In 1606, in what is now St. Augustine, Florida, the Franciscan Order founded the first Catholic school on what would eventually become American shores, in order "to teach children Christian doctrine, reading, and writing." At first, expansion was slow: As education historians Thomas Hunt and ...
In it there are 1 archbishop, 6 bishops, 1217 priests, 211 ecclesiastical students, 806 churches, 84 missions, 86 chapels, 2 training schools for boys, 1 industrial school for girls, 12 orphan asylums, 2 infant asylums, 1 industrial and reform school, 100,872 young people under Catholic ...