Despite the assurances in the December 8th, 1961 letter that the whole community had received flu shots and were protected, the novice succumbs and describes his experience of being ‘ill’ in the infirmary at Ignatius College. He includes also a comment on the many jobs the novices are required to take turns on assuming. The March 31st letter tells of his first birthday celebrated away from home, his nineteenth, of the ‘reading’ of his ‘academy’, of his excitement about being accepted into the choir, about the coming of spring, and especially about the possibility of visiting the Shrine in Midland in May.
Ignatius College
Guelph Ontario
February 25, 1962
Dear Mum and Dad,
Well another two weeks have passed and February is almost gone. I have never seen it snow so much in any place as it has here this last month. We would clean the piles of snow off the rink one day and the next day we would have to do the same thing all over again.
This past week I have been sick with the flu that has been going the rampage for the past while. I can tell you from experience that it is a miserable ill. It is strange that I caught it for we had all received inoculations for it. But I guess all that is necessary is to be a bit tired and then catch a chill. I am up and around now so it looks like I finally beat it.
Yesterday the seminarians from Toronto were up to the Novitiate for a visit. They were about thirty-five of them all about as young as we all are here. We showed them through the building and entertained them. They stayed for dinner and the better half of the afternoon. In the afternoon our teams played against theirs. They won the hockey game though. I guess every one was comparing them with ourselves even if just mentally. Their vocation is so different.
Onething we all got a kick out of was their cassocks. You see our cassocks have a cincture to hold it together but theirs is closed all the way down the front with buttons, millions of buttons. (Just like the mass-servers’ [cassocks] at home.) They were interesting guests and the afternoon sped by. Soon it was time to leave and they all piled on their bus and took off back to St. Augustine Seminary…..
I should tell you about the week I spent when I was ill. The first few days I spent in my cubicle, but as I got worse Brother Infirmarian sent me down to stay in the infirmary. There I lived on ginger-ale and pills for a few days. It was a lovely place to be sick in for it was so quiet and peaceful. But then I didn’t enjoy being sick at all. I haven’t been skating for a long time now and I fear that by the time I get out all the ice will have melted. Everyone was very sympathetic and many dropped by the infirmary to say hello and wish me well. In the morning I was able to receive communion in my room. I slept, ate, and every thing else a person could do in that room. The result was, I was very sick of the room by the end of the week. As another result I am not looking forward to becoming ill in the future.
There is not too much new this week because of my illness except perhaps that I got a new job recently. This job is simple and consists of taking care of a few showers. I am to see that they are clean and that there is soap and disinfectant (for the floor) there. So you can see that it is not too bad a job.
Did I ever tell you about the jobs that we change every week? These consist of setting tables (called mensis sternit), washing dishes (called vasa lavabit), reading at table and a million and one other little jobs. It keeps every one guessing as to what they will be doing the next week. The job that most of us get sick of first is mensis sternit, that is, setting up the tables. I guess it is because it has to be done three times a day and it takes at least fifteen minutes to set up the whole refectory. I am on that job this week so that is what brought it to mind.
This is some letter, for I am just rattling on and on, and I wonder if I shall ever get it into the mailbox today….
Please remember me in your prayers….
Love, Frank
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Ignatius College
March 15, 1962
Dear mum and dad,
I received your letter yesterday, and finally got some time to write this letter. You see I usually begin my letter a few days before I want to send it but I have been so busy for the past two weeks. On March first we were all given a subject . We would have to find out all we could on it and then write an essay. (Later we will have to give it in a class) Well there was so much research to be done that I was reading and reading and writing down little things I might want to quote. (By the way my subject was on Mary, the Mediatrix of all Grace). It was really great to get so absorbed in something, for it took my mind off of practically everything I could possibly be anxious about. The essay was due on the fourteenth of March, so that was another reason one hadto rush abit. I finished the product of about two thousand words on Monday. So you see this time our letters didn’t cross as they usually do…..
O yes, I wanted to ask you about your garden. Have you ordered your seeds yet? I believe Bernice mentioned that she ordered hers. Last week we had some potted Hyacinths on one of the altars and they smelled simply beautiful. The flower itself is not particularly outstanding and it lasts for too short a time. At the moment I am growing a poinsettia in my room. I hope it will bloom next Christmas. It was one of the potted plants the college received at Christmas….
This month is the month of St. Joseph. He is a special patron of the Society so we have special devotions to him this month. For example we have benediction every night and recite his litany.
Lent has now started and Easter is just around the corner. I have given up movies, radio, T.V., and cigarettes (for Lent?) I am just joking of course. Most people though, just think of giving things up for Lent. That is good, but I think it sometimes is more a penance to put something in. Or sometimes both can be done at the same time, for example instead of watching a T.V. program say the rosary. Thus you would be giving something up and putting something in.
You asked about my glasses, I did break my frames but not the lenses, so I got a new frame which cost about six dollars but don’t worry about it because it was paid for from the money I brought along [last August].
You know I have never written so many letters in all my life. If I never got practice in letter writing before I am getting it now. But then I guess it is the same for you. In any case I had better get this letter in the mail.
Please remember me in your prayers.
Love,
Frank
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Ignatius College
March 31, 1962
Dear mum and dad,
I shall begin this letter by thanking everyone for their birthday greetings and prayers, they wereappreciated very much. Thanks for all the lovely food mum, you really had it packed well. As I told you in the note included in my letter, I waited until Sunday to open it. What a pleasant surprise to discover in it those lovely home-made cookies, and puffed wheat squares, and the beautiful raisin cake (with all the trimmings). When we get food we are allowed to taste it and then take it to the kitchen or something like that.
I went to see the Master about it and he said we novices should have it for collation. (Just in case you do not know what that is: collation is ourmid-afternoon snack. You see it is a long time between dinner and supper.) It happened that Joe Schuck’s birthday was on the same day as mine and his mother also sent some goodies. So just before collation I popped into the kitchen and dressed the cake, and tasted it. We all enjoyed it very much and I was told to thank you by my group of growing brothers….
The other day I gave, or I should say read my academy to the rest of the novices. I was going to give it as a class but I “chickened out”. At the end of it I had to answer questions they asked. All in all it was quite an experience and I suppose it is the beginning of many. All the other novices have to give their academies also and the ones we have heard thus far have been very good. This way each of us can find out a lot about a subject and tell it to the rest of the brothers thus it saves a lot of energy on our part, for then we all don’t have to go over the same area to find out what we did in the academy. It is very interesting in that most every novice approaches his subject in a different manner.
For instance, on an academy on Fatima; one novice would go on to describe the shrine, another would show its effect on history, another would describe it in another entirely different aspect. Thus you are guessing what approach he is going to use.
Did I tell you before that I was in our choir? Well, in the fall were all tested as to our singing abilities and happily for me, I was accepted into the choir. Just the other day I was asked to try out for the ‘schola’. (This is a group in the choir who are able to pick up the music quickly by ear and note.) I was very happy to be accepted for now I will be able to sing more of the responses, etc. for the week of Easter. The reason I was able to be accepted into this more lofty group was because of the music lessons I have been having since the beginning of winter. I discovered it was very easy to read music and the pages of the notes were not as “Greek to me” as they were before. I am only sorry that I did not have someone give the lowdown on this before. However I still have far to go to be able to get the right timing etc.
I feel I could almost play the piano, for all it would take would be to get the fingers accustomed to play the note automatically as it does to type. Then your only problem is timing. Well enough for that now. (Ishould add that these lessons have been just vocal and theory.)
Spring is here in Guelph it seems, for in the past week all or should say almost all the snow has disappeared. There is only snow where there were greater piles, e.g., Around bushes and along the sides of roads that were cleaned often during the winter, and even there the snow is almost gone. We are able to go out with just jackets and we are comfortable. The handball season has been going for about two weeks now and it is great to get going at it again for it a great source of fun and exercise….
We first year novices have a chance to go to Midland, Ontario to work at the Canadian Martyr’s Shrine. In past years, just the second year novices went, but this year they, plus half of the first year men, will go. So I might get that trial in May. (We work there for two weeks.) Most people don’t know too much about these Canadian Martyrs, at least I had never heard about them before I went to Campion. Right now I am reading stories of their lives. I have found out they are just as inspiring as the martyrs of long ago….
Just a point of interest, Rosemary and Mathew, the pussy willows are out here.
I will close now. Please remember me in your prayers.
Love,
Frank
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Source for photos: Frank Obrigewitsch, SJ
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