Founder's Day - November 4
November 4, the feast day of St. Charles Borromeo, is an important day for members of the Carroll community. After Bishop of Helena John Patrick Carroll founded this institution in 1909, he named it Mount St. Charles College in honor of St. Charles Borromeo. While college leaders changed the school’s name to Carroll College in 1932, St. Charles remains Carroll’s patron saint.
The college’s first course bulletin, published for the 1910-11 school year, declared November 4 St. Charles Day. For the next fifty years, students and faculty joined together on November 4 to honor the college’s patron saint, founders, and community. The program for the day typically included a High Mass and then a campus dinner complete with speeches and other entertainment. Often a football game that pitted the freshmen against the upperclassmen, a dance, or a movie night rounded off the celebration. Classes were cancelled for the day.
Starting in the 1960s, St. Charles Day and its associated celebrations began to fade from both Carroll’s official calendar and its activity schedule. By 1970, November 4 was known on campus as Founder’s Day. Substantial campus-wide celebrations on the feast day of St. Charles occurred infrequently over the next four decades.
Please join us as we celebrate St. Charles Borromeo, our founders, and the Carroll community on November 4th, and be on the lookout for additional Founders Week events.
