Br. Ildephonsus Damian

James Francis Brown was born on April 16, 1906, in Buffalo, New York, one of six children and fifth son of Egbert and Elizabeth Cornell Brown. It was in New York where he met the Brothers when he attended St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute. His family moved to Chicago and James continued his education with the Brothers at De La Salle Institute. After graduation he enrolled in the Franciscan College at Quincy, Illinois, but in January of 1926 he entered the Novitiate at Glencoe where shortly thereafter, in April, he received the robe of the Brothers and the religious name of Brother Ildephonsus Damian. He made his first vows a year later and began his Scholasticate training at Glencoe and eventually transferred to the Chicago Scholasticate. In 1930 he received his bachelor's degree and was sent to teach at Cretin High School in St. Paul. In 1932 he was appointed Sub-Director of the Chicago Scholasticate. In 1935 he received his master's degree from DePaul University and was assigned as Director at Cotter High School in Winona. Brother Damian eventually earned his M.A. from De Paul University and did post graduate work at DePaul, the University of Minnesota and St. Louis University. In 1938 he was sent to Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, Missouri, where he supervised the building of the new Brothers' Residence. In 1944 Brother Damian was appointed Director of the high school at Boys Town, Nebraska. The school closed soon after his arrival as the Brothers withdrew from Boys Town, and he was assigned to De La Salle High School in Chicago for one year before being appointed Director of Cretin High School in St. Paul in 1945. He served there until 1951 when he was sent to teach at St. Mel High School in Chicago. Brother Damian served as president of the national Christian Brothers' Educational Association and the Catechetical Commission of the St. Louis Province owe much to his inspiration. Cancer plagued him in 1951-2 and eventually took his life in April of 1952. Brother Damian was forty-six years old and had been a De La Salle Christian Brother for twenty six years.