Students, parents and staff from Saint Anthony Catholic School are looking forward to a Feb. 9 celebration, where the Rev. Robert N. Lynch, bishop of the St. Petersburg Diocese will bless the school’s new building.
A celebration of the Mass is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., and it will be followed by the blessing and dedication of the new building.
(Courtesy of Saint Anthony School)
Festivities also will include an open house and light refreshments.
The event marks the latest milestone in a history that dates back to 1883.
San Antonio was founded in 1882 as a Catholic colony. The following year, a widowed woman named Cecilia Morse moved into the community with her six children.
When she inquired about the school, she was told it could wait until there were more settlers. She reportedly responded that the “minds of the children now here, can’t wait.”
With that, the widow began teaching 14 children, including six of her own, in her kitchen.
Saint Anthony School officially was established in 1884.
It is the oldest parochial school in the diocese, as well as one of the oldest Catholic schools in Florida.
Generations of families have been educated in a three-story brick structure that was built in 1922.
That building will continue to be used for some functions.
The new 17,905-square-foot building is the fourth in the school’s history. The 1922 current building replaced a two-story structure built in 1899. The original building was a 12-by-24-foot structure constructed in November 1884.
Students and teachers are now situated in their new classrooms in the new school building.
There was a time, not so many years ago when the future was anything but certain for the school.
Attendance had dwindled to 153, and there was talk of closing Saint Anthony School.
But parents and other supporters rallied.
They used their ingenuity, coming up with various ways to spread the news about their school, including a 15-second spot shown at the Cobb Grove 16 in Wesley Chapel.
The school’s enrollment improved. It now has more than 200 kindergarten through eighth-graders coming from San Antonio, Dade City, Zephyrhills, Brooksville, Land O’ Lakes, New Tampa and other communities.
In a previous interview, School Principal Sister Alice Ottapurackal attributed the school’s increased enrollment to “God’s special blessing.”
“Truly, I believe, it’s the power of prayer,” she said at the time.
Much has changed on the campus, but the school’s core mission remains the same.
It continues to emphasize academic excellence while teaching the Catholic faith.
Published January 21, 2015
