Br. John of Mary

Born into a wealthy family, prominent in the political life of the State of New York, William graduated from Columbia University. During his collegiate years he became interested in the Oxford Movement and as a result decided to enter the Catholic Church, a decision which ostracized him from his family. He took a job teaching in Howard County, Maryland, where he made his decision to join the life of the Brothers.On December 25, 1845, he entered the Novitiate and received the habit of the Brothers on February 2, 1846, thus becoming the first novice of the Baltimore District and the first postulant to receive the habit of the Christian Brothers in the United States. He began his teaching career as a Brother in Baltimore where he found time to translate from the French the prayers said each day by the Brothers. In 1850 he was appointed Director of St. Mary's School in Troy, New York, and later was sent to St. Joseph's Academy in that same city. He returned to St. Joseph's in Baltimore in 1860 and the following year was assigned in New York as Director of Second Street. He was changed to La Salle, Illinois, by Brother Facile, because of his supposed connection with the "Separation Hoax". He was called to Paris and sent to teach in London. A short time later he was sent to teach English in the boarding school at Marseilles. He remained there in exile until his death, January 26, 1867, at age forty-three and in his twenty-first year as a De La Salle Christian Brother.