Saint Louis Priory School

Contents

Saint Louis Priory School is a Catholic secondary day school for boys on a 150-acre campus in Creve Coeur, Missouri, within the Archdiocese of St. Louis.[1] The school is operated by the Benedictine monks of Saint Louis Abbey.

History

The school was established in 1956, at the invitation of St. Louis Catholics, by the Benedictine monks of the Ampleforth Abbey in Yorkshire, England. The corresponding Priory of Saints Louis and Mary (now Saint Louis Abbey), a Benedictine monastery, was established in 1955. The priory, which is a member of the English Benedictine Congregation, became independent of Ampleforth in 1973, and was elevated to an abbey in 1989.

The founding prior of the abbey in St. Louis, from 1955 to 1967, was Fr. Columba Cary-Elwes, an author, monastic leader, and former titular Abbot of Westminster. The founding headmaster was scholar and author Fr. Timothy Horner. who also founded the school's first athletic team, the Rebel Ruggers.

The history of the monastery and school was chronicled by founding monk and original headmaster Fr. Timothy Horner in his In Good Soil: The Founding of the Saint Louis Priory School 1954–1973 (2001). In this history, Horner describes the initial contact with St. Louis Catholic laymen, and explains the process of founding a new school in the English Benedictine Congregation.

As Horner notes in In Good Soil, the purpose of school, as conceived by the lay St. Louis Catholics who initiated the project, was to "offer its students a Catholic-college preparatory education of the highest excellence so as to enter the colleges, universities, and technical schools of their choice."[2] By the middle of the 20th century, Catholics had gone to great lengths to develop their own educational system and were expected to support it, so the fact that the school was founded with a view to sending its alumni to non-Catholic colleges was something of a departure for the time.[2]

Academics

The Washington Post ranked Priory second, and the top private school, in Missouri, in its 2016 list of "America's Most Challenging High Schools."[3] In 2025, Priory was ranked #1 Best Catholic High School in Missouri and #1 Best All-Boys High School in the St. Louis Metro area[4][5] and the state of Missouri according to Niche.[6]

Athletics

Priory is a member of the suburban Metro League, which was reconstituted out of the former ABC League.[7]

Mascot

When the school was founded, the sports mascot was the Saints. In the '60s, "under the influence of a charismatic history teacher who specialized in the Civil War", it was changed to the Rebels, referencing the Confederate States of America. Initially, this link was obvious and the students used Confederate symbols to show pride in their sports team, including a giant painting of General Beauregard on the gym walls.[8] Over time, this link weakened and explicit symbols of the Confederacy went away. In 2020, the mascot was officially changed to the Ravens.[9]

State and tournament championships

In the winter of 2004, the hockey team received a bid to play in the Wickenheiser Cup, a memorial tournament hosted by the Mid-States Club Hockey Association league and named for the late St. Louis Blues Center Doug Wickenheiser. Priory won the championship game, played at the Scottrade Center, giving the school its first state sports title since 1973.[10] In 2007, 2022, and 2026, the hockey team also won the Wickenheiser Cup. Four times is the most by any high school in tournament history.[11]

In the fall of 2005, the Priory varsity soccer team became the first in the sport in Missouri's high school sports history, and the first since state titles were officially sanctioned by the Missouri State High School Activities Association, to compete for a full season with no losses or ties.[12] The soccer Rebels led by All-American forward Jimmy Holmes ended the season with a perfect 26–0–0 record, winning the state Class 2 title. In November 2011, the soccer Rebels again produced a perfect season, finishing 27–0–0 and winning the Missouri State High School Class 2 championship with a 2–0 victory over Trinity High School. In so doing they became the only school in Missouri high school soccer history to twice post a perfect season, with no losses and no ties. The soccer Rebels' team record included 24 shutouts, and they outscored opponents 107–5.[13]

In the spring of 2007, the Priory golf team won its first state title, winning by 27 shots. The final team score was 583.[14]

A little over half a decade after establishing a lacrosse program, Priory's varsity lacrosse team won its first Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association state title in 2016 by defeating O'Fallon (Illinois) 7–6 in the double overtime Division II championship final.[15][16]

Notable alumni

  • Carl J. Artman (1983), Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, United States Department of the Interior, 2007–2008
  • John A. Heffern (1972), United States Ambassador to Armenia, 2011–2014, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, US Department of State Bureau of European Affairs, 2015–present[17]
  • D. John Sauer (1993), Rhodes Scholar, Solicitor General of Missouri[18]
  • Tom Baldwin (1974), founder of the Baldwin Group[19]
  • William K. "Billy" Busch (1978), son of Anheuser-Busch chairman and Saint Louis Cardinals baseball team owner August A. Busch Jr.[20]
  • William Donius (1977), President and CEO, Pulaski Bank[21]
  • Thomas Schlafly (1966), co-founder of Saint Louis Brewery[22]
  • David Wehner (1986), CSO of Meta Platforms[23]
  • Kevin Kline (1965), Academy Award-winning actor[24]
  • John Klein (1983), former professional soccer player, Southeast Missouri State women's soccer coach[25]
  • Dave Holmes (1989), MTV VJ and reality TV show host[26]
  • Benjamin R. Noll (2000), NFL offensive lineman; played for the St. Louis Rams, Dallas Cowboys, and Detroit Lions[27]
  • Eddy L. Harris (1974), author and filmmaker[28]
  • Thomas L. Delworth (1976), a fellow of the American Geophysical Union who received the 2021 Bert Bolin Award for Climate research[29]
  • John Keene (1983), MacArthur Fellow, writer, translator, professor, and artist[30]

References

  1. 1."Zoning Map". Creve Coeur, Missouri. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  2. 2.[2.2]Timothy., Horner (2001). In good soil : the founding of Saint Louis Priory and School, 1954-1973. [St. Louis, Mo.]: Saint Louis Abbey Press. p. 15. ISBN 0966210417. OCLC 49037278.
  3. 3."U.S. high school rankings by state — Most challenging schools". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  4. 4."2017 Best Catholic High Schools in St. Louis Area". Niche. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  5. 5.https://k12.niche.com/st-louis-priory-school-creve-coeur-mo/rankings/Niche 2017 St. Louis Priory Rankings
  6. 6."2017 Best Catholic High Schools in Missouri". Niche. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  7. 7.Auten, Brett (May 21, 2010). "ABC League to become an expanded co-ed conference". STLtoday.com. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
  8. 8."A Joint Message from Abbot Gregory and Father Cuthbert Regarding Mascot". July 6, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  9. 9.Palermo, Gregg (December 16, 2020). "Saint Louis Priory Announces Mascot Switch". Fox 2 Now. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  10. 10.stltoday.com. "STLhighschoolSPORTS.com". stltoday.com. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  11. 11.St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "CBC routs Chaminade for ninth championship", February 27, 2007.
  12. 12.Lyons, Joe. "STLhighschoolSPORTS.com". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Archived from the original on May 12, 2006. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  13. 13.Uptain, Greg. "Priory is perfection: Win against Trinity in title game caps 27-0 season". stltoday.com. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  14. 14."Sports wrapup". St. Louis Review. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  15. 15.Hall, Josh (May 29, 2016). "Priory makes extra wait worth it by beating O'Fallon for first state title". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
  16. 16."Trust, fun had role in Priory lacrosse's success | St. Louis Review". stlouisreview.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
  17. 17.SNAC, Heffern John A.
  18. 18.Mannies, Jo (February 10, 2017). "Missouri Attorney General Hawley addresses Democrats' residency concerns, rents apartment". St Louis Public Radio. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  19. 19.Yearbook. Creve Coeur, Missouri: Saint Louis Priory School. 1974. p. 21.
  20. 20.Benn, Evan. "A Busch gets back into the beer business". stltoday.com. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  21. 21.Dillon, D. (2005) So Where'd You Go to High School? Vol. 2, Virginia Publishing.
  22. 22."Resolution No. 241". Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011.
  23. 23."Priory graduate named Facebook CFO". St. Louis Business Journal. April 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  24. 24."Kevin Kline". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013.
  25. 25."SLU grad continues family's soccer prowess on field for CITY SC franchise". West Newsmagazine. September 5, 2023. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  26. 26.Hill, Tess (July 11, 2016). "Accidental celebrity turned author comes home". FOX 2. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  27. 27."Ben Noll football statistics". StatsCrew.com. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  28. 28.WorkWrite (February 24, 2023). "Eddy L. Harris: On the Road". Medium. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  29. 29.Priory Magazine Fall 2025, p. 51
  30. 30."John Keene". New Directions Publishing. Retrieved July 19, 2026.