1. Saint Leo College Preparatory School for boys offered high school
and college preparatory degrees to male students for both boarding and
day students, while the neighboring Holy Name Academy (1889-1964)
offered high school and college preparatory classes to female boarders
and day students graduating some 500 students during its years of
operation. Over 700 Saint Leo College Preparatory School students
graduated during its years of operation through 1964. (from 1959 until
1964 - the Preparatory School and the College co-existed) Although Holy
Name Academy was an all female institution, many of the female students
attended classes at St. Leo Prep. School. No male students attended
classes at Holy Name Academy. The last class graduating from Holy Name
Academy was the class of 1964. Since there were no girls
available to the Prep School class of 1964 they were allowed to share
socials with the Junior College. Instead of a prom they went to Daytona
Beach under heavy chaperon escort.
2. The original buildings at the Benedictine enclave were St.
Scholastica Hall at Holy Name which was completed in 1912 and torn down
in 1978, and St. Leo Hall which still stands with modifications since
1906 as part of the Abbey. St. Leo Hall was completed in 1920 and
for many years its eastern end was the classroom building with the
western end serving as the monastery. The chapel was located on the
third floor and was used until the abbey church (The Church of the Holy
Cross) was completed in 1948. The first buildings for both
institutions were actually wood frame buildings. The original Holy Name
building was located on the north side of the San Antonio city park and
was moved in 1912 to the location of the present priory building. By
the way they now call it Holy Name Monastery. (The first abbey building
was located approximately where present day McDonald Center is.) By
1965 St. Leo and Holy Name had closed the secondary schools in order to
make their facilities available for St. Leo Junior College, later a
four year college and now a university with a graduate degree program.
In 1964 the Benedictine Sisters joined forces with the Benedictine
monks of Saint Leo Abbey in providing services, resources, and staff
for Saint Leo College (now Saint Leo University).
3. The students attending Saint Leo College Preparatory School and Holy
Name Academy came from very distinct backgrounds. Many students
from 1956-1961 were children from a parent who had attended the
particular institution, a Latin student from a nominally aristocratic
family from Central, South America or the Caribbean, from parents whose
circumstances warranted their offspring to have an uninterrupted
superior education, and local students who wished either a college
prep. or religious education. Several of the "problem students"
were culled out by their senior year.
(For
example, the actor Lee
Marvin was NOT expelled for some unorthodox behavior but left of his
volition after an infraction; the rumor being that
he threw a fellow student from the second floor dormitory occurred at
Lakeland High School not Saint Leo, but Lee Marvin told his biographer
the following. [
Lee
Marvin was expelled from several schools for offenses ranging from
smoking and drinking to excessive absenteeism. On one occasion, he was
ejected after throwing a fellow student from a second story window. "He
felt that he was justified," biographer Dwayne Epstein recalled. "He
told him if he said what he had said one more time he was going to
throw him out the window, and he never backed off from his word."] ) {See the
1942 yearbook pictures of Lee Marvin]
Many students simply went home at the end of a
semester or an academic year to never return. Some simply walked to
highway 52 and hitched a ride home during the school year. Leaving was
not restricted to the boy's school but was also prevalent at Holy Name Academy.
4. It needs to be noted that Saint Leo offered classes in 1956 to
students from the seventh grade through senior high. In 1959 the
seventh grade had been dropped in anticipation of the Saint Leo College
which began in the 1959-1960 school year. The first building for the
two-year College was the Library which served for both the college and
the prep. school, housed the college classrooms. In 1958-59 the
new wing of the Monastery was under construction.
5. All classes were prescribed, only one elective was allowed in any
year. Four years of English was mandatory, as were two years of a
foreign language, two years of math, two years of science, two years of
history and four years of religion. Physical education was given to all
students after the regular class work as was band, woodworking and
other such activities. All club and individual activities were
done after school hours.
6. At Holy Name the student's day was structured. Early mass
began each morning, followed by meals, classes, free time, evening
devotions; social events, sports, off-site trips were scheduled. There
was a set of rules and booklet for both institutions. In 1959 the St.
Leo booklet was titled ‘Manners and Customs" with an introduction by
Carl Baerst, student council president 1958-59) Upon registration there
were guidelines given to each student to follow, i.e. dress codes,
conduct, visitation, etc. At St. Leo every student had to attend
mass daily except Saturday. The non-Catholic students also attended
mass but sat in the back of the church and were not required to
participate. While religion was mandatory for students, non-Catholic
students were given ethics classes. Mass started the day, then
breakfast in assigned seating. Lunch and dinner were the same beginning
with prayer and ending with prayer. Dinner required either a coat and
tie or a jacket with the shirt collar outside the coat collar.
During dinner or after the headmaster would give announcements and ate
a separate table with many of the teachers and all the prefects.
Each class ate together with a Junior Class student as a table monitor
at each table of ten. The seniors were dormitory monitors living in
various areas with the class they monitored. Also present in the
dormitory was a prefect, either a priest or a person studying to be a
priest called a Frater. It was mandatory to attend all meals, mass and
class. There were no excuses for being absent unless a student were ill
and that had to be overseen by the infirmary. (It was the custom of the
infirmary to hand out aspirin for every reported illness (different
candy coated aspirin for different complaints) unless the student had a
fever or passed out. There were a few instances when food poisoning
occurred and when this occurred most of the students were ill.)
Holy Name Academy also had a set of rules, two sets in reality, one
printed and one more strict. The printed version was probably for the
parents. The "unwritten" rules were sometimes very harsh. A list of
these is being compiled. (One such rule was that each girl had to have
a gown inspection before attending a dance. Dresses with low necklines
or low backs were not allowed.)
7. The food for Saint Leo was prepared by Mexican Carmelite Sisters
most of which was grown by the monks. Across from the school was the diary where
fresh milk was obtained. The beef came from a ranch near Bradenton and
other items were obtained from other locations. There was a pig
pen in a "valley" between Saint Leo and Holy Name. Years later the pigs
were relocated, and a beautifully landscaped sidewalk enhanced the
area.
8. Social activities for the female and male students were almost
exclusively joint activities which included dances, social
get-togethers, football rallies and the like. Co-educational swimming
and off campus social events were the exception and many Saint Leo boys
socialized with Holy Name day students and local girls off
campus. Visiting hours
for Holy Name Academy were set and any Saint Leo Student wishing to
visit
a Holy Name student had to ring a doorbell and ask for the particular
female student by name. All interactive contact had to be done on the
open breeze way or gazebo, on the sidewalk excluding the walkway to the
"boathouse" which served as a multi-function building. All dances were
held on the top floor of that "boathouse" with second level being a
series of shower stalls and toilets. During social functions one toilet
was used as a men's facility. Calling the girls at HNA was done freely
and without much difficulty. At St. Leo all dances were held in the
gymnasium. Each function had assigned chaperones from both the
Priory and the Monastery.
Outgoing mail at Saint Leo was to be dropped in a designated "mail box"
outside the door of the prefect. The letters then could be read for
appropriate content. (The reading of these letters was actually done.
In one case a student had left the school to return home to Tennessee.
A letter was mailed by another student to a girl in the same area
mentioning the incident. Immediately the student was called in by the
prefect to rewrite the letter leaving that portion out. The student
instead took the letter to Dade City and mailed it which was against
school rules. No mail was to be dropped at the Saint Leo post office as
well.)
St. Leo Dormitory
There was one building only for all the Prep. school students, St. Edwards' Hall.
St. Edwards' Hall was built like an "E". The long part of the E was
called the "drag" which ran East and West (from the gym side to the
Church side) and the two wings from the "E" were called "alleys" which
ran North to South (the North being the St. Francis Hall end). The
center wing housed utility areas. (The center wing was built in 1957 or
1958. It was in full operation for the 1958-59 school year)
|___|___|
Center wing first floor was a reception area and a large area for meetings and socials.
Center wing second floor
Center wing third floor was a recreation room with sofas, chairs,
tables, a TV and ping pong table with no balls. Off from this was a
large game shower with 8-10 shower heads.
Tobacco Road -- First floor West/Church side
Moe Alley -- First floor East/gym side
Main Drag -- First floor West end
Diaper Alley -- Second floor West/Church side
Diaper Drag – Second floor West end
Hogans Alley -- Second floor East side
Jr. Alley -- Third floor East/gym side
Jr. Drag -- Third floor from Junior Alley to rec room and showers
Sr. Drag – Third floor from rec room and showers to Senior Alley
At the north end of the six alleys there were trash chutes. Invariably
someone would flick a lighted cigarette down the chute and cause a
fire. Most often the students would put the fire out with containers of
water.
