The Basilians
95 St. Joseph Street M5S 3C2 Toronto, ON, Canada

The Congregation of St. Basil celebrates its founding on the Feast of the Presentation of Mary. On this day, almost 200 years ago, the Basilian Fathers’ ten founders professed vows and established a new community of educators and preachers. Learn more about our history at https://buff.ly/3kzqvty. #HappyBirthday #feastday #feastofthepresentation #basilians #TeachMeGDK #religiousorder

After several years of operating schools in the southern French region of Ardèche, the teacher-priests put forward a proposal to the Bishop that they form an association or society. These men became the founding fathers of the Congregation of St. Basil. On November 21, 1822, on the feast of the Presentation of Mary, the ten founders chose Father Joseph Lapierre as the first superior general and St. Basil as the patron for the order. #tbt #ThrowbackThursday #basilians #feastofthepresentation #feastday #religiousorder

To mark Veteran’s Day, St. John Fisher College honoured all military veterans and their families and especially those who are members of its campus community. Among those remembered were Basilian Fathers, Father Leo Hetzler, CSB and Father Joseph M. Lanzalaco, CSB. Father Kevin Mannara, CSB, campus minister, shared these words of remembrance with the Fisher community: Fr. Leo Hetzler, CSB, wanted to join the Basilians after graduating from Aquinas in 1943, but delayed so he... could serve our nation in WWII. He said if he returned home alive, he'd give the rest of his life serving the Church as a Basilian Father, which he did with dedication and joy. The difficult experience of war left him a gentle and kind priest and academic who served decades of SJFC students. Fr. Joe Lanzalaco, CSB, said he stopped practicing his faith when he was a teen, joined the Army, and was soon sent to Vietnam. As a military policeman, he found the Church as a place of peace and belonging. He returned home to Rochester, became a student at SJFC, and joined the Basilians, sharing the faith that transformed his life. Fr. Joe taught high school and ministered to inmates on death row before returning to SJFC, where he spent the rest of his life serving in Campus Ministry. Both men were deeply affected by their military service, and it influenced how they served God's people as priests.

Basilian scholastic and Catholic Central alumnus, Sean Ajluni, CSB, talks about his calling to become a priest for Vocation Week at Detroit Catholic Central High School. #Catholic #PriestLife #discerning #discernment #HolySpirit #prayforvocations #GodsPlan #consecratedlife #prayforpriests #vocation #Prayer #religiouslife #calling #ministry

Father Edward Joseph Hartmann, CSB enlisted as a chaplain in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII. In his correspondence from this time, he wrote of ministering to nine boys he had taught at St. Mary’s Boys’ High School in Calgary, Alberta. He is pictured here presiding at a graveside service. #tbt #lestweforget