The San Francisco Disaster

New Zealand Tablet, 20 September 1906, Page 15

The San Francisco Disaster

His Grace the Archbishop of Wellington has iust received a letter from the Most Rev/ Dr. Riordan in which the Archbishop of San Francisco thanks Archbishop Redwood for his sympathy, and also for his words of consolation and encouragement. 'We are not at all dismayed by the great disaster that fell' upon us, continues his Grace, ' but we have not the strength and vigor of early days to meet suoh gigantic difficulties as confront us. However, we are full °l ft c a y? courar S e > a » d "ttle by little I think we shall be able to replace the institutions ruined by the earthquake.' The Most Rev. Dr. Montgomery Coadjutor Archbishop, after thanking Archbishop Redwood tor a kind letter of sympathy, says : ' I am «lad however, to be able to tell you that it .is astonishing how the Archbishop bears up under the calamity He has gaven his residence m the city to two convents of the Presentation Nuns, who were burned out m the fire, and he, .himself has taken a little cottage m San Mateo, a few miles' from the city f The following list of the losses in the archdiocese i- £ a £ Fr , ancisc ° by earthquake and fire has been supplied by Archbishop Montgomery :— ln the city twelve churches were burnt, and the parishes absolutely wiped ■**. of xl _ exis *ence. In the burnt district we lost alone with the churches every institution within it— the parish schools, colleges, academies, hospitals, Homes for aged, and abandoned children, including; the laree Church and College of St. Ignatius, and the Sacred Heart College of ite Christian Brothers. Four churches in the city were destroyed -by earthquake and several others seriously shaken, and several schools likewise in the same district more or less seriously injured. The Cathedral was seriously damaged The altar was ruined by earthquake.- The Archbishop's residence and the residence of the Cathedral clergy are within the district saved. Outside the city two or three churches were destroyed by earthquake, and several others, and schools as well, seriously shaken. The St Patrick's Seminary at Menlo Park was badly damaged. There is no loss of life' among priests, nuns, or children under their care