The school was founded by a Benedictine monk, Dom Basil Matthews, who was ordained priest in the Order of St Benedict in 1935, one of the first Trinidadians to be elected to that office.
When Dom Basil was sent to minister in the San Fernando region in the early 1950s, he felt that he had to do something about the lack of educational opportunity in the district.
His main purpose in establishing the school, as he revealed afterwards, was "to cater for children from the countryside who could not make it out to town and did not have a chance at even passing the Common Entrance Examination."
He encouraged the church to purchase land from the Lucky family in La Romaine and their home was used as the building to house the primary school.
Many scoffed at his idea but Dom Basil was undaunted and with the support of Archbishop Ryan, some businessmen and parishioners, he was able to bring his dream to fruition.
Mr. Caines, his successor, endeavored to revert the College to a traditional grammar school, tech-voc subjects were removed and co-curricular activities and sports were de-emphasized.
Once more there was a change of policy, co-curricular activities were once more emphasized, the playing field was restored enabling St. Benedict's to win the South Zone Intercol five times between 1988 and 2000.