The former St. Leo Hospital in Greensboro

On April 26, 1906 the Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina, Abbot-Bishop Leo Haid, O.S.B., dedicated St. Leo's Hospital in Greensboro. Staffed by the Sisters of Charity, this hospital later closed and the building became the home of Notre Dame High School.

Belmont Abbey students pray at the grotto shrine in this undated photo

Clergy, religious and laity from across the Southeastern USA made a pilgrimage to the Lourdes Grotto Shrine on the campus of Belmont Abbey on March 25, 1908. The pilgrimage honored the 50th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady in Lourdes, France. The shrine, from the beginning, was intended to be a place of prayer for vocations to the priesthood.

On March 2, 1970 Fr. Edmund McCaffrey, OSB was elected Abbot of Belmont Abbey. Abbot McCaffrey, who was born in 1933 and ordained to the priesthood in 1959, was the fourth abbot of the Monastery. He resigned from this position in 1975 and went on to serve as a priest for the Diocese of Charleston.

Apostolic Delegate Amleto Cicogani (left) with Bishop James Navagh at dedication of Our Lady of Consolation in 1957

On February 12, 1963, Bishop James Navagh was appointed Bishop of Paterson (New Jersey). Bishop Navagh was ordained to the espicopacy in 1952 to serve as Auxiliary Bishop of Raleigh. During this time he became the first pastor of Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte. He was transferred from the Diocese of Raleigh in 1957 when he was chosen by Pope Pius XII to be the seventh bishop of Ogdensburg (New York).