In the early 1950s, the Most Reverend Robert J.Armstrong, Bishop
of the Diocese of Sacramento, realized that the once rural
parishes of St.Philomene and Our Lady of the Assumption were
overflowing with Catholic families. He reconfigured the
area and created a new parish – St.Ignatius. The growth of
Sacramento had stretched the ranks of the diocesan priests.
Bishop Armstrong invited the Jesuit provincial to send priests to
staff the new parish, build a school, and eventually build a
Jesuit high school. In 1954, the provincial sent Father
Fred Cosgrove, S.J., Prefect
