The Chapel of Our Lady of the Star
Christian Brothers College High School • Saint Louis, Missouri

Dedicated on October 11, 2003

The Chapel at Christian Brothers College High School is named in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Star.  The origins of devotion to Our Lady of the Star date back to 11th century France, and begins with the tale of two Benedictine monks.  
  In 1080, while making their way through a thick oak forest, the monks came upon a beautiful hill, La Museresse, which reminded them of Monte Cassino in Italy.  They are accidentally separated one night when one of them, sleeping in a boat, is carried out to sea by the tide, ultimately arriving in England.  According to legend he eventually becomes the Bishop of Salisbury.  Brother Roger, distraught at the loss of his companion, returns to La Museresse.  
  Alone and in despair, he prays to Our Lady to watch over him.  In a dream, he has a vision of a star falling from the sky, setting all the trees alight, with a gleaming white church rising from the ashes.  In his dream he hears beautiful music, and a voice directing him to build a sanctuary to the Virgin Mary at the foot of the hill.  Upon awakening, he discovers burnt bushes nearby, at the exact spot where he dreamt of the marvelous star crashing to earth.  
     He makes a vow to build a chapel in her honor, whom he now calls Our Lady of the Star.  At first it is only a hut covered with branches.  Around this chapel he begins to cultivate the ground.
  The story goes that William the Conqueror, while viewing a fleet of his ships from atop La Mueresse, saw Brother Roger in his garden, and went down the hill to visit him.  After their visit, William decreed that an Abbey be built on the spot, and he and his successors became its benefactors. The town of Montebourg was eventually established at the top of the hill.  
  In 1152 the Archbishop of Rouen dedicated the first Abbey church to Mary under the title Our Lady of the Star.  Only five years later it was destroyed by fire.  It was rebuilt in 1250 and prospered until the sacking of the abbeys by Richard III and the Act of Dissolution in 1399.  Restoration of the Abbey and the monastic discipline of the monks were further disrupted by the Hundred Years War.  In 1448, a monk by the name of Brother Denis Clemence restored order to the community and wrote a history of the traditions of the Abbey and the story of Our Lady of the Star.
   On June 14, 1562, the Abbey was ransacked by more than 2,000 Huguenots.  Many of the Abbey’s records and the statue of Our Lady of the Star were burned.  Catherine di Medici provided some relief to the impoverished Abbey in 1576, but the number of monks had decreased markedly.  By 1771 there were only two Benedictine monks remaining.  The Abbey was sold at auction in 1791.  During the years of the French Revolution it was used as a storage barn.  Little by little it was dismantled between 1801 and 1818.  
    At the request of the Bishop, the Christian Brothers began rebuilding the Abbey.  It was rededicated to Our Lady of the Star, along with the school, on August 19, 1892.  In 1903 all religious were expelled from France.  A former pupil of the Brothers purchased the Abbey and school buildings in hopes that the Brothers would one day return, which they did in 1922.  
  Lasallian devotion to Our Lady of the Star began in 1938 when the small community at Montebourg joined the Brothers of the Christian Schools.  In 1951, on the 800th anniversary of its founding, the Abbey was rededicated to Our Lady of the Star in the presence of Brother Athanase Emile, the Superior General.  In 1955, Brother Denis, Vicar General, proclaimed Our Lady of the Star as Queen and Mother of Christian Schools.  On May 1, at a ceremony attended by Brother Nicet Joseph, Superior General, the statue of the Virgin of  Montebourg was pontifically crowned by the Bishop of Coutances.  The Christian Brothers left Montebourg in 1986, but the school remains part of the network of Lasallian Schools of the District of France.
The feast day of Our Lady of the Star is May 8th.
  During the Forever CBC Capital Campaign, the Chapel of Our Lady of the Star was a gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Almon ’50 to the CBC community.