Religious life at Stonyhurst College
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Stonyhurst College is Roman Catholic and has had a significant place in English Catholic history for many centuries (including more chequered moments such as the Popish Plot and Gunpowder Plot conspiracies). In 1803 the Society of Jesus was re-established in Britain at Stonyhurst and the school became the headquarters of the English Province. Until the 1920s Jesuit priests were trained on site in what is today the preparatory school. The school continues to place Catholicism and Jesuit philosophy at its core.
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[edit] Jesuit Tradition
Stonyhurst is distinguished by the central and distinctive Jesuit ethos that pervades the life of the school. The Jesuit identity is best summed up in a mission statement from the current Headmaster Andrew Johnson: “Creating people of Good Judgement, Clarity of Thought, and Principled Leaders for the Next Generation.”[1]
The Jesuit ethos has three central components:
Creating men and women for others Stonyhurst has a long and well developed tradition of voluntary service, helping students to understand the problems faced by disadvantaged people. This tradition had evolved today into the Arrupe programme named after the Jesuit priest Pedro Arrupe from Spain. The programme places students in a wide variety of community settings with the aim that every student will have volunteered during their time at school. Students are encouraged to develop and use their skills to contribute to society; Medicine and the Law are popular career choices for example. One of the opportunities that students have through being part of the wider Jesuit community is the 'Chiwirangwe' (a Shona word meaning 'we will struggle together') project that twins Stonyhurst with the Jesuit school, St Peter's Kubatana (in Zimbabwe). The project is organised by the Jesuit province as part of their Companions programme that twins all nine UK Jesuit schools with Jesuit schools around the world. Stonyhurst leavers also have the opportunity to take a gap year working in Jesuit projects around the world.
Pupils at the College run, under the supervision of adult trustees, their own charity, Learning to Care, raising money for various causes. St Mary's Hall has its equivalent called Children for Children. Stonyhurst also attends and plays an important role in the annual Catholic Association Pilgrimage to Lourdes.
Each year the S.C.H.T. (Stonyhurst Children's Holiday Trust) Week takes place at St Mary's Hall. It is funded largely through the sale of Christmas cards and the Poetry Banquet, which is organised and managed by pupils. During the holiday week, as it is known, Poets and Rhetoricians (lower and upper sixth-formers) volunteer a week of their summer holiday in order to look after disadvantaged or disabled children from local schools, giving them an enjoyable holiday, with activities and trips out, which they would otherwise not experience.
Ignatian spirituality This, based on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, is confident, inclusive and outward looking, encouraging the school and its students to engage with the complexities of modern life. A Jesuit Catholic education provides both a solid grounding in the teachings of the Catholic church whilst also encouraging a robust philosophical engagement with faith and moral issues. The Jesuit retreats that pupils experience aim to lay the foundations for a life long personal relationship with God.
The school also runs a thriving Easter Retreat each year for the Association, parents and friends.
Development of Reasoning Skills Well developed reasoning skills are seen as essential both for students to think through their faith and to be effective in the contributions they make to society. The Jesuits remain at the fore in the intellectual life of the Catholic Church. With many universities worldwide, they run colleges in both Oxford (Campion Hall) and London (Heythrop College) Universities. Stonyhurst aims to develop strong independent, logical thinking skills in students, so that they may be confident in their faith, clear thinking in all aspects of life and so become successful people of good judgement.
[edit] Jesuit Presence
In recent years the number of Jesuits at the school has slowly diminished, but the school nevertheless keeps a very strong connection with the order through its history, retreats, religious life, the governing body and a small Jesuit community which now resides in the Old Infirmary. Since the Second Vatican Council the Jesuits have worked hard to develop a partnership between lay and religious people. Jesuit schools are supported through a strong network co-ordinated by a Director of Education based in London. Catholicism and the Jesuit identity are still very much at the heart of the school, reflected in its ethos and relationship to the community. The spiritual life of the school is led by a Jesuit chaplain and lay chaplaincy team, based in the Emmaus Centre adjoining the Do Room, the former Jesuit Refectory.
[edit] AMDG/LDS
It is a long-standing practice that pupils write A.M.D.G. in the top left hand corner of any piece of work they do. It stands for the Latin phrase Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam which means For the Greater Glory of God. At the end of a piece of work they write L.D.S. in the centre of the page. It stands for Laus Deo Semper which means Praise to God Always. These are both traditional Jesuit mottoes.
[edit] Pater Noster
A distinguishing feature of Stonyhurst is the singing of the Pater Noster, the "Lord's Prayer" in Latin. It is not only sung at Mass; pupils learn it by heart and sing it with pride as an anthem before sporting events.
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[edit] Places of Worship
The school has one main church, St Peter's, and five chapels: The Boys' (College Chapel), Angels, the St Aloysius Chapel and the St Ignatius Chapel, both within the towers of St Peter's Church, and the Sodality. The latter is the home of the remains of third century Roman convert Saint Gordianus. His bones have rested beneath the altar since 1859, having travelled with the Jesuits from the College of St Omer. He was temporarily removed again in 2006 whilst the chapel underwent restoration, but has since been returned.[2] [3] The Chapel is once again used by the re-established Sodality.
The interior of the Victorian St Peter's Church was ornately decorated with angels and elaborate patterns until the 1950's when these were white-washed over. The Bayley Room was originally a chapel in the old hall, and at one time the present day Classics Department was a staff chapel. The original Boys' Chapel is now Higher Line Common Room.
[edit] Religious Publications
The School runs its own publication company, St Omers Press.[4] It was established at the College of St Omer where, in its early days, it concentrated on producing controversial works on theology and devotions to be sent over to England at a time when such literature was illegal there. Its first publications are dated 1608 and include John Wilson's English Martyrologe. Today, the press continues to publish Catholic literature, notably the Glory to God prayer books which feature prayers and photographs contributed by pupils, and are given to leavers of the school as a gift.[5]
The College curator has recently acquired an Albion Printing Press which will be used by pupils in a newly designated printing room, a successor to the Octagon Press which fell out of use in the 1980s.[6]
[edit] Patron Saint
The school's patron saint is Aloysius Gonzaga. A small chapel in one of the towers of St Peter's Church is dedicated to him, while scenes from his life are depicted in the large murals above the tabernacle of the Boys' Chapel.
[edit] Classroom names
Each of the general classrooms on the Upper and Lower Galleries of the school is named after a saint. Formerly they were named after the classes which mostly occupied them but the creation of study centres for each playroom meant that no one class became associated with a particular room. A short biography of each saint hangs on the wall of each classroom.
The general classrooms:
 The interior of St Peter's Church. |
 The interior of the Boys' Chapel from the organ loft. The chapel is now known as the College Chapel. |
 The Angels' Chapel, first floor, Stonyhurst. |
 Detail from the exterior of the Boys' Chapel. The room on the ground floor is the Campion room, once the Washing Place. |
[edit] See also
- Stonyhurst College
- Stonyhurst Estate
- College of St Omer
- Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall
- Hodder Place
- Stonyhurst Gospel
- Eagle Aid
- Roman Catholic Church
- Society of Jesus
- St Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits
- St Aloysius Gonzaga, patron saint
- St Gordianus, interred in the school
[edit] References
[edit] Sources
- Chadwick, Hubert, S.J. (1962). St Omers to Stonyhurst, Burns & Oats. No ISBN
- Muir, T.E. (1992). Stonyhurst College 1593-1993, James & James (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN 0-907383-32-7
- The Authorities of Stonyhurst College (1963), A Stonyhurst Handbook for Visitors and Others, Third edition
- Hewitson, A. (Preston, 1878), Stonyhurst College, Present and Past: Its History, Discipline, Treasures and Curiosities, Second edition
- Stonyhurst College website
