Portsmouth Abbey School is a coeducational Catholic, Benedictine boarding and day school for students in grades 9 to 12. Founded in 1926 by the English Benedictines, the school is located on a 525-acre campus in Portsmouth, along Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay.
Contents
History
The school and monastery are located on land originally owned by the Freeborn family beginning in the 1650s. The land was later owned by the Anthony family, and in 1778 it was the site of the Battle of Rhode Island during the American Revolution. In 1864, Amos Smith, a Providence financier, built what is now known as the Manor House and created a gentleman's farm on the site with the help of architect Richard Upjohn. After buying the Manor House and surrounding land in 1918, Dom Leonard Sargent of Boston, a convert from the Episcopal Church, founded Portsmouth Priory on October 18, 1918. The priory was founded as, and remains, a house of the English Benedictine Congregation. It is one of only three American houses in the congregation, and maintains a unique connection with sister schools in England, including Ampleforth College and Downside School.
A parcel of the school's land is leased to The Aquidneck Club (formerly the Carnegie Abbey Club) where the student golf team practices and holds its interscholastic golf matches.
Modern
The school is often referred to as "the Abbey" and has students from 17 nations and 26 states. In 2006, the school installed a Vestas V47-660 kW wind turbine, the first such project in Rhode Island, to provide forty percent of the school's electricity.
Notable art on campus
The Abbey's Church of St. Gregory the Great contains a wire sculpture titled Trinity, created by the late American sculptor Richard Lippold in 1960. The sculpture is made of a 22,000 foot web of gold plated wire surrounding a gold and silver Crucifix, created by Meinrad Burch. The sculpture underwent an award-winning restoration in 2009, carried out by Newmans’ Ltd., of Newport, Rhode Island.
Notable people
Alumni
Keith Botsford, 1944, American/European writer, collaborator with Saul Bellow, professor emeritus at Boston University and editor of News from the Republic of Letters.
Christopher Buckley, 1970, American political satirist, son of William F. Buckley Jr.
Robert Crichton, 1944, author of The Secret of Santa Vittoria and The Great Impostor
R. F. Patrick Cronin, 1942, dean of faculty of medicine at McGill University (1972–1977).
Jonathan DeFelice, 1965, president emeritus of Saint Anselm College; founder of the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities.
William A. Dembski, transferred to University of Chicago in 1977 and received an honorary diploma in 1988, mathematician, philosopher, and theologian; proponent of concept of intelligent design.
E.J. Dionne, 1969, Washington Post columnist and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
John Gregory Dunne, 1950, novelist (True Confessions; The Red, White and Blue; Playland), screenwriter (A Star Is Born, co-authored with his wife, writer Joan Didion), and literary critic.
Michael Egan, 1944, former U. S. associate attorney general (Carter Administration); former Georgia state senator; member of Georgia House of Representatives
Phil English, 1974, U.S. representative (R-PA) 3rd District, 1995–2009.
Benedict Fitzgerald, 1967, an American screenwriter who co-wrote the screenplay for The Passion of the Christ with Mel Gibson.
Students who did not graduate
Edward M. Kennedy, attended but did not graduate, U.S. Senator (D-MA) 1962–2009. Younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy.
Robert F. Kennedy, attended but did not graduate, U.S. senator from New York, 65th U.S. Attorney General, brother of President John F. Kennedy.
Deon Anderson, former NFL player. He transferred after his second year