Page 92 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

SOME RYKEN CORRESPONDENCE 7I
vinced himself that the Father Superior had imposed
on him.
Talented and versatile, young Gudders had been
stirred to his emotional depths while listening to one of
his priest-instructors at St. Trond give a tilk on the
American "missions." Having made inquiries of this
priest, he found out that there was a ne* Brotherhood
at Bruges destined for America. When Brother Ryken
visited St. Trond, Gutlders sought him our. Ryken
heard Gudders' story and assured him that he would be
in America six months after he joined.
Ryken may have been carried away by Gudders'
enthusiasm but he made the promise in good faith. He
had refused an invitation from the Bishop of phila-
delphia so that he could accepr the offei of Father
Gildea in Baltimore. He was iure of Baltimore, for-
getting or perhaps never realizing that he was only one
party in the bi-lateral negotiations.
Gudders had joined the Xaverian community at "Het
Walletje" on August 21, 1844. On March lb, 184b,
Ryken wrote to Father Gildea: "You will receive here-
with a copy of the letter I sent you on the l6th of August
last year wherein I expressed my desire for an immediate
answer but not having received any, I do not know
what to think. . . . I intend to send you at Baltimore
at the latter end of rhis summer, 1845, three Brothers . . .
What Ryken did not know was that Father Gildea
had died on February 14,1845, and that the new pastor
at St. Vincent's was negotiating with the Brothers of
the Christian Schools, who had been in Canada since
1837. These Brothers, who took charge of St. Vincent's
Orphanage, opened their fi.rst American foundation,
Calvert Hall, on September 15, 1845.
Brother Ryken had told the late Father Gildea. "We
have nineteen Brothers and seven postulants." He did