School cornerstone reveals historic treasures

By Cathy Tilzey

Excitement permeated the air in the Cathedral of St. Helena’s parking lot April 8 as the crew taking down the old St. Helena School worked their way toward the nearly 100-year-old building’s cornerstone.
Staff members of the cathedral office and the Diocese of Helena Chancery joined parishioners who had just attended noon Mass and passersby.
Shortly before 1 p.m., the workers located the cornerstone, separated it from the school building and carefully removed the top.
Crew foreman Jerry Reinier reached inside and lifted out what many people had hoped for – a small box filled with items from June 1908. The school’s construction had begun two months earlier, in April.
The contents included a copy of the Catholic Calendar and Home Magazine; the June 16, 1908, issue of the Helena Daily Independent newspaper; a program for commencement exercises of the cathedral schools, and Father Joseph M. Venus’ annual report to Bishop John P. Carroll on parochial schools of the Cathedral Parish of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
And there was another item, which Monsignor Kevin O’Neill, pastor and rector of the cathedral, studied and took into his office to translate – a letter written in Latin which the school’s architect had sent to Bishop Carroll.
Before the day ended, Monsignor O’Neill and Father Eric Gilbaugh, parochial vicar for the parish, had an English version.

Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 24, No. 4, April 18, 2008.