The release of “Faith. Virtue. Wisdom.”

The commemorative/historical book Faith. Virtue. Wisdom. was released by Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School today during the kickoff to its 150th anniversary celebration. Montgomery Catholic was founded as St. Mary of Loretto School in 1873 by the Sisters of Loretto and today operates as a busy and thriving institution. Based in Kentucky, the original mission of the Sisters of Loretto was the education of girls living in poverty. Their work in Montgomery, Alabama was begun at the request of then-Bishop of Mobile John Quinlan.

Originally a school for girls only, St. Mary of Loretto operated alongside St. Peter’s School for Boys until their merger into a coeducational institution in 1929. Later developments within Montgomery’s Catholic schools included the addition of two parochial elementary schools at St. Bede Parish and Our Lady Queen of Mercy Parish in 1958 and 1962, respectively. Then “Catholic High” (as St. Mary of Loretto would come to be known) lefts its downtown roots for a new campus in 1965. These individual schools on separate campuses were combined by a Unified Board in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Over a century-and-a-half, St. Mary of Loretto has evolved into Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School, which is now one K-12 school with three campuses. It is the longest-standing continuously operated school in Montgomery and one of the most enduring institutions in the state of Alabama.

This book-length treatment of the school’s history was commissioned for the school’s sesquicentennial in 2023. It was privately printed, and inquiries about obtaining a copy should be made through the school.