Theotokos Hall

After over a year of construction, our first building, the hearth and home of the Academy, is complete.  Deo Gratias.  Theotokos Hall contains dormitories in the basement, an office, kitchen and dining hall on the first floor, and classrooms and the chapel in its loft.  The building is functioning beautifully and we are grateful to the contractors and benefactors who helped us to erect this noble hall.

The Hall of Fire in Rivendell represents the place where tradition is passed on through story, where meaning is revealed, where language expresses itself in the making and interpretation of worlds.  The ambience of fire, of a friendly hearth where all strangers are made welcome and find consolation, speaks of a place where humanity can take root and flourish, a true home – the “Last Homely House.”  Here prose is subordinate to poetry, and poetry to song.  – Stratford Caldecott, Beauty in the Word

Freshmen in Wyoming

Led by Cor Expeditions and our own intrepid duo of Mr. Ryan Bauer and Mr. Joshua Gieger, the 9th graders began their careers at St. Martin’s Academy on a proper adventure – spending several days in the Wind River mountain range of Wyoming.  Operating at a base altitude of 10,000 ft, the boys logged over 20 miles of hiking through a rough and rugged backcountry, carrying their own provisions on their back and preparing their own meals.

Cor Expeditions, an offshoot of Wyoming Catholic College, provided exceptional programming throughout, including reflections on beauty, wonder and God’s presence in the book of Creation.

Les Garcons en France

The 11th graders are now nearly 3 weeks into their 10-week Study Abroad program in Europe and, to quote Israel Meyers, “it has been a glorious trip” thus far.  Highlights thus far include many hours in le Louvre in Paris, venerating the bones of St. Martin in Tours, and crawling amongst the mortar scarred landscape above Pointe du Hoc at Normandy Beach.  Many thanks to our friends at Chavagne International School for hosting us and organizing our trip to the legendary Puy du Fou, an authentically Catholic and medieval theme park in the Vendee.

Now stationed at the Abbey of Fontgombault in central France, the boys are settling into to stable rhythm of ora et labora in the Benedictine life.  This period of retreat serves as a wonderful counterpoint to the  complex movements of their previous weeks on the road and their future pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
See pictures from the trip here!

Saint Martin, Saint Benedict and Saint James, pray for us!

Above: approaching Mont St-Michel in Normandy

Back to school

Whether conducting field observations, singing at Mass, measuring and cutting lumber, or enacting (in earnest) the hand to hand combat in Robin Hood, class at St. Martin’s Academy is back in session.  This is the poetic mode of education where we seek to put a little blood back into the experience of learning which has sadly become, in many cases, an exercise in enervation. We’re proud to be challenging and changing the norms in education for young men.

Down on the Farm

St. Martin’s Farms is bustling with new life.  5 healthy, newborn calves have arrived in the last 3 weeks and we welcomed 50 baby broiler chicks just yesterday.  Current head-count: 16 cows, 19 hogs, 47 sheep, 20 rabbits, 78 laying hens, 4 roosters, 50 broiler chicks, 6 geese and 1 absurdly large Tom turkey.  And growing daily.

Above: Sophomore Joseph Klassen shows proper technique for carrying one of our newborn American Milking Devon calves.

October 26th – Faculty Lecture

Please join us October 26th in Theotokos Hall for our first Faculty Lecture of the 2019-2020 Academic Year.  St. Martin’s President Daniel Kerr will be giving an apologia “for the birds” in discussing his passion for ornithology and how birding is particularly well suited to our pedagogical commitments at St. Martin’s.

RSVP by Oct. 18th to Secretary Danielle Bauer at dbauer@saintmartinsacademy.org

Above: Mr. Kerr’s Natural History class gathers in Gunn Park for some peak migratory birding last Spring.