LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1932, Page 26

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28 Proceedings of Thirty-Fifth Regular Convention,

I. SEMINARIES AND COLLEGEs,

A. Action on Reports of Boards of Control.

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.
(Memorial 101.)

These last three years, since the convention at River Forest in
1929, have been weighed down with many and varied events in the
history of Concordia Seminary. The enrolment at the institution hag
been so large that the problem of housing the student-body has become
extremely vexing. The dormitories can accommodate 390 students
but we were forced to make room for as high as 448. The enrolments
during the past three years were as follows : —

Year Enrolled Present Absent Vicaring Postgraduates
1929-30 509 393 13 90 1
1930-31 534 432 21 76 9
1931-32 531 448 22 61 —

The enrolments of the past three years have been the largest in
the history of our Seminary. The reports coming from our Colleges
show that the class which will enter the Seminary this fall will be
as large as those of the three last years; moreover, the reports show
that also the classes following for the next two and three years will
not be any smaller.

During the last triennium the Lord has called home to Himself
the president of the institution, Prof. F. Pieper, D.D., who was
privileged by the grace of God to teach at the Seminary more than
fifty years and to be its president for forty years. The institution
has sustained a great loss through the death of this venerable servant
of the Lord, who has been one of the outstanding men of the Church
for more than two generations. The greater part of the ministry
of our Synod has received its theological training through this
eminent man of God. The death of Dr. F. Pieper occurred during
the graduating days of the class of 1931, June 8. Memorial services
were held at said time and again in September, upon the return of
the student-body. Dr. Pieper was able to teach until March, 1931,
when an operation which he had undergone made it necessary for
him to relinquish his classes, However, to the very end he took
a keen interest in the welfare of the institution as well as in the
Church at large and above all time and again expressed his personal
childlike faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Redeemer. Out-
standing among his works are the three volumes of Christliche
Dogmatik.

Another instructor of the Seminary died during the past trien-
nium, Prof. F. Bente, D.D. He likewise served the Seminary and
the Church at large unstintingly with his unusual gifts. At the side