Celebrating 203 Years of Basilian Resilience
It is not too often you get the opportunity to celebrate a 203rd birthday!
November 21 marks the founding day of the Congregation of St. Basil (Basilian Fathers). This anniversary celebrates their commitment to education and evangelization and serves as a testament to the strength and resilience of the congregation of priests who laid the foundation for St. Michael’s College School (SMCS).
“The congregation has embraced diversity, in part because we have ten founders,” says Fr. Kevin Storey, CSB, Superior General of the Basilian Fathers. “This means that in our schools and parishes we are stronger because our faculty, staff, and students have a variety of academic talents, athletic prowess, and artistic gifts. Furthermore, with a multitude of racial and socio-economic backgrounds, our schools become welcoming communities of excellence. You can walk into any Basilian school or institution in North America, Latin America, or Europe, and you may not be able to speak the language, but you will feel at home.”
Here is a look a a brief history of the Basilians through the ages.
Founding
The Congregation of St. Basil was born in France in a time of turmoil, revolution, and harsh persecution targeting the Catholic Church. After the revolution, in 1790, all religious orders were abolished. Clergy became employees of the state and forced to take an oath of loyalty that would override the authority of the Pope. Those who refused to take the oath were sent to the guillotine. This period became known as the Reign of Terror, during which over 30,000 French citizens were publicly executed; priests and seminarians were imprisoned and massacred; and churches were destroyed.
In 1797, Archbishop Charles-François d’Aviau of Vienne returned to France after fleeing the Reign of Terror and asked Father Joseph Lapierre to open a clandestine seminary school to train priests in the southern French region of Ardèche, in the village of Saint-Symphorien-de-Mahun. In 1802, a year after the Church reached a Concordat with Emperor Napoleon, the tiny school moved to the town of Annonay, where the population of about 5,000 could support the expected growth. Despite ongoing political pressure and persecution, the school in Annonay flourished and by 1813, two more schools opened: Ste. Barbe and Ste. Claire. The schools became known for their exceptional range of teaching, including humanities, rhetoric, philosophy, mathematics, physics and chemistry. The teacher-priests devoted themselves to Christian education, preaching, and life in community.
After several years of operation, the Annonay teachers put forward a proposal to the bishop to form an association or society. These men became the founding fathers of the Congregation of St. Basil. On November 21, 1822, on the feast of the Presentation of Our Lady, the ten founders chose Father Joseph Lapierre as the first superior general. The Chapel of Saint Basile, located in the hamlet of Saint Basile in the Ardèche, dates back to the 13th century. It was there that the Basilian founders from the nearby school, Maisonseule, came to celebrate Mass, and the townspeople began to call them “Les prêtres de Saint-Basile”, the Priests of Saint Basil, or the Basilians. St. Basil was chosen as their patron “because of his holiness and the example he gives us, and because of two aspects of his life and teaching. Imbued with the spirit of the Gospel, he taught men and women how to live a Christian community life in the conditions of his time; and he found even in pagan learning, values which, seen in the light of revelation, might contribute to a full Christian life.”
Arrival in the New World
In 1850, Bishop Armand de Charbonnel, a former Basilian student in Annonay, was named the Archbishop of Toronto, Ontario. He invited the Basilians to come to Canada to establish a school for the Irish Catholic immigrants in Toronto. The Basilians sent four priests, which was a significant percentage of the total number of available priests at the time. This decision represented a huge sacrifice and risk for the Congregation. In 1852, St. Michael’s College opened its doors, offering in the French style, a combination of high school and university education.
However, in France, Catholic schools were once again the target of the government’s anticlerical agenda. In 1881, Basilians were forced to close one of their schools. By 1904, all religious congregations were suppressed; many French Basilians became secular priests while others were dispersed to Italy and England. Basilian property was sold at auction.
In North America, the Basilians were thriving and responded to the call of various bishops who needed Christian educators. They established schools and seminaries across North America, including St. Thomas High School in Houston, Texas, in 1900.
Decree of Amicable Separation of 1922 and Reunification
Tensions rose between the North American Basilians and the French leadership of the Congregation. These tensions, which included both political conflicts and disagreements about the Basilian way of life, resulted in an amicable Decree of Separation in June of 1922, and the outcome was two distinct congregations: the Basilian Fathers of Viviers and the Basilian Fathers of Toronto. At its first General Chapter in 1922, the Basilian Fathers of Toronto voted in favour of becoming a religious congregation who took vows of poverty.
The newly founded North American congregation enjoyed rapid growth. They established Catholic Central in Detroit, Michigan, in 1928, and in 1937, they took over the administration of Aquinas Institute in Rochester, New York. In 1942, there were 171 priests, and by 1964, there were nearly 500 Basilian Fathers. This period of growth was also marked by the establishment of new institutes for higher learning, including the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, in 1947 and St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, in 1951.
The split between the French and North American congregations did not last long. In 1955, under the leadership of Father George Bernard Flahiff, CSB, who would later become Cardinal Archbishop of Winnipeg, the Congregation celebrated the reunion of the French and North American Basilians, a union which remains to this day.
Along with their co-sponsors, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I.H.M.), the Basilians opened Detroit Cristo Rey in 2008. It is part of the Cristo Rey Network of high schools in the United States, which was founded to prepare youth from low-income families for post-secondary educational opportunities.
Growth into Latin America
Thanks to the large number of priests available in a post WWII world, the Basilians continued their growth with missions to Mexico in 1961 and Colombia in 1987. The mission work in Mexico was a natural extension of their existing work with the Mexican-American population in South Texas since the 1930s. The desire to establish a centre of education in Latin America led the Basilians to take over a school and parish in Cali, Colombia. Since then, they have expanded their ministry to Bogotá and Medellín. Their newest school is Institución Educativa Eusebio Septimio Mari, in Riohacha.
Throughout their history, Basilians have willingly and repeatedly made these courageous choices to meet the needs of those they serve. Today, they work hand in hand with the lay people who serve with them to teach Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge to communities around the world.
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