VALERIAN, BROTHER (William Walsh -- Died; Feb. 2, 1879)
"Brother Valerian, wishing to do away with the bare appearance of St. Joseph Lake near the boat house, has planted a number of maple, sycamore, and other trees there."-- Nov. 16, 1878.
"Brother Valerian, who passed away on Sunday last, though well advanced in years spent but a brief period of his life at Notre Dame. Just before his death he contributed much to beautifying the surroundings by his labor as a fine gardener"--Scholastic, Feb. 8, 1879.
"The Roughneck Chains"-- in Alumnus, Oct., 1933. "Religious Bulletin," Sept., 14, 1933.
"Brother Hilarion received over 20,000 stamps this week from Brother Flavian and has turned them over to Brother Valerian who will have over 500,000 on exhibition during commencement week"-- Scholastic-- 1893.
"Brother Valerian acknowledges the receipts of stamps: 78,048 -- Carroll, Brownson -- 81,158, St. Ed's, 11,348; St. Stanislaus, South Bend -- 30,352; St. Patrick's, South Bend, 2,000; St. Mary's, Austin, Texas -- 54,403"--Scholastic, 1893.
"Early in the summer Brother Valerian died at the Community House, Notre Dame, after an illness of some years. Because of his long association with the University of Notre Dame, the Religious Bulletin issued Sept., 14, 1933, gives him a special mention we consider worth quoting:
'For many years, Brother Valerian was in charge of the steam plant. When rheumatism crippled him so badly that he could no longer do active work, he took charge of the Carroll Hall locker room. There he began a campaign which in the course of time became national in scope. For years he had twisted wire into chains for rosaries -- and there are some of his beads on the campus that have been in service for more than 40 years. In the locker room he noticed that most of the boys wore no medals. He sold the chains for ten cents each, and gave the profits to the Bengal Missions.
'You are not going to forget him in your prayers. The greater portion of Brother Valerian's 88 years were spent in God's service in religion, but it would be mean of us to excuse ourselves from praying for him on that account. He helped to revive devotion to the scapular among boys all over the country; the Blessed Virgin loved him for that, and want to say her prayer for him'--Associate of St. Joseph, 3:4"
See: "The Bead Maker," Scholastic, 1925; 58:808.