2007 O'Neil D'Amour Award
The Brothers of Saint Francis Xavier
Brother Arthur R. Caliman, CFX, General Superior
The Xaverian Brothers, a congregation of lay religious, was founded by Theodore Ryken (Brother Francis Xavier) in Bruges, Belgium, in 1839 for the education of youth, especially in America. While Xaverian schools already were operating in Belgium and England, the first colony in America opened St. Patrick’s school in Louisville, Kentucky, on Aug. 11, 1854 at Immaculate Conception parish, and eventually most of the parish schools of Louisville were staffed by the Brothers.
In 1864, the brothers’ first secondary school, St. Xavier Institute, later known as St. Xavier College and now St. Xavier High School, was opened in Louisville. In 1866 the brothers were invited by Archbishop Spalding of Baltimore to open St. Mary’s Industrial School, inaugurating a type of work for which the Xaverians in the U.S. were noted for many years. Between 1875 and 1900 other schools were opened in Baltimore, including Mt. St. Joseph’s College, and expansion into Massachusetts and Virginia took place.
In the early 1900s the Brothers turned their attention to their own professional training and to secondary education. In 1920 the first of several schools was opened in New York.
In 1927 the congregation received papal recognition and the following year the American provincial was elected superior general, the first American so honored in any religious institute of European origin.
In 1931 the Belgian province reviving the congregation’s missionary character established a colony in the Belgian Congo, and in 1949 the American brothers entered Uganda and subsequently Kenya. In 1960 schools were also opened in Bolivia.
Following the Second Vatican Council the congregation in addition to education undertook a variety of pastoral and social ministries, especially in poorer areas. New foundations have been established by the American brothers in Haiti, Kenya, Lithuania, and Bolivia. The secondary schools in the United States were reorganized as "Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools," a network which now includes 12 schools in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Kentucky, and Alabama. The Xaverians have made it a priority to establish models of shared governance through the establishment of school boards in each of these institutions.
In recent years the brothers have shared their considerable expertise with shared governance and boards beyond their own schools. Many of the brothers also have been very active in the NCEA. Brother Stephen Comeau works in the NCEA president's office; Brother William Drinan has served on NCEA's National Association of Boards, Commissions and Councils Advisory Committee; and Brother Larry Harvey currently serves on that committee. Members of the community's staff have teamed with the NCEA in various projects, including providing workshops for local boards. As of 2003, the brothers minister in 10 different countries on 4 continents.
