Page 91 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

i0 soME RYKEN coRRESPoNDENcE
What the young man may not have known was that
NIr. Ryken was n6t primarily concerned with him but
that hi was very m-uch interested in circulating -this
reply among the clergy through the prie-st who had in-
rpiria the {uestions ind who was well known to him'
iike the "h^eathen Chinee" Ryken could be "devious"'
When the Father Superior decided that the second
"giving of the habit" would take place on Easter Mon-
diy, A-pril 7, 1844, he wrote permission for Seghers and
nonaoin to leave the normal school at St. Trond, tell-
ing them: "I am very happy to know- that have
-you
mide satisfactory progress 1n your studies and -I gla{ly
consent for you t-o return here for vacation in order
that you may renew your spirit in community life.- Take
care to be here before Easter, for on Easter Monday
Maas and Schmitt will probably take the habit and I
wish you to be present."*
Orr May 25, 1844, Martin Van Gerwen arrived at
"Het Wailetje" from Gemert, North Brabant, where
previously on ;t ne 5, 1840, Brother Ryken had enlisted
his "eldeit son-," Anthony Melis. Like his Superior the
newest arrival was a shoemaker by trade.
Van Gerwen was twenty-three. In the course of that
year, 1844, he was joined by four other candidates, all
younger than he. All five completed the three-months
period oi trial. All five received the habit, but only
Van Gerwen (Brother Paul) remained.
One of the five was Peter Gudders, a graduate of the
normal school at St. Trond and naturally a very wel-
come addition. Unfortunately he brought dissension.
He had a grievance that grew in magnitude. He con-
* Maas, Brother Joseph, later transfered to the Trappists;
Schmitt, Brother James, outstanding among the early Brothers,
spent his religious life in Bruges.