Brother John D. Hamilton, C.F.X. '64, elected General Superior this summer, says ‘I’ll give everything I have, but after that, it’s God’s business”
In keeping with a tradition that's now in its fourth decade, St. John's Prep is proud to recognize Brother John D. Hamilton, C.F.X. '64 as the School's Distinguished Alumnus for the 2025-2026 academic year. This past summer, Br. Hamilton was elected General Superior of the Xaverian Brothers, embarking on a six-year term to lead the international congregation. The Distinguished Alumnus award honors a St. John's graduate whose life exemplifies the spirit and values of the Xaverian Brothers and inspires current students to be change-makers and forces for good in the world.
A Salem-born kid who grew up in Beverly became the oldest person, as far as anyone can remember, to assume the role of General Superior of the Xaverian Brothers on August 1. Now, he’s the 34th Distinguished Alumnus to be recognized by St. John’s Prep. It’s difficult to envision a more appropriate choice, either for the job or such recognition from his alma mater.
“He’s a brilliant guy and a deep thinker,” says Patrick Slattery, executive director of Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools. “Like so many of the Brothers, he’s devoted his entire life to the charisms and the Xaverian mission, and yet despite being heavily theological, he doesn’t come off with any form of superiority about his understanding and animation of the charism. He brings such humility to the conversation. He’s got a gift for making people feel a part of the conversation regardless of their background or their spiritual journey.”
The live-and-in-person version of Brother John David Hamilton, 79, more than meets the high expectations that Slattery’s comments conjure. He enters a room with a broad, welcoming smile. He stands a touch above 5 feet tall, but his presence transcends that stature. The firm grip. The pale blue eyes that hold a steady gaze. His treble voice projects as if artificially amplified and the “broad A” of his Boston-area accent is still apparent despite years spent out of state. He’s an active listener, but when he speaks, time seems to slow down. When he stops, you want more.
Those characteristics were invisible back when Br. Hamilton roamed the Prep campus.
“I think if you asked my former classmates, they would say I was very introverted,” he says. “I was quite anxious as a young person and even as a student here. But I always loved school. I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was in the first grade, which is probably the reason I joined the Xaverian Brothers.”
As for being named the School’s Distinguished Alumnus, he says, “Our spirituality is one based in the significance of the “ordinary,” and it is as a very ordinary person that I accept this on behalf of all the ordinary Xaverian Brothers who have served St. John’s with humility, grace, and zeal.”
As a young man, Br. Hamilton felt a powerful draw to all things contemplative, a trait he attributes to his paternal grandmother, Minnie. “My most prominent memory of her is presence. To be with her was being at home for me.” The simplicity of his grandmother’s influence carried a ripple effect throughout Br. Hamilton’s life to the present day.
Fellow alumnus Tom Kelly ’62, a friend since the two were in the novitiate1 together from 1964-66, has a unique perspective on the long arc of the new General Superior’s personal journey. “The kid I welcomed into the novitiate—who was already gentle and genial, thoughtful and direct, with a quiet but delightful sense of humor—is the same man we meet today, now mature in his faculties and possessed of both great intellect and deep spiritual conviction,” says Kelly. “The Prep helped prepare him, and the Xaverian Brothers have wisely asked that he lead them into the future.”
Educated at Catholic University of America (D.C.), where he earned his B.A. in English and graduated magna cum laude, Br. Hamilton obtained a master’s degree in Liberal Studies at Wesleyan University over the course of five summers while teaching at Xavier High in Middletown, CT. He later received an M.A. in Formative Spirituality at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. It was there that the soft-edges of his identity and beliefs grew more cohesive and cured.
“At Duquesne, I studied with a priest from Holland, Father Adrian van Kaam, who actually founded the Institute for Formative Spirituality there. So many of the things I really live by are rooted in things he said. He often observed that ‘our limits are the outlines of our call,’ and I’ve always loved that. In a way, it gives you permission to do what you can and not worry about not doing what you can’t.”
Br. Hamilton brings that mindset to his new role. Having previously served as the Xaverian Brothers Vicar General as well as General Councilor for Formation—in addition to carrying out assistant director and director roles in spiritual formation at the Province level before the congregation centralized its leadership in Maryland—he has the administrative and organizational piece covered. Though he concedes it’s not his strong suit.
“I admire and work with people who possess a special talent for the administrative side, so that’s a huge help, but I myself am not great at it. I don’t begrudge doing it. That’s part of the call. But it’s not how I want to spend my time.”
The spiritual leadership aspect has long been his ken. But there’s one big difference now in his new position.
“To be Truman-esque about it, ‘the buck stops here’ now,” he says. “I liked being an assistant, despite the fact it’s hard because you can make your contribution, but it’s defined by somebody else. This role gives you the possibility of impacting or animating in a way you can’t when you’re an assistant. That responsibility can weigh a little heavily, but this is the good part about getting this job now. I have a certain kind of perspective with age at this point.
“Back in 1989, there was a good possibility that I could have been elected to this role,” he continues. “In fact, there were several times I was on the cusp. Without spiritualizing, I think it didn’t happen earlier because I wasn’t ready in certain ways. I had a lot of ideas, and I may have taken some of them too seriously, but not as much now.”
A spiritual formation devotee to his core, Br. Hamilton is most inspired by the spiritual motivation component of, well, no longer being the assistant. Perhaps what excites him most is an opportunity to draw out themes he became immersed in upon arriving at Xavier High in 1970, only a half decade removed from the Vatican II ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. He encountered a community trying to live as a fraternity rather than hierarchically.
“For me, as a young Brother, the community side really kept my formation going,” he recalls. “Not formation in the sense of somebody telling you what to do, but in the sense of how do we deepen as Brothers? From the beginning, we were designed not as a hierarchy, but a fraternity. So, we should be living and seeking direction as a fraternity. Another way to put it is, it’s living out the vow of obedience in fraternity and cooperation. Pope Francis talked a lot about this. How do we pass from the ‘I’ to the ‘we’? That struck me when he said that because it sounded like formation work.
“God is always giving direction at every moment of our lives,” he continues. “We just have to listen. We just have to be aware of it. But that means doing things by really speaking and listening to each other in such a way that we begin to experience: ‘Well, what’s the direction?’ My heartfelt conviction is that it has to be ‘ours,’ it has to be ‘our’ direction. I think this is probably the biggest thing for me.”
The Prep’s Distinguished Alumnus Award was established in 1993 to celebrate individuals who demonstrate a commitment to faith, family, and service; who have achieved professional success; and who have made significant contributions to society as volunteers, mentors, or benefactors. Brother John D. Hamilton, C.F.X. '64 joins an impressive group of change-makers and forces for good in the world who have earned the honor. Please join us in celebrating Br. Hamilton as our 2025-26 St. John’s Prep Distinguished Alumnus.