My high school alma mater had a good run, I guess you could say.
Founded in 1926, St. Henry’s Prep Seminary remained “in business” for close to 60 years. And one testament to the school’s enduring impact is that about 200 alumni and friends gathered this weekend to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its launch.
Not a bad turnout…especially for a school that hasn’t produced an additional alumnus in more than four decades!
What is it about St. Henry’s that still so stirs the heart…all those teenage incidents and encounters, lingering in our memories from nearly a lifetime ago?
Indeed: Somebody in the crowd was moved to immortalize SHP’s impact … paying to have a coin struck to commemorate the “5901 Brotherhood” (5901 having been the address for SHP’s campus on West Main Street near the city limits of Belleville, Illinois).
It’s a handsome coin, I must say … even as I admit that the “5901” mystique puzzles many when we alums try to explain it. “IYKYK,” as it’s often said on social media platforms today. If You Know, You Know.
Yes, a handsome coin, made of a worthy material. It has some heft to it.
And as I let my fingers trace its contours yesterday, I was moved to wonder: Will this metal memento manage to outlive the institution it was made to commemorate? Will some of these 5901 coins still be around in 58 years … causing future generations to scratch their heads over SHP’s legacy, too?
If that scenario turns out to be true, surely a big part of the reason will be that we encountered the presence of Christ as teens at SHP all those many decades ago. It is the Christ-light that endures in us, even if some of us alums would never choose such words to describe the phenomenon.
I was thinking about that as I sat with Saint Paul’s words today, in the passage we hear from Philippians at Mass:
“…if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen…”
Excellence was the coin of the realm at SHP. It was in fact an experience worthy of praise. Surely, that’s why so many alums continue to do what they learned and received and heard and saw at SHP, namely:
“…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious…”
Perhaps we didn’t know it fully then, as teenagers, but we were being given a gift during our years at SHP. I’d say we received (as Saint Paul might put it) an enduring taste of “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding … [to] guard [our] hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
