The Founding of Providence College
I regret very much that my work for some months has been for the most part in the Western part of our province and for this reason I have not had the opportunity of seeing you to report the progress of our obtaining permission from Rome for our new foundation in Providence.
He went on to attribute the lack of resolution to “a delay on the part of the Roman authorities in order to investigate our financial status.” Father Meagher also indicated that he had asked a representative of the Province to proceed to Rome and “make his report” on the financial status of the Province of St. Joseph; thus, Father Meagher assured the Bishop that he had “no fear of the outcome.” The financial question was probably a major reason for the delay; yet, another underlying motivation may well have had its part here. Father Meagher knew that he could not expect to succeed where Father Heagen had failed in persuading the Master General to grant the necessary permission; but Father Meagher also knew Cormier’s term as General would be over in about ten months and that the aged and ailing Frenchman would not be physically capable of accepting re-election. Nevertheless, the audacious Father Meagher gambled. He proceeded with plans and took the initiative. He indicated to Bishop Harkins that “the formal renewal of the application should come from the Provincial Chapter,” which would meet in mid-October 1915. On the advice of his representative in Rome, Father Meagher suggested to Bishop Harkins that “it would be advisable and most effectual as far as Rome is concerned to have a formal invitation [in English] presented by the Bishop to the Fathers to erect and maintain a College in Providence.” Tactfully, Father Meagher indicated that “this document could then be sent to Rome with the petition of the Chapter,” the result of which Father Meagher optimistically wrote would bring “an immediate response.” Choosing to pursue the matter, Bishop Harkins responded almost immediately in a personal letter to “My dear Father Meagher” on October 9, 1915. Attached to the letter was “a simple petition and a couple of maps which show a) a location of land- b) and what a center of population this city happens to be-.” The attached petition, written by Bishop Harkins on October 9, 1915, was the classic document of the origin of Providence College. Bishop Harkins on October 9, 1915, was the classic document of the origin of Providence College. Bishop Harkins described his diocese as “comprising in territory the entire state of Rhode Island… [with] a Catholic population of about 300,000… [and] no college.” He apprised the Dominicans that “the need of a college, catholic in spirit and under catholic auspices, is most evident, considering especially the steady growth in the number of the inhabitants of the diocese during the last twenty years.” The Bishop explained his long-term goal, his selection of the Dominicans and his plan for the new college:Convinced of the expediency of such a college, and having with continued interest followed throughout the last forty years the work of the Dominican Fathers in New England, I hereby extend an invitation to said religious community of the Province of Saint Joseph—the language of which province is English—to found within the limits of the Diocese of Providence a college in which the courses usual in colleges of three of four years in length and preparatory to degrees conferred by chartered institutions, except that of theology, would be followed.
Bishop Matthew Harkins also included with the invitation his generous intention to give the Dominicans “under the laws of the State of Rhode Island, a certain tract of land situated within ten minutes of the civic center of Providence, said land measuring eleven (11) acres.” In closing, the Bishop declared that “I will establish in said college, in such manner and form as will be agreed upon, scholarships representing in capital ($10,000) Ten Thousand Dollars.” The petition and the generous grants offered by the Bishop of Providence were immediately laid before the Dominican Intermediate Chapter then meeting in Washington. On October 11, 1915, the Chapter voted to accept the Bishop’s offer. In his letter of the same date to Father Cormier, the Master General, Father Meagher spoke for the Fathers of the Chapter:We humbly request of your Paternity permission to accept a college, (about which more details will soon be available) and which the most illustrious and Reverend Harkins, Bishop of Providence, wishes to grant our Fathers – a testimony of his high esteem of our Province.
Again, Father Meagher accentuated the Bishop’s concern for his Catholic youth. “It is true that in the city of Providence there already exists a celebrated secular university but because of the doctrine taught there, no little danger presents itself to Catholic students.” With the tradition of the Dominicans “the sound Thomistic philosophy to be taught by us … would exercise a salutary influence against” the secular dangers. Furthermore, the canny Provincial urged upon the Master General an additional benefit. Father Meagher indicated his belief that the college would “be a most fertile field for vocations to our Order,” as the Providence Diocese was rich with priestly aspirants. Again, six days later, the Provincial wrote diplomatically to Father Cormier that “the Intermediate Chapter of the Province has come to an end, having deliberated with fraternal Charity, and I write this summary to your Paternity that you might have more detailed information.” The summary emphasized Father Meagher’s fervent wish to begin the college work and offered a detailed synopsis of the college proposal. Placing the issue as the primary item of attention, Father Meagher wrote:First, concerning the foundation of a College in the city of Providence, this will be a great help to promote the good of religion and to obtain vocations to our order. The city called in the vernacular Providence, is the principal city in the State of Rhode Island. The Catholics there number three fourths of the population. There are numerous vocations to the clerical religious life both for the State of Rhode Island and for other States. There are more than sufficient Fathers in our Province to found such a College. For ten years, our Fathers have had the care of a College in the City of Columbus. This College in Columbus does not meet our needs because of the great distances involved. The City of Columbus is as far from the City of Providence as Rome is from the City of Paris. All the Fathers of the whole Province hope and pray fervently for this permission to found a college at Providence and that your Paternity will give permission. The Bishop of Providence, the Most Reverend and Illustrious Harkins, assured me before the Father Professors at the Formal Studium in Washington of his generosity not yet actualized but promised, and also of the assurance of generous support on the part of the other priests of the diocese and the friends of the Most Reverend Bishop.
With this final plea to Father Cormier, both the good Bishop and the energetic Provincial had now to wait for an answer from Rome. On November 8, 1915, the Italian-American liner Ancona sailed from Naples, Italy, under Captain Massardo. New York-bound, with 422 passengers and 160 men in the crew, the ship also carried a mail satchel containing the Acts of the Intermediate Chapter of the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph. The Acts were stamped with the approval of the Master General. On November 9, 1915, the Ancona was torpedoed in the Mediterranean by a large submarine flying Austrian colors. With much of Europe engaged in World War I, submarine warfare was taking its toll on nonbelligerents. The Ancona sunk. About 270 lives were lost, including those of twenty-seven American citizens. All cargo and mail went down with the ship. “The Acts unfortunately went down with the Ancona.” World war, not for the last time, delayed the institution of Providence College.
