The Studium

St. Albert Priory
House of Studies for the Western Dominican Province

Clerical Brother Formation  --  Cooperator Brother Formation

Upon completing the Novitiate year, the new student join the old at St. Albert Priory in Oakland, CA.  Situated on about five acres, this very monastic-looking structure had its start in the 30's during the depression.  Many a person gave generously to buy the first wing of the building, brick by brick.  Even as the later wings were being completed, it was often because of many small donations that the building could be completed.  Designed by Arnold Constable, St. Albert has enjoyed many of the same features that mark out other Constable buildings, including our churches of St. Dominic in San Francisco and Blessed Sacrament in Seattle.

Three wings and the chapel form a quadrangle around the interior cloister garden, a haven of peace in the midst of the noise modern life.  On the ground level there are classrooms, offices, meeting rooms, recreation rooms, dining hall, a very good library, and of couse, the chapel.  The building was structured in such a way that the classrooms were outside what was the cloistered area in the early days of the building.  Now a modified cloister is maintained only in the upper floors.

In the back yard one can find a large lawn area and a small stand of redwoods with a small stream meandering in from one culvert and exiting through another.  The stream provides the irrigation water for the whole facility.  There are also some of the few oaks still in Oakland growing in that area.  Although the back garden is lovely, because of the stream and trees it is not suitable for most forms of recreation, save maybe archery.  The lawn area nearest the chapel had always been the field for football and baseball.  On the opposite side of the chapel is a tennis court/basketball court which doubles for extra parking at times.  As the years have gone by, fewer chose to make use of these facilities for sports, more due to the growth of the neighborhood and the difficulty in retieving stray equipment than anything else.

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