Xaverians Arrive in America

This day in 1854 the first group of Xaverian Brothers arrived in Louisville, where they would establish their first American foundation. They were founded in Belgium in 1839. In 1853, Louisville’s Bishop Martin Spalding invited the brothers to open a school in his diocese, and in 1854 the first colony of brothers moved to the United States. The Brothers took charge of several parochial schools in 1864 and opened St. Xavier High School, Louisville, Kentucky. In 1864, Spalding, then Archbishop of Baltimore, asked the Xaverians to open schools there, and they did so. Baltimore was made the center of Xavierian activities in the United States, and in 1876 a novitiate was opened there at the site of Mount Saint Joseph College. By 1900, the Xaverian Brothers had opened schools in New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. (The above poster is from 1889.)