On April 28, 1947, the University of St. Thomas Houston received its charter from the state of Texas, and this year, the school dedicated to the patron saint of higher learning turns 70.

Not bad for a university founded by a relatively small order — the Basilians, begun in France in 1822. In addition, it is located in a city known mainly for oil and two other monoliths of higher education: Rice University and the University of Houston, and not necessarily Catholicism.

According to Archbishop Michael Miller, of Vancouver, Canada, a Basilian who served as St. Thomas’ president from 1997 to 2003, “The Basilian charism — and that of St. Thomas — is the Church’s mission of evangelization in the field of education.”

One might add that the Basilians are also persevering: An earlier endeavor in Texas higher education foundered when, after only 16 years, St. Basil’s College in Waco ran into financial trouble and the congregation withdrew in 1915. However, the bishop at the time, Nicholas Gallagher, asked the Basilians to instead start a high school for boys. This school would eventually become the de facto “St. Thomas Preparatory” for the post-World War II Catholic college.

From its genesis (which dates before the end of the hostilities in Europe and Japan), Bishop Christopher Byrne wanted the university to be co-educational — which was still somewhat of a novelty for Catholic colleges (Notre Dame didn’t go coed until 1974, and a clutch of other schools have remained single-sex).

So, in 1947, just 60 students started at this all-new campus. And in the last seven decades that number has grown to almost 4,000 students (graduate and undergraduate) who, together with alumni, faculty and staff are observing a yearlong celebration.

In a town known for big-oil money, 10-gallon Stetson hats and the occasional hurricane, St. Thomas has grown somewhat quietly, and deliberately, into a school that has remained true to its mission. The first lay president — and the sixth overall — Joseph McFadden (who was wooed to Houston from the Dakotas), inherited a small college with a budget deficit in St. Thomas in 1988.

“It was rather traumatic for the university — not so much that I was a layman, but that I was so concerned about running a deficit and knew that we had to do something about it,” he recalled.

After getting the university on stable grounds financially, by a combination of fundraising and a mild bump in tuition, McFadden decided on a policy of student recruitment, mainly from the growing Catholic community in Houston.

“In Houston, the minorities are the majority. Houston has a large Hispanic-Catholic population that, for the most part, is not upper middle class. So we at St. Thomas decided that, instead of trying to grab ‘legacy’ students from Rice or University of Houston, we’d try to encourage first-generation college students from this Hispanic community,” explained McFadden.

McFadden oversaw the building of a new science center and set funds aside for scholarships, the hiring of new faculty and the Center for Irish Studies.

But perhaps the greatest accomplishment — on both a symbolic and spiritual level — was the completion of the Chapel of St. Basil. “Chapel” is almost a misnomer: It is a full-size church designed by one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century, Philip Johnson.

Early on, Johnson designed and completed the original mall of St. Thomas, but had to wait a generation before the summation of the stunningly original chapel in 1991. When asked why it took so long, the architect replied, “I had been waiting more than 30 years to finish my mall design [which was based on Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia].” The final product was more than worth waiting for.

“The University of St. Thomas reflects America today,” explained McFadden. “We have slightly more women than men, and also a sizeable number of Asian, Filipino, African-American and even Muslim students.”

The University of St. Thomas  is true to its original mission as a Catholic university in the liberal arts tradition — and reflects its Basilian core of goodness, discipline and knowledge. Students are still required to take philosophy and religious studies.

While tuition per year runs about $32,000, after scholarships and financial aid, the average student pays just over $12,000 per year, with no distinction between in-state and out-of-state tuition.

Class sizes are small, and all courses are taught by professors.

 “At St. Thomas I actually can and do teach — which is what I love to do,” said Maia Larios, an associate professor of biology and associate dean of arts and sciences. Larios, who isn’t Catholic, feels “completely comfortable and at home at St. Thomas,” where she has taught for more than a decade. She says that the Basilians are a “welcoming group who maintain a small but vibrant presence on campus.” Larios added, “The ‘service-learning experience’ [where students serve in the community] is a big part of what we do here at St. Thomas.”

Brandon Martinez Park, a senior majoring in communications and minoring in theater who hopes to work for Catholic media someday, has experienced that Basilian philosophy firsthand. “St. Thomas has great moral values,” he said, adding, “Since coming here, I entered the R.C.I.A. program and received all the sacraments of initiation.”

Archbishop Miller describes the attitude of Catholicism at St. Thomas as “an easygoing orthodoxy. We are not defensive nor argumentative about our Catholic identity. Rather, we hope that people like the example we set.”

Kevin Di Camillo is a

 freelance editor and writer.