Celebrating our Founding and our Supporters
The Legacy Dinner is Saint John's Preparatory School's annual celebration of its founding on November 10, 1857. Five Prep School-age students were the first to be enrolled in the new Benedictine school on the western banks of the Mississippi River just south of what would later become St. Cloud.
Today, Saint John's Preparatory School celebrates its 155th year of inspiring students to great achievements and self-understanding by involving them in a premiere liberal arts curriculum focused on Academic Rigor and Spiritual Growth within a Benedictine Environment.
The Legacy Dinner celebrates and thanks our supporters and honors those who have made a special impact on the life of the school. Each year the Alumni Association presents two Armor of Light Awards, one posthumously to individuals who have demonstrated dedication and continued service to their faith, community, and SJP. The Headmaster occaisionally presents the Lumen Gentium award to those who are truly deserving.
LEGACY DINNER 2012
Congratulations to longtime SJP chemistry teacher, Michael Percuoco and +Fr. Nicholas Doub, OSB who will be honored with the SJP Alumni Association's Armor of Light Award and Bishop John Kinney of the Diocese of Saint Cloud who will receive the Lumen Gentium Award.
Please make plans to join us on Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 6:00 pm.
Please call Mary at 320-363-3317, register online or email mritter@sjprep.net to make reservations.
MR. MICHAEL PERCUOCO
Mike Percuoco has been a dedicated member of the Prep faculty for over thirty years. During that time he not only was an effective and favorite chemistry teacher of many, but a dedicated coach for many sports during the years. Mike is credited with leading the boys’ basketball team to the state tournament in 1984 and many very competitive teams outside of that year. Mike was kind and supportive friend to all of his colleagues throughout all his years at the Prep School. His commitment to the Prep Community and the broader St. John's community has been long and consistent.
+FR. NICK DOUB, OSB
+Fr. Nick Doub, OSB began his service to the Prep School in 1991 as the Resident Director for the Melk Exchange Program. He was an empathetic leader who understood the challenges his students faced, but he also enforced high and exacting standards for their behavior, academics, and personal development. His Melk students will undoubtedly list his leadership as one of the significant influenced in their lives. Fr. Nick returned from Austria and was asked to become the Boys' Residence Director at Prep, a position he held for the next five years. He became a-often primary-father-figure for nearly 200 young men during his tenure. Fr. Nick remained a fixture at Prep events and resident activities-often leading mass in the Boy's Dorm-until his sudden death in 2002. While his time at Prep was cut short, the legacy he built by influencing a decades-worth of Prep students’ lives on in their accomplishments.
BISHOP JOHN KINNEY
Bishop John F. Kinney is the bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud, and has been a bishop for nearly 36 years. He began his ordained life when he became a priest in 1963 in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. In 1976, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. Bishop Kinney then was named the fifth Bishop of Bismarck, North Dakota in 1982. Pope John Paul II appointed him the ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud in 1995.
Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Bishop Kinney has served on the Committee for Priestly Life and Ministry, the Committee on Migration, the USCCB's Administrative Committee, the Ad Hoc Committee on Bishops' Life and Ministry, the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse, and the Committee on Permanent Diaconate.
This past June 11th, on his 75th birthday, Bishop Kinney submitted his letter of resignation to the Pope. His retirement has been accepted, but Bishop Kinney will remain in place until a new bishop is named. In the meantime, he has been inviting the community to join him in praying for the new bishop.
Armor of Light Recipients
Brian '68 and Deb Thuringer
Mathew Ahmann '49, posthumous
Jim Tingerthal '52, posthumous
Pete Cheeley
Joseph Spano '52
Dan '64 and Linda Marrin
Donn Thurk '56
John B. Klassen, OSB '67
Lori Pfannenstein
Emmerich Sack
Gordon Tavis, OSB
Laura Jane LaFond
Patrick McNeil ‘55
Godfrey Diekmann, OSB ‘23
Eugene McCarthy ‘32
Oliver Kapsner ‘49
Peter Froehle
Thomas Andert, OSB ‘65
Dennis M. Cavanaugh ‘56
Joseph Wenner ‘63
R. A. (Jim) Randall ‘58
Fabian Wegleitner, OSB ‘27
Robley B. Evans
Floribert I. ‘Flip' Spanier ‘51
Carl Dorenkemper ‘25
Eric Buermann, OSB ‘37
Gregory T. Merz ‘68
Samuel Lickteig, OSB
John E. Brandt ‘58
Gregory (Cuthbert) Soukup,OSB ‘32
Harry I. Holtz ‘36
Baldwin Dworschak, OSB ‘24
John ‘Hap' Lundrigan ‘60
Otto Weber, OSB ‘52
Edward J. Devitt ‘30
Vincent Tegeder, OSB ‘28
Thomas P. McKasy ‘26
Alan J. Steichen, OSB
Joel Strangis ‘66
Arnold Weber, OSB ‘44
David F. Durenberger ‘51
Paul Marx, OSB ‘39
Norbert R. Berg ‘49
Julius C. Smith ‘48
Lumen Gentium Award
Lumen – Light. Gentium – Nations, Peoples. Prophesying, Isaiah said to God's people, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." Is 60: 1-6. Light was a favorite image of this poetic prophet. Again and again he let the people know that as God's chosen, they were as a light for the nations. Speaking of the Suffering Servant, Isaiah said, "I will make you the light of the nations (the Lumen Gentium), so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." Is 49:6.
We hold Christ Jesus to be the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy, the true Lumen Gentium. The star of Bethlehem, the light symbolizing who was just born, leads the three wise men, symbols of all cultures and races, into the presence of the Holy Family. When Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to be circumcised, Simeon prophesies, "Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised. Because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all nations to see: a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel." Lk 2:29-32.
Again and again the Gospels use light imagery as embodying God's message, as personifying Jesus. John's Gospel right away says, "In the beginning was the Word.... Not one thing had its being but through him. All that came to be had life in him and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overcome." Jn 1:1-4. Then John outright says it, "The Word was the true light, that enlightens every man." Jn 1:9. And later in his Gospel Jesus is quoted as saying, "I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jn 8:12.
Jesus, the Lumen Gentium, the Light of the Peoples, the Light of the Nations, the Light of the World, fulfilling Isaiah and Simeon, says of himself, "I come to cast fire upon earth, I will it be kindled." Lk 12:49. The Lord's fire enlightens. It consumes darkness; the darkness of fear and unknowing, the darkness of being lost and floundering, the darkness of being alone and without hope. That fire, ignited by Jesus, enlightens hearts to burn with an ardor of love that matches his own. And Jesus speaks of that fire, which he has kindled, in this way, "No one lights a lamp and puts it in some hidden place or under a bushel, but on the lamp stand, so people may see the light when they come in... So let your light shine." Mt 5:14.
Saint John's Preparatory School, under the leadership of its president, Father Mark Thamert, OSB '69, established the Lumen Gentium award in 1997. It is awarded to a person who reaches across cultures, who significantly impacts the spreading of the light of knowledge, the light of harmony, the light of hope, the light to which all peoples, all nations will be gathered.
Lumen Gentium Recipients
Carol Hrdlicka, wife of POW/MIA David Hrdlicka '50
Bernardine Ness, OSB '56
Colman O'Connell, OSB
Msgr. James D. Habiger '44
+Father John Kaiser '51
Burton Bloms, OSB ‘37
Abbot Burkhard Ellegast, OSB
Konrad Dannenberg
