In the summer of 1861, Father Dennis Dunne, pastor of Old St. Patrick’s Parish found himself at an uncomfortable crossroads. The Holy Cross Fathers, directors of the parish’s makeshift school since 1856, departed, leaving the pastor and his parish without an educational staff. With parish parents and children, largely a collection of Irish immigrants, desiring education, Dunne turned to an academic-minded religious order then-unknown to Chicago — the Christian Brothers — for a solution. Dunne contacted the order’s St. Louis base, explained his plight, and, soon after, a quartet of Christian Brothers arrived at the school in advance of the academic year’s September start, marking the Christian Brothers inauguration into Chicago and the official start of St. Patrick’s Academy, a school that survives today on the city’s Northwest Side. Though the Christian Brothers’ Civil War-era arrival went largely unnoticed, their work in the subsequent 150 years has not. Brothers’ Boys, as its graduates are often called, have long served as the backbone of the evolving Chicago metropolis, quite prominently in some cases, while the Christian Brothers have continued to serve and thrive through three different centuries. Who are the Christian Brothers? The Christian Brothers’ founding dates back to 1684 in France, when St. John Baptist de La Salle, after giving up his own social status and wealth, corralled a group of schoolmasters together to serve the educational needs of the region’s poor. “The Christian Brothers are not clerical or hierarchal. We’re educators,” said Brother Michael Quirk, the current president and head of Christian Brothers Services in Southwest suburban Romeoville. The Christian Brothers provide Catholic education in more precollege level schools in the United States than any other religious order, serving more than 64,000 students each year. Christian Brothers’ schools can also be found in over 80 other nations. In the Chicago area, Lasallian education, the more inclusive terminology adopted in recent years to reflect the order’s evolution, exists at St. Patrick High, De La Salle Institute in the city’s Bridgeport neighborhood, St. Joseph High in Westchester and Montini Catholic in Lombard. Former secondary schools include St. Mel’s, St. George in Evanston and Driscoll Catholic in Addison. In addition, the Christian Brothers run Lewis University in Romeoville, one of the nation’s six Christian Brothers’ universities, as well as the Tolton Center, an adult literacy program founded at De La Salle in 1991. Returning to their roots in primary education, the Christian Brothers have more recently established the San Miguel middle schools — one in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood and a second in the Back of the Yards area — and the Catalyst schools, a pair of West Side-based charter schools. “The Lasallians bring a practical approach to education: It’s see a need and fill the need,” Quirk said, noting that Chicago’s Christian Brothers have been particularly creative over time. “At the end of the day, it’s about providing a human and Christian education.” Practical, accessible As much in the past as the present, accessibility and practicality stand as dominant themes in Lasallian schools. In the earliest years of Chicago’s Christian Brothers schools, commercial courses instructed young male students in bookkeeping, typing and business law, practical skills the students could utilize to land a job, often with the advocating assistance of the brothers themselves. “It’s always been a part of the Christian Brothers’ tradition to prepare young [people] to make a living,” said St. Patrick High School president Brother Konrad Diebold. Late Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a De La Salle alum like his sons, often cited the Christian Brothers education with providing the nuts-and-bolts foundation for his success. The Christian Brothers, Daley once said, “taught us to wear a clean shirt and tie and put a shine on your shoes and be confident to face the world.” While commercial-track curriculums and the industrial arts have given way to college prep courses, the Lasallian focus on academic advancement in a faithfilled environment has not wavered. A perfect match Through 150 years, the Christian Brothers have proven to be a perfect match for the Chicago area (and, at times, a saving grace — the brothers operated a hospital, shelter and relief center following 1871’s Great Chicago Fire). The order’s practical, no nonsense educational approach paired with its working-class mission has long mirrored the metropolitan area’s broad shoulder, blue-collar ethic. “The Christian Brothers and Chicago have been a great fit, which is exemplified in the number of our alumni who have come from little and achieved much,” Diebold said. Noteworthy Brothers’ Boys include athletic greats Ray Meyer (St. Patrick) and Isiah Thomas (St. Joseph); celebrated local chef Phil Stefani (St. Patrick); politicos such as former U.S. Congressman Henry Hyde (St. George) and Chicago mayors Martin Kennelly and Michael Bilandic (both De La Salle); and television personalities such as the De La Salle-educated Gumbel brothers, Greg and Bryant. While the Christian Brothers have surely produced a number of notable names, the schools have just as enthusiastically produced well over 50,000 blue-collar and professional types who have long served as the Chicago area’s backbone. Lasallian-educated graduates fill the ranks of police and fire departments, schools, medical and legal offices, corporate hallways and union halls. St. Patrick High alum Dave Krob, a working-class kid from the city’s near Southwest Side, said the Christian Brothers nurtured his growth academically and spiritually, providing him the tools to live a noble life. “They made me grow in my values, stressing studying and advancement and how that would translate into a rewarding life,” said Krob, a 1956 graduate who spent a 38-year professional career with Western Electric. “They made sure that you were doing things in an honest way and I’ve carried that with me all of my life.”