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A place of spiritual nourishment
Welcome to Saint Louis Abbey
Saint Louis Abbey was founded in 1955. The lay people of Saint Louis who invited the monks of Ampleforth Abbey desired to have a boys’ school, rooted in the classical tradition of English ‘public’ schools. Ampleforth agreed to engage in this project with the understanding that it would found a monastery that would serve as the core of the project.
Saint Louis Priory School opened its doors in September of 1956. Its Mission was (and is) to provide a Benedictine, Catholic, college-preparatory education of the highest excellence for talented and motivated young men. Over the past 60 years, Priory has remained true to that mission.
Abbot
Abbot Gregory OSB
History
After WWII, a group in St. Louis started to discuss the need for a Catholic boys’ school of high academic standards and willing to prepare boys to enter the college of their choice. The group produced a manifesto and acquired some land and financial support. Next, they needed a staff to run the school. No Catholic school in St Louis had the spare manpower, but Portsmouth Priory (now Abbey), in Rhode Island, had an Ampleforth monk as acting superior, Father Aelred Graham.
The Saint Louis group had some connections with Portsmouth and knew Father Aelred. He said Portsmouth had no spare monks but perhaps one of the English Abbeys might have. Ampleforth, with well over 100 monks was, in fact, looking to make a foundation. A series of meetings which ensued between the Saint Louis Group, incorporated as Catholic Preparatory school for Boys and Father Aelred, resulted in Father Aelred’s being sent to England to invite the English abbeys, especially Ampleforth.
There, he painted a glowing picture of Saint Louis. This led to visits from Saint Louis to Ampleforth and a reconnaissance from Ampleforth resulting in an invitation from the Archbishop of Saint Louis to the Abbot of Ampleforth and an acceptance from the Abbot. This was done, apparently with no legal document; a remarkable example of a trust that existed then and still does today.
The Ampleforth monks: Priory Columba, Father Luke, and Priory Timothy came by sea on the Queen Elizabeth II to New York, visited there and Washington, and reached Saint Louis in November 1955, where they met at their new home by a group of INC, eagerly awaiting supper.
But, Father Columba decreed rightly that the group should say Vespers and Compline first. As they left, their treasurer gave Father Luke a check for $10,000 for building and financing the school, which was to open in September 1956. In the beginning, there were three monks – and one more monk due to join in 1956 – but no boys, no classrooms, no textbooks, no one to teach math or science, no playing fields, but plenty of room to grow.
They decided to start simply with a 9th grade of 30 boys and add grades each year until they had grades 7-12. As part of the application process, there was a written entrance exam with papers in English and math, and an interview by the monks. The school grew impressively in spirituality and academic rigor.
