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Post by sader1970 on Jun 1, 2022 10:59:29 GMT -5
That all rings true for me. We had a truism that "no student graduates from St. Anthony's without being hit." The smartest kid a year or two ahead of me got whacked and was a National Honors Society Scholarship winner. I was telling my 10 year old granddaughter about a story in Catholic grammar school and the nuns and she immediately said "aren't they the ones who hit the students with sticks?" I then patiently explained the various weaponry of rulers, pointers and yardsticks. Oh, btw, I love the alma mater.  |
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jun 1, 2022 14:20:05 GMT -5
You left out a weapon that was used to terrorize my class in second grade. The “Dust Brush”. ![]() ![]() Sr. Regina was a sadistic nun who hated little boys. For the least offense by someone in the class, all the boys, and very rarely the girls, would have to get out of our desk and line up. She then proceeded to use a hard wooden dust brush to give us three hits (wacks) above the Gluteus Maximus, on the area of the tail bone. 64 years later, the memory of the dust brush line is still etched in my mind like it was last year.Every once in a while, I have lower back pain. I think of Sr. Regina, ....... and the thoughts are not kind. 🤔😳😡😤 ![]() |
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jun 1, 2022 14:35:11 GMT -5
To this day, when kneeling in church I keep my back ramrod straight. No slouching. I remember in first grade nuns patrolling church smacking children on the back of the head if they didn't kneel properly. Of course, I usually attend a Protestant church and they don't even have kneeling.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jun 1, 2022 14:51:27 GMT -5
Maybe we should start a thread, “Corporeal Punishment at the hands of Nuns, Priest and other Clerics”....
I’m sure it would voluminous.
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Post by longsuffering on Jun 1, 2022 15:27:47 GMT -5
I was smirking in class with two other boys over a whispered smart alec remark. Sister Lalamont lined us all up in front of the class and said one more smirk and she would slap that smirk right off our faces.
I couldn't control a nervous smirk and Sister did Moe Howard proud with one strong fast motion slapping each of us in the kisser.
I had to stay after class and clean her homeroom for a week. Turns out her twin brother was a Priest and editor of the Archdiocese newspaper "The Pilot" and Sister kept up with politics and current events. We had a ball discussing Vietnam, Civil Rights etc., as I washed the blackboards.
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 1, 2022 16:16:51 GMT -5
The one Franciscan priest we had and taught theology (Fr. Theophane - aptly named) had no use for nuns and called them all “Sister Mary Bonbon.” He thought they screwed up the minds of children.
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Post by WCHC Sports on Jun 2, 2022 8:29:22 GMT -5
These are great. I'm from a younger generation, but did go to Catholic school my whole life. In grade school we had a Sister Regina too. She was much, much older, and could alternate between sweet as pie, to quick as a whip with a lightning temper and loud voice. I got a couple of pinching/jabs in the head when I didn't immediately take to long division, but she was more clever than violent. I remember distinctly one student (later jailed, he was no scholar) who had his tie stapled to the bulletin board under the printed-out heading "Misbehaves," where he had to stand for a lengthy time-out.
Side note: were your clergy/instructors as obsessed with "fire hazards" as Sr. Regina was for me? Our desks were two by two in columns, but we had to keep the aisles clear of bags, books, pencils, etc. because it was a fire hazard. I guess in case the building spontaneously combusted from our rampant hedonism in 4th grade, we had to make a safe and hasty retreat. Anyway, my best friend accidentally had a small stapler in the aisle, and while Sr. Regina patrolled during one exam she stepped on it in her mid-height heeled shoe, slipped ala Marv in Home Alone, and landed flat on her back. She didn't move for what felt like 5 minutes, when I think I said, "Joe, you just killed Sister Regina." She leapt up quickly to her feet faster than I can now at 36 years old, none the worse for wear, and said, "No talking during exams!"
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 2, 2022 8:42:28 GMT -5
WCHC, just a quick response to the fire hazard concerns and the likely reason. In the 1950’s there was a horrendous fire in a Chicago Catholic school in which many kids perished in no small part because of over crowding. As a result, our Catholic school and probably all schools took this very seriously and fire regulations were strengthened in most jurisdictions. I still have my second grade class photo that was a class size at least 4 to 5 times larger than my grandkids’ classes. Your nuns would not soon forget the Chicago school fire even decades later. It was Lady of the Angels in 1958: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_the_Angels_School_fire |
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Post by longsuffering on Jun 4, 2022 15:53:55 GMT -5
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Post by nhteamer on Jun 7, 2022 8:11:44 GMT -5
the nuns I had in grammar school were the best teachers I ever had and were, essentially, volunteers,
No HS or Holy Cross teacher was as important for any success I may have had than those nuns.
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 7, 2022 8:34:16 GMT -5
That's an impressive statement and have no doubt you are honest and accurate. My personal rank order:
1. Jesuits at Holy Cross (by far the brightest and taught that precious few things in life are black & white) [learned to question authority - back in balance]
2. Sisters of Mercy (by way of Brooklyn - all Dodgers fans with one Yankee anomaly) at St. Patrick's elementary [learned to respect authority]
3. Franciscan Brothers at St. Anthony's HS a distant 3rd (more ready for Marine boot camp than college) [learned to hate authority]
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jun 7, 2022 10:09:34 GMT -5
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 7, 2022 10:14:32 GMT -5
Yep. My older brother (St. Anthony's '64, HC '69) loved that movie and always said "doesn't this movie remind you of St. A's?" It does.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jun 7, 2022 10:42:47 GMT -5
That's an impressive statement and have no doubt you are honest and accurate. My personal rank order: 1. Jesuits at Holy Cross (by far the brightest and taught that precious few things in life are black & white) [learned to question authority - back in balance] 2. Sisters of Mercy (by way of Brooklyn - all Dodgers fans with one Yankee anomaly) at St. Patrick's elementary [learned to respect authority] 3. Franciscan Brothers at St. Anthony's HS a distant 3rd (more ready for Marine boot camp than college) [learned to hate authority] I would add the Xaverian Brothers I had at St. John's Prep as outstanding teachers. There was no coddling though. I remember Br. John Francis telling a student who fared badly on an Algebra quiz that he should consider joining the Army because he had little future at St. John's. |
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jun 7, 2022 10:47:12 GMT -5
The All Boys Catholic High School that I attended was staffed with Norbertines, and two different orders of Franciscans, OFM and TOR. The TOR group had a little more personality than the OFM, who were a sullen bunch.
i agree with your brother, when I saw “Heaven Help Us”, I thought of my High School.
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Post by ndgradbuthcfan on Jun 7, 2022 12:51:55 GMT -5
Never heard of that movie; watched the two segments and enjoyed it. Made me appreciate my secular education up until ND. Music in opening credits was "Queen of the Rushes" by Planxty; #1 Irish band of all time.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jun 7, 2022 13:27:44 GMT -5
The entire movie is available on You Tube in segments. After part 1, you can scroll to find part 2 and each segment going forward.
A Catholic High School with Franciscans in the 1960’s was a precursor to a Boot Camp.
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Post by longsuffering on Jun 7, 2022 13:58:55 GMT -5
Never heard of that movie; watched the two segments and enjoyed it. Made me appreciate my secular education up until ND. Music in opening credits was "Queen of the Rushes" by Planxty; #1 Irish band of all time. I'm a Saw Doctors fan myself. |
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jun 7, 2022 16:19:43 GMT -5
Heaven Help Us was about St. Basil’s with the main characters being members of the Class of 1966.
Members of the HC Class of 1970 can definitely related to their trials, tribulations and antics......
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