Esopus as a College/Scholasticate
19?? to 19??
looking for an author (or authors) to contribute first-hand knowledge ...
From Bill Maher 5 March 2003: A little anecdote for Richard
Foy ... I don't know if you were with four of us who were selected to
carry bricks to the top of the scaffold above the stage while the gym
was being built in Esopus in 1951 ... four of us who were slight and
small were given buckets with four bricks to walk across the
scaffolding to give to the mason who was working ... Bro. Francis in
his most serious of faces and voice (none of us knew who this man
was at the time) said, " ... it would be better for you to jump down
onto the slate below than to tell me you chipped one of the bricks
that have already been set!" ... it was bad enough being up at that
height but then to have to be told that really set us on edge ... it
wasn't until years later having the opportunity to live with him in
Poughkeepsie that I was personally able to know the caring and
soft side of Bro. Francis Xavier.
Response from Rich Foy: I don't remember the brick taters,
but I do remember that that scaffold was very high. When I had to
mount it, I grabbed firm hold of the 4x 4 uprights. I also remember
Brother Joseph Belanger and Brother Jogues balancing planks on
their shoulders and then walking along thin planks joining post to
post. I got dizzy just looking at them.
To understand how Esopus functioned as a scholasticate or
college, it will be necessary to backtrack and study the evolution of
how aspirants became Marist Brothers.
When the Brothers came to Canada and the United States
from France, they concentrated on teaching in the elementary
schools, with a natural bent towards servicing the French Canadian
groups in Canada and which had migrated south to New England
to work in the mills and factories. It was natural to recruit from
among the students the Brothers taught , which meant recruitment
was from eighth graders in their schools, supplemented by circuit-
riding recruiters who visited schools in New England. Thus two
secondary schools were established for the training of aspirants:
one in Tyngsboro Massachusetts was for students whose native
tongue was French; the other, in Poughkeepsie NY was for
students whose native tongue was English. The boys would spend
three years at these schools, then transfer to the Novitiate in
Poughkeepsie where they would finish high school (named St.
Anne's Hermitage). They they would spend a year as Novices


devoted to religious studies. Next they would transfer to the
Scholasticate in Poughkeepsie, called Marist Training School for
the first two years of college. After leaving Poughkeepsie, the
Brother would be assigned to teach, usually in elementary schools,
but also to complete his bachelor's degree at Fordham University
School of Education.
The pattern of early recruitment was not limited to Brothers.
The system was patterned on the model for the priesthood. In the
New York Archdiocese, Cathedral Preparatory was a secondary
school for those who were thinking about the priesthood. They
would continue to Cathedral College, (located at Dunwoodie) and
move into the seminary itself. Cathedral Prep was a commuter
school since most of the students lived in or near the city, but a
residence was opened for candidates from the further reaches of
the diocese.
Oddly enough, groups of sisters did not recruit candidates
until completion of secondary school. The young women entered
the two year novitiate directly, and college courses began only after
profession as Sisters.
The decade of the 1940s saw changes at both ends of the
Brothers' pattern. The last first year class at Marist Preparatory in
Esopus was accepted in September 1944, and following classes
were delayed until after freshman year. Most candidates came
after sophomore or junior year in high school. At the same time,
Brother Paul Ambrose Fontaine was asked to lead the
scholasticate from a two year junior college to a full liberal arts
bachelor's granting college.
In the early 1960s, the Juniorates were merged and moved
to Cold Spring NY. They accepted only juniors and seniors, and
these candidates completed their secondary school education at
Cold Spring, now called Marist Preparatory. Two Novitiates were
established, one in Esopus, the other in Tyngsboro Massachusetts,
reflecting the division of the USA Brothers group into two
provinces. The division was along territorial lines, not language.
The Postulant or first year at the Novitiate, offered freshman college
courses. Thus, Esopus and Tyngsboro were classified as
extensions of Marist College. Candidates with some college
courses were directed to Esopus, and were able to take upper level
courses on the Poughkeepsie campus.
After the separation of the USA Brothers into two provinces,
the candidates associated with the Esopus province did not move
to Poughkeepsie, but lived on the Esopus property, but they
commuted to Poughkeepsie for their coursework.
By the end of the 1960s the recruitment process had
evolved further. Both provinces established Contact Programs
which kept contact with young men who had expressed an interest
in joining the brothers as they attended and graduated from other
colleges. The Postulant Year was then devoted to teaching or other
community activities.





As of 2003, the Provinces required a candidate to have
taught or performed other apostolic works for two years before
acceptance into the program. So the Esopus property is no longer
a extension of Marist College.
References: personal recollection of Richard Foy
most recent revision: 24 January 2004
return to
Marists in ESOP-US
home P-ag~