Photo Credit: Brother John Argauer, MM
If you hadn’t guessed by the title of this blog post, we have been experiencing rain quite frequently as of late. The rain has been of varying varieties, such as light, heavy, spattering, sideways, misty, pouring, and, to sum all of it up, relentless. You need rain? Well come on down because we’ve got it in droves! You want to see a thunderstorm? Stick around! Most of the storms are attempting to break the rising humidity. Your chances of seeing brilliant flashes of light and hearing tremendous reverberating cracks of thunder have increased with the humidity! Rain just seems to be a presence, whether it’s actually raining or merely precipitation sitting in the air.
With rain permeating my thoughts, I began to wonder if this time of year has always been a washout? I don’t remember so much rain at this time last year, but what about years past?
Photo Credit: Stephanie Conning, Photo Archivist
I began to dig into the Society’s diaries for entries at this time of year. Would there be any mention of the weather? A valid question, considering the fact that some of the Society’s diary entries are very succinct. Depending on the particular author you might just get the run down on who was going where to do what and then we’re already on to the next day. If they did make any mention of the weather, one can only imagine that it was a rather spectacular show of rain to elicit a few words in an entry!
Here are a few appearances of weather (highlighted) that I was able to find in the Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers Diaries collection:
“Friday, August 1, 1913.
Fr. Michael Doherty, of the Holy Rosary Church, So. Boston Mass., and some friends from Woburn, Mass., called. Heavy rain. Fr. Walsh gives secretaries an account of his trip to the West.”
~Hawthorne Diary, Fr. John Lane
“Monday, August 18, 1913
[…] Fr. Walsh drives to Pleasantville after dinner – caught in thunderstorms and drenched. Arranged with Fr. Alexis for services of Fr. Wm. Owen, O.P, and Fr. Hyacinth Foster, O.P.”
~Hawthorne Diary, Fr. John Lane
“August 16
Rain, Rain, Rain. Impedes building operations. Fr. Fitzgerald off to Brooklyn.”
~Maryknoll Diary, August 1920
“August 1st –
Tuesday. The month begins with intense heat, which an electric storm at 2:30 does not help.– Visit of Rev. Edward Quaid of the Syracuse diocese who, though still young, has sponsored many priestly vocations, including one of our own subdeacons.”
~Maryknoll Center Diary, August 1933
Even though these are quite small entries and I could continue to add more of them, one can already see that we are not alone in this particular summer of rain. In fact part of the reason why this blog is about to come to an end is the current electrical storm… which ironically with a loud crack just turned all the power off in the building. So now that I’m back, I think it’s safe to say this post is cooked! Stay dry everyone!
