STORIES FROM THE PAST

FOND MEMORIES

Every human being meets on his life’s path a few persons who are decisive for your future and who continue to guide you like the star of Bethlehem for the rest of your life. Anton van der Lee shares his memories of Brother Realinus Donders.

Brother Realinus Donders. Brother Realinus Donders (1879-1966) will always remain in my memory as the most sympathetic teacher I ever had. I got to know him in 1943 in the third grade at the St. Emilius School in Loon op Zand. He was a short, corpulent brother with his spiked hair trimmed to a length that was quite exceptional in those days. He was a true friend of children, especially the little ones, good-natured, a motivated teacher and not the youngest either (63).

Realinus was music

I remember that he knew a trick for moving his mouth like a rabbit and on the playground, he was often asked by the first graders: “Brother, do the rabbit”, which he promptly did, to the great hilarity of his youthful audience. But whoever said Realinus, also said music. He was all about music and it was no wonder that he had written a singing method entitled Geniet van het Lied (Enjoy the Song), published as usual by the Boys’ Orphanage Printing House in Tilburg. Every brother who had something special to offer in the area of education was invariably commissioned by the superior to develop a method, because this was a nice extra income for the Congregation.

Realinus wrote his music on cardboards with the text of a song and an accompanying staff, as large as the blackboard on which he could hang it. All the children could easily read it from their places. He spared neither time nor effort to teach his pupils songs well and with pleasure. In addition, he seems to have had the necessary extracurricular activities, but as a child you had no idea about that. I have been told that he made an inventory of all the bells in church towers in Brabant with their inscriptions, pitch and so on, a huge job of great cultural importance. Do any of the readers know anything more about this? [*]

Fortune and misfortune

In the fifth grade, in 1945, to my good fortune, I encountered him again. He must have been pensioned by then, but I am not surprised that this idealist continued for another year. It ended dramatically. In this class were several unmotivated rascals, who had already done their second year so many times that they were only waiting for their fourteenth birthday, when their compulsory education would end, and they could leave school immediately. They made teaching almost impossible, and he suffered so much that at Easter of that year he had to retire overworked, although he had deserved so much better.

Many years later

In 1965 I went to see him in the community of Steenwijk in Vught, at that time the home for elderly brothers, to tell him what a fantastic teacher I had always found him. In the meantime, I had obtained a certificate as a fully qualified teacher, although I never worked in that field after that. At first, he had difficulty in remembering me, especially as he had become totally blind, but soon the images of the past returned. He then also remembered my three older brothers, all of whom had been in his class. It obviously did him good that after so many years a former student came back to pay his respects. We talked about the past and the present. It turned out that he still conducted the Gregorian choir of the brothers in Vught, even though he had become totally blind. He did not only know all the regular chants, but he also knew all the changing chants of the church year by heart. There were many hundreds of them. Incredible!

The one that came back

When I said goodbye, I placed my visit to my favourite teacher in the light of the Bible story about the ten lepers, who were sent by Jesus to the priests to be declared healed, so that they would then be allowed to go among the people again. On the way they were cleansed and nine immediately hurried on for their declaration of health. Only one returned first to go and thank Jesus. “Consider me the one who came back. But all those others were as happy with you as I was.” I saw tears of emotion in Brother Realinus’ blind eyes. A year later he died, aged 87. I could not have waited much longer with my expression of gratitude....

Anton van der Lee, The Netherlands

* Note from the editors: it was Brother Getulius Arts who made the inventory of very many bells in North Brabant and beyond. Brother Realinus Donders often accompanied him on his trips to look at and listen to the bells. Brother Hermenegildus Beris recently did archival research on the brothers who were musicians and compiled his findings in a book. In it a chapter is dedicated to Brother Realinus Donders, and to Brother Getulius Arts.