Saint Louis Priory School

Saint Louis Priory School is a Catholic independent day school for boys in grades seven through twelve which offers a nationally recognized accelerated curriculum designed to qualify graduates for admission to distinguished colleges and universities and to prepare them to undertake their continuing studies with success.

The Mission of Saint Louis Priory School is to provide a Benedictine, Catholic, college preparatory education of the highest excellence so as to help talented and motivated young men develop their full potential as children of God. We express the philosophy of our School by an explication of the key phrases of our Mission Statement:

• We provide a Benedictine education of the highest excellence which teaches our students the service of the Lord according to the spirit of Saint Benedict through truly seeking God in prayer, through striving to grow in humility and purity of heart and so progressing toward that perfect love of God which casts out fear, and through preferring nothing to Christ and serving others in fraternal love and so fostering a spirit of family and community among those with whom they live and work.
• We provide a Catholic education of the highest excellence which teaches our students, according to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, the knowledge of the mystery of Christ through faith and understanding, the celebration of it through the liturgy and the sacraments, the living of it through charity and the other virtues, and the hastening of its fulfillment through prayer.
• We provide a college preparatory education of the highest excellence which forms our students in: the intellectual skills and disciplines of a comprehensive liberal arts program of studies in the Western Christian classical cultural tradition, which prepares them for admission to appropriate distinguished colleges or universities, for the pursuit of their higher studies with success, and for continued intellectual development; the moral virtues, guided by charity, which are needed for service and leadership in a free society; the appreciation and practice of the fine arts as directed to beauty and to the communication of moral and spiritual truths and values; and the athletic skills needed for successful participation in a program of competitive sports as a means to physical fitness, active recreation and the development of the virtues of good sportsmanship, teamwork, and collaboration.
• We form a School community appropriate to a Benedictine school, centered in the worship of God, the celebration of the Eucharist, prayer, service, and Christian love, which will provide a nurturing environment, rooted in the vow of stability of the monks of Saint Louis Abbey and the commitment to service of the lay members of the faculty and staff, that will foster among all its members — students, faculty and staff, parents, and alumni — care, concern, and mutual support for one another and for every member of the Abbey Family.

At Saint Louis Priory School, our mission calls for us to provide a "college preparatory education of the highest excellence." To achieve this goal, we have designed a curriculum intended to educate the whole person. The various components of our program of study address the intellectual, artistic, physical, moral and spiritual dimensions of each boy's development. Simply put, almost everything that we do at Priory is curricular.

In the early stages of their Priory experience, our students are required to follow a liberal arts course of study involving nine academic departments. Such a curriculum provides the foundation that prepares young men for admission to distinguished colleges and universities, and, perhaps more importantly, enables them to undertake further studies with success. Within this course of study, we strive to impart the intellectual skills of inquiry, connection and reflection vital for success in any endeavor.

As boys progress through our program, their opportunities for variety in course selection increases. Some of our students elect to continue their study of the classical languages, while others choose to participate in our growing computer science program. Each boy continues to develop his craft in one of our visual, fine, or performing arts electives for a minimum of two years in the high school. By the time they are juniors and seniors, many of our students are challenged by Advanced Placement (AP) work in a number of disciplines. In the senior year, students largely sculpt their own curriculum in addition to writing a substantive thesis on a topic of their choice, while working with a faculty member on an independent basis.

Our Division Directors, Department Heads, and Faculty strive to work with our students to ensure that they take a strong and varied course load, paying careful attention to each student’s total school involvement, athletic and other curricular commitments, and overall combination of classes.