Educational Vision
We begin with the end in mind. As creatures made for union with God, we can only find true fulfillment through an ever-deepening relationship with Jesus Christ. And that relationship demands engagement from the whole person: body, mind and soul. In all that we do at St. Martin’s – farm-work, study and prayer – we seek to create a rich and fertile soil for God to do His work in cultivating Saints.Our Commitments:
Nurture authentic masculinity
Rather than a coarse, superficial machismo, authentic masculinity demands perseverance in pursuit of the arduous good. It requires constant self-denial in service of God, family, and community. Boys at St. Martin’s will do hard things everyday to counteract our deeply rooted human tendency toward softness and sloth.Heal the imagination
An imagination fed predominantly on the neon glow of screens is weakened by passivity and contact with the unreal. St. Martin’s replaces screens and the noise of pop culture with the great outdoors and with folk music and poetry — giving mind and heart the time and space to acclimate to the deeper beauty of God’s creation.Awaken wonder
St. Martin’s will place boys in the constant, near occasion of wonder. The love of learning and the desire for God are magnified by the response of wonder in the face of Mystery and Beauty. Beholding Orion on a crisp winter’s evening, young minds will begin to stir with an affinity for first things and questions about our origin and destiny.Develop attentiveness
Deep prayer requires sustained attentiveness, a skill all but lost in our era of sound-bytes and instant gratification. Boys at St. Martin’s will learn to look beyond themselves in establishing habits of mind and soul sensitive to the silent places where God is found: in the Eucharist, in the wisdom of Creation, and within their own hearts.
“Noise is a whirlwind that avoids looking oneself in the face and confronting the interior emptiness…What will become of our world if it cannot find oases of silence?”
Robert Cardinal Sarah
Prefect, Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship
Life at St. Martin’s
Situated in the mixed prairie and woodlands of rural Bourbon County, Kansas, St. Martin’s Academy offers a rare retreat from “Noise” and creates a space for boys to be boys. These are young men in motion, with field, forest and stream offering a theatre for both study and play.
Take a glimpse into our weekdays
Note: On Wednesdays the entire school turns out for a full day’s work on the farm.
The Good life…
Liturgy
Mindful of the Benedictine dictum ora et labora – pray and work, St. Martin’s Academy is committed to a cultural revitalization centered in the Mass. The liturgy is at the very heart of the school’s life and mission. Students attend Mass, pray the Rosary, and sing Compline daily while participating actively in the calendar of the Church’s liturgical year.Academics
St Martin’s is no industrial assembly line of workforce preparation. It is an encounter with the Real in its organic form, as faith and reason are brought into contact with daily life. Our rigorous academics include Latin, Greek, Logic, Physics, and Natural History (to name a few), and are a thorough preparation for any college or vocation.Farming
Boys “labor in the vineyards” as full participants in a diversified farming enterprise that incorporates animal husbandry and permaculture. Respecting the rich natural resources of southeast Kansas, our farm-to-table operation helps boys learn the value of hard work and good stewardship, while connecting them to the food they eat.Sports
Rugby is played in the Spring in the competitive Kansas and Missouri region. Fall semester features our unique Functional Outdoor Resilience Training—FORT Leadership Program. Run by outdoorsmen and former military, FORT develops fitness, teamwork, and grit through intense physical and mental challenges.Recreation
With immense natural resources available, weekends and free-time at St. Martin’s will offer students limitless opportunities in fishing, camping, kayaking, boating, backpacking, hiking, rock-climbing, and bush-craft. Complementing these outdoor activities will be trips to nearby cities to enjoy museums, plays, concerts and other cultural events.Music
As you go about your daily life, how often do you hear voices in song? If you hear much at all you are with us in a happy minority. Saint Martin’s as a campus and culture is suffused in song where students are encouraged to be makers of music rather than simply consumers. This is not an exercise in nostalgia, but participation in vibrant oral culture.
“The only honest endowment for a school is a self-sufficient farm, without machines, to feed a chaplain, teachers, a cook, and boys who eat like hogs but also hoe, chop, pitch hay, and shovel dung.”
– John Senior
The Restoration of Innocence
About Us
In essence, St. Martin’s is a faculty of friends united in Christ around a common vision of the good life and a desire to share that vision with young men of good-will.
St. Martin of Tours
Our patron served as an elite soldier in the Emperor’s guard in the Roman army in the early 4th century. It was during this period that Martin branded Christian consciousness with the iconic image of the mounted soldier giving his cloak to a freezing beggar. Soldier, monk, bishop, mystic, and saint: Martin exemplifies every ambition of the Academy for its students. St. Martin’s feast on November 11th, known formerly as Martinmas, was for centuries a kind of Catholic Thanksgiving where roasted beast and the fruits of the harvest adorned the table to be enjoyed in community. At St. Martin’s Academy, Martinmas is celebrated in that same spirit as we delight in the true festivity made possible by meaningful work.Duc in Altum
Our motto, Duc in altum (from our Lord’s direction to Peter, James and John to “cast out into deep waters”), goes beyond good fishing advice. It sums up the boldness of the adventure to which our Lord calls each of us in pursuit of His Will. You can play safely in the shallows, or, casting out into the deep, catch something of real, everlasting value.Campus Development
Theotokos Hall (Commons / Lodge)
We broke ground on our first and largest building in Fall 2017, and our students moved in at the beginning of the 2019-20 academic year. Sustainably constructed of native oak timbers and stone, this building has served the needs of the entire school and remains the permanent dining hall and hearth now that our student bunkhouses have been constructed.Bunkhouses
In 2020 we added six bunkhouses and were able to relocate most of the student body from the temporary dorms in Theotokos Hall. These simple, spartan structures typically house six boys each, under the leadership of a Senior Prefect.Additional Bunkhouses
With our student body at its planned capacity of roughly 60 boys, we have completed construction of our bunkhouses to give us a total of ten, each housing five to seven young men. Our bunkhouses have simple but sufficient amenities and are maintained, cleaned and cared for by the students.Library & Amphitheatre
As our school and campus mature, we’ll add a beautiful, sustainably constructed academic building with classrooms, faculty offices and a robust library. An amphitheater for plays, concerts, talent shows and re-enactments of Pericles’ funeral oration will grace the hillside.Chapel
The crown jewel of our campus will be our Chapel, built of native stone and situated on the highest point of campus, facing due East. From Morning Prayer and Holy Mass to the recitation of the Rosary and the chanting of Compline, life will radiate outwards from the Blessed Sacrament to give meaning and purpose to everything we do at St. Martin’s.
Nature is never spent. There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Admissions
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St. Martin’s Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, and ethnic origin in administration of any of its policies and programs.