Br. Thaddeus Pistrang grew up in Cleveland, Tennessee, where he was a parishioner at Saint Thérèse of Lisieux Catholic Church. He studied Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology as well as Classical and Mediterranean Studies at Vanderbilt University. While in Nashville, he met the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia and after meeting the friars, entered the Order upon graduation. “I desire a life that will lead me to heaven, and as I have learned more about the Order, about her saints, her tradition, and her members today, the more I know this life will take me to that home.”