Thankful to St. Joseph: Faith is at core of history of St. Augustine Home for the Aged

Photo caption: In this file photo published in The Criterion on Aug. 19, 1966, Mother Marie Mathilde, far right, superior of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Indianapolis, shows her assistant and two guests how much progress has been made on construction of the new St. Augustine Home for the Aged at 2345 W. 86th St. The home was built with donations from more than 18,000 individuals, families, businesses and foundations.

By Mary Ann Wyand

At 93, Beatrice Spurgeon is thankful for many blessings from God during her long life.

She is especially grateful for the opportunity to spend the remaining years of her life with the Little Sisters of the Poor and residents of the St. Augustine Home for the Aged in Indianapolis.

“I’ve lived here for a little over three years now,” Spurgeon said during the Holiday Bazaar on Nov. 17 at the Little Sisters’ home for the elderly poor at 2345 W. 86th St. in Indianapolis.

“It’s just far above anything I ever expected,” she said. “It’s been wonderful to be here. I’m very grateful to the sisters and to all the people that work here. I love it here. There’s a lot of love and kindness. I couldn’t have spent the last part of my life in a better way.”

As a St. Augustine Home resident, Spurgeon said, “You get to know so many nice people, and there’s always something fun and interesting going on here. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to keep busy with friends.”

Last weekend, Spurgeon and several other residents helped the Little Sisters and St. Augustine Guild members present the annual Holiday Bazaar to help raise funds for operating expenses and capital improvements that include a new roof for the 38-year-old home.

Spurgeon also helps take care of Joey, the Little Sisters’ dog, and enjoys walking the white Shih Tzu on the scenic grounds at the home.

The sisters adopted the happy little dog—already named Joey—as a companion for the home’s 95 residents and think St. Joseph, their patron saint, must have had a hand in his adoption.

“I walk him a lot,” Spurgeon said. “I do a lot that I don’t have to do with Joey because I want to. I think Joey came here for a purpose.”

Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioner William A. Brennan Jr. of Indianapolis, who was recently named the first “lifetime” member of the home’s advisory board, shares the Little Sisters’ devotion to St. Joseph.

Brennan, who is 89 and still keeps busy with real estate work and volunteer service, carries a small statue of St. Joseph—a gift from the Little Sisters—in his pocket every day.

On March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, the Little Sisters honored Brennan for four decades of distinguished service to the sisters and the home.

Brennan likes to share the story about how St. Joseph helped the Little Sisters select the location for the new St. Augustine Home about 45 years ago.

His father, William A. Brennan, started a commercial and industrial real estate company in Indianapolis in 1926.

After earning a business degree at Harvard University then serving in the U.S. Army in Indiana during World War II and the Korean War—achieving the rank of captain—he joined the family business to help his father.

When Mother Marie Mathilde, superior of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Indianapolis during the 1960s, called him about selling the sisters’ first home at 500 E. Vermont St., Brennan went to visit her at the home located in what is now the historic Lockerbie Square neighborhood.

Mother Marie Mathilde, who was from France, promptly explained that the current home was antiquated so she needed to sell it and purchase land on the perimeter of the city to build a larger, modern home for the residents.

She said Bernard Lanagan, a longtime advisory board member who was serving as chairman of the Little Sisters’ capital campaign, suggested that she contact Brennan.

“I wasn’t in the front door of the home for five minutes,” Brennan recalled, “when she said bluntly, ‘You’re going to sell this place for us. What can we get for it?’ I said, ‘How about $250,000?’ She said, ‘We’ll take it. You go sell it. … You’re going to find us a new spot for a home. We have to build a new home. This place is obsolete.’

“When I asked, ‘Mother, how much are you going to spend?’ she said, ‘$3 million.’ So I asked, ‘Do you have a building fund?’ and she said yes. I asked, ‘How much is in it?’ and she said, ‘$7,500.’ I asked, ‘Mother, how are you going to get from $7,500 to $3 million?’ She looked at a statue of St. Joseph and said, ‘He’ll take care of us.’ ”

Brennan selected 18 parcels of available land then arranged a bus tour so the Little Sisters could visit the sites. The Little Sisters also wanted to locate their home near a Catholic hospital.

He recalled that when Mother Marie Mathilde saw the cornfield on a country road that is now West 86th Street, she announced, “St. Joseph wants us to build the home here.”

Working with Archbishop Paul C. Schulte, Brennan acquired the farmland on what came to be called “Catholic Row” because he also helped the Society of Jesus build Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School and the Daughters of Charity construct St. Vincent Hospital there.

St. Augustine Home for the Aged was built on a 30-acre site between the hospital and Jesuit preparatory school.

But to accomplish that, Brennan had to work with city officials to extend water and sewer lines from 38th Street north to 86th Street then arrange for other utilities as well as the construction of roads and storm water drainage.

“On the day, about five years later, the Little Sisters moved into this facility, they didn’t owe a cent on it,” Brennan said. “Every single cent had been raised. There was no debt. It was amazing. St. Joseph just does not let them down. ”

St. Augustine Home is “a truly special place that is always immaculate,” he said, praising the Little Sisters and lay staff members.

The Little Sisters have to raise $87 per resident every day to cover operating expenses, he said, as well as ongoing fundraising to pay for capital improvements.

Brennan said the Little Sisters place their trust in God and their patron saint to help them operate the home.

“The Little Sisters are fascinating,” he said. “They’re walking saints. I’ve been close to them ever since the 1960s when I started serving on their advisory board.”

The story about how the Little Sisters chose the location for St. Augustine Home in 1968 is “a fabulous piece of history,” Brennan said. “To be around that kind of an operation for 40 or 45 years, I know there’s a direct connection with the Lord through St. Joseph.

“When I’ve done things to help the Little Sisters, I know the hand of St. Joseph was on me,” he said. “I couldn’t have done them alone. He has become my favorite saint. Some of the devotion of the Little Sisters has rubbed off on me and made me a better man. I’m thankful for that.”

(To operate St. Augustine Home for the Aged and provide quality care to the residents, the Little Sisters of the Poor must raise more than $225,000 in donations each month to supplement government funding plus additional funds for capital improvements to the home. For information about how to help, call St. Augustine Home at 317-872-6420.) †