St. Bernard Preparatory School
1600 St. Bernard Drive, SE Cullman, AL 35055, United States
Tel: (256) 739-6682
Fax: (256) 734-2925
Email: rgongre@stbernardprep.com
Website: www.stbernardprep.com
Benedictine Monks came to Alabama from St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in the 1870’s. St. Vincent had been founded in the 1840’s from Metten Abbey in Bavaria, a monastery founded in the eighth century. Most of the early Alabama monks were Bavarian natives and came primarily to serve German-speaking Catholic communities in the State. The town of Cullman was such a community and was settled in 1873 under the leadership of Colonel John G. Kullmann, a German refugee who arrived in America in 1866.
Arriving in Cullman in the 1880’s the monks established St. Bernard Abbey on September 29, 1891, named in honor of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the famous eleventh century French abbot and doctor of the Church. The new community chose its location because of the area’s healthy climate, rapid growth, and access to the mail railroad.
In the same year as the Abbey’s founding, the monks established St. Bernard Preparatory School on the outskirts of the city – on the grounds of the monastery. The school was chartered by the State of Alabama in February 1893, and though primarily a college preparatory school, including middle school grades, St. Bernard regularly conferred bachelor’s degrees.
Responding to local needs, in 1929 the Board of Trustees elected to establish a formal junior college program in addition to the high school; then some twenty years later the establishment of a senior college was accomplished. Also during its history St. Bernard has educated many young men for ordination to the priesthood through its seminary programs from high school through graduate studies. In 1962 the Board of Trustees made the decision to discontinue the preparatory school program. Post secondary education continued until May 13, 1979.
In the autumn of 1984, St. Bernard returned to its origins with the re-opening of St. Bernard Preparatory School as a co-educational secondary school for residential and day students. In the spring of 2007 the decision was made to admit seventh and eighth grade students to the new Middle School at St. Bernard in August of 2007, again returning to St. Bernard’s late nineteenth century roots and the Minims (Middle School) program that was in existence for decades. In 2021 we celebrated our 130th anniversary and we take pride in the thousands of students who have shared in the Benedictine way here at St. Bernard: the way of prayer and work, the way of knowledge and love.
Academic: Since 1891, St. Bernard has maintained the tradition of providing a quality education to generations of students. Such an education entails the development of the whole person in Body, Mind, and Spirit. Our purpose is to help students reach their full potential intellectually, socially, physically, and spiritually.
Administered by the Benedictine Monks of St. Bernard Abbey, the school offers its students, grades 7-12, a co-ed environment steeped in Catholic Christian tradition.
Boarding Life: Why do people choose to go or send their children to St. Bernard as a boarding student? The answer can be as varied as many boarding schools are. Perhaps, the parents are overseas for work and want their children to have an American education. Some parents have discovered that their child needs order in a way he or she can’t get at home. Sometimes it is a legacy for the family. A parent or grandparent went, and so on down the generations. Some students choose St. Bernard because they envision a special world that they’ve seen in movies or in books. Most important to us here at St. Bernard is that our boarding life encompasses the Benedictine motto of body, mind, and spirit. All three are important to the development of the whole person. We are on the Rock of ancient tradition which transcends any divisions of the Christian Faith, and students of all backgrounds are welcome.
Without a doubt, boarding school life is a wonderfully unique experience, an education in itself. Part of that experience is the strong, lifelong identification with a place and a people. That happens nowhere as it does in the life of a boarding student, especially a St. Bernard boarder.
Faith Life: At the core of the mission of St. Bernard Preparatory School is the desire to instill “a love of learning and a life of virtue,” in a life dedicated to Christ. In light of this basic apostleship, the spiritual life of the school is inspired by the Benedictine ideal of a community life of work and prayer (“ora et labora”). As Saint Benedict sought in his Rule for monks, so too does the school community seek a life of spiritual growth, centered in intellectual development and balanced with physical and social activities, recreation, and rest. To this end, oriented by the Catholic tradition, the school offers comprehensive and structured academic, athletics, and faith life programs.
Our students come from various countries and states with the understanding that they will have consistency, faith, and fairness in their community life leading us to believe that a St. Bernard boarding school education enables students to take on their next step of independence, college, with confidence and success.
St. Bernard’s faith life programming seeks to integrate all of these dimensions of school life into the “work of God,” centering the school life in personal and communal prayer and service. This includes school wide Mass and prayer services, retreats, pilgrimages, volunteer opportunities, community service, and a variety of additional programs and events.
Athletics: St. Bernard Preparatory School believes a good education requires discipline of the body as well as the mind, and provides a program of interscholastic athletic activities for boys and girls. As a member of the Alabama High School Athletic Association, St. Bernard Prep competes with public and private schools in cross country, basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball, track and field, tennis, and other sports as students’ interest and abilities allow.
Fall Sports Winter Sports Spring Sports
Cross Country Basketball Soccer
Volleyball Bowling Girls Tennis
Track & Field
