Read theology professor Bernard Brady's remarks at the Sept. 25 celebration of Founder's Day at St. Thomas. of students walk by the bronze statue of Archbishop John Ireland which looks out on the lower quad of the campus he was one of the most famous men in Minnesota and a legendary American bishop he came into the dining room at the Cathedral of St “I have just met a man,” he happily told them It must have been a rare man who Murray met that day for every one of Ireland’s successors has lived and worked in the shadow of the first archbishop of St It is difficult to overestimate the deep formative influence that Ireland exercised on the Church and the larger community in his 43 years as a bishop in Minnesota From a rudimentary education to a cultured French seminary a project that was particularly close to his heart and received his very personal attention He also was responsible for the construction of the present Cathedral Mary in Minneapolis and established several dioceses and many parishes served as the chaplain to a Minnesota regiment in the Civil War as “the consecrated blizzard of the Northwest,” an image Minnesotans will appreciate disagreed and claimed that he was more like a “prairie fire,” valiant a few years before the devastation of the Great Famine settling first in Vermont but by May 1852 moving permanently to St many of whom were French (as were virtually all of the clergy) He had had only the most rudimentary education in Ireland and in St the French missionary who was the first bishop of the diocese accompanied by the pioneer missionary priest Augustin Ravoux Ireland and one other Irish boy were sent to study in France the first seminarians of the Diocese of St When the young and frontier-rough Ireland arrived at the petit séminaire he was unable to speak much French and entirely unfamiliar with the course of study then offered to him the very school that Crétin himself had attended some decades earlier it was staffed entirely by priests of the local diocese and oriented toward preparing men for parish service It offered a classical curriculum – today we would speak of the liberal arts or the humanities – and a strictly disciplined daily schedule Though his more cultured French classmates regarded him with amusement at first two personal characteristics gained him their affection and later their admiration he displayed an energy and intensity for study that was remarkable He may not have been the very best student of his cohort at Meximieux the school nurtured in him not only an appreciation for literature philosophy and theology but also a deep admiration for academic excellence Ireland regarded his four years there as among his happiest and most formative operated by the Marist order in southern France as one of the very few diocesan seminarians The experience seemed to confirm in him a bias against religious orders which figured prominently in his efforts nearly three decades later to establish the College of St Ireland returned home in the summer of 1861 and was ordained in December of that year by Bishop Thomas Grace and in 1875 was ordained coadjutor bishop of St almost 14 years to the day after his ordination to the priesthood Bishop Grace retired and Ireland became the third bishop of St One of the passions that Ireland inherited from both of his predecessors was a determination to foster local Catholic education and a home-grown priesthood His first effort in this regard was to propose to Bishop Grace that the diocese establish an industrial school which at that time was the sort of school dedicated to teaching a trade to orphaned and delinquent boys The school was duly established in 1874 but quickly failed and was closed Ireland obtained a tract of land from William Finn – after whom St Thomas’ Finn society is named – whose land would later be put to a more permanent and successful use immediately after he succeeded Bishop Grace Ireland announced that he would open a seminary in the diocese the following autumn that the project would be “the principal work” of his episcopacy the most important thing he could do as bishop to secure the future of the diocese Thomas Aquinas Seminary was entirely in keeping with his willingness to take risks in pursuit of his objectives While in its first decade it was titled a “seminary;” it was in fact a college of sorts in combination with a prep school Its curriculum emphasized a classical formation modeled on the one Ireland had received at Meximieux even though the majority of students did not pursue ordination to priesthood Ireland was quite explicit about his goals not only for the institution but for Catholic higher education in Minnesota The preparation of future clergy was a priority but more broadly he was concerned that Catholics take their place in business in the professions and generally in the civic life of the community had an indispensable role to play in the life and future of America The nine months following Ireland’s announcement were furiously busy as he threw himself into all of the details of establishing the school from expanding the building to hiring a rector and faculty in order to promote support among the priests of the diocese Ireland had shrewdly held their annual retreat in the new facility – the very first campus event.) The rector did note that classes on the first day were very short: “There being no books and no desks very little was possible.” But the school was launched and Bishop Ireland was not finished building An important opportunity to continue what he had begun came quickly and took almost everyone by surprise announced in 1890 that he was donating $500,000 (a magnificent sum at the time in Minnesota) to fund the construction of a graduate seminary for the diocese he was convinced that the education of priests along the lines that Ireland endorsed would be a profound benefit to the community Paul Seminary was finally ready for occupancy and that fall when the seminarians moved across the street (to what is now the university’s south campus) Thomas came to life as a separate institution Ireland’s continuing devotion to the college had been evident in January of that year at which time he gave to the board a deed to the land and so it was perhaps not unusual that he attached three conditions to the gift the property was to be used for Catholic higher education for young men in Minnesota and the upper Midwest in keeping with his devotion to the local Church the college was never to come under the control of a religious order in the event that these two conditions could not be honored the property would “pass over” to the Sisters of St Joseph (the community governed by Ireland’s own younger sister) for the Catholic education of young women Ireland was a sponsor and a frequent visitor.) Today we might call him an entrepreneur and an optimist whose restless imagination was powerfully attracted by new ideas and excited by new problems to solve to embrace their intellectual tradition and to pursue education passionately A good deal of his energy was directed to this project and he was not easily deterred Over the last two decades of the 19th century he played a major role in the foundation of four institutions of higher education (including the Catholic University of America and the College of St but none was more important to him than St John Ireland would be pleased to know that his vision of faith and community engagement continues to inspire the university he founded Michael Sebti completed a dramatic weight loss of almost 300lbs wanted to hide himself away from the world who documented his weight loss journey: “My goal was to hide myself from people because when they used to see myself so my goal was to be… To hide myself from them.” Michael found the determination to change his lifestyle and through following a strict diet and doing home workouts Michael managed to lose an incredible 286lbs over the course of two years Michael said: “As I am a proud person I will say I was able to gain that weight alone so I will be able to lose that weight alone and I will do everything alone.” Michael has since realised that his diet became too restrictive and has adapted to a more balanced diet the hardest part of his journey was his loose skin and he consequently had three surgeries to remove it he will be revealing the results to his friend Romain is happy with his body image now but still feels there is room for improvement and now has his eyes set on another goal: bodybuilding His advice for anyone wanting to lose weight Michael said: “Just believe in yourself And each time people who will criticize you Michael is shown doing lots of great high-intensity exercise These exercises are classic weight loss moves that burn a ton of calories They also build a lot of mind-muscle connection which requires co-ordination and learning a new skill Start your week with achievable workout ideas health tips and wellbeing advice in your inbox It's why so many boxers use skipping to keep fit – skipping requires the same ability to co-ordinate your feet while doing a very strenuous exercise. Coincidentally, skipping is also one of our best exercises for weight loss Matt EvansSocial Links NavigationMatt Evans is an experienced health and fitness journalist and is currently Fitness and Wellbeing Editor at TechRadar covering all things exercise and nutrition on Fit&Well's tech-focused sister site. Matt originally discovered exercise through martial arts: he holds a black belt in Karate and remains a keen runner and infrequent yogi. His top fitness tip Some 24 hours after hail stones six centimetres in diameter were reported in parts of France the same freakish weather hit the junior French stage race Late on today’s stage 4 – some 89km from Meximieux to Ordonnaz – Irish champion Patrick Casey was among the many riders forced to a halt by the conditions as he and the others had to take shelter under trees The roads became quickly flooded with a mix of rain hail and the mud washed onto the roads by the conditions And though the leading riders on the day managed to reach the finish before the worst of the conditions large numbers of riders even a little further back were forced to stop and then off the road ended today’s stage in a group some 24:50 down on stage winner an world champion Albert Philipsen (Tscherning Cycling Academy) who has retaken the yellow jersey as a result Casey had shot up to 3rd overall after his stage win of yesterday due to losing time today has now slipped to 65th at 25:01 Fellow Irish rider David Gaffney (Team 31 Jolly Cycles) while Sam Coleman (U19 Academy Région Sud powered by Giant) was 69th at 10 minutes Sympa les conditions sur ce #Valromeytour pic.twitter.com/N8W8CZn3HI — Arthur (@a_popochhh) July 12, 2024 We’re determined to make stickybottle.com much better for your enjoyment So become a ‘Stickybottle Supporter’ now from just €5 per month We’ve grown our audience significantly in recent years but the advertising market has become harder and harder each year In order to survive and grow – and create much better content – we need to develop an income from our readers By signing up to become a ‘Stickybottle Supporter’ you’ll be helping to secure independent coverage of Irish cycling for years to come Every cent collected from readers will be used to directly fund content Sign Up Oceania is a region made up of thousands of islands throughout the Central and South Pacific Ocean St Peter Chanel is the Protomartyr (first martyr) of Oceania The story of his martyrdom converted the whole of the island of Futuna christening it as ‘Gateway to the Gospel’ St Peter was born on 12th July 1803 in France From the age of seven to 11 he was a shepherd boy He was attracted to missionary life in his school days when he read letters written by French missionaries living in America strengthening his thirst to make Christ known to the ends of the earth Noticed by the local parish priest for being an obedient and smart child his parents were encouraged to send him to the school that the priest had just started he went on to join the minor seminary at Meximieux in 1819 and progressed to the major seminary in Brou in 1824 He asked the bishop to allow him to become a missionary but his request was denied He was posted as an assistant priest for a year where he revitalised the parish assigned to him his heart only wished for his true calling St Peter came in contact with a group of diocesan priests who hoped to start a new missionary order dedicated to Mary Its most prominent members were Jean-Claude Colin the Papal approval of the priests’ branch of the Society of Mary was finally given in April 1836 This was the start of St Peter’s lifelong dream to carry out missionary work He was sent to the islands of the Pacific with other Marists He had no formal training and did not know the local language Evangelisation seemed hopeless with very few wanting to be baptised and Peter facing opposition from the local chief who was wary of his intentions in the face of disappointment of having minimal baptismal numbers compared to his previous parish ministry where he had experienced greater success in evangelisation St Peter along with other priests laboured zealously to learn the local customs and language He now saw his work bear fruit as a few more natives were baptised and more were being instructed drew conviction from St Peter’s preaching and asked to be baptised the furious chief ordered the death of St Peter perceiving him a threat to his power and status St Peter was clubbed to death on 28th April 1841 by the island chief’s leading warrior cutting up his body with hatchets.Two years after witnessing the violent death the whole island of Futuna converted to Catholicism In penance for the heinous crime committed he requested that his body be buried outside the church that held St Peter’s relics so that the people who come to honour St Peter’s grave would have to walk over his Such is the power of the blood of a martyr St Peter’s feast day is celebrated on 28th April a true inspiration for the many whose faith is tested in trying times knowing how Christ only brings beauty and life even from death is where the Marist Order is based in our diocese