Dinner at Old Bag

This evening I had a good meal with good friends (Lisa & Tom, Shelley and MaryAnne). We had a pretty good time although the service wasn't very good. We were supposed to be there to celebrate Lisa's 50th birthday, however, most the evening we talked about work :( Some really unfair stuff going on, but I can't talk about it right now. I stopped at the Cathedral Bookstore on my way, to see my aunt, Sue, and to buy Lisa's gift. It was hard to find a non-Catholic gift in a Catholic bookstore. I decided on a pretty sweet, gold heart shaped locket, mustard seed necklace. I think Lisa liked it...I know I did.

Tom was talking about a statue that he and Lisa saw when they were at Gettysburg. He thought the name was O'Rourk and there was an identical statue at ND. Tom said that the statue was nicknamed "Fair Catch." When I got home, I looked it up. The guy is actually Father William Corby. According to http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Individuals/Corby.php:

The statue was dedicated on October 29, 1910; a copy stands outside Corby Hall at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

William E. Corby was born in Detroit on October 2, 1833, and attended Notre Dame, entering the novitiate in 1856 and taking his final vows in 1859.

With the coming of war in 1861 Notre Dame sent a number of priests to serve as chaplains with Union regiments. Father Corby left his professorship to become the first of these, assigned to the 88th New York in Brigadier General Thomas Meagher's legendary Irish Brigade.

Although Father Corby accompanied his men on many battlefields, giving comfort to the wounded and absolution to the dying, perhaps his greatest moment came at Gettysburg. Little more than 500 men remained of the original 3,000 veterans of the brigade, but they were to be sent to the rescue of the crumbling Union flank in a vicious maelstrom that would become known to history as The Wheatfield.

Father Corby donned his stole and mounted a large rock as the men of the brigade knelt, Catholic and Protestant alike. He offered absolution to the whole brigade, reminding them of their duties and warning them not to waver and to uphold the flag. Their attack bought precious time for the Union defenses but cost them dearly, with over one third of the brigade becoming casualties.

After the war Father Corby became Vice President of Notre Dame, then after a five year term at Sacred Heart College in Wisconsin, returned to Notre Dame as President. He later became Provincial General and then Assistant General of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, as well as serving in several other posts.

In 1893 his veterans nominated Corby for the Medal of Honor, noting that "no spot was too dangerous or too much exposed to the fire of the enemy." Although he never received the medal, the veterans of the brigade presented him with a chalice that he would always cherish.

Father Corby died in 1897. In an unusual ceremony for a priest of the Holy Cross, his flag-draped casket was borne by civil war comrades and a rifle volley was fired as it was lowered into his grave.

Pretty impressive! The next time we go to ND (the Syracuse game) I'm going to look for this statue. Both the Priests and Sisters of the Holy Cross were involved in the Civil War. The Sisters of the Holy Cross are the founding order at the hospital where I work. I'm glad Tom pointed me to more info about them and Notre Dame.

Well, there's a football game on (Boise State and La Tech). I think I'll catch some of the game.

Later!