He was born James Hyde Reinhart on May 24, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri and entered the novitiate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools at the La Salle Institute in Glencoe, Missouri, and received the religious habit in 1926, at which time he was given the religious name Lucian Athanasius.

In 1929 he was assigned to the St. George High School in Evanston, Illinois, and two years later, he would earn his Master of Arts degree from DePaul University in Chicago.

In 1933, he was assigned to the De La Salle Institute, also in Chicago, and finally to the Christian Brothers College in St. Louis in 1934.

Upon his arrival, he was assigned as Pro-Director of the Brothers' Community and concurrent principal of the College's High School Department.

During World War II, Reinhart was interned at Los Baños, Laguna, with the rest of the American Brothers.