History

History of New York District by Br. Luke Salm (PDF)

Recovery and New Perspectives 1923-1946

With the war and the Latin Question out of the way, the path was clear for the new kind of leadership in the District shown by Brother Leo the Great (Farrington) who was appointed to that office in 1923. Great progress was made in all directions. Manhattan College was in the process of completing its move from 131st Street to the Riverdale section of the Bronx. De La Salle Institute was moved from 59th Street to occupy the former Vallon School on 74th Street. Clason Academy was moved to Oakdale, Long Island as La Salle Military Academy. Brothers were assigned to Sacred Heart School and St. Jerome’s in the Bronx, both soon to become a fruitful source of vocations. In New England, La Salle Academy, Providence, found a new home in a new location while new academies were open in Newport and Pawtucket. In Detroit, the alumni of St. Joseph’s contributed significant sums for the purchase of a site and the building of De La Salle Collegiate.

With the money gained from the sale of Pocantico to the Rockefeller family, a new center was built at Barrytown with facilities for the juniorate, the novitiate and a home for the retired Brothers. In a bold move, and in conjunction with the Baltimore District, a university scholasticate was built in Washington D.C. to function as an extension of the undergraduate School of Arts and Sciences at Catholic University and to provide access to graduate degrees for Brothers assigned to teach the scholastics. To finance these formation centers Brother Leo reorganized the Saint La Salle Auxiliary to insure a more aggressive fund raising program. The tenure of Brother Leo was, in the words of Brother Angelus Gabriel, “one of the most significant and progressive decades in the history of the Brothers in America.”

In 1932, Brother Leo was succeeded as Visitor by Brother Cornelius Malachy (Hession) who brought to that office a reputation as a gifted teacher, a PhD in philosophy, and experience as president of Manhattan College. The opening in 1933 of Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn is an enduring memorial to his term as Visitor. The promise of his talents and vision came to a tragic end when death ended a bout with cancer in 1935 at the age of 44.
On the death of Brother Cornelius in 1935, Brother Eliphus Victor (Sullivan) was appointed to succeed him as Visitor. Over the next eleven years, there were new schools added to the District roster: elementary schools in the parishes of Good Shepherd and Incarnation to continue to meet the needs of the Catholic population of New York moving northward, and two parish High Schools, St. Bernard’s and St. Nicholas of Tolentine. In 1937 a new La Salle Academy was opened on Second Street and in 1939 a new Christian Brothers Academy in Albany. After 75 years, the New York Catholic Protectory was closed while the Lincoln Agricultural School was reorganized and the name changed to Lincoln Hall.

The last years of Brother E. Victor’s term were dominated by the events of World War II. The international upheaval was reflected in the District as some Brothers became unsettled in their vocation and departures began to multiply. To maintain the District’s commitment to the schools, especially large schools such as Loughlin, the Visitor was forced to withdraw sophomore, junior and even some senior scholastics from Catholic University before completing their degrees, a policy which proved counterproductive in terms of perseverance. At the war’s end in 1946 the Institute was finally able to convoke a General Chapter during which Brother E. Victor was elected American Assistant and Brother Alexius Victor (Lally) was named Visitor of New York.

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