My hope and my prayer is that Legatus will be a part of leading influential Catholics closer to God to serve him and his Church.

You may already know Tom as a successful entrepreneur. He is the founder of a global pizza chain with stores in 90 countries on six continents. He’s a former owner of a professional baseball team as well as the founder of an acclaimed and accredited university. With these professional achievements, Tom stands as one of the giants of the business world—but what sets Tom apart from other entrepreneurs is the most important characteristic: his commitment to his Catholic faith.

Tom was born in March 1937 in the university town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Tragically, his father died of peritonitis on Christmas Eve 1941, and his mother could not afford to care for him and his brother, James, on her own. When Tom was just four years old, he and his brother were placed in foster care. Then, between age six and twelve, Tom and James lived under the care of the Felician Sisters in the St. Joseph Home for Boys in Jackson, Michigan.

God was at the heart of everything at St. Joseph’s. Tom learned much about the Catholic faith from the sisters, in particular one named Sister Berarda. This foundation of faith stayed with Tom through his formative years. During his time in high school, Tom decided to enter St. Joseph’s Seminary in Grand Rapids—but he was ultimately dismissed from the seminary due to over-enrollment.

Tom graduated from St. Thomas High School and later enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. While serving in the Corp, he came up with five personal pillars for his life that would guide him thereafter: spiritual, social, mental, physical, and lastly, financial. He determined that the highest priority for his life had to be the spiritual: his faith. The rest followed. 

Tom served for three years before being honorably discharged in 1959.

In 1960, Tom and his brother, James, took out a loan for $900 and bought DomiNick’s, a pizza shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Tom soon traded his 1959 Volkswagen Beetle to acquire his brother’s share of the store. This store would eventually become Domino’s Pizza, which today stands as the king of pizza in terms of global sales and number of locations.

As Monaghan became more successful, he got carried away with lavish material goods for a time—but thanks to the solid faith foundation given to him by Sister Berarda and the sisters of St. Joseph’s, he never pushed his Catholic faith aside.

"Nothing got in the way of my desire to be a good Catholic. It was what I always knew that I should do."

Domino’s success continued to grow with more stores opening, and Tom stepped further into the spotlight when he became the owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. Around this time, he started a Catholic foundation, now known as the Ave Maria Foundation). Mass became part of Tom’s daily routine—and after he learned about Marian apparitions and the Blessed Mother’s request to pray the Rosary, Tom added the Rosary to his routine as well, praying through all the mysteries each day.

In the 1980s, the commissioner of Major League Baseball invited Tom to an Opus Dei retreat in New York. It was the first time Tom had been in a room with people of influence—CEOs, a senator, a federal judge, and other high-level business leaders—who were also faithful Catholics, willing to set time aside for God and prayer. Tom’s experience on that retreat remained with him long after and was what sowed the first seeds in his mind about uniting business and his faith. But Tom wouldn’t move forward on those ideas until a few years later, after a very special encounter with his hero: Pope John Paul II.

In May 1987, Tom had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend Mass in a private Vatican chapel with His Holiness John Paul II. When Tom saw the Holy Father in person celebrating Mass, seeing the living saint celebrate the Eucharist with such reverence, Tom was in awe. Receiving Holy Communion from a living saint was something Tom could never forget. After Mass, Tom had the chance to share a few words with the pope, and John Paul II gave him a rosary.

Following his time in the Vatican, Tom immediately traveled to Venice to give an address at a gathering with YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization), a secular association for business leaders to network and share best practices. It was during this trip that the Holy Spirit planted a powerful new idea in Tom’s mind.

After meeting John Paul II and attending the YPO gathering in quick succession, Tom had a new idea: to create an organization for Catholic CEOs and company presidents to support and further their faith. It would be more than YPO and something other than the Opus Dei retreat he attended. It would be Catholic and bring business together
with faith. Tom worked out the specifics of what Legatus would look like and shared his idea with others, who reflected his enthusiasm.

Legatus officially began in June 1987. He called it “Legatus” because that is what he envisioned for its members: Legatus is Latin for “ambassador,” and he hoped those who participated would become ambassadors for Christ and bring their Catholic faith into their varied spheres of influence.

Several years after starting Legatus, Tom experienced a personal conversion and took what he called “a millionaire’s vow of poverty.” Instead of putting his income toward luxuries, he put it toward Catholic causes: Ave Maria Radio, the Thomas More Law Center, Ave Maria College (later to be known as Ave Maria University in Florida), and the Ave Maria School of Law.

Today, Tom continues to live with Christ and his Catholic faith at the center, helping other leaders of influence pursue Christ more authentically and be the ambassadors for the faith they are called to be.

"I plan to dedicate the rest of whatever time I have left to Legatus. I pray every day to my guardian angel to do God’s will. I just want to support others to do the same thing."