Fr. Charles Yost, SCJ, former library director, dies after brief illness

Featured ~ Kathy Harty ~ Leave a comment

Fr. Charles Yost was the director of the Leo Dehon Library from 1964 until 1980.  He helped Charles-Yost-sq-150x150plan and design the library prior to construction of the new Monastery in 1968, while still a student in the library school at Catholic University of America.  He had a great love for music, particularly classical and liturgical – he built a collection of over 12,000 LPs and several thousand CDs.

“Yostie” served in many capacities over the years: missionary to Indonesia, work at the Province development office, parish priest, minister to retired SCJs, spiritual director of the Sacred Heart League, chaplain to the Ancilla Domini convent in Milwaukee.  Retired, Fr. Yost was a member of the Sacred Heart Community at SHML. In retirement, he continued to be active, overseeing the production of the American Ordo for many years in collaboration with the Province Development Office.

“Being an SCJ definitely influences how I minister. From the SCJs who have been my directors and mentors I have a deep appreciation of the Mass and the Eucharist that I try to pass on to others. I believe that as a priest I must be physically present to the people with whom I minister. That is a mark of religious priests and of the SCJs who have influenced me.”

Library Spirituality Talks: Hindu Spirituality

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Fr. Praveen Richard, SCJ, gave the most recent presentation for the library’s spirituality series on March 19, 2019.  He gave us a wonderful introduction to the spirituality underlying Hinduism.  Fr. Praveen is from the India District, and is here studying in the English and Culture Studies Program (formerly known as the English as a Second Language [ESL] Program).  Here’s a link to the video on YouTube.

Library Discoveries

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The library continues its multiyear project to evaluate the print collection, deselect out-of-date materials and add resources where there are gaps. During this process, we occasionally come across forgotten little gems or items of interest.

Here’s one of them: The Pageant of Popes, printed in 1574 in London, and dedicated to the Earl of Sussex. For the non-history buffs out there, Lord Sussex was Lord Deputy of Ireland under both Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I – a major political feat on its own.

The Pageant of Popes is an anti-Catholic history of papal successions.  A brief sample: “S. Peter not bishop of Rome. For so muche as the Bishops of Rome have claimed, and doo still clayme their usurped supremacy by right of inheritance and succession from Peter, because he (as they pretend) was bishop of Rome at the least xxv yeares, and so tied all this dignitie and preogatiue (whiche they fight for) to his chayre for euer: It shall be therfore nedeful to consider, how likely it is to be true, that Peter continued bishop in Rome according to their boasting.”

The book was originally written in Latin by John Bale (1495-1563) and ‘Englished’ by John Studley, 1545?-1590?.