At Christendom, we agree with Aristotle that the purpose of education is to produce virtuous citizens. Yet the question must be asked, virtuous citizens of what city? The nature of a classical education presupposes that our purpose is to form, in Augustine of Hippos’ language, virtuous citizens of the city of God. 

At the heart of a classical education is the heart of the human person. It is our inheritance and we are heirs to the great books, ideas, and discoveries of the Western tradition. The Western tradition comprises our civilization’s constant endeavor, in the spirit of St. Paul, to test everything and hold fast to all that is true, good, and beautiful, for to the extent they are such, they are public treasures earmarked for use in the education and formation of our youngest citizens, i.e., our students. 

Beyond the classical curriculum, the pedagogy employed by our educators is inspired by Augustine’s De Magistro and Socrates’ eponymous method found in the Platonic dialogue, the Meno. In summary, we understand that there is one Educator, who is God, and the classical educator is as a steward, a vicar whose task it is to profess the truth for the student to examine and also to guide the student, through artful questioning, out of the depths of fallacy and error and into a world of clarity and light. 

Our hope is for each student to gain, like Mary, a certain harmony of soul and body, so as to serve all the natural virtues well and to magnify them in the world.