基本資料 | Information
Nazareth Academy High School began with the prayers of Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd, Foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. She wanted to establish a convent in Philadelphia where Our Lord could be continually adored. While on a train ride to visit Mother Katharine Drexel in 1893, Sister Mary Frances gazed at the land near the Torresdale Station saying, “Here I should like to see a house of Nazareth established for the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament”. Her vision was fulfilled on December 6, 1920 when the deed of the twenty-three acre Middleton Estate was signed by Mother M. Valentine. Four years later, the Sisters purchased the adjoining property. Planning began for a building that would serve as a provincial home, a novitiate and a high school. The groundbreaking ceremony was conducted on April 24, 1927. Construction on the impressive Holmesburg granite building commenced. On August 15, 1928, the first Eucharistic Liturgy was celebrated in the new Chapel by the Chaplain, Reverend Stephen Wyborski. The new building quickly became a hub of activity. On August 21, 1928 fifty postulants were invested and the novitiate was canonically established. Thirty novices from the Chicago province arrived to complete their second year of their novitiate. Classrooms and living quarters were furnished. The dream of the late Mother Mary Frances had become a reality. His Eminence Dennis Cardinal Dougherty dedicated the building on Oct. 7, 1928.
Nazareth Academy High School’s first Principal, Sister M. Neomisia, welcomed ten students in the fall of 1928. Their teachers, Mother M. Lawrence, Sister M. Felicia and Sister M. Pius, created an atmosphere of academic excellence in which the girls would be prepared for their future as Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The objective of the school administration was to “fit the individual as best as humanly possible for the great work of a teacher in Christ’s Church”. From the beginning, the academic program of the high school was college preparatory. Orchestra, dramatics, glee club and journalism complemented the curriculum.