[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12219-S12220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          TRIBUTE TO FONTBONNE COLLEGE ON ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Fontbonne College in St. Louis, Missouri. On October 15, 1998, 
Fontbonne College will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
  Fontbonne has served more than 10,000 graduates in pursuit of 
academic excellence. As Fontbonne moves toward the 21st century, it is 
looking to continue the ministry of higher education begun by the 
sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
  Fontbonne's history goes back to seventeenth century France, the 
beginning of the Sisters of St. Joseph. In LePuy, France in 1647, six 
women under the direction of Jesuit priest Father Jean Pierre Medaille 
were brought together to dedicate their lives to the spiritual and 
material needs of the people. The order was publicly recognized as the 
Sisters of St. Joseph on October 15, 1650.
  Around 1778, Jeanne Fontbonne entered the congregation, received the 
name of Sister St. John Fontbonne, and later became the Mother Superior 
at Monistrol. With the violence of the French Revolution, the sisters 
were forced to disband. Several were imprisoned and executed. After the 
death of Robespierre, the day before Mother St. John was to be 
executed, she was released and asked to reform the congregation. In 
1807, 12 women celebrated the rebirth of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
  Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis asked Mother St. John to send 
sisters to the area to teach the deaf. Six sisters set sail for America 
and established its current home in Carondelet, on the southern border 
of St. Louis. A log cabin built on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi 
River became the ``cradle of the congregation of the Sisters of St. 
Joseph of Carondelet.''
  The sisters opened a day school in the area, a school for deaf and a 
girl's high school. With these successes, the sisters discussed a new 
twentieth century idea--higher education of women.
  Fontbonne College was chartered on April 17, 1917, but the entrance 
of the United States in World War I in that year precluded the 
beginning of classes. Construction at the Clayton location started in 
1924. The first Fontbonne class began in 1923 at St. Joseph's Academy. 
New buildings were ready for the fall term of 1925. On June 18, 1927, 
Fontbonne conferred its first bachelor of arts degree on eight women.
  Since its beginnings in 1923, Fontbonne has changed with and been 
ahead of the times, but has also kept its identity. Fontbonne admitted 
African American students in 1947, eight years before the Supreme 
Court's school desegregation decision. Male students were admitted in 
selective majors in 1971, then in 1974 all classes were opened to men 
and women. In the 1980s, Fontbonne created degree programs with 
flexible scheduling to meet the needs of working students. Now 
Fontbonne has its first male president.
  Today Fontbonne is deeply rooted in the tradition and values--
quality, respect, diversity, community, justice, service, faith and 
Catholic presence--of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
  I commend Fontbonne College staff and students for their dedication 
and perseverance throughout the college's many years of existence and 
hope they

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continue to enrich the St. Louis community for years to come.

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