Saint Bede Academy - Via Baeda Yearbook (Peru, IL)

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Campus Activities

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Environment plays an essential role in a student’s education. Providing the chief facilities for this envi- ronment are the Adminis- tration Building and gym. The presence of the mon- astery projects an atmo- sphere of sobriety and seclusion. Activities, however, are abounding. Varsity games, dances. Drama club produc- tions, extracurricular orga- nizations and intramurals afford the student a chance to draw the best both from the seclusion at St. Bede and the campus life.

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Bedan Environment §r a With the belltower of the monastery in the background. Father Timothy and Father Augustine take a walk in the counyard. St. Bede Junior College and Academy is a Catholic day and boarding school one mile west of Peru, Illinois. It is run by monks of the Order of Saint Benedict. Their mother abbey is Saint Vincent's Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. In 1891 they founded the school at the request of John Lancaster Spald- ing, Bishop of Peoria. At pres- ent, St. Bede Abbey has prop- erty totaling 628 acres, consist- ing of 60 acres of campus and 362 acres of farmland. Symbolic of the spiritual, intellectual, and physical growth which a student attains, St. Bede's primary buildings are the monastery, administration build- ing and gym. Built in 1942, the monastery is a three floor struc- ture with a fourth added in 1957. The various floors house chapels, living quarters, utility rooms, class rooms, refectory and tailor shop. In 1962 a new abbey print shop was erected northwest of the monastery. In this setting the monks live according to the Benedictine motto, work and pray. Their day begins at 5:20 with Matins. Teaching, manual labor and prayer constitute the monk's activities. Vespers and Compline signals the end of the day and the opportunity for solitude. Both junior college and acad- emy are situated in the Adminis- £