“From the Archives” The Xaverian Brothers’ School

Saint Mary’s school once had two separate campuses in Old Town Alexandria. One was a co-ed elementary school at the corner of South Royal and Wolfe Street (now a parking lot) where children had been taught by Sisters of the Holy Cross since the end of the Civil War.

The parish and its school enrollment grew rapidly in the early 20th century. The school needed to expand. When Father Louis Smet became Saint Mary’s pastor in 1915, he invited the Xaverian Brothers to organize a parochial school for boys in the parish. The Xaverians, or Congregation of Saint Francis Xavier, are dedicated to education and were founded in 1839 by Theodore James Ryken in Bruges, Belgium. Today, the Xaverian Brothers serve 13 schools in the United States.

When the Xaverians were invited to Alexandria by Father Smet, the large Bryant House in the 300 block of North Washington Street was purchased and renovated to provide both a school and residence for the brothers. Boys continued to attend the school on Royal Street through third grade. Then they would go to the “Brothers’ School” through tenth grade.  The school opened in January 1919 with Brother Patricius, CFX, as its first principal. The “new” quarters relieved the crowding in the Royal Street school and provided a junior high school for Saint Mary’s boys, including a post-graduate commercial education program. Tuition in the fourth and fifth grades was $2.00 a month; in the sixth and seventh grades, $2.50 monthly; and in the upper grades, $3.00 a month!

The school thrived and the parish purchased the Brockett house next door to the school to house the brothers. The Bryant house was remodeled and classroom space was expanded.  In 1930, the school’s enrollment was 154 boys, all taught by four brothers. The school continued until 1934 when the parish could no longer afford to support two parochial schools during the Depression. The school was closed and the boys went back to the old parochial school, again under the auspices of the Holy Cross Sisters. After the school’s closing was announced, Mother M. Vincentia, C.S.C., announced that the high school students would be accepted at Saint Mary’s Academy, the privately operated girls’ school in the parish, so the boys could have a complete Catholic education.  A number of boys did attend, including Monsignor John Cilinski (1924-2009), who became a priest in the dioceses of Richmond and Arlington.

The old Bryant House was used as an apartment building for many years. It and other structures in that block of North Washington Street were demolished in 1956. In the early 1960s, an office building was constructed on the site.

– Kitty Guy, Parish Historian

Throughout 2020, the Basilica of Saint Mary will present “From the Archives.” It is a weekly feature online and in our bulletin spotlighting the history of the parish. All of our “From the Archives” features are located here.