
Dedication of St. Claire's Hospital
This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.
Ceremonies marking the dedication and blessing of the new nurses' school and residence of St. Claire's Hospital in Manhattan. Also the 50th anniversary of religious life Sister Mary Alice. Reporter David Allen?
Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection
WNYC archives id: 69545
Municipal archives id: LT506
This is a machine-generated transcript. Text is unformatted and may contain errors.
W N Y C or city station invites you to listen to a portion of the ceremonies marking the dedication and blessing by his eminence Francis Cardinal Spellman of the new nurses school and residence of St Clair's Hospital in Manhattan the ceremonies marking also the fiftieth anniversary in religion of Mother Mary Alice the author of the Sisters of St Francis under whose inspirational leadership St Clair's hospital has expanded in seventeen years from a single small building with forty five beds to a modern medical center of six buildings look four hundred forty beds. We're speaking to you from the site of a new seven story one million five hundred thousand dollars building which Cardinal Spellman has just blessed and marked with the dead a Tory crucifix in the main lobby. During this portion of the ceremonies you will hear from his eminence the cardinal from Mayor in kind of Terry from civil defense administrator Arthur W. wonder from state controller J. Raymond McGovern representing Governor Dewey and from Dr Maurice COSTELLO President of the Executive Committee of the medical board of the hospital. The next words you hear will be that of the Very Reverend Monsignor John J. Curry director of Health and Hospitals of New York Catholic Charities who will introduce the speakers Monsignor QARASE. Thank you David. It is now my pleasure to introduce talk to armories kus Tello president of the Executive Committee of the medical board of St Clair's hospital with a word of greeting from mother Alice and the staff of St Clair Dr Costello. Your Eminence Cardinal Spellman reverend mother Alice you're on a mayor and Pillitteri the Honorable Mr McGovern controller of the state of New York commissioner while the reverend clergy doctors and nurses and friends of same class hospital I wish to extend to Reverend Mother Alice the congratulations of the two hundred fifty members of the medical staff and on this the fiftieth anniversary of her religious life. God uses his finest instruments those tempered by prayer and sacrifice to perform his great works mother Alice has been such an instrument she has a joyful generous Haase and a great love of God I shown by our charity to the sick and the poor. How old is mother Alice. It is said that her age lies between one and seventy. As a matter of fact she is ageless because she has the simplicity of a child the hope and dreams of use the spirit of a young woman. The enterprise of maturity and the wisdom of age if the age of a person is just term and by his accomplishments then mother Alice is at least a thousand years old. Mother Allison the Sisters of St Francis have built fine hospitals which have greatly contributed to American life and education the successful completion of this nurse's training school is the current example. The dedication of this training school to be known as Regina chilly hollow coincides with the golden jubilee of mother Alice may the Queen of Heaven inspire and protect women young women who shall be trained here made a model their lives on the life of this humble not this exemplary American Irish leader Reverend Mother Alice. Thank you Dr Custer although. I am happy and do you know to present New York City civil defense administrator off a W. well and will tell us the part of a general hospital in the civil defense program commission one of the. Months when you carry. The remnants Cardinal Spellman. Come up here a total McGovern. Mother Alice. Distinguished Baker is. Staying with clay G. And ladies and gentlemen I'm delighted to come here and join you at the dedication exercise of St play new nation school I spray tribute to mother Alice. Find work she's put into this great vision and great thinking. During my many years of public office in New York City and in my present capacity as director of civil defense I have built up many close ties with St Clair's hospital. I like millions of other New Yorkers have watched this hospital grow and consequently I share the joy mother Alice and the sisters feel today at the dedication of the latest milestone in their chosen path of saving to humanity. Yes I am happy today but unfortunately my joy over the erection of this imposing structure is tempered in these times by the thought that some day in a few seconds all that took years to build might be leveled by an enemy attack. I believe that my present preoccupation with civil defense makes me realize this markedly than most people do who remember strange life. Today while man with one hand builds noble structures to benefit all mankind while the other hand the most awful weapons which can wipe out all that he has built it seems sometimes that God is blessing while the many benefits such as this placing schools but it's giving them only conditionally running man that they can enjoy these things only if they maintain their sanity and refrain from wild suicide in other recent wars hospitals enjoyed some degree of immunity we could paint their robes with huge red crosses and know that these symbols would be interpreted as saying this is a way of measuring this is above welfare and Bombardier seeing these process could so name their bombs as to preserve these buildings and structures we can't now pinpoint an atom bomb or a guided missile or other forms of attack which science may or may later develop in warfare. We can paint a red cross on the roofs of every hospital in New York but that will not prevent its destruction hospitals schools churches factories homes many might well vanish in the first attack you all know these things you have seen pictures in the newspapers. St Clair's hospital like every hospital in the city knows its planned part. What to do to save human life from the rooms master plans have been drawn plans coordinating the wake of every hospital more detail studies have been made telling what each noise each doctor each worker must do at such a time. Let me tell you what sank Clare's is planned as an indication of the steps all of us must take prepare ourselves a general disaster plan has been drawn up but as three parts place Plotkin sayings and lodging the capacity of the hospital every available inch of space current is offices policy has been allocated it's tasked with this plan we estimate the same players can increase expect to pass the room by more than one player in the event of an emergency. A second phase of this plan a point specific jobs for every member of the hospital staff and organizers of a major city teams to render the quickest aid possible. The third part of the set a plan covers equipment and supplies list the assessed use of each department map storage facilities and charts ropes over which you could and can be moved with a minimum amount of confusion or waste of time. It is a meticulously wiped out plan but not a final one it can still be amended and watched and the event of attack the area which surrounds this hospital would lie in special peril its proximity to the not river docks make it a site a specific target for attack on our life lines of transportation. And long standing tenements of this neighborhood applaud the flimsiest sort of physical protection against attack and we are deeply concerned with this particular neighborhood and others like the congested streets the heavy concentration of population in these blocks make an exceptionally vulnerable target. These things all combine to place a lot of Brayden on this hospital it must band as a guardian of the people who have come to know it as a neighbor its role in our planning is as vital as the lives that may be saved here seventeen years ago St Clair's came to this neighborhood as a stranger it had become a dear and respected friend its neighbors lean on it in peace time how much more then will they look to it should Wacom we may all rest assured that this hospital founded until such a spirit of devotion and courage will stand ready as outer to save us people and are our greatest need Thank you. Thank you indeed commission while I'm there. Is no my privilege to introduce to you an old untried friend of same class hospital is the mayor of the city of New York mayor in politics. Your Eminence Connell Spelman. Mother Alice. Controller McGovern commissioner while on the. Walk the custom. Right Reverend and very reverend Monsignore your excellent ses. Reverend fathers sisters ladies and gents. I am very happy indeed to be with you today at this ceremony which marks another great achievement of those whose devotion to same clay has made it to day one of the really great voluntary hospitals of the city of New York in a relatively short space of seventeen years since its very humble beginnings and nineteen thirty four all of you who wept taken part in that development mother Alice and the sisters of the further order of St Francis Cardinal Spellman the medical staff the sisters and nurses and the thoughtful citizens of our community deserve the very generous gratitude of all the people of the city of New York I want to express their gratitude I'm very happy the people of the city of New York and for myself as mayor and as a neighbor and friend in this West Side area who has observed and has been extremely proud of the achievements of Saint clay. The summer of nineteen fifty one unfortunately finds America face to face with the grave challenge of proving to the free peoples of the world that our system of government and our way of doing things are incomparably better for the common man that then anything communism can offer him. Our nation is going in the spring mustering its you stepping up its tremendous productive capacity largely in preparation to meet the challenge of communism since one of our time exhibits of the American system is the public health this hospital as a guardian of the public health is confronted directly by one aspect of this great challenge America faces hospitals to must mobilize their results as for the emergency and they are faced with very serious shortages of manpower according to expert testimony here are the facts. In nineteen fifty four this nation faces an estimated probable shortage of twenty two thousand physicians and we face an even more critical shortage of nurses in nineteen fifty four that deficit is estimated at over eighty three thousand. This year hospital officials estimate that fifty eight thousand nursing candidates must be admitted to nursing schools that's compared for instance to forty four thousand who were at mid last year. These figures in the case the breadth of the challenge facing our public health facilities today without adequate facilities for advanced training and experience in hospitals the medical profession cannot grow and progress to meet its responsibilities to public health and hospitals generally cannot meet their expanding needs or responsibilities if they lack an adequate supply of registered nurses Thus it may be said that the public health the pens in large measure on the trained nurse much of the burden up safeguarding the public health in the Greater New York area falls upon Lea voluntary nonprofit institutions such as St Clair of the more than thirty three thousand hospital beds in their stereo sixty percent or twenty thousand are involuntary hospital surely hospitals such as same clay are vital to the public health. And consequently they must do much to meet the challenge of the times but St Clair's has many challenges before let us go back a few years most of you remember nineteen thirty four a bleak year of depression unemployment poverty this neighborhood here knew full well what the pression meant there were sick children alien mothers desperate fathers and no hospital in the neighborhood to help alleviate their suffering every crisis however somehow or another produces a remedy in this crisis the encircling from the fire daughter of the Sisters of Saint points. The author sent to New York mother Mary Alice and a small group of nuns who found a hospital in this area of great need at first it wasn't much of a hospital it hangs you of all aspects where forty five bed a supply of linen a makeshift operating room and a handful of volunteer workers but however they did have a nucleus small part of the boated since they are none but because mother Alice and her sister refused to render to initial At first at the St Clair's group as early as one thing thirty eight a new wing was bad four years later another and then one theme forty eight still another the McNally pavilion I had the extreme place participating in that dedication. Now let's look at St Clair's today it's now has four hundred forty bed and as the second largest Catholic cost federal in the city last year it treated thirteen thousand patients in that bed and had thirty six thousand patient visits in its clinics from one small building it has grown to six we dedicate this book this beautiful school of nursing here today and as we heard earlier in the program and I think it is remounting your so wisely observed and as I read in the newspaper the other day when mother Alice heard about the get good sale of the Empire State Building she cast her eyes in that direction too. But this is how mother Alice met one challenge after another this building is proof of what same Clare's is now going to meet a new challenge this challenge to American Public Health in building this beautiful structure and founding within of the school of nurse St Clair's is following two fictional pattern the framing of nurses by hospitals and me claiming I've nursed by religious fist in the history of the Catholic Church fame they are a band of noble so have found themselves who vowed to spend their material stuff and write it self indulgent for the poor and sick. The modern hospital is more than a bath a nurse and an operating room it is a complex structure there Zein to care for all who are ill in all age categories and in all types of circumstance. For. The poor as well as the rich that's the import of today's nurse must be a highly trained technician as well as a symbol of healing mercy and compassion it is splendid and fitting that St Clair's should claim to perpetuate itself by having its own school of nursing considering the trap of growth and its fine reputation St Clair's might be called a modern miracle a miracle letters growing daily as if the building's rise and its reputation spread for the people of this neighborhood St Clair's is more than a building it is a temple of charity people turned to the sisters here for every kind of help mother Alice is looked upon by many in this neighborhood as something of a fairy godmother this Regina Cheli hall is her latest achievement and there's a great one indeed one and a half million dollars It is rather an imposing figure building material shortages loom there's a constant threat while this building was in the actual process of erection but she remained undaunted she knew Dani she saw and met the challenge in September the first class the students were lender this building they will be guided by the Spirit of St Francis. The Patron Saint of these noble nuns the spirit a mother out US and the Spirit of St Claire is such a combination cannot fail to produce an outstanding soldier in the Army of the public health ready and able to serve both her country and her god. Thank you Mayor and planetary for those splendid inspiring words we want out here from the personal representative office Excellency governor doing. The Honorable J. Raymond McGovern controller of the state of New York. Reminisce. Direction one sees right Reverend very reverend Monsignor All right reverend fathers and religious mother Alice. Distinguished and I guess and ladies and gentlemen. There has been assigned to me the very pleasant and delightful task of representing his excellent C Governor Thomas Dewey at the ceremony. And I have been in this especially instructed to convey to mother our US gov do is warmest personal greetings and congratulations upon our golden jubilee. Fifty years of service to the sick the poor and unfortunate. Is more than sufficient to renew one's faith and confidence in mankind Wow mother Alice's ultimate reward will not be in this world certainly this beautiful structure well all will stand as a minimum to a portion of our accomplished. I have also been requested on behalf of Governor joy. To congratulate all those of St Clair's hospital of I have worked so hard. For this new home I most needed addition to your hospital a hospital which like well Catholic hospitals has never turned anyone away a need promise stars regardless of race age religion color of financial standing there are many today who have grave concerns over the future of our voluntary hospitals there are as there has been a growing fear of the trend and tendency towards government ownership and operation which seems to be advancing as the need for medical care steadily increasing particularly Is this true as the ever increasing tax burden upon our citizens seems to make less and less money available for charitable causes coming here today however would give anyone a thrill of confidence and faith in our precess them of government certainly the voluntary hospital is a symbol of our free institutions as long as we have Catholic Charities and our St Clair hospitals we may be assured that our free society as we have known it in this country will continue. It would indeed very be a very happy world if all the leaders of the great nation possessed the same spirit of brotherly love and goodwill to fellow man as has been exemplified by Mother Mary Alice during our years of service to St class hospital Personally I take great pride and pleasure in bringing to St Clair's hospital and to mother Alice the congratulations and cordial Best wishes of the state of New York for continued success and for greater service I am also extremely happy to add my own personal congratulations good wishes to Mother Mary Alice for the many many continuous years of additional useful service to the offices of medical staff and Isis and to Wall who have contributed so much to make this marvelous new nursing home a reality I can stand congratulations in every good wish for greater and broader service. Thank you very much control of my government. Is now my honor. And it is the privilege of all of us to hear from his eminence Francis Cardinal Spellman. Thank you. And see here carry. With your scholarly correct part of plasma and my brother priests. Control McGavin. Dr Costello and members of the medical staff. Mother Alice mother Jean Marie Sisters of St Francis and members of the other religious orders residence in Cairns nurses and personnel same class hospital and friends of mother Alice. I am grateful to the mayor of the city of New York to the commissioner of defense. And to control McGovern for their presence here this afternoon and the messages which they brought to us. This is an especially memorable and less a day in the life of the Archdiocese of New York. Played mocks the dedication of a school and residence for nurses and St Clair's hospital. And commemorates also the golden anniversary of the religious life I was saying play is greatness and benefactress and found mother Alice. Thousands of come to know mother Alice throughout her lifetime are devoted ministry to the poor and the sick room she has been both friend and mother. As with mournful Hotch and oft times tortured minds they groped in the night part of their pain and their misery. These And still other thousands have come to know her through and many and diverse accomplishments as she won the title of doctor of sick hospitals. For mother Alice has not only candid and help to give new life to the helpless sick and disease as she alleviated their sorrow and suffering but to she has given new life to hospitals as you renovated the old and built new ones. Increased bed capacities and installed modern equipment. Founded new training centers fun nurses and social service students. And this year did an expanded clinics. I mean one in one hundred ways how to modify the hospital's many merciful services to their sick. All over the years mother Alice has so closely spent us so far the afflicted the needy reaching out of the strong yet tender hands in the name of the Divine Physician and his blessid mother Mary whom she has faithfully striven to emulate. During a fifty years of service never has mother Alice passed who called but only where was she needed. As under the banner of God's charity she lavished to a love and care upon on asking no reward for a lifetime I've devoted labors for a fellow man except the spiritual grace and physical strength to help and to heal them. Capabilities for your military and of goodness have made her every act a consecrated thing for mother Alice Jones to be Omble rather than great yet truly great is she in charity. For love of man is excelled only by her love of God and upon her noble compassionate hot iron gullibly written these words. Oh God who are true make me one with the never lasting charity. On this inspiring occasion a mother Alice's Golden Jubilee with proud and grateful hot I am presented to. The fresh religious of the Archdiocese of New York to receive. A golden Benyamin the medal for faithful service. A medal especially blessed by the Holy Father. And I pray a prayer that we may all follow her example and fearlessly face the challenge of our times in a mighty crusade of charitable godly living. All life giving Father in Heaven whose records like to man's body. And with Spirit as help to man so. Bless we beseech see this new addition to Mother Alice's hospital temple of mercy haven for the helpless fortified sufferers why this day and who are yet to be patients here to carry their cross of pain and to master their fears through faith in the glass and sanctify them in spirit and be under them oh god their strength and divine support. Spirit of charity of the blessed eternity. My room God loves man and man loves God. Save this dying world dying of hatreds dying your powers dying of was. Teach advice acreage secrets the mystery the meaning and the mission of the I love reveal my living beauty to die shining shadow in the hot of Omble none. Of Franciscan nuns hot I Nyeri nuns hot I know American nuns time. Spirit of St Francis image of Christ crucified image of man crucified by the spirit of love abiding within me. Take on man's woes as Christ took on man's woes and from the shore all is Ocean of Love sand for by Spirit by holy healing spirit rushing down the ages in tyrants questing love to make man Franciscan in spirit. The Spirit of St Clair. Sister to Christ Spirit sister to the soul of St Francis who made us nice so poor with the poverty of Christ pure all with the purity of Christ and meet with a meekness of Christ Doggett's become to women as Francis watched him in a mothering challenging valorous spirit. The spirit of Jesus change less in a changing will reside in your brain love in my vision and wisdom that was smart the rolling years and chosen one noble heart I woman's heart on a valiant hot a loyal hot. Fifty golden years ago now did spill it with my spirit and call mother Alice to be a Sister of St Francis. Fish out of St Clair. That she loved God like seeing Francis and Lear like St Clair spirit of a father father of the Savior and father of five things that is blessed with valiant woman with a spirit with five power and I so say the mission now did center on love's obvious seeking out why help was poor. Laying healing hands on by afflicted with a hot a mother in heart where the homeless find shelter. Where the storm tossed seek a haven where the aliens come for comfort may the God of mercy bless. Bless our hands and bless the blessed with a blessing I have same friends and St Clair. You have been listening to a special broadcast from St Clair hospital in midtown Manhattan where as eminent Francis Cardinal Spellman Mayor Vincent Teletech state controller J. Raymond McGovern civil defense administrator author W. Wilander and Dr Maurice Castello president of the Executive Committee of the medical board of St Clair's Africa separated in ceremonies dedicating the new one million five hundred thousand dollars a school and residents of the hospital the ceremonies marked also the fiftieth anniversary in religious life of Mother Maine mother Mary Alice of the order of the Sisters of St Francis the superintendent founders of the hospital and now we return you to our studio in the municipal building for the program symphonic matinee which is in progress this is W one why see New York City.