In December 1951, due to the hard work in organizing and raising funds, the members of the Society of Our Lady of Mercy managed to finance the purchase of a property on Rua Visconde de Caravelas, in Botafogo.

Based on this conquest, the community began to dream even bigger, and in January 1952, with the arrival of two Franciscan Sisters, Miss Clarence and Miss Silveira, this dream was fulfilled and our School was created. Our Lady of Mercy was, initially, just a grammar school (now Ensino Fundamental I), whose spiritual direction remained in the hands of American Franciscan priests.

Countless tasks, planning and effort were necessary for the accomplishment of this new mission of the Society of Our Lady of Mercy. In 1953, a temporary chapel was built so that the religious celebrations continued, and the community remained united while the School and the new chapel were constructed. In November 1954, Cardinal Dom Jaime de Barros Câmara blessed the construction of the new School, and it was only in 1961 that the building we now know as the High School building was completed — just in time for the graduation of our first grammar class.

Since then, OLM, the only Catholic American School in Rio de Janeiro, has successfully been building the generations of the OLM family based on its core values of empathy, equity and excellence.