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Belvedere College SJ is a private secondary school for boys located on Great Denmark Street, Dublin, Ireland. It is also known as St. Francis Xavier's College Belvedere was founded in 1832. The school currently has in excess of 930 pupils enrolled and has a number of famous alumni in the world of the arts, politics, sport, science and business. George Augustus Rochfort (1738-1814), who became the Second Earl of Belvedere in 1774, built Belvedere House. The interior decoration of Belvedere House was carried out by Michael Stapleton, the leading craftsman of his time.[1]
[edit] Jesuit ethosBelvedere College is run by the Jesuit order. Most of the school's current teaching staff are now lay-persons, although a number of Jesuit priests and brothers take part in the school's administration and chaplaincy. The Jesuit ethos of social justice for all and educating "men for others" are keystones of the Belvedere College culture and education philosophy. The school recently celebrated the 500th birthday of the patron saint of the college, St. Francis Xavier. The Jesuit educational ethos consists chiefly of seven strands:[2]
Under these guiding principles, the College strives for the formation of well-rounded individuals, influenced by Ignatian reasoning and spirituality, and concern for humankind: the development of Men for Others.[3] In particular, students are encouraged to take part in daily prayer, retreats, meditations, celebration of the sacraments, pilgrimages and to be actively involved in charitable activities. [edit] Charitable activitiesThe school has a wide range of charitable activities for its students. For example, some students travel with the annual Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes, France to assist the elderly and the disabled; others take part in an exchange programme with students of Saint Xavier's Collegiate School, Calcutta, India, where they assist in homes for orphans and street-children. Belvedere's St. Vincent de Paul Society is one of the largest of any secondary school in Ireland, organising activities such as old-folks events and flat decoration in inner city Dublin. Since 1981, certain students also undertake a charity walk from Dublin to Galway every summer in order to raise funds for Irish Guide Dogs For The Blind and The Temple Street Children's Hospital (which is located near the school). In the past, the "block-pull", as it is known, has raised over €70,000 in a single event. An annual charitable fundraising event held by the College is the "Belvedere Sleep-Out", which takes place from December 22 to 24th each year. Students "go homeless" on Dublin's O'Connell Street for 3 days and 2 nights. The Sleep-Out is run primarily by students from the College, with the assistance of a number of teachers, to raise funds for Focus Ireland, The Home Again Society and Father Peter McVerry's Society for homeless boys. The students fast for 24 hours of the Sleep-Out. The culmination of the event is Christmas Eve midnight mass, in the college chapel. In the past, the college has managed to raise over €137,000 in a single Christmas period for the charities. Belvedere College has an active alumni association - the Belvedere College Past Pupils' Union, the aim of which is to encourage social interchange among Belvederians and to promote the aims of the Society to which the College belongs. The Union has a number of sub-committees including the Belvedere Youth Club, which provides social, recreational and educational facilities for youth in the Dublin city centre area, and Belvedere Social Services, which provides housing for young vulnerable homeless boys who would otherwise be at grave risk, and facilitates them with opportunities for training and employment. [edit] AdmissionsUnder Irish law, school entrance exams are now prohibited. Potential students and their parents now undergo an interview with a faculty member. Preference is given to brothers of current Belvedere students and the sons of Old Belvederians. Although private and therefore fee-paying, the school awards a number of full scholarships each year (around 10-15% of the overall student number) in furtherance of the school's aim to be socially just. It is not an academic scholarship nor is it a sports scholarship. The scholarship is designed to assist those families who are not in a position to pay fees. [edit] FacilitiesFacilities include a swimming pool, gymnasium, science and technology block, modern restaurant, refectory, music suite, learning resource centre, museum, chapel, oratory, theatre, pitch, tennis courts and rugby, cricket and soccer pitches. The college has many interactive white boards,3 computer labs, cabled and wireless networking to every classroom and many other IT features including dedicated networks for the library, Special Education, Careers, Music and Art. [edit] SportsBelvedere College has a strong rugby union football tradition. In 2005, for the first time in the school's history, they won both the Leinster Junior Cup and Leinster Senior Cup. Only Blackrock College (66) have won the Leinster Senior Cup more times than Belvedere (10). They last won the Leinster Senior Cup, after beating St. Mary's College by one point in the 2008 final[4] Cricket has also, traditionally, been a strong sport within the school. The Junior Cup has been won 26 times despite the College losing the Junior Cup final for four consecutive years, 2004-2007. The Senior Cup has been won 34 times. Belvedere's Lifesaving club is also very successful, with a number of All-Ireland and British Titles to their credit and students have successfully represented Ireland at International Lifesaving Competitions. Basketball has also become a prominent sport in the school, with the under-19 team winning the All-Ireland Championships in 2002 and the under-16 winning the Leinster final also in 2002. Athletics is another strong sport within the school. Belvedere are the current holder of the All-Ireland schools senior track and field trophy and have won the title for each of the past seven years. They are also the holders of numerous other titles at Leinster and West Leinster levels. Field sports are the traditional strength of the school. 1996 saw Belvedere win the Dublin Metropolitan Schools Soccer Cup defeating schools with a much stronger soccer history. The final saw them face Tallaght CS which can count Irish Internationals Robbie Keane and Jason Gavin among its alumni. The team subsequently went on to win the Leinster title that year also. The College also recently triumphed in the 2008 Millennium School's Cup defeating Mount Temple, a huge achievement as Association Football is not strong in the College. [edit] Other Co-Curricular ActivitiesBelvedere has numerous co-curricular and cultural activities. The school has debating societies in the English, Irish, German and French languages. Belvedere has won the All-Ireland schools debating competition on a number of occasions (most recently in 2005), the L&H society Leinster Junior debating competition and also the Alliance Française debating championship and Leinster Irish debating final. Belvedere was successful in the last ever series of Blackboard Jungle, a popular television programme on RTÉ. The school's Concert Choir has been in existence for many years. The Choir hosts the Annual Christmas Carol Service in December, and the Annual Musical Evening, which usually takes place in May. The Choir have undertaken recordings in RTÉ, and have been successful at both the Feis Ceoil and the Wesley Feis. The College orchestra has won events at both the Wesley Feis and the Feis Ceoil. [edit] DramaDrama productions form an integral part of Belvedere's year. Each academic year, there are four performances: A Junior Musical, a Senior Musical, a Drama Society production, and a first year play. This school has produced, amongst others, the Irish premieres of both Les Misérables (the school edition), in 2004 and the stage adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, in 2007. Other productions of note include Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Bugsy Malone, David Copperfield, Aladdin, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, The Wind In The Willows, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Treasure Island, The Hobbit and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat [edit] ScienceThe promotion of Science has become a priority for Belvedere's Board of Management. Over € 7 million has been invested in the Dargan-Maloney Science and technology block. Dr Garret A. FitzGerald an Old Belvederian and Senior Faculty Member of the University of Pennsylvania (one of the Ivy League Universities,& The First Medical School in The U.S.) has instituted an annual five-week scholarship to two students who excel in Transition Year science.[1] [edit] Culture of Belvedere The school motto is Per Vias Rectas translating as "By Straight Paths" and the College aspires to produce "Men for Others". Students often write "AMDG" the motto of the Society of Jesus, ie: Ad maiorem Dei gloriam, on the top left of pages of their copybooks. This translates as "For the greater glory of God". Until recently the students would write "LDSetBVM" or Laus Deo Semper et Beatae Virgini Mariae (Love God forever and the Blessed Virgin Mary) on the bottom right of the same page, but this practice has largely died out. Yet the writing of AMDG in copybooks is still practised today. The unofficial school anthem, often heard at rugby matches, is "Only In God", based on Psalm 62 in the Bible. The song was first sung at rugby matches during the 1995 and 1996 Senior Cup Campaigns. The official anthem is less popular, entitled "Belvedere, Oh Belvedere" it was composed by a past pupil and recorded by the school choir in 1997. The school yearbook is known as "The Belvederian". The term Belvederian is also sometimes used to refer to attending students and Old Belvederian (OB) for alumni. Old Belvederians normally refer to their graduation by using the name of the final year in the college followed by the year as, for example, "OB 1984". Belvedere College is the backdrop for much of James Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It is a semi-autobiographical piece of work, and the teacher was based on Joyce's own English teacher, George Dempsey. In the book Joyce mentions his involvement in the College Opera which continues today. The College's Dramatic Society performs four times during the academic year. A museum[2] and archive[3] was opened in 2002 dedicated to the history of Belvedere College and its alumni. [edit] Wartime contributionBelvedere, like many other schools in Ireland made a significant contribution to the effort of the two major world wars. Over 48 students of the college lost their lives in the First World War. Their names are listed on a new memorial in the College yard. The college also published a book entitled "The Cruel Clouds of War", which is a Roll of Honour listing Belvedere's war dead. The new war memorial was unveiled by former Taoiseach Dr. Garret Fitzgerald in 2003. 14 Students of Belvedere died between 1939 and 1945 in the Second World War. These are also listed on a memorial in the yard. One Old Belvederian has been awarded the Victoria Cross, Surgeon Captain Thomas Joseph Crean VC DSO (1873 to 1923). He later achieved the rank of Major. [edit] School academic structureIn Belvedere the years and classes are divided in a non standard way, reflecting the Jesuit ethos of the school and the steps towards full education. At the beginning of the academic year 2007-2008, the names of the years were changed and are now the same as other Jesuit schools in Ireland. Secondary School:
Furthermore, in each year there are six classes or houses:
and formerly, but now discontinued:
So, if a student is placed in Loyola form in first year, he is in Elements Loyola, or EL. He will stay in Loyola until he graduates, from Rhetoric Loyola, or RL. When the preparatory school was open, the naming system was different in the secondary school.
The college's preparatory house, too, had its own naming conventions. The house was composed of the four years of school following first holy communion: Primary School (now closed):
Within the junior school the class names were as follows:
Up to the Seventies, both junior and senior school years were divided into classes according to an ability spectrum. The top two classes tended to take more honours Leaving Cert courses and only the top one studied classical Greek. [edit] Notable alumni
[edit] The Arts
[edit] Irish History, Politics & Law
[edit] Religion
[edit] Sports
[edit] Business & professional
[edit] Broadcasting
[edit] Knighthoods
[edit] Peers
[edit] See also[edit] External links[edit] References
Coordinates: 53°21′21″N 6°15′43″W / 53.355732°N 6.261936°W | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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