Established: 1986
Named for: Fr Henri-Dominique Lacordaire OP (1802-1861)
Colours: Gold / Red
Flag: The flag is composed of equal quarters of blue, gold, red and white. It represents the colours of the province of Burgundy where Fr Lacordaire was born.
Patron: St John of Cologne (Feast Day: 9 July)
2023 House Captain: Anthony Huynh / Deputy: Daniel Mazzarolo
2023 Head of House: Mrs Alison Colombo
2023 Home Group Teachers: Mr Nick Cheary, Mr Duro Dobrijevic, Mr Oliver Carroll
House Awards
Fr John Neill Athletics Cup (est.1987)
- Winner: 1987, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004
- Runner-up: 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2021, 2022
Annual Swimming Carnival (est. 1987)
- Winner: 1995, 1997, 2001
- Runner-up: 2005, 2018, 2020, 2021
St Albert’s Shield for Academic Excellence (est. 1993)
- Winner: 2007
- Runner-up: 2008
House Spirit Shield (est. 2004)
- Winner: –
- Runner-up: 2007
House Captains
- 1987 – Daniel Snell, Tim Turner (Deputy)
- 1988 –
- 1989 – Francis Pellizari
- 1990 – Shane Wundenberg
- 1991 – Tory Caputo, John Anderson (Deputy)
- 1992 – Theo Gelastopoulos, Mark Hayward (Deputy)
- 1993 – Remo Carbone, Domenic Caputo (Deputy)
- 1994 – Justin Tettis
- 1995 – Adrian Manera, Simon Perry (Deputy)
- 1996 – Mischa Karp
- 1997 – Shannon Palmer, Tihomir Babich (Deputy)
- 1998 – Mark Yates
- 1999 – Tim Wiese
- 2000 – Simon Basey, Chris Iona (Deputy)
- 2001 – Andrew Alesci
- 2002 – Kieran Howe
- 2003 – Bruce Duckworth, Matthew Turner (Deputy)
- 2004 – Kosta Koutrikas, Adam Vlachos (Deputy)
- 2005 – Kyle Woodforde, Heath Polyak (Deputy)
- 2006 – Robert Crisci
- 2007 – Carlos Barca, Szymon Dutka (Deputy)
- 2008 – Thomas Dayman, Sean Sherlock (Deputy)
- 2009 – Michael Cronin
- 2010 – Nicholas Beneke, Sean Quigley (Deputy)
- 2011 – Luke Weinel
- 2012 – Alexander Beneke
- 2013 – Lawrence van der Byl
- 2014 – Kazem Ali
- 2015 – Thein Vu
- 2016 – Christopher Votino
- 2017 – Leon Day
- 2018 – Ahmad Ali Dosti, Jack Cavanagh (Deputy)
- 2019 – Fearghas Rae, Edwin Watson (Deputy)
- 2020 – Edwin Watson, Lachlan Sewart (Deputy)
- 2021 – Nicholas Cacayorin, Nathan Sewart (Deputy)
- 2022 – Matthew Vanderwoude, Nathan Sewart (Deputy)
- 2023 – Anthony Huynh, Daniel Mazzarolo
Heads of House
- 1987 to 1993 – Mr Paul Belton
- 1994 to 2005 – Mr Bob Becker
- 2006 to 2010 – Mr Phil Alderson
- 2011 to 2014 – Mr Michael Cox
- 2015 to present – Mrs Alison Colombo (nee de Souza)
Individual Awards
Magnus Medal & Nicholas Altman Prize – School Dux
- 1988 – Dominic Santopietro
Jordan of Saxony School Spirit Award
- 1988 – Darren Boddington
- 2005 – Phillip Valente
- 2013 – George Tan
St Martin de Porres Service to the Community Award
- 1990 – Bostijan Savle
Frassati Sportsman Award
- 2001 – Andrew Alesci
- 2005 – Jamie Histed
Fra Angelico Arts Award
- 2021 – Archie Howard
Prefects
- 1987 – Steven Schuumans, Danny Snell, Timothy Turner
- 1988 – Darren Boddington
- 1989 – Paul Anderson, Francis Pellizzari*, John Psarros^, Jay Turner, Shane Wundenberg
- 1990 – Bostijan Savle, Rodney Shore
- 1991 – Tory Caputo
- 1992 – Theo Gelastopoulos, Tory Caputo, Mark Hayward
- 1995 – John Denichillo, Adrian Manera
- 1996 – Nghia Phung
- 1997 – Denton Basey, Dylan Grieve, Isaac Bromley
- 1998 – Mark Yates^
- 1999 – Timothy Wiese
- 2000 – Simon Basey, Drew Grieve
- 2002 – Kieran Howe
- 2003 – Bruce Duckworth
- 2004 – Scott Armstrong
- 2005 – Phillip Valente^
- 2006 – Nicholas Coughlin*, Robert Crisci
- 2007 – Carlos Barca*, Szymon Dutka^
- 2008 – Nathan Cummins, Thomas Dayman, Sean Sherlock
- 2009 – George Raybould
- 2010 – Sean Quigley
- 2014 – Kristopher Bergamaschi
- 2015 – Gabriel Rus
- 2016 – Jebin Thomas, Thomas O’Donnell
- 2018 – Alessandro Papandrea
- 2019 – Attaullah Qasimy
- 2020 – Armon Houshmand
- 2021 – Lachlan Sewart
- 2022 – Nicholas Cacayorin^, Thomas Dutton, Sang Le
* denotes Head Prefect
^ denotes Deputy Head Prefect
Fr Henri-Dominique Lacordaire O.P.
Fr Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, showed bravery by preaching during a time of religious oppression.
“It is not genius, nor glory, nor love that reflects the greatness of the human soul; it is kindness.”
Henri-Dominique Lacordaire was a bit of a rebel. Although brought up Catholic he dropped the faith pretty much after he left school. He studied law in the French town of Dijon and lived life without any reference to God whatsoever. He embraced all the ideals of the French Revolution, liberty, fraternity and equality, and was a staunch believer in the Republic born out of the blood of countless thousands. In search of fame and fortune he went to practise as a lawyer in Paris around 1822, joining a rather prestigious law firm. However, despite his prospects for a brilliant career, he became bored and felt isolated in Paris, whose distractions scarcely impressed him.
At the end of a long period of doubt and questioning, he re-embraced Catholicism in the spring of 1824 and soon decided to become a priest. He began studying at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Issy in the same year.
Yet life as a priest was not enough for young Lacordaire and he wanted something more. As a priest he was a talented preacher, and so joining the Order of Preachers was a natural progression for him.
However, since the French Revolution the Order had been entirely obliterated from the country of France, and so Lacordaire sought to re-establish the Dominicans in France. Here his rebellious streak came to the fore! Religious Orders were theoretically banned in France, supposedly in the name of freedom. Yet, Lacordaire dared to question the anti-religious laws as an obstacle to freedom. Lacordaire saw the anti-religious laws of his country as contradictory; the laws were in clear opposition to man’s freedom to worship. Eventually Lacordaire tested his government’s harsh policy against religion. He came back to France from Italy, having joined the Order there in 1839.
Lacordaire entered France in his Dominican habit. In doing so he was once again pushing the boundaries of his country’s laws because legally he could’ve been shot for wearing the habit in public. It was Lacordaire’s daring and unwavering faith in the Lord that saw him re-establish the Dominican Order in France. His inspirational action helped other friars in Europe to re-found the Order where religious life had been outlawed.
Henri-Dominique Lacordaire was also concerned for the education of youth and so as a part of his revival of the Dominican Order in France he also established a congregation of priests, Dominican in inspiration, to look after schools for boys.
At his death in 1861 Lacordaire occupied three positions; he was provincial superior of France, founder of a congregation of teaching priests and headmaster of the boys’ college he himself had established.