Founder's Week 2017

With joy, gratitude, and community spirit, the entire school gathered on December 1 to celebrate Founder’s Week with a Eucharistic liturgy. At the Mass, Linda Corbett, P ’11, Xaverian's Administration Office Manager, was honored with the Ryken Award for her embodiment of the Xaverian values of humility, simplicity, compassion, trust, and zeal. This award is given annually on Founder's Day to one employee at each of the 13 Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools.

Throughout Founder's Week, the Xaverian community marked its unique identity as a school sponsored by the Xaverian Brothers, and its connection to the other schools in the international network; a network that includes the United States, Europe, and Africa. Here in Massachusetts, the other sponsored schools are St. John’s Prep in Danvers, St. John’s in Shrewsbury, Malden Catholic in Malden, and Lowell Catholic in Lowell. All of these schools share in the history and the rich legacy of a Xaverian education.

The Xaverian Brothers trace their origins back to Belgium in 1839, when Theodore Ryken founded a community of brothers who were sent as missionaries to the United States. The first group of brothers arrived in Louisville in 1854, established the first school, and began a distinguished tenure of growth in the United States. In 1963, Xaverian Brothers High School opened its doors as a successor to the brothers’ ministry at Mission Church High School in Roxbury. 

This year, the Xaverian Brothers launched an “I am with Ryken” social media campaign, to help spread the word about the mission of the Congregation and Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools. As such, the school offered a variety of opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to say, “I am with Ryken," and be photographed proclaiming their reasons why. With Belgian waffles and watermelon, Theodore Ryken (aka Quinn Wilson ’19) greeted students at breakfast on November 29. In addition, the seventh grade students had the opportunity to travel to St. John’s Prep and meet their Prep counterparts. Together, the seventh graders from both schools learned about the Xaverian Brothers, visited the Brothers’ Cemetery, and enjoyed some fun and fellowship, too.