About Xavier College Preparatory

Recent Awards/Honors

The design for their new home is studied carefully by (l. to r.) BVMs Lillian Lila (Joan Loretta), Joan Fitzgerald (John Raymond), Isabel Conchos, Anne Kendall (Robertine) and Eileen Gallen. Not pictured: BVMs Joan Nuckols and Lynn Winsor.

Since the beginning of its existence, building has been a hallmark of the St. Francis Xavier Parish, the Brophy College Prep and the Xavier College Prep campus complex. The history of all three entities can be traced by its buildings. The latest will be a new convent for the BVMs ministering at Xavier, set to open in 2008.

The BVM presence in Arizona began in 1936 at St. Francis Xavier Parish, when the Jesuits requested and received sisters to begin an elementary school. The residence to be occupied by the sisters was then housing the parish Jesuits.

One of the pioneers, with whom this writer lived, told a story of how the sisters suddenly were able to occupy the building.

When the sisters arrived, they lived at another religious community's convent, and were unable to take residence in the Brophy building because the Jesuits were still living there. The sisters came to see the building and the caretaker offered to show them through the residence.

On their tour, they met one of the Jesuit Fathers. They were quickly informed that the sisters (women) had broken the sanctity of the cloister by coming into the residence and that the priests must leave the building immediately.

And so it was—with the priests moving into a garage located on the property! The BVMs now had a convent in a non air-conditioned building in Phoenix, Arizona ! The building, however, did have a screened porch, offering some comfort from the heat!

Throughout the years, with the number of grade school students increasing, the parish built a new separate elementary school building. Xavier High School, now Xavier College Preparatory, opened as an all-girls school in 1943, and occupied the top floor of the old Brophy building.

When Bishop Gercke in 1951 requested that the Jesuits return and re–open Brophy High School (now Brophy College Preparatory), many changes had to be made and a new convent had to be quickly constructed. Twenty BVMs moved to the new, Spanish-style building in November 1954.

In the spring of 1956, because of expanding needs and the reopening of Brophy College Preparatory, construction was finished on a new girls' high school. The building consisted of an administrative wing attached to the main classroom building.

In subsequent years, when new educational needs arose and student enrollment increased, various other buildings—the Activity Center, Brown Hall, Virginia Piper Center, Steele Hall, and the Performing Arts Center —were added to Xavier.

Additional land was acquired in the neighborhood to make room for these buildings. As the number of sisters decreased, the Development and Alumnae Offices began to use part of the convent for school business offices and meetings.

In 2005, the parish pastor requested that the Diocese allow the convent and its property to be used for grade school expansion. (All of this property actually belongs to the Diocese.) The granting of this request made it necessary for the BVMs to find another home as the sisters desired to live and pray together.

The sisters support the building of a new elementary school. In the space of four months, $1.8 million in cash and in–kind donations were raised by the generosity of parents, alumnae and friends of Xavier, to pay for the new convent building.

A new pastor has worked hand-in-hand with the sisters, as has the diocese. The parish is now doing everything it can to assist the sisters in making the sisters' move a positive experience.

The new two–story convent will be built across the street from the present convent and will be constructed in such a way that, when it is no longer needed as a convent by the BVMs, it can be converted into usable space for Xavier College Preparatory.

The Spanish style architecture, distinctive of all of the other buildings on campus, will be continued for the new convent. The BVM logo and Xavier College Preparatory crest will be incorporated into the building.

At the school the presence of BVMs will be commemorated as long as the buildings last. One example of this is a stained glass window of Mary Frances Clarke located in the chapel. A statement which greets everyone entering the main building resonates with the BVM mission: “Be it known to all who enter here, that Christ is the reason for this school.”

The bricks and mortar of the numerous buildings that make up Xavier College Preparatory are the skeleton, but the heart consists of the people who have ministered there.

Under the present leadership of Joan Fitzgerald, BVM (John Raymond) and past BVM principals: Mary St. Cecilia Lee; Emerita Taylor (deceased); Rosemary (Walter) Coates; Katrine Johnson (deceased); and Faith Lautz—as well as capable, accomplished BVMs, other religious and lay faculty, committed parents and alumnae, Boards and parent associations,—the school has prospered and thousands of young women and their families have been served.

About the author: Anne Kendall, BVM teaches history at Xavier and was living with her 98-year-old mother until her recent death.

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© 2007 Sisters of Charity, BVM