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History and Timeline

The Benedictine motto "Ora et Labora” or "Pray and Work” has withstood time and the resistance of the world’s changing attitudes.

The earliest Benedictine generations secured the land and built the buildings we are in today. Generations of parents and alumni expanded the facility with several needed academic wings.

The strength of Benet Academy is the pride of all who graduated from it, all who sent their children to it, and all who have been touched by power, truth and spirit of ... "Ora et Labora”.

Year
Historic Event
2009 Fall.  Dedication and opening of St. Jude Science and Activity Center.   Built under the Building Our Benedictine Heritage $16 million capital campaign
2007 Benet Academy and the class of 1957 celebrate our 50-year anniversary on the current campus
2002 The Chapel of Saint Thérèse - The "LittleFlower" (3rd floor St. Joseph Hall)  opened.  The refurbished chapel was a component of the Completing the Picture capital campaign.
2001 St. Daniel Hall opened.  Built under the Completing the Picture $10 million capital campaign
2001 The 100th Commencement program of St. Procopius.
1994 New Gymnasium Built - later named St. Ronald Gymnasium in honor of former principal Rev. Ronald Rigovsky, O.S.B. Gymnasium.  Benet's first capital campaign to build the gym totalled $5 million.
1975 St. Thomas Hall Built.  St. Thomas was funded by a private donor, Mr. Frederick Regnery
1967 St. Procopius Academy welcomes Sacred Heart Academy ladies and forms co-educational Benet Academy.
1963 St. Martin Hall Built
1957 St. Procopius Academy officially graduates its first high school class independent from the college on what is now the Benet Academy Campus.
1956 St. Joseph Bohemian Orphanage closes and is renamed St. Procopius Academy (a high school). St. Procopius College continues operations. Schools move to separate buildings on the corners of Maple and College.
1938 Gymnasium built for St. Joseph
1926 Sacred Heart Monastery establishes Sacred Heart Academy young women's school.
1921 Power house and built to provide electric light and storage for machinery providing water.
1912 Benet Hall built. It served as the dormitory and eventual boarding facility before being converted into classrooms.
1910 St. Joseph Hall, the main building of the orphanage and grammar school, is erected. It served then and now as the administration building.
1901 St. Procopius College Academy moves to Lisle, Illinois and graduates the students enrolled in 1887. School is located on what is now the Benedictine University campus.
1900 Benedictines purchase property for the College and the Abbey in Lisle. St. Procopius College building cornerstone laid
1899 March 14—Twelve young Bohemians were moved from their Chicago Polish Orphanage to St. Joseph. St. Joseph begins its useful work under the supervision of the Benedictine Sisters.
1898 First building, a five-room frame house, built for the St. Joseph Bohemian Orphanage erected in Lisle.
1887 St. Procopius College Academy (a high school) founded in Chicago— continuing the 1,500 year tradition of Benedictines as educators.
 
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