Diamondback, Yearbook of St. Mary's University, 1956 Page: 7 of 184
This yearbook is part of the collection entitled: Texas History Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the St. Mary's University Louis J. Blume Library.
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76e ;44L!4 ;Vouu
It is unfair to compare all of the past with one year's
achievement-yet we are heartened by the contrast.
As human institutions go, St. Mary's 106 years makes
it one of the oldest of any kind in continuous existence in
its area-an area larger than most of the major states of
western Europe.
And with the blossoming of Catholic life in the San
Antonio Archdiocese, the growth of the western province
of the Society of Mary, and the increasing numbers going
to college, its future has never looked more assured.
The educators of St. Mary's can never subscribe to a
notion of inevitable human progress-for a people, a
culture, a nation, a region or an institution-and yet we
do grow-here and now.
St. Mary's has been adaptable in over a century to
the rapidly changing surroundings-amid cactus, cattle,
oil, rice, cotton, tourists, military men. It has been flexible
and viable. It was almost abandoned a number of times
in the early years (see The Society of Mary in Texas, by Jos.Schmitz, S.M., Ph.D.). But the spirit was willing, and
that has been enough.
And while it has changed, it has also been unchanging.
As the annual commencements have passed, the perennial
spirit is unaltered-with the Trinity, the Incarnation, the
Immaculate Conception, the One, the True, the Good,
Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance amid the
shifting sands, the oil rig, the round-up, the compressed
bale, and the jet aircraft.
As Chronicler of change, the DIAMONDBACK aims
to be a mirror, but one with perspective. It wants to
depict the annual events and it hopes they suggest the
perennial truths, if dimly. College life in 1956 was com-
plex with its working students, marrying upperclassmen
and turbulently expanding educational scene. While we
might hope to leave pictures for posterity, we will be
satisfied to leave some record of your memories.
It is unfair to compare all,of the past with one year's
achievement. But we are astounded and heartened that
the comparison shows so fair a light on the present.
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St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Tex.). Diamondback, Yearbook of St. Mary's University, 1956, yearbook, 1956; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1210541/m1/7/?rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Mary's University Louis J. Blume Library.