What was a dream just over a year ago is now a reality in Springfield, Illinois.
San Damiano College for the Trades welcomed its inaugural class of 24 students this August. These young men will study great books and the Catholic intellectual tradition alongside technical instruction and on-the-job training in a trade:
Our mission is to form men to recover the dignity of work, integrating it into the whole of a life ordered toward the kingdom of God and the sanctification of the world.
The college garnered significant attention when its ambitious mission was first announced. Interest in the college far exceeded initial expectations. A “come and see” weekend in March drew 100 interested young men, and many more are on the wait list.
San Damiano’s president, Kent Lasnoski, previously served as a professor at Wyoming Catholic College. He told Aleteia:
It's a dream come true to bring this radical educational opportunity to life. This is the education our nation — our world — desperately needs, and I can't believe I get to be a part of it.
Young people across the country are hungry for it, and the culture and economy are calling for it, and, well, here it is! I can't wait for these students to get out there and rebuild the Church.
A growing vision takes shape
In the past year, San Damiano has rapidly expanded its infrastructure and staff. The college now employs a vice president, business manager, three faculty members, and six chaplains. With generous donor support, the college remodeled its workshop facilities to prepare for the incoming class.
The students will enjoy a robust program of spiritual, academic, and technical formation, with formation and class days on Mondays and Fridays while they work in the trades on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Aleteia had the chance to hear from staff and students about each of these areas.
Spiritual life
Students join in the daily prayers and Mass of the Norbertine canons, who recently opened Corpus Christi Priory on the same campus.
They can sing in the Norbertine schola, taught by Fr. Gregory, a former carpenter, and will have opportunities for spiritual direction and a works-of-mercy pilgrimage.
Peter Schoonmaker, student life coordinator, said that the spiritual formation drew him to San Damiano:
Walking with this group of guys — watching them go from boys to men to fathers and being able to rub shoulders with them as we all learn to imitate St. John the Baptist in proclaiming to the world “I am not” — is what inspires me to continue to give my time and energy to this mission.
Academic education
This year, the college launched the non-degree House of Formation Program in theology and spirituality while partnering with another Illinois Catholic school, Quincy University, for credit-bearing coursework. The associate degree program, which will hopefully launch in fall 2026, will combine the Great Books tradition, the classical Trivium, math, and science.
Peter Tardiff, professor and student life assistant, told Aleteia:
Studying the great human traditions of literature and philosophy is a means of building virtue, guarding sanity, and cultivating joy. I'm very excited for a mission that integrates the liberal arts with the beauty of liturgy and the dignity of work to prepare young men for a life in Christ.
Technical training
Students will gain exposure to seven different trades — carpentry, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, masonry, roofing, and welding — throughout the course of the academic year.
Nathaniel Gabler, the College's first enrolled student, was so zealous to begin that he came from Texas in May to start working and living on campus before school even started. He said:
I was compelled to pursue God's plan for me at San Damiano College because there I felt I could receive the educational and spiritual guidance to grow in my love for God and knowledge and master constructive skills in the trades.
With its first class now settled on campus, San Damiano College begins the historic work of forming a new generation of Catholic craftsmen, ready to answer St. Francis’s call to “rebuild my church” through the dignity of honest labor and deep spiritual formation.
