Saint Bede Academy to celebrate 135 Years this September

By Fr. Ronald Margherio, OSB ’68, Campus Historian

In September 1891, a group of young men arrived at a new Benedictine school overlooking the Illinois Valley. They wore different clothes, studied different subjects, played different sports, and lived in a world that would be almost unrecognizable to today's students.

This fall, the 135th freshman class will walk through those same doors. Much has changed in the years between.

The student body is now young men and women. Classrooms contain technology that the founders could never have imagined. Athletic opportunities have expanded dramatically. The campus has grown and evolved. Even the cost of attending Saint Bede Academy tells the story of a changing world.

Yet these photographs reveal something remarkable. Beneath the obvious differences lies a deeper continuity.

The question is not simply what has changed. The more interesting question is this: What would the students of 1891 recognize in the students of 2026? I suspect they would recognize quite a lot.

They would recognize young people arriving with hopes for the future. They would recognize friendships being formed in classrooms, hallways and on athletic fields. They would recognize teachers who challenge students to grow, not only academically but personally. They would recognize a community that seeks to form character as well as intellect. Most of all, they would recognize a school rooted in faith.

For 135 years, Saint Bede Academy has remained grounded in the Benedictine values upon which it was founded: faith, community, hospitality, respect, stewardship and the pursuit of wisdom.

These values have outlasted changing fashions, changing technologies, changing educational methods and changing generations. They continue to shape the life of the Academy today just as they did when the first students arrived in 1891.

Having arrived at Saint Bede as a freshman in 1964, I have had the privilege of knowing monks who remembered alumni from the 1920s and 1930s, and students who will graduate in 2029 and beyond. That experience has taught me something important: Saint Bede Academy belongs to no single generation. Each generation receives a gift, cares for it and passes it on. That has been the story of Saint Bede for 135 years.

As Benedictines, we often speak about stability. Stability is sometimes misunderstood as resisting change. In reality, Benedictine stability is something much deeper. It means remaining rooted while continuing to grow. An oak tree is stable not because it remains small, but because its roots are deep enough to support new growth year after year.

The story of Saint Bede Academy is much the same.

The school has never stood still. It has adapted to new times, welcomed new generations, embraced new opportunities and responded to new challenges. Yet throughout those changes, it has remained faithful to its mission of educating young people in a community shaped by Benedictine values.

Each generation has received a gift from those who came before. Students, parents, faculty, monks, alumni, benefactors and friends have all played a role in preserving and strengthening that gift. In turn, each generation has passed it on to the next. That may be the most important lesson of this anniversary.

The history of Saint Bede Academy is not merely a story about buildings, classrooms, athletic teams or tuition costs. It is the story of people. It is the story of thousands of young men and women whose lives were shaped here. It is the story of a community that has endured because each generation cared for something larger than itself.

For 135 years, the faces have changed. The mission has not.

Different generations. The same Benedictine foundation.