The Joys of Domesticity - The Lighter Side of Woodstock

Becoming a Jesuit is a notoriously long, academically rigorous, and spiritually intense process. The seminarians at Woodstock College (1869-1973) had much of their highly scheduled days filled with prayer, lectures, mass, and studying. However, seminary life wasn’t all drudgery or monotony; there was also ample opportunity for celebration, recreation, and fun. The exhibition on display highlights the lighter side of Jesuit community life that often gets overlooked. 

Studies at Woodstock were arduous, to say the least, and one way in which the community found relief was in baseball. For nearly the entire life of the institution, younger students in the 3-year philosophy program (“The Philosophers”) took on their older counterparts in the 4-year theology program (“The Theologians”) in a Woodstock World Series. The Series was highly contested with a history just as storied as the National and American leagues, which they meticulously recorded in their box scores. In addition to recording no-hitters and shutouts, the box scores also showcase Jesuit humor with team names such as “the Always Outs,” “the Never Hits,” and in a lighthearted nod to their scholastic studies, “the Moreovers” and “the Howevers.”

The Woodstock Jesuits were also great celebrators, quick to commemorate the many ordination anniversaries, or jubilees, of their members. These events would include special dinners, invited guests, musical accompaniment, and occasional plays performed by the students. For the 75th anniversary of Woodstock College in 1944, the students wrote and performed an original play entitled “The Man in the Three Cornered Hat,” an allegory mixing history, Catholic theology, and American folk tales. 

In addition to personal commemorations, the Jesuits also celebrated the ecclesiastical calendar by composing communally-written poetry collections for specific feast days. These collections were a chance to showcase their artistic and newly acquired language capabilities with highly decorated title pages and poems written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. 

Situated in rural Maryland near the banks of the Patapsco River, Woodstock College was an idyllic environment and the community often found time to enjoy the natural surroundings. In the winter, students were frequently permitted to ice skate along the river and, in the warmer months, the members of Woodstock Walking Club would traipse for miles over hill and dale all while singing songs dedicated to the glories of the WWC.

Post dinner recreation, known as haustus, was also a time for relaxation with drinks, conversation, and light entertainment. Starting in the 1910s, movies were shown on an in-house projector with the silent comedies of Harold Lloyd–a house favorite–reportedly sending the Jesuits young and old “rollicking” in laughter. During haustus students would also play records on the Victrola or listen to the occasional college football game on the radio.

Though seminary life is often imagined as purely dedicated to strict study and austere spiritual discernment, the materials on display show that this is only a half truth and that shared entertainment, recreation, and art provided relief and joy for the seminarians of Woodstock College.