George was 13, not even out of grammar school, when polio struck. When he arrived at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago on crutches, eager to begin his freshman year, George was told he could not stay and likely never would be ordained. His family enrolled him instead in the now-closed St. Henry Preparatory Seminary, a boarding school in Belleville, Ill., just outside of St. Louis. The school was run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate religious order, whose mission is to evangelize the poor and to which he would devote his life.