to become a priest." On the days that the novices were permitted to speak, Rutherford was able to practice several languages. He became multi-lingual from the experience and discipline.
After
returning to the U.S., he accepted a professorship at St. Norbert College. Before he was ordained in the priesthood, Rutherford
became the first lay teacher at St. Norbert College.
Father MacDonald was also the first of Algoma’s young men to be raised to the priesthood. He was ordained by Bishop Fox of the Green Bay Diocese on June 10, 1906. On June 21, he celebrated his first Holy Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Algoma. He was assisted by Rev. Geo. Casey of Appleton and Rev. August Dusold, of Manitowoc, as deacon and sub deacon, respectively. Rev. Bernard Pennings, his mentor, acted as assistant priest.
Father MacDonald served for 61 years at parishes in Wisconsin, Texas, and South Dakota. At the time of his death at age 91, the Very Rev. Rutherford H. MacDonald was assistant pastor at St. Patrick's Church in Lead, South Dakota.
Father MacDonald served for 61 years at parishes in Wisconsin, Texas, and South Dakota. At the time of his death at age 91, the Very Rev. Rutherford H. MacDonald was assistant pastor at St. Patrick's Church in Lead, South Dakota.
"O Priest! Thou art not thine own master but the servant and minister of Christ;
thou art not thine own, thou art the spouse of the Church." St. Norbert
|
0 comments:
Post a Comment