Br. James of Mary

Louis Peter Smith was born the son of Edward Francis and Bridget Cecilia (Fitzgerald) Smith on December 16, 1891, in St. Louis, Missouri. He was one of seven children, four of whom entered religious life: his older sister, Elizabeth Mary, became Sister Emilian (1884-1924) of the Daughters of Charity; and the youngest sister, Margaret Mary, became Sister Mary Assumpta (1896-1922) of the Sisters of Saint Joseph; his older brother, John, became Brother Henry Edmund (1886-1976) of the Christian Brothers of the St. Louis District. Louis attended school at St. Malachy's in St. Louis and entered the Juniorate on April 8, 1905, and the Novitiate on January 2, 1908. There he received the habit and the religious name of Brother James of Mary. He completed his Scholasticate studies at Glencoe and was assigned to De La Salle High School in Kansas City, Missouri, for his first teaching experience, 1909-1911. Brother James of Mary completed his undergraduate work at DePaul University and his M.A. at the University of Chicago. He returned to De La Salle in Kansas City from 1919-1920 on his tour of duty which included: Cretin High School in St. Paul, Minneapolis, 1911-13 and 1918-19; Cathedral High School in Duluth, Minnesota, 1913-18; Christian Brothers College in Memphis, Tennessee, 1920-23; Christian Brothers High School in St. Joseph, Missouri, 1923-30, becoming Director there in 1924; De La Salle High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1930-31, and 1932-34 as Sub-Director; De La Salle High School in Chicago, Illinois 1934-36, and 1947-53, becoming Sub-Director there in 1950; Christian Brothers College in St. Louis, Missouri, 1942-47, becoming Director there in 1944; and St. Patrick's High School in Chicago, Illinois, from 1955 until his death in 1959 at the age of sixty-eight, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for fifty-four years.