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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sardiñas, Zeida Comesañas.
Men for others the Belen Jesuit story / Zeida Comesanas Sardinas. -- First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Jesuits--Education. 2. Jesuits--Education--Cuba. 3. Jesuits--Education--Florida. 4. Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. 5. Colegio de Belén (Havana, Cuba) I. Title.
LC493.C63 2014
371.071'2--dc23 2014015287
Relates the history and religious ideals of Jesuit educational institutions in Cuba and Florida dating back to the sixteenth century; specifically, at the Colegio de Belén in Havana (1854-1961) and Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami since 1961.
Author: Zeida Comesañas Sardiñas
Consulting Editor: Pedro A. Suárez, SJ
Manuscript Editor: María Teresa de Aguiar
Research: Zeida C. Sardiñas, Carmen C. Azel
Illustration Selection: Zeida C. Sardiñas, Carmen C. Azel
Illustration Restoration: Carmen C. Azel
Design: Jorge Hernández, Abel Aciego, Global Print Services, Inc.
The Garrido Family Plaza shows the exterior of the Belen Jesuit Chapel during the Golden Jubilee Year (2011-2012).
Photograph courtesy of Víctor Arrieta (‘95).
Coon n of Co Tababl nte e o of entnts Coon n of
“Act as if everything depends on you; Trust as if everything depends on God.”
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Peter Paul Rubens. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, c. 1620.
Oil on canvas, 88 by 54-1/2 in.
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Acknowledgements
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Any significant book project requires a substantial network of dedicated contributors and Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story was no exception. Its production included assistance from Jesuits, school administrators, faculty members, staff and alumni, all of who graciously gave their time and expertise to support this worthwhile endeavor. Their contributions have not only been of inestimable value to me, but also remain as a tribute to the giving spirit of the Belen family.
First and foremost, I must thank Néstor Machado and Lourdes Basterrechea de Machado, whose love and respect for Lourdes’s father, Francisco Basterrechea (‘28) encouraged them to support this project.
I am also especially grateful to Marina Hernández, whose enthusiasm over the prospect of a book about the history of the school not only compelled me to develop the original idea, but also brought about the initial meeting with Belen Jesuit President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58). Undoubtedly, Fr. Suárez’s role in this process, as a thoughtful and patient mentor, who also provided direction, and streamlined the book’s mission, has been invaluable. I am also sincerely thankful for the additional support offered to me by Jesuit fathers Francisco PérezLerena, SJ (‘44), Marcelino García, SJ, Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ, Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), Pedro González-Llorente, SJ (‘58), and Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40). All of them not only gave their time to ensure the historical accuracy of the manuscript, but also enriched the story at every turn with their faith-filled perspective. I am also thankful for Fr. Dorta-Duque’s Alumni House archives and the immense collection of photographs that he amassed during his years of service at the school. Those images were of great value for the production and illustration process as were the photographs taken by Víctor Arrieta (‘95) and Teresa Martínez. I also want to thank Fr. José Luis Sáez, SJ, whose works about the history of the Belen and the Antilles Province provided me with direction in determining the content of the book. I am also grateful for Carolina Calderín’s foresight in ensuring that Jesuit historical
materials such as letters, diaries, and images were preserved, without which my work could not have been possible. Her dedication and support for this project have certainly ensured its completion as well as its accuracy. I also have to give special thanks to Belen Jesuit benefactor Nidia Rodríguez, whose special kindness and faithful support for the school has been a great inspiration to me as I have carried out this project. I am also extremely thankful to Belen Jesuit benefactors Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta, Carlos Saladrigas (‘67), Miguel B. Fernández, José A. Garrido (‘46), and José A. Garrido, Jr. (‘72), who agreed to meet with me to share their experiences as well as their reasons for supporting Belen.
On a more personal level, I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), one of the holiest men that I have ever been blessed to know. He made a significant impact on the lives of both my sons, Luis and Benjamin, and as a result, on our entire family. I also feel certain that it was Fr. Sardiña’s love and dedication for the Belen family that served to plant the original seeds in my heart to bring about this book about the history of the school.
Among the many other supporters and contributors that I also want to thank are Juan Junco (‘60) and his wife Hilda Junco, whose heartwarming story about the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén in Havana gave me the initial idea that a book about Belen should be written. Much appreciation also goes to Roberto Ramos, Carlos Ramos and Yeney Fariñas Ramos for making the Ramos Collection archives and artwork images available for the book’s production.
With respect to the sections that have to do with the Colegio de Belén in Havana, I am grateful to Emilio Cueto (‘60), whose input during our interview and subsequent reading of those sections was of great assistance in completing them. For the sections about the year that the school spent at the Centro Hispano Católico and the early years that it was at the cam-
pus in Little Havana, I must thank Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), and Antonio Abella (‘59) for sharing their recollections and stories with me. I must also thank Clemente C. Amézaga (‘63) for the images and information he compiled about the young men from Operation Pedro Pan that were entrusted to the care of the Jesuits. Without his help, I could not have completed that subsection.
The Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library subsection could not have been compiled without the assistance of John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48), who faithfully provided information and images during several meetings, some of which, we conducted when his health was already failing him. Jack’s endless dedication to the library will always remain with me as a testament of how deeply Belen alumni feel for their school. Once again, I must thank Antonio Abella (‘59) for faithfully reviewing the RGML subsection and providing feedback about its contents. Many thanks also go to Library Director Marta Cosculluela, Armando Cobelo, Eric Ballesteros, and María Consuegra all of whom consistently provided me with the materials and books available at the library about the school. I must also thank them for their hospitality and the use of the library’s conference room to conduct my interviews and meetings. I also have fond memories of Librarian María E. Eireos, who while suffering from failing health, patiently took the time to share information with me about her forty plus years at the library.
The section about Belen Jesuit in Little Havana owes much to Athletic Director Carlos Barquín and Eduardo Santamaría (‘82), who offered me an insightful historical perspective and many anecdotes that helped bring about the Bilingualism and Cuban Culture subsection. Many thanks also go to the faithful support provided to me by Ricardo Raimundez (‘90), whose help with the alumni information as well as with finding archival materials and images has been invaluable. I also have to thank Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) for all his input about his years of service at the campus in Little Havana. I am also most thankful to Mariano and Rick as well as to dedicated
alumni volunteers Pablo Carreño ('42) and Roberto Borbolla (‘56), who always made me feel welcomed at the “casita” where I often conducted research while on campus.
For the Academics, Activities and Service Section, I must thank several department chairs and faculty members. For the English subsection my thanks go to Anthony Alexander, María Alonso, and Cristina Casero Ramírez. I also want to thank Sujayla Collins, whose information, images, and assistance with the Vincam and Echoes subsections has been invaluable. I also need to thank Johnny Calderín (‘92) for all his help as well as Leo Williams and Luis Dulzaides for their assistance with the Forensics subsection. For the Humanities subsection, I am particularly grateful for the great dedication and care that Leopoldo Núñez took in relating all of the historical information and images about the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA). I am also thankful to Francisco Padura, Leo Williams, and Marlene Urbay for their respective accounts about the development of the Drama and the Music programs at the ICA. For the Mathematics subsection, I need to thank Carol Ann Vila, José Roca (‘84) and Miguel Couto for their help with the overall subsection as well as Adriana Suárez Delgado for all of her Mu Alpha Theta materials and images. For the Modern Languages subsection, I appreciate the input provided by Beatriz Jiménez, María Cristina Reyes-García and Annette Antón as well as that given by Ana María Sánchez Menocal about Ateneo. With respect to the Sciences subsection, I am grateful to Lucila Espinosa, Pedro Hernández, and José Padilla for their assistance and input. For the Observatory and BASES and Other Scientific Clubs subsections, I am also thankful to Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) who provided much historical information about the history of Jesuit Observatories in Cuba and South Florida. For the Social Studies subsection, I am immensely indebted to Patrick Collins, whose careful devotion to the historical records and images of the department, as well as his consistent review of the manuscript, yielded a wonderful subsection. The careful recording of the Model United
Acknowledgements
Nations competitions and travel photographs were also a great help and I must thank Ann Kenna for the great job she did in making that available. I also want to thank Thomas de Quesada (‘94), who was a great help with the Model United Nations and Student Council subsections as well as with several others. For the Theology subsection, I want to thank Josefina Chirino, whose narrative about the history of the Theology Department and the chapel provided the information for those subsections, and who also took the time to review them for accuracy. I am also thankful for the help provided by Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), and Ana Mora with the history of the Belen Youth Missions. Fr. García-Tuñón and Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) were also of great assistance with the Vocations subsection. I am also grateful for the assistance of Teresa Gutiérrez, Dan Montesi, and Brian Wentzel with the Academic and College Counseling subsection. Many others at the school have also been supportive in different ways throughout this process and they include: Yvonne Von der Osten, Ana Manrara, Teresa Martínez, Clara Kline, and María de la Roza. I am also thankful to several alumni who took the time to share their Belen Jesuit experiences with me. These include: Thomas Jelke (‘85), Juan Santamaría (‘84), Javier Mariscal (‘86), and Ralph Rosado (‘90).
For the Athletics Section, I have to thank Carlos Barquín, Víctor Arrieta (‘95), and Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), who helped with compiling the information and images necessary to bring about that section. Coach Barquín’s dedication to his department and Belen Jesuit athletes as well as Coach Arrieta’s record keeping and extensive photographic archive are not only commendable but ensured the success of the section. I am also thankful for the wonderful assistance provided by Coaches Rubén Marrero (‘75) and José Roca (‘84) for the Basketball subsection, Coach Jerr y Albert for the Baseball subsection, Coach Richard Stuart for the Football subsection, Coach Patrick Collins and Timothy VanScoy for the Tennis subsection, Coach María Elena Cartaya for the Golf subsection, Miriam Cambo-Mar-
tínez for the Volleyball and Summer Camp subsections, and Coach Yunían Cabrera for the Crew subsection. I am also especially grateful to Joseph Zumpano (‘87) for his encouragement throughout this project, as well as for his help with the Swimming subsection and the biographical information about his brother, Gian Zumpano (‘86).
For the Rectors Section, I am once again immensely thankful to Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) who helped me gather the biographical information and images necessary to complete that section. I am also thankful once again for the work of Fr. José Luis Sáez, SJ, whose gathering of biographical information about the Jesuits from the Antilles Province was invaluable in carrying out this entire project.
I am extremely grateful for the great work conducted by Carmen Azel, whose dedication to restoring images in order to ensure that what appeared in the book was of the best quality available, as well as her endless support for its content has been indispensable in bringing this project to fruition. I am also thankful for the diligent support provided by graphic designers Jorge Hernández and Abel Aciego as well as for the project printing direction provided by Eladio Robertson of Global Print Services. The work of manuscript editor María Teresa de Aguiar has also been invaluable, and her careful review of the manuscript has undoubtedly ensured its accuracy as well as its fluidity. Lastly, the endless encouragement that my family provides for all my efforts, especially the ongoing support of my husband Ben, my children Luis, Benjamin, and Nastassja, as well as that of my parents Renee, Zeyda, and Carmen has been truly extraordinary. It is to them, as well as to my daughter-in-law Michelle, and my grandchildren Kristian and Nikolas that I dedicate all my efforts. Most of all, it has been a great privilege to complete Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story for the Jesuits at Belen, to whom this book is a tribute. In my opinion, they remain in a league of their own as men of wisdom, men of spiritual foresight, men of faith, and undoubtedly, the true Men for Others that God has called them to be.
PREFACE R
elating the history of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School involves much more than a chronological account of past events, their participants, or even the development of the institution itself. Such an undertaking must also consider the religious and educational principles on which Belen was founded, as well as the social, political, and religious influences that affected its historical progression. Indeed, recounting anecdotes about the many individuals, who across several continents and over centuries helped to shape the course of the school’s history, will provide an even more extensive story. But it is in reflecting about the wisdom and faith of Belen’s Jesuit leaders, determined to face the school’s many challenges as if everything depended on their hard work and dedication, all the while faithfully trusting that the provision for the school’s permanence and success was dependent on God, that the history of this exemplary educational institution can truly be revealed.
Fundamentally, the religious and educational principles on which Belen was founded originated hundreds of years before the school was officially opened in 1854. Deeply rooted in the Catholic faith, these tenets can be traced back to St. Ignatius of Loyola (14911556), the founding of the Society of Jesus in 1534, and the formal adoption of secondary and university level education as one of the Jesuit order’s primary ministries. The history of Belen is also inherently related to the historical progression of Jesuit ministries in the Americas, which included the order’s mission work in Cuba and Florida from as early as 1566, and the founding in Havana of the Jesuit Colegio de San José and the Santa Casa de Loreto Chapel in 1724. Although both of these endeavors came to an abrupt end in 1767 -as a result of the Jesuits’ expulsion from the Spanish realm, and the subsequent papal suppression of the order in 1773the eventual restoration of the Society of Jesus in 1814 paved the way for a Jesuit return to the island. The Jesuits finally arrived in Cuba once again, in 1853, after obtaining a mandate from Isabella II of Spain (1830-1904) to found another Jesuit school in Havana.
Named at first the Real Colegio de La Habana, the school came to be known by association with its original location at the Hospitalidad de Convalecencia y Convento de Belén on Compostela Street, as the Colegio de Belén. The school remained at the Compostela Campus for over seventy years and in 1925, the Jesuits relocated the institution to an educational complex in the Marianao section of Havana. The school resided in Marianao until the Cuban government nationalized all private and religious educational institutions in 1961, bringing about its relocation to the United States that same year. In South Florida, the school was reestablished as Belen Jesuit Preparatory School and began functioning in two small classrooms at the Centro Hispano Católico in the Gesù School building in downtown Miami. After one year, the Jesuits relocated the school to Little Havana, where it thrived within its modest surroundings for almost two decades. In 1981, after extensive fundraising, the Jesuits were able to build an educational complex in West Miami-Dade, where the school has functioned since then as a middle school and high school that presently provides educational services to nearly 1,500 young men every year.
As it also occurred with the historical progression of various Jesuit educational institutions throughout the world, the Colegio de Belén experienced several challenges during its tenure in Cuba that came about as a direct result of the island’s own political development. The most predominant challenges occurred as a result of major political events such as the thirty-year struggle for Cuba’s independence from Spain (1868-1898), the ongoing political contention that characterized the Cuban Republic (1902-1958), and the unsettling events brought about by the Cuban Revolution (1959). The institution’s path in overcoming these challenges however, was also paved with many accomplishments, and its success in the disciplinary arts and sciences, as well as athletics, contributed to its stature as one of Cuba’s most renowned educational institutions. Moreover, the school’s role as a leader of private educational institutions on the island, as well as its continued community outreach efforts, also contributed to furthering the educational development of Cuban society, whose young men the school educated for over one hundred years.
Belen’s relocation in South Florida was also wrought with its share of challenges, given that the school’s nationalization in Cuba had left the Jesuits with minimal resources with which to reestablish the institution in South Florida during 1961. Nevertheless, the hard work and dedication of the Jesuits from the Antilles Province, as well their trust in God’s divine providence, never wavered. Over the span of the last five decades, this has been imperative in helping to forge Belen’s impending path toward becoming a permanent educational institution in the United States. The school’s prominent success in academics, athletics, and community service have not only helped to enhance its ministry in the South Florida community beyond providing educational services, but earned Belen Jesuit its ranking as one of the top fifty Catholic high schools in the United States.
Undoubtedly, Belen’s enduring legacy in Cuba as well as in the United States, continues to be the prominent professionals, conscientious family men, dedicated community leaders, and socially reliable men of faith that for more than 160 years have steadily emerged from its classrooms. At every turn, their countless testimonies revealed how frequently even the most unsettling of circumstances at the school have resulted in triumphs that exceeded their highest expectations. Their stories also attest to the sustained and unique sense of kinship that remains in their hearts long after they have left the school. By their accounts, as well as by those of the Jesuits, faculty, staff and families that have generously supported the school over the last five decades, Belen remains today a far-reaching educational institution, incessantly faithful to its Christian life principles, as it is also fervently dedicated to its Jesuit educational ministry.
It seems only fitting, therefore, that as the school commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in the United States and the 160th anniversary of its inception, this book provide a synopsis of the history of this exemplary educational institution as well as of the unwavering dedication and faith of its Jesuit leaders in establishing the school’s mission and enduring legacy: Educating Men for Others for the Greater Glory of God (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam).
Section I Society of JesusCuba & Florida
(1534-1853)
“Everyone - whether kings, nobles, tradesmen or peasants- must do all things for the Glory of God and under the inspiration of Christ’s example.”
St. Francis Borgia
the Society of Jesus
The religious and educational principles on which Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded originated hundreds of years before it officially opened its doors on March 2nd, 1854, and are based on the Catholic faith, the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), and the Jesuit religious order’s commitment to education as one of their primary ministries.
The Society of Jesus was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Born Íñigo López de Loyola in 1491, at his family’s ancestral castle in Azpeitia, Guipúzcoa, Spain, Ignatius belonged to the court of Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516), and eventually joined the King’s army as a Spanish knight. On May 20th, 1521, he participated in the Battle of Pamplona, where the Spanish fought against French troops over Iberian Navarre. During the battle, he was injured by a French cannonball, which shattered his leg, and while undergoing a long recovery, he underwent a spiritual conversion. As a result of his conversion, he abandoned his military endeavors, and dedicated himself to carrying out a life fully devoted to God. In 1522, Ignatius carried out a pilgrimage to the Monasterio de Santa María de Montserrat, where he hung his military vestments before the image of the blessed mother. He then retired to a cave near Manresa, where he lived and prayed for ten months in austerity. After his time at Manresa, Ignatius undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.1
Copy of Titian’s St. Ignatius of Loyola in Suit of Armor on display at the Jesuit Residence in Rome, Italy.
After years of spiritual reclusion and formal studies at the Universidad de Alcalá in Spain and at the Université de Paris Collège de Montaigu, in France, Ignatius and six companions formed a permanent union in 1534 by taking solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience at the Église Saint-Pierre de Montmartre in Paris. They called this permanent union Amigos en el Señor (Friends in the Lord). It would later come to be known as the Compañía de Jesús (Society of
Jesus) and its members would also come to be known as Jesuits. Pope Paul III (1468-1549) officially approved the Society of Jesus religious order through the papal bull Regimini militantis ecclesiae September 27th, 1540, and Ignatius became the first superior general or father general of the order. After his death on July 31st, 1556, he was beatified by Pope Paul V (1522-1621) on July 27th, 1609 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV (1554-1623) on March 13th, 1622. His feast day is commemorated on July 31st.
During the twenty years that followed Ignatius’s conversion, he documented and developed the Spiritual Exercises. Finally published in book form in 1548, and meant as a process of prayer, meditation, and discernment, the Spiritual Exercises were intended for all Christians and continue to serve as a model for Catholic missions and retreats. The Spiritual Exercises came to have special relevance for members of the Society of Jesus religious order, particularly in the process of setting the goals and methods for their ministries.2 In the Constitutions which Ignatius also wrote, a provision states that a superior general will be elected for life by a General Congregation of Jesuits, acting as representatives of their Jesuit provinces around the world. The mission of the superior general is to guide the Society of Jesus according to the Constitutions while also observing the guidelines of the General Congregations.3
Originally, the Jesuits intended to carry out an apostolic mission as preachers and catechists, particularly in areas of the world where the gospel was yet to be heard. But after the Virrey of Sicily, Juan de Vega y Enríquez de Acuña (1507-1558) submitted a request to Ignatius for the founding of a Jesuit secondary school in Messina; efforts to comply with the petition led the Jesuits' mission on another course.
The Jesuit school founded in Messina with Fr. Gerónimo Nadal, SJ (1507-1580) as its first rector, was met with much success, and eventually became the Università degli Studi di Messina. Soon thereafter, thirty members from the senate in Palermo requested that the Jesuits establish another school in their city. Other requests followed, and soon the founding and managing schools became an increasing part of the order’s work and dedication.4
Sometime thereafter, Fr. Juan Alfonso de Polanco, SJ (1517-1576), secretary to Father General Ignatius, wrote a letter to members of the Society and gave reasons why secondary schooling was to be one of the order’s most important ministries. Hence began the order’s commitment to what eventually became one of its principal ministries: the founding, management, and staffing of schools at both the secondary and university level. The development of the order’s members as pedagogues as well as missionaries naturally followed.
The establishment of Jesuit schools differed somewhat from how other religious schools had traditionally been founded. Whereas, other religious schools concentrated on the ecclesiastical instruction of clerics, the Society of Jesus chose instead to establish educational institutions to educate young men using curriculums designed to advance not only ecclesiastical, but secular professions as well.6 Secretary Fr. Juan Alfonso de Polanco, SJ also proposed that another goal for the Society should be educating young men that were to become the leaders of their respective societies. He cited that particular goal when he made a case advocating that education should be one of the principal ministries of the Jesuit order. In one of his letters to the Society, Fr. Polanco stated:
“Those who are now only students will grow up to be pastors, civic officials, administrators of justice, and willful of other important posts to everybody’s profit and advantage.”7
As part of their educational ministry, Jesuits began to develop their own pedagogical methods and curriculums. At first, Fr. Gerónimo Nadal, SJ drew up a curriculum at the school in Messina following the educational guidelines promoted by Renaissance humanists. But it was Fr. Claudio Acquaviva, SJ (1581-1615), with the publishing in 1599 of the Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Jesu or Ratio Studiorum, who implemented a plan of studies, which is still referred to as the underlying basis for the founding and managing of Jesuit schools even in the present day. The Ratio Studiorum plan of studies included the humanities, literature, history, and drama, as well as philosophy and theology, thus encompassing not only the principles of the Catholic faith and the Jesuit commitment to service and ministry, but also the temporal side of education. The Jesuits thus maintained a holistic approach to education encompassing a systematic relationship between spiritual/religious instruction and secular forms of learning by teaching the Latin and Greek classics and scientific texts that at the time were referred to as the field of natural philosophy, and which later came to be known as the study
Jan Kryštof Handke, Fresco at the Church of
Our Lady of the Snow Olomouc, Czech Republic. 1743. The fresco depicts St. Ignatius of Loyola receiving the papal bull Regimini militantis ecclesiae, from Pope Paul III on September 27th, 1540.
of biology, physics, and astronomy. Jesuit educators also began to develop textbooks for their students and furthered not only educational goals and scientific advancement, but also helped to mentor and serve many of the religious and secular leaders who emerged from their schools.9
The Jesuit order’s commitment to education merged with their dedication to apostolic missions. As the Society of Jesus began to develop, the order created Jesuit Assistancies comprised of individual provinces or geographic regions, whose members carried out missions and apostolic works not only in Europe, but also throughout the world. In the early days, the Jesuit missions provided religious services and instruction to Europeans who were part of colonial endeavors, as well as to some of the native communities that existed in mission areas. In many such areas, Jesuit schools played a crucial role by becoming centers of culture -producing plays, maintaining scientific facilities such as observatories, and exposing those communities to what, at the time, were truly alternative forms of learn-
“Resolute in Execution, Gentle in Manner”
ing.10 Such was the case in their outreach to Asia, the Americas, and specifically to the West Indies and the Antilles.
Jesuit works in the West Indies and Antilles included the missions and schools that the Jesuits founded throughout Florida and Cuba, which date back to their arrival in the area in 1566. It was Jesuits from the Mexico Province who in 1724 established the first Jesuit school in Cuba, the Colegio de San José, as well as the Santa Casa de Loreto Chapel in Havana. Jesuit Assistancies and the apostolic and missionary works of their provinces throughout the world came to end, however, with the expulsion of the Jesuits from the European realms and with the subsequent papal suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773. Nevertheless, the papal restoration of the order in 1814 led to the reestablishment of the Castile Province in Spain, and eventually Jesuit Assistancies and provinces reemerged all over the world. In 1854, the Jesuits from the Castile Province traveled back to Cuba and founded the Real Colegio de La Habana, which later came to be known as the Colegio de Belén.
Jesuits in Florida and Cuba
The first Society of Jesus missionaries disembarked in Cuba in 1566, and their arrival represents the beginning of Jesuit emergence in the West Indies.11 On board a Flemish-made ship destined for New Spain, three Jesuits, Fr. Pedro Martínez, SJ, Fr. Juan Rogel, SJ, and Brother Francisco Villarreal, SJ, embarked at the Sanlúcar de Barrameda port on the Spanish mainland on July 28th, 1566. Their commission came about as a result of a request made by Pope Pius V (1504-1572) and Phillip II of Spain (1527-1598) to the Superior of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Francis Borgia, SJ (1510-1572). The request asked Father General Borgia to appoint Jesuit missionaries to serve in New Spain, and advised him that these would be given assignments as the Consejo de las Indias, or Council of the Indies saw fi to designate.12 The request was also part of a more momentous objective.
Claudio Acquaviva, SJ was born in Atri, Italy on September 14th, 1543, the son of Giovanni Antonio Acquaviva d’Aragona, ninth Duke of Atri, who descended from a noble family in Naples. He studied the classics as well as Jurisprudence in Perugia, after which he became the Papal Chamberlain to Pope Pius IV (1499-1565), and established friendships with Jesuit Superior General Fr. Francis Borgia, SJ and Fr. Juan Alfonso de Polanco, SJ. In 1567, he decided to join the Society of Jesus and was appointed to several posts including Superior of the Naples Province. In 1580, he was elected fifth superior general of the Society of Jesus, while being only thirty-seven years old. During his tenure (1580-1615), Jesuit missions were established in India, Japan, China, Paraguay, and Canada. In 1599, he also published the Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Jesu or Ratio Studiorum a plan of studies that includes the humanities, literature, history, and drama, as well as philosophy and theology. The plan stresses the temporal side of the Jesuit system of education, as well as the Jesuit commitment to service and ministry, and continues to be used and adapted by Jesuit schools to the present day. His strong resolve in governing the Society, paired with his openness, tact, and genuine humility, came through repeatedly in his writings as well as demeanor, and he coined the Latin phrase, Fortiter in re, suaviter in modo meaning resolute in execution, gentle in manner. He died in Rome on January 31st, 1615, leaving the Society nearly tripled in size, numbering 13,000 members, in 550 houses, and fifteen provinces. He was undoubtedly one of the most effective and devoted superior generals to have governed the Society of Jesus.
The Colegio de Belén remained under the Castile Province until a reorganization of Jesuit territories in 1918 called for the works in Cuba to be reassigned to a newly created province in León, Spain. In 1929, while still working as part of the León Province, the Jesuits established a Vice Province of Cuba and the Colegio de Belén continued to function for many years with Jesuit personnel assigned from Spain. In 1952, the Jesuits determined that the Vice Province of Cuba should be expanded to coordinate the work of the order throughout Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Hence, the Vice Province of Cuba became the Vice Province of the Antilles, and its curia or administration remained located in Havana.
In 1959, it was decided that the Puerto Rico territory would become part of the New York Province from the United States. In 1961, given the Cuban government’s nationalization of religious schools and properties in Cuba, and the expulsion of Catholic religious orders and clergymen from the island, the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles were forced to relocate. As a result, the Jesuits established the Vice Province of the Antilles in the Dominican Republic and Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in South Florida. In 1968, the Vice Province of the Antilles became the Antilles Province, and Belen Jesuit has remained as one of the province’s educational ministries until the present day.
The previous year, on June 29th, 1565, Phillip II of Spain had also dispatched an armada to New Spain led by the monarch’s adelantado Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519-1574), who had served as the captain general of the Spanish treasure fleet, the Armada de la Carrera.13 Menéndez de Avilés was under orders to solidify Spanish dominion over Florida by driving out the French Huguenots that had already settled in that territory. He was also charged with establishing relations with the natives and bringing about their conversion to Christianity. While the three Jesuits were making their way to New Spain, Menéndez de Avilés had made great progress in implementing the monarch’s mandate. On September 8th, 1565, he founded the St. Augustine settlement in North Florida, and in October, he defeated the French settlers and took over their Fort Caroline outpost located at the mouth of the St. Johns River.14 In spite of his accomplishments, the adelantado remained frustrated over how to fulfill another crucial part of his mandate. In his letter to Phillip II of Spain, he wrote:
“Let your Majesty rest assured that if I had a million more or less, I would spend it all upon this undertaking; because it is of such great service to God Our Lord, and for the increase of our Holy Catholic Faith and the service of Your Majesty. And therefore, I have offered to Our Lord, that all that I shall find, win, and acquire in this world shall be for the planting of the Gospel in this land, and the enlightenment of its natives, and thus, I pledge myself to Your Majesty.”15
Undoubtedly, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés zealously wanted to offer the natives Christian instruction; however, he had only brought a few Catholic priests on his voyage, and these were already spread throughout the Florida coast attending to the religious needs of the Spanish settlers. He also realized that neither he, nor his soldiers, was capable of engaging in the significant task of sharing the Gospel with the natives. Nevertheless, the monarch’s adelantado did have other capable candidates in mind. Being himself a Spaniard and soldier, Menéndez de Avilés had a great admiration and affinity for the founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola. He respected the way in which Ignatius had formulated a centralized organization, which stressed total obedience to the Pope as well as to the superiors of the religious order.16 Menéndez de Avilés also knew that during Ignatius’s lifetime, as well as after his death, many of the order’s foremost members had embraced missionary work with pious dedication. His monarch, Phillip II of Spain, also believed that the Jesuits were the best candidates to serve as teachers of the gospel and the Catholic faith among the natives of New Spain.17
Upon reaching the Gulf of Mexico on their way to St. Augustine, the crew of the Flemish-made ship carrying the three Jesuits was intimidated by the unfamiliar Florida territory, and made for the Havana Harbor in an attempt to procure an experienced guide to escort them on their voyage. Their inquiries, however, proved futile, and the ship bearing the missionaries was forced to set sail for St. Augustine with only minimal nautical instruc-
Mark Menéndez, Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, 1975, oil on canvas, 30 by 40 in. Misión Nombre de Dios Museum, St. Augustine, FL.
A Humble Saint with a Mission
S Francis B ber 28 1 Aragon. peror, Ch whom h came fo renoun at the J was ord offered Jesus to tificia Un 1555) offer natius gave ciety in R a of he Society Borgia t missionariestothe
St. Francis Borgia was born Francesco Borgia de Candia d'Aragon on 1510, the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and Juana de Aragon. At eighteen, he was sent to join the court of Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of Spain (1500-1558) where he married Eleanor, with whom he had eight children. Upon his father’s death in 1543, he became fourth Duke of Gandia. After his wife, Eleanor, died in 1546, he renounced his titles, and entered the Society of Jesus, taking his vows at the Jesuit College in Gandia where he also studied theology. He was ordained a priest in 1551 and went to teach catechism in Spanish villages until assigned to the Portuguese court. At this time, he also ered financial pratonage to St. Ignatius of Loyola for the Society of Jesus to establish the Collegio Romano, which later became the Poncia Università Gregoriana. Soon thereafter, Pope Julius III (1487ered him a cardinal’s hat, but he refused the honor. In 1554, St. Ignatius gave him the role of Jesuit commissary general in Spain. He served the Society in Rome for several years until elected as the third superior general of the Society of Jesus in 1564. During his tenure (1565-1572), Father General Borgia reformed the Jesuit missions of India and the Far East, and dispatched missionaries to the Spanish colonies in Florida, Mexico, and Peru. He wrote to them, offering his counsel about strategy as well as spiritual matters. Despite the great power of his office, he insisted on maintaining a life of asceticism and prayer. He died in Rome, on September 30th, 1572, was beatified by Pope Gregory XV in Madrid, on November 23rd, 1624, and was canonized by Pope Clement X (1590-1676), on June 20th, 1670. His feast is celebrated on October 10th.
tions.18 The voyage was not only precarious, but also resulted in fatalities. After helplessly searching for St. Augustine, the crew attempted a landing to explore further inland. Taca tacurú natives attacked the landing party. On the shores of Cumberland Island, the natives killed two crew members as well as Fr. Pedro Martínez, SJ. In the meantime, stormy seas carried the main ship about and the crew of the Flemish-made ship lost their way once more. Desperately trying to seek safe harbor, the ship ended up as far south as Hispaniola, and it took the two remaining Jesuits, Fr. Juan Rogel, SJ and Brother Francisco Villarreal, SJ, until December 15th, 1566 to make their way back to Cuba.19
Given their experiences, and the Flemish-made ship being in desperate need of repairs, the two Jesuits decided to remain in Havana and provide religious services to its residents, while they waited for news from the adelantado. Much to their relief, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sailed into the Havana harbor within a few months of their arrival and decided to take Fr. Juan Rogel, SJ and Brother Francisco Villarreal, SJ to St. Augustine. He then returned to Spain, where he
expected to receive further provisions for his mandate from Phillip II of Spain. He wanted the monarch to grant him the governorship of Florida and Cuba, and he also expected the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies to designate additional Jesuit missionaries to help with the Catholic mission. On all counts, Menéndez de Avilés would prove successful.
The departure of Fr. Juan Rogel, SJ and Brother Francisco Villarreal, SJ from Havana to St. Augustine in 1567 is documented as accomplished, but not without concerns. Havana residents had been comforted by the religious instruction and services that the Jesuits had provided, and both clerics felt encouraged by the seeds of faith that they had sown among the residents. Even such fruitful prospects, however, could not make them deviate from their original directive, which was to bring the gospel to Florida natives.20 Hence, they set sail for St. Augustine, but remained mindful of the people they had left behind. Shortly thereafter, the Jesuits decided that in addition to serving at the Florida settlement, Fr. Rogel would also make periodic visits to Havana in an effort to tend to the religious needs of the residents that he and Brother Villarreal had established contact with in Cuba. Both Jesuits also worked with the Tequesta native tribe in South Florida (1567-1568), and Fr. Rogel even went as far north as present day Georgia to work with the Guale native tribe.21 Soon thereafter, Father General Francis Borgia, SJ dispatched fourteen additional Jesuits and Pedro Menéndez de Avilés transported them to St. Augustine to help with the evangelistic mission.22
Charged with the Governorship of Florida and Cuba, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés continued his work on behalf of the Spanish monarch. In 1569, after listening to pleas from Havana residents and deliberating with the Jesuits, he vowed to exert his influence to persuade Phillip II of Spain to grant a license that would allow for the founding of a Jesuit school in Havana. At this school, Jesuits would educate the sons of Havana and Florida residents as well as the sons of the natives, something which another Jesuit, Fr. Juan Bautista Segura, SJ had already been undertaking on his own.23 Jesuit work in Cuba, as well as at the Florida missions, continued until the demise of Governor Menéndez de Avilés’ in 1574. His death struck a severe blow to Jesuit resources and support.
Regardless of numerous pleas from Havana residents to Phillip II of Spain, neither further support for the Society of Jesus missionaries, nor a license with which to found a school materialized. In 1573, prior to the demise of Governor Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Superior General Fr. Francis Borgia, SJ had already sent missionaries to found the Jesuit Mexico Province which was to collaborate and coordinate the missionary work of the order’s members in Havana.24 After careful consideration, Jesuit superiors determined that it was not feasible to maintain a Jesuit residence in Havana, and the remaining Jesuits, Fr. Juan Rogel, SJ, Fr. Antonio Sedeño, SJ, Brother Francisco Villarreal, SJ, Brother Juan Carrera, SJ, and Brother Pedro Ruiz de Salvatierra, SJ were recalled to serve at the provincial mission in Mexico.25
More than a century transpired before any sign of progress would take place toward founding a Jesuit school or mission in Cuba. Although Havana residents donated funds over the years, and Cuban governors submitted various requests (1631-1682) to several Spanish monarchs asking that a Jesuit school be established in Havana, the requests proved fruitless. Funds from the Spanish monarchy never seemed to be available.26 The Society of Jesus superiors in Mexico also answered the requests from Cuban governors and residents with a similar response. The order simply lacked sufficient funds to carry out either the construction or the ongoing support of a Jesuit school on the island. In 1685, however, the island’s newly-appointed Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado Vélez de Compostela (1638-1704) took concrete steps toward establishing a Jesuit school in Cuba. The bishop understood the benefits that a Jesuit school could afford the island’s residents; therefore, he personally donated funds toward to the Jesuit endeavor, as well as a piece of land which he owned in Havana near the sea. On this land, the bishop had a humble hermitage built made of wood and a palm-leaf roof. He dedicated the hermitage to St. Ignatius of Loyola and he followed the dedication with a formal letter to Society of Jesus superiors offering the hermitage and its grounds to the Jesuits. In 1704, the Jesuit Province in Mexico dispatched Fr. Francisco Díaz Pimienta, SJ and Fr. Andrés Recino, SJ to take legal ownership of the bishop’s generous offering.
Unfortunately, Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado Vélez de Compostela did not live to see the arrival of the Jesuits or their receipt of the land’s legal ownership; however, before his death, he commissioned another project for which he also donated part of the gardens surrounding his home in Havana.27 On a street that was later named after him (Compostela), and which met three others known as Luz, Acosta, and Picota to create a square area, the bishop commissioned construction of a convalescent hospital and convent. The facility was to be administered by members of the Orden de los Hermanos de Nuestra Señora de Belén, also known as the Bethlemite religious order.28 A church dedicated to both St. Diego de Alcalá and Our Lady of Belen were also built as part of this facility, where members of the Bethlemite order attended to the sick, old, and injured, provided food to the poor, and maintained a school for underprivileged children (1704-1842).29
Unbeknownst to Bishop Vélez de Compostela, the Hospitalidad de Convalecencia y Convento de Belén, as the facility would later come to be known, would prove essential to the Society of Jesus in the order’s determination over four centuries to found and retain a Jesuit school in Havana. One hundred and fifty years after the bishop’s death, beginning in 1854, the facility would eventually house the Jesuit Colegio de Belén, but not until the Society of Jesus had worked through a century and half of remarkable history, during which faith, perseverance, and resolve would certainly prove invaluable.
Charles Russell Hardman. Mural of Jesuit Brother Francisco Villarreal, SJ. Brother Villarreal was committed to instructing the natives at the Tequesta settlement and mission established near the mouth of the Miami River by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1567, c. 1940, oil on stucco, 10 by 12 ft. Mural located at the St. Patrick’s School Auditorium, Miami Beach, FL. Photograph courtesy of St. Patrick’s School.
Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado Vélez de Compostela. Photograph from Álbum Conmemorativodel Colegio de Belén, 1904.
St. Francis Borgia
Dessin de Navlet, Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana. 1860, Engraving by Trilhon, 9 by 6 in. Courtesy of Carmen Azel.
COLEgio de San José and Santa Casa de Loreto chapel English Occupation and Jesuit Expulsion
The contributions of Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado Vélez de Compostela to the Society of Jesus in the early eighteenth century represented a great advancement toward the establishment of a permanent Jesuit school and mission in Havana. It was not until October 1717, however, when another Catholic priest, Fr. Gregorio Díaz Ángel, donated substantial lands and property to help fund the venture, that Jesuit superiors granted formal approval for the permanent establishment of a school in Cuba.30 In August 1720, Fr. José de Castro Cid, SJ and Fr. Jerónimo Varaona, SJ traveled to Havana, and from there submitted a formal request to Phillip V of Spain (1683-1746), asking for a license to found the school. The monarch finally approved both the license and the founding of a Jesuit school in Havana in a royal decree dated December 19th, 1721.
The Jesuits established the school on the grounds that Bishop Vélez de Compostela had the St. Ignatius of Loyola hermitage built. Its official name was the Colegio de San José; however, because of the
association with the hermitage, it also came to be known amongst Havana residents as the Colegio de San Ignacio. The school’s founder and first rector was Fr. José de Castro Cid, SJ, and many dedicated Jesuits such as Fr. José Javier de Alaña, SJ, Fr. José María Mónaco, SJ, Fr. Pedro Rothea, SJ, Fr. José Urbiola, SJ, and Fr. Francisco Alegre, SJ served its students as teachers and spiritual counselors. The school taught Latin, theology, and art. The Jesuits also carried out St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises with their students at an adjacent retreat facility, at which they also helped students with the development of their faith. The school began operations in 1724, although construction seems to have been ongoing, overlapping with another Jesuit project: the construction of a church on the adjacent school grounds that would replace the St. Ignatius of Loyola hermitage.31
Generous patrons such as Royal Treasurer, Diego Peñalver y Angulo, and his wife, María Luisa de Cárdenas donated substantially to the Jesuit Church construction project. On March 19th, 1748, at a ground-breaking ceremony, Bishop Juan Laso de la Vega y Cancino (1674-1752) blessed the first stone to be used in the church’s construction, and the ruling governor of Cuba, General Francisco Antonio Cagigal de la Vega (1695-1777) attended the ceremony to show his approval and support. Another couple, Colonel Ignacio Francisco Barrutia and his wife María Recabarren, also made an important donation toward the church construction project.32
First, the construction plans scheduled the completion and consecration of the church’s outer chapel, the Santa Casa de Loreto, in order to allow for it to be used for religious services while the rest of the project moved forward. On September 8th, 1755, Bishop Pedro Agustín Morell de Santa Cruz y Lora (1694-1768) consecrated the chapel that faced the Havana street known as San Ignacio, appropriately named after the original hermitage. The Santa Casa de Loreto Chapel bears the side entrance of the ample, Baroque-Tuscan style church that the Jesuits originally attempted to construct, but which eventually had another designation.33 Regretfully, between 1762 and 1767, events unfolded that adversely affected not only the plan for the church’s construction, but also the Jesuits’ permanence in Cuba. On June 6th, 1762, British soldiers, under the command of George
Keppel, Third Earl of Albemarle (1724-1772), invaded Cuba near Havana, at Cojimar and Bacuranao. This occurred as part of the events in the global military conflict known as the Seven Years War, which involved all the great powers of the time, including the British Empire and the Bourbon Kings of Spain and France. For over two months, British ships bombarded the City of Havana with cannonfire.34 During the battles, the Jesuits from the Colegio de San José went to the battlefield, tending to the injured, and at times helping to put out fires. The Jesuits refused to leave their rescue efforts, when evacuation orders were given for the city as they looked to protect the school and the church under construction to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, the cannon-fire damaged the Santa Casa de Loreto Chapel and the construction of the adjacent church.
The City of Havana surrendered August 11th, and this marked the beginning of an eleven-month British occupation of the island. British Protestant soldiers ransacked both secular and religious establishments, including some of the Jesuit properties. Lord Albemarle also
demanded a tribute from Bishop Pedro Agustín Morell de Santa Cruz y Lora, which the bishop refused to confer. The bishop’s refusal and perceived intransigence caused Lord Albemarle to issue orders for his arrest and subsequent transport to St. Augustine, where the bishop remained for most of the British occupation.35
In February 1763, the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris (1763), also known as the Peace of Paris and as a result, in July of the same year, the British left Havana once and for all. 36
In addition to the English invasion of Havana, another more significant event would affect the presence of the Jesuits, not only in Cuba and within the Spanish realm, but also throughout all of Christendom. Between March and May of 1767, throughout the Spanish realm, envelopes bearing the royal seal of Charles III of Spain (1716-1788) were dispatched to civil and military authorities. Each envelope contained specific instructions as to when they were to be opened, and proclaimed that any violation
Dominic Serres, the Elder, The Capture of Havana, 1762. The Morro Castle and the Boom Defense before the Attack. 1770, oil on canvas, 32 by 69 in. On loan from a private lender to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK.
of its directives were punishable by death. The envelope arrived in Cuba, May 14 th, with instructions that it was not to be opened until June 14 th. Upon opening the envelope on the appointed date, the ruling governor of Cuba, General Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa (1717-1779), found a royal decree ordering him to immediately descend with arms upon all Jesuit establishments, arrest the members of the religious order, and seize and seal all their archival materials. 37 The governor was to allow the Jesuits to collect only their prayer books and linens, and without exception, was to embark them on a ship that would arrive at the Havana harbor from Spain by the predetermined date. The ship would transport the Jesuits to a prearranged destination, permanently expelling them from the Spanish realm.
By June 14th, 1767, no such ship had made its way to the Havana harbor. Hence, Governor Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, wary of the consequences involved if he failed to carry out his orders, embarked the Jesuits aboard his own ship and sent them on their way to the Spanish mainland. Sixteen Jesuits left on the governor’s ship, bound for Cádiz, and by May 1769, more than four hundred others from all over the Americas passed through Havana on their way to the compulsory exile.38 The decree ordering the expulsion gave little reason or explanation for its mandate. As one historian stated:
“They [the Jesuits] as a body had been irreproachable for two hundred years; they had reflected more glory, and won more territory for Spain than had ever been gained by its armies. They were men of holy lives, often of great distinction in every branch of learning; some of them belonged to the oldest families of the realm; and yet they were to be thrown out at a moment’s notice, though not a judge on the bench, not a priest or a bishop, not even the Pope had been apprised of the cause of it, and it was forbidden to speak of the act. A more outrageous abuse of authority could not possibly be conceived.”39
The expulsion of the Society of Jesus from the Spanish realm followed other expulsions, which had been carried out in Portugal (1759) and in France (1764). Subsequently, Sicily (1767) and Parma (1768) also expelled the Jesuits, and other European kingdoms followed suit. Historians have written volumes over centuries deliberating upon the possible reasons behind the expulsions. It was generally thought that because the Society of Jesus had become an influential actor within the European kingdoms and established control over substantial property, the European monarchs began to perceive them as a force to be reckoned with, and one which certainly lay outside their authority.40 Undoubtedly, the Jesuits also bore the brunt of the blame in disputes between the European monarchs and the Catholic Church.41
Pope Clement XIII (1693-1769) pleaded with the European rulers, particularly with Charles III of Spain, in several letters and demanded that the monarch provide reasons for his actions. Regretfully, the Pope’s appeal was to no avail, and by January 1769, the European monarchies began making formal demands for the Pope to suppress the Society of Jesus throughout Christendom. Although Pope Clement XIII refused to abide by their requests, his death on February 2nd left the matter up to the next pontiff and the Jesuit suppression became a prominent issue during the papal conclave.
According to historians, the newly elected Pope Clement XIV (17051774) did not promise to enact the suppression as a precondition of his election. Instead, the new Pope faced the turbulent political climate openly. The European monarchs responded by consistently demanding the suppression, and the threat of church-state schism was thought to be imminent. Pope Clement XIV held out for over five years, and finally finding no feasible alternative, suppressed the
Society of Jesus throughout Christendom on July 21st, 1773 in the papal brief Dominus ac Redemptor. 42
The Society of Jesus responded to the suppression by adhering to their doctrine of “blind obedience” to papal authority, which St. Ignatius of Loyola had made an integral part of their vows. Moreover, throughout their suppression, they also did their best to persuade others to refrain from all criticism against the Holy See. After Pope Clement XIV’s death in September 1774, during a Mass at the Cathédrale Saint Nicolas de Fribourg given by some of the Jesuits who during their suppression were residing in Switzerland, Fr. Matzel, SJ adamantly proclaimed:
“Beloved Friends of our former Society: Whoever and whenever you may be! If ever we have had the happiness to be of help and comfort to you by our labor in city or country; if ever we have contributed anything to the cause of Christianity in preaching the Word of God or catechizing or instructing youth, on laboring in hospitals and prisons, or writing edifying books; Now, on this occasion, although in our present distress, we have many favors to ask of you, but there is one we ask above all and we entreat and implore you to grant it. Never speak a word that would be harsh or bitter or disrespectful to the memory of Pope Clement XIV, the Supreme Head of the Church of Christ.”43
Following his orders for the Jesuit expulsion from the Spanish realm, on November 8th, 1767, Charles III of Spain ordered all the properties of the Society of Jesus to be put up for auction. In Cuba, as in many other places, Jesuit properties simply reverted back to the monarchy’s fiscal coffers. Another royal decree, enacted on July 11th, 1772, made several provisions that were to be carried out immediately. The Colegio de San José and the unfinished church would be under the jurisdiction of the island’s only Catholic diocese at the time, the Diocese de Santiago de Cuba. Under the diocese’s provision, the facility became the Seminario de San Carlos y San Ambrosio in 1773. The diocese then sold some of the grounds adjacent to the Baroque-Tuscan style church, which housed the Santa Casa de Loreto Chapel. They used the funds to finally complete its construction in 1777. On September 16th, 1787, the Havana parish became the Diocese de San Cristóbal de La Habana, and hence, the Baroque-Tuscan style church was eventually consecrated as the official cathedral, the
Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana, on June 22nd, 1790. It remains the island’s main cathedral until the present day.44
Fortunately for Cuba, the Jesuit expulsion decreed by Charles III of Spain in 1767 and the papal suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773 did not bring about an end to Jesuit educational efforts on the island. The Jesuits would return to Cuba once again, although not until eighty years later. At that time, with the authority of the reigning Spanish monarch, their journey would yield the founding of yet another Jesuit school in Havana, which would eventually come to be known as the Colegio de Belén.
Vincenzo Milione, Portrait of Pope Clement XIV. 1769, oil on canvas, 37 by 28 in. Abbazia di Santa Scolastica, Subiaco, Latium, Italy.
Dominic Serres, the Elder, The Piazza at Havana. c. 1762, oil on canvas, 32 by 48 in. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK.
Jesuit Restoration and Return to Havana
The papal suppression of the Society of Jesus enacted in 1773 was enforced throughout Christendom except within the realm of the Russian Empire, where Catherine the Great (1729-1796) forbade its execution. Catherine knew that expelling the religious order would disrupt her country’s prestigious educational institutions, which had long been under the highly regarded care of the Jesuits. Subsequently, Pope Pius VI (1717-1799) granted permission for the Jesuits to exist in Russia and Poland. Hence, the Jesuit order managed to continue some of its work from these areas, reaching out to former members, and even allowing novices to join the order. Pope Pius VII (17421823) officially recognized the existence of the Society of Jesus in Russia on March 7th, 1801, in the papal brief Catholicae Fidei Finally, on August 7th, 1814, the Pope granted the reinstatement of the Society of Jesus in the Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum papal bull, and commemorated the event by celebrating Mass at the Jesuit mother church in Rome, Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina.
the return of their properties.45 Subsequently, designated arbiters set out to investigate how to restore the Jesuit properties whose ownership had not been otherwise conveyed by Charles III of Spain. As a result of the ongoing investigation, the Junta de Restablecimiento sent a letter of inquiry to the Bishop of Havana, Juan José Díaz de Espada y Landa (1756-1832) on June 11th, 1816, inquiring about the status of Jesuit properties in Cuba.
After the Society of Jesus’s papal reinstatement in 1814, Ferdinand VII of Spain (17841833), who returned to rule the kingdom that had been under French Napoleonic rule (1809-1814), reestablished the Jesuit religious order in a royal decree published May 29th, 1815. He also established the Junta de Restablecimiento in October 1815, to give the Jesuits a legal recourse to arbitrate
Bishop Díaz de Espada y Landa replied to the inquiry by citing the royal decree enacted by Charles III of Spain in July 11th, 1772. He also explained that in 1773, jurisdiction of both the Colegio de San José and the unfinished Jesuit church had been transferred to the Diocese de Santiago de Cuba. Jurisdiction of both facilities had then been conveyed to the Diocese de San Cristóbal de La Habana upon its establishment in 1787. The school had become the Seminario de San Carlos y San Ambrosio since 1773, and the BaroqueTuscan style church had been completed and consecrated as the diocese’s cathedral in 1790. While Bishop Díaz de Espada y Landa did express his willingness to supp ort the reestablishment of a Jesuit school in Havana, and graciously offered other options for its location, he also asserted in his reply that neither one of the former Jesuit properties could be returned to the Society of Jesus.46 Regretfully, not only did the conveyance of the Jesuit properties to the Havana diocese prevent their immediate reestablishment in Cuba, but the restoration of the Society of Jesus within the Spanish realm would also prove to be short lived.
The fate of Catholic religious orders as a whole became one of the major issues debated by the liberal and conservative political forces that wrestled for power during the reign of Ferdinand VII of Spain. After 1815, the Society of Jesus was not only dispersed depending on who was in power, but once again suffered fatalities within its ranks as a result of the political struggle. A rebellion against Ferdinand VII of Spain in 1820 left a high death toll among Jesuits, and their expulsion was once again ordered while the monarch remained a prisoner in his palace for the next three years. After a French invasion restored him to the throne in 1823, Ferdinand VII of Spain allowed for the restoration of the Society of Jesus
once again; however, the monarch died in 1833, leaving his infant daughter Isabella II of Spain (1830-1904) as his heir to the Spanish throne. Ferdinand VII’s brother, the Infante Carlos Count of Molina (1788-1855) fought for seven years out of Isabella’s minority to dispute her title, in what was the first of several Carlist Wars fought during the 19th century. Acting as Queen Regent, Isabella’s mother, María Cristina de Borbón (1806-1878) expelled all religious orders once more (1834-1851), after riots during a cholera outbreak in Madrid caused the deaths of fifteen Jesuits, forty Franciscans, eight Mercedarians, and seven Dominicans.47
In March of 1851, Isabella II of Spain negotiated a concordat with the Holy See, and the Jesuits, as well as other religious orders, were allowed to return to Spain.48 On November 26th, 1852, in a royal decree sent to the governor of Cuba, General Valentín Cañedo y Miranda (1806-1856), Isabella II authorized the return of several religious orders to Cuba including the Jesuits. She also authorized the reestablishment of a Jesuit school in Havana and suggested in the decree that one of the convents or facilities left vacant by other religious orders which had been suppressed should be turned over to the Jesuits for the founding of their school.
Although the Society of Jesus remained suppressed through Christendom for over four decades, and political turmoil in Spain prolonged their absence from Cuba for almost ninety years, the Jesuits finally made their way back to Havana in 1853. It had been a long absence from the island, but their return would lead to the founding of another Jesuit school in Havana, which would eventually grow into one of Cuba’s most prominent educational institutions.
A Jesuit School shall be established in Havana
II of Spain was born in Madrid in 1830, the eldest daughter of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, and of his fourth wife and niece, María Cristina de Borbón. Isabella succeeded to the throne when her father died in 1833, being only three years old, and her mother ruled as Queen Regent. Disputes over Isabella’s succession caused the Carlist Wars, led by Ferdinand’s brother Don Carlos. After coming of age, Isabella II of Spain favored the Catholic Church and religious orders. In 1851, she reinstated the religious orders through a negotiated concordat with the Holy See. Shortly afterwards, she also issued a Royal Decree granting the return of religious orders to Cuba. In the decree, she stated: “Knowing full well that the Society of Jesus has provided much distinguished service in parishes as well as in secondary and superior education… and wishing to satisfy the need for establishments, where my royal subjects can educate their children… I have determined that the Society of Jesus shall establish a school in one of the City’s (Havana) suppressed convents… its religious members will also develop a plan, which I will approve for their service.”49 During the subsequent years of Queen Isabella’s reign, political unrest in Spain brought about the Glorious Revolution (1868), and forced her to go into exile in France, where she abdicated her reign in favor of her son Alfonso XII (1870). The first Spanish Republic (1868-1874) that resulted from the revolution dissolved religious orders and confiscated Jesuit property, but upon its collapse in 1874, Alfonso XII of Spain assumed the throne and restored religious orders once again. During the rest of her life, Isabella II of Spain resided in Paris and only made a few visits to her native country. She died on April 10th, 1904, and was entombed at the El Escorial in Spain.
On the left: Francisco de Goya. Ferdinand VII of Spain. 1814, oil on canvas, 83½ by 57.½ in. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Isabella II of Spain and her daughter Isabella. 1852, Patrimonio Nacional Palacio Real de Madrid, Spain.
Isabella
Jacques-Louis David, Portrait of Pope Pius VII. 1805, oil on wood, 33½ by 28 in. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.
COLEGIO DE BELéN
Compostela (1854-1925)
“Since the owners of Cuba have changed, we fear that our Fathers will be thrown out, causing the loss of all that has been invested over forty-fi ve years… We therefore ask that the Holy See approve that the Bishop of Havana transfer all of the property rights to the school [Colegio de Belén] to the Society of Jesus.”
Father General Luis Martín García, SJ
Real Colegio de Belén logo from the 1862 School. Receipt on display at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the Belen Jesuit West MiamiDade Campus.
Jesuit Arrival in Havana
As a result of the authorization and royal decree provided by Isabella II of Spain (1830-1904), three Jesuits, Fr. Bartolomé Munar, SJ (1815-1869), Fr. Cipriano Sevillano, SJ and Brother Manuel Rubia, SJ arrived in Cuba from Cádiz on April 29th, 1853, and began surveying facilities for the founding of a Jesuit school in Havana. While waiting for a location, the Jesuits spent several months attending to the needs of a parish near Havana, in San Antonio de los Baños. Unable to secure an adequate, existing location, Spanish authorities on the island decided that perhaps building a facility would be feasible; therefore, in October of 1853, the three Jesuits participated in a ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a new school. The construction plans, however, were abandoned soon thereafter. In an official letter from the newly-appointed governor of Cuba, General Juan González de la Pezuela y Ceballos (1809-1906) to Havana Bishop Francisco Fleix y Solans, dated December 30th, 1853, the governor explained that the colonial government had insufficient funds to build a Jesuit school.1
Nevertheless, in the same letter, Governor Juan González de la Pezuela y Ceballos also made a significant concession which Bishop Francisco
Fleix y Solans promptly approved: the Hospitalidad de Convalecencia y Convento de Belén on Compostela street in Havana would be turned over to the Jesuits for the establishment of their school.
Originally commissioned by Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado Vélez de Compostela and dedicated to both St. Diego de Alcalá and Our Lady of Belen, the former hospital and convalescent facility, had also housed a school, all under the management of the members of the Bethlemite religious order. Undoubtedly, the designation of this facility for the establishment of the school was a compelling grant. Not only had forty Jesuits from the Mexico Province, who had traveled through Cuba after their expulsion in 1767, been cared for at the convalescent hospital, but several of them, who died at the facility, had been interred in the adjacent Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén crypt. Moreover, the work of Bishop Vélez de Compostela, who during his lifetime had consistently labored towards the founding of a Jesuit school in Cuba, was still contributing, 150 years later, to serve the same purpose: the establishment of a Jesuit school in Havana.
Since its completion, members of the Bethlemite religious order had managed the Hospitalidad de Convalecencia y Convento de Belén on
Compostela Street, which also bordered the Havana streets known as, Luz, Acosta, and Picota. When the suppression of the Bethlemite religious order occurred in 1842, Spanish colonial authorities designated the building as barracks for Spanish military troops. In order to allow the Jesuits to prepare for the opening of their school, Governor Juan González de la Pezuela y Ceballos ordered the troops to vacate the premises, but the process took some time. Nevertheless, the school’s first rector, Fr. Bartolomé Munar, SJ and the Jesuit Assistant for Spain Fr. Manuel Gil Sáenz, SJ took possession of the facility on January 16th, 1854. The school, first founded as the Real Colegio de La Habana, or Royal School of Havana, would soon come to be known as the Real Colegio de Belén because of its location at the convalescent hospital and convent. After the establishment of the Cuban Republic (1902), and Spain’s departure from the island, the school would also drop the “Real,” signifying royal, and thereby sever its connection to Spanish rule over the island by simply coming to be known as the Colegio de Belén.
Although by January the established school year was already well on its way, the Jesuits acted quickly toward ensuring the start of operations for their school. On February 14th, Fr. Bartolomé Munar, SJ submitted his curriculum plan to colonial authorities based on the Ratio Studiorum plan of studies established by the Society of Jesus in 1599. Faithful to the principles of the Ratio Studiorum Fr. Munar adapted the guidelines of the plan to fit the educational needs of students according to their capabilities and geographical location. As such, the plan established three levels: preparatory studies, elementary secondary education, and superior secondary education. The first level or preparatory education would last one to two years, and would only be given to those students who lacked the proper preparation. The second or middle elementary secondary education level would last three years. The third or last superior secondary education was to last four years and was designed to correspond and prepare students for the first two years of philosophical studies at a university level.2
With forty students divided into two classes, five Jesuit professors began implementing their curriculum on March 2nd, 1854, and that day would henceforth be commemorated as the school’s official founding date. These first forty students were not boarding school interns -as was the established norm for Jesuit schools- since some
of the members of the Spanish military troop had yet to vacate the premises. Instead, these students attended school from 6:00 a.m until 6:00 p.m. between March 2nd and July 31st, when classes adjourned for the 1854 summer vacation.
The last of the Spanish military troops departed the premises on August 13th, 1854, and the new school year began the following October 13th, with a student body composed of fifty-nine boarding school interns. The number of interns rose to ninety-five by December 11th, all
The First Day
Sebastián Galles, SJ painted this historical work of art in 1857 to commemorate the formal opening of the Colegio de Belén in Havana on March 2nd, 1854. In the painting, Our Lady of Belen overlooks the arrival of the first three students enrolled at the school, who are wearing their gala uniforms: Joaquín Campuzano, Pedro Sotolongo, and Eduardo del Pozo. One of the students points towards the Jesuits as if introducing his comrades to the wise mentors who soon would be their teachers. The awaiting Jesuit Fathers, Rector Bartolomé Munar, SJ, Cipriano Sevillano, SJ, Nicasio Eguíluz, SJ, and Juan José Cotanilla, SJ (kneeling), as well as Brothers Manuel Rubia, SJ and Miguel Ruiz, SJ (background) greet the students as they arrive for their first day at the school’s Compostela Campus. While the Jesuits devotedly look up to Our Lady of Belen seeking her blessing, she looks toward the school’s founding fathers, while holding the infant Jesus with one hand, and pointing at the students with the other. Besides illustrating the founding of the school, the scene is meant to convey the Jesuits’ spiritual mandate for the education as well as the spiritual formation of their students. The painter of this historical work of art, Brother Sebastián Galles, SJ, was born in a village near Barcelona, Spain on September 15th, 1812. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1850, and served at the Colegio de Belén (1855-1862), where he remained devoted to teaching the arts of drawing and painting. He painted more than twenty canvases during his tenure at the school, the most famous of which was this scene commemorating the founding Colegio de Belén in Havana. He died at the Real Monasterio de Santa María de Veruela, in Zarogoza, Spain, on January 11th, 1900.
Front
of which were under thirteen years-old. Fourteen additional Jesuits arrived from Spain during 1854 to serve at the school, and another eleven arrived in September of 1855. Enrollment for the new school year (1855-1856) increased to over 200 students, with 140 being interns. The Spanish authorities granted approval for the superior secondary education division in December of 1856, and students who completed the elementary secondary education level progressed to superior secondary level, on their way to graduation.
The school prospered throughout its seventy-year tenure (18541925) at the Compostela Campus, and in accordance with Jesuit educational principles, the Colegio de Belén made important advances in the sciences as well as in the development of the humanities. Both the founding of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén in 1858 and the important research to eradicate yellow fever carried out by Carlos J. Finlay (1833-1915) -who the Jesuits faithfully assistedestablished the school as a venue for scientific work and gained the institution national and international acclaim. Student production of plays and musical concerts as well as the planning of celebrations commemorating important school anniversaries and events enhanced the school’s visibility as a cultural center. Regular intervals of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises were carried out by the Jesuit community and by the students.
From its inception in 1854, to the establishment of the Cuban Republic in 1902, the school continued to grow and prosper even in the midst of the challenges caused by Cuba’s struggle for independence. True to its educational mission, the Colegio de Belén conferred graduation to exemplary students who continued their studies either at the Universidad de La Habana or at other prestigious academic institutions throughout Europe and the United States. After finishing their university studies, Colegio de Belén alumni pursued careers that led them to become some of the most well-known professionals and leaders of the Cuban Republic, a tradition that was to continue on the island for over a century. Moreover, it was at the Compostela Campus that the pedagogical building blocks were laid as the Jesuit’s educational ministry on the island flourished, thus bringing about the well-earned reputation of the Colegio de Belén as one of the most important educational institutions in Cuba.
Observatorio del Colegio de Belén
The establishment of Jesuit colleges and universities in the sixteenth century coincided with the development of modern science. Mathematics, natural sciences, and astronomy became part of Jesuit curriculums, and as a result, their work in the atmospheric sciences and eventually in meteorological observation logically developed.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Jesuits established several astronomical observatories which also recorded some meteorological observations in Europe, as well as in their missions in Peking, India, Indochina, and Paraguay.
Although the suppression of the Jesuit order interrupted the work of the observatories after the mid-eighteenth century, these original efforts laid the foundation for the establishment of new observatories after Pope Pius VII reinstated the Society of Jesus in 1814. During the 19th century, the Jesuits founded observatories in Europe as well as in the mission areas of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Since scientific institutions in these mission areas were practically non-existent during the 19th century, the Jesuits conducted pioneering work within these continents and were able to study natural phenomena not frequently experienced in Europe. The natural phenomena available for study in the Americas included large earthquakes and tropical hurricanes.4
During both the nineteenth and twentieth century, the Jesuits established observatories throughout the Americas in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Cuba, which focused on the study of astronomy, meteorology, and seismology. In Cuba, the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén, established at the school in 1858 by Fr. Antonio Cabré, SJ (1829-1883) and Fr. Baltasar Homs, SJ (1833-1881), was the second Jesuit observatory to be founded in the Americas -the other being a small facility at a Jesuit school in Guatemala. While it allowed for students to participate in the study of geomagnetic, seismic, and astronomical phenomena, the observatory also became one of the most highly regarded educational institutions for the study of the comparatively new science of meteorology and the most important metrological observatory in the Americas during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Originally conceived to teach the Colegio de Belén students about the importance of observing and recording actual climate and weather conditions, the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén was equipped with meteorological instruments, which included barometers, thermometers, pluviometers, and Robinson anemometers. The instruments were located on the school’s second floor and installed both on the roof and in a corner tower sometime during 1861.6 Fr. Antonio Cabré, SJ directed the observatory until 1860, when Fr. Francesc Xavier Butinyà, SJ (1834-1899) took over as director, and in 1862 stepped aside temporarily to allow for Italian Jesuit Fr. Felice Ciampi, SJ (1826-1889) to direct the observatory’s expansion during which the school installed a magnetic balance, a bifilar magnetometer, and a declinometer. Fr. Butinyà resumed his service as the observatory’s director in 1863, followed by Fr. José Reinal, SJ (1864-1867), Fr. Francisco Pons, SJ (1867-1868), and Fr. José María Vélez, SJ (1869-1870).7 During this time, the observatory also became part of the “magnetic crusade” started by Edward Sabine (1788-1883) to develop an international network of magnetic stations, and as such, remained the only established magnetic station in the Caribbean region for many years.8
Observatory Tower at the Colegio de Belén Compostela Campus. Photograph from the Álbum Conmemorativo del Colegio de Belén, 1914.
José María Chacón y Calvo dressed in the student uniform used at the Colegio de Belén in 1904. Photograph from the Carlos Ripoll Archives.
Photograph courtesy of Beatriz Jiménez.
Entrance of the Colegio de Belén at the Compostela Campus.
Photograph from the Álbum Conmemorativo del Colegio de Belén, 1914.
The Father of Hurricane Forecasting
Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ was born on September 19th, 1837 in Poboleda, Tarragona, Spain. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Palma de Mallorca on May 12th, 1856, and during the years that he was undertaking studies in theology, he also taught at the Seminario Conciliar de San Carlos de Salamanca (1861-1868). He was ordained as a priest in Poyanne, France in 1869, and after finishing his studies, he was sent to Havana, where he directed the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén until his death in 1893. Fr. Viñes was a member of the Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana and a contributing member of the Deutsche Meteorologische Gesellschaft [German Meteorological Society] (1874). He wrote over twenty works about climate study, and established empirical laws about the path of hurricanes. He has also been credited with establishing hurricane forecasting as a practice, as well as with publishing the first hurricane advisory in the history of meteorology. He collaborated with Carlos J. Finlay and supported his presentations at the Real Academia de Ciencias about sewage and climate conditions in Havana. He also won several important international scientific awards for his work on climate research and hurricane forecasting. He died in Havana on July 23rd, 1893.
The recognition of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén as an important scientific research facility increased significantly after 1870, when Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ (1837-1893) took over as its director. Fr. Viñes arrived in Cuba on March 4th, 1870. He came to the island from France, where he had been ordained in 1869. During his twenty-three year tenure at the observatory, Fr. Viñes dedicated all of his efforts to advancing scientific study, particularly that of cyclones and hurricanes. Upon his arrival, Fr. Viñes found twelve years of detailed weather observations collected at the observatory, a task which he continued daily every hour between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. When storms approached, he and his colleagues collected data twenty-four hours per day.
The data collected by Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ proved invaluable because he used it to formulate empirical laws about the circulation and path of hurricanes, as well as about the cyclonic translation motion in the Caribbean. He was the first to infer that clouds
carried by winds converge toward the center of a hurricane at a low altitude. At the middle altitude, clouds and wind both circle around the storm, and at high altitudes, the winds carry the clouds away from the storm.10 He worked out methods to estimate the paths of storms, which included the design of devices, such as the Ciclonoscopio de las Antillas, a compass card that could be used to determine a storm’s location based on surface winds and the clouds that appear at certain heights. Fr. Viñes designed the Ciclonoscopio on April 8th, 1890, and published a manual for its use.
Among his most important contributions was publishing the first hurricane advisory in the history of meteorology, which appeared in the Havana newspaper, La Voz de Cuba September 11th, 1875.11
Several other advisories followed in 1876, and as a result, Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ established hurricane forecasting as a practice. In 1877, he even published a book about the practice of hurricane forecasting. Fr. Viñes’s many forecasts while at the observatory helped to save countless lives and property not only in Cuba, but throughout the Caribbean.12 Research Meteorologist Gordon Dunn (1904-1994), who served as director of the National Hurricane Center in the Miami, Florida, referred to Fr. Viñes and their work on Atlantic hurricanes as follows:
“Fr. Viñes was a true scientist, making a significant contribution both to hurricane theory and the art of forecasting hurricanes. He probably deserves the foremost position among all meteorologists in the western hemisphere, who up to and through the nineteenth century, contributed to our knowledge of tropical cyclones.”13
During his tenure, Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ became a member of the most highly regarded scientific academy in Cuba, the Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana. He published over twenty works and submitted the recorded climate data, published annually by the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén, to prestigious World’s Fair exhibits, which gained the observatory important international prizes. Amongst these were: a gold medal at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia (1876), a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris (1878), and another
silver medal at the Exposición Universal in Barcelona (1888).14 Fr. Viñes also submitted his research and publications to other observatories throughout America, Europe, and Asia and collected their materials, which throughout the years helped to augment the observatory’s extensive library.
In 1886, Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ devised a plan to create a network of observatories in the Caribbean region that would use the telegraph to submit their observations to the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén. The costs associated with the endeavor were partially financed by maritime and telegraph companies and the Havana Trade Board. As many as twenty weather stations sent telegrams to the observatory, particularly during the tracking of tropical storms and hurricanes. Until his death in 1893, Fr. Viñes conducted his work with the utmost dedication and desire to do good for mankind. In one of his publications, he wrote:
“For my part, I only desire the welfare of mankind while I work to the best of my abilities… other than God’s blessing; I wish no reward, apart from serving my brothers and contributing to the betterment of humanity.”15
After the death of Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ, Fr. Lorenzo Gangoiti, SJ (1845-1933), who had been in charge of making meteorological observations at the Jesuit Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat in Cienfuegos since 1886, transferred to Havana and took over as the ninth director of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén. Fr. Gangoiti would hold that position for the next sixty-four years. Shortly after his arrival at the observatory, he conducted the advisories for a hurricane that passed through Havana on September 24th, 1894, which the Havana press reported as:
“Fr. Gangioti’s advisories were invaluable in helping to prevent the disastrous effects that could have occurred if we did not have this wise Jesuit and his vast knowledge guiding us.”16
During his tenure, progress continued with the installation in 1897 of two towers at the school to house the Observatory’s equipment, one of which had a dome for the telescope. In 1902, another Jesuit,
Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ (1865-1943), having completed extensive coursework in astronomy and meteorology at Georgetown University, in Washington, DC, arrived to serve as the observatory’s assistant director. Fr. Gutiérrez-Lanza knew that Havana, because it was located in the middle of the trajectory of these tropical storms and cyclones, had the propensity for frequent hurricanes and represented a perfect location from which to observe and study such storms.17
The reputation of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén increased in the United States after Fr. Walter Dunn, SJ from Georgetown
Ciclonoscopio de las Antillas created by Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1958.
Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ Photograph from El Figaro Magazine, July 1893.
University published a study detailing its accomplishments. As a result, the United States Weather Bureau chose in 1905 to close its office in Havana, confident that the observatory could assume the responsibility of sending daily telegrams with their observations to their offices in Washington, DC and thus contribute to monitoring weather conditions and storms.
On February 3rd, 1907, the Jesuits installed state-of-the-art BoschOmori seismographs at the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén, but moved these to the Quinta de la Asunción, a forty-four acre
An Outstanding Scientist
Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ was born on May 26th, 1865 in Pardavé de Torío, León, Spain and entered the Jesuit novitiate May 26th, 1883. In early 1891, he was sent to Havana to teach at the Colegio de Belén. Upon his arrival, he served as one of the fifty-four Jesuits that volunteered for the Yellow Fever experiments conducted by Carlos J. Finlay at the Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano, where he also later supervised the installation of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén’s seismic station (1907). He returned to Spain to be ordained on July 31st, 1899 at the Colegio Máximo de Oña. He then traveled to the United States to take graduate courses in the Natural Sciences and Meteorology at Georgetown University. He returned to Cuba in 1902, where he was appointed Assistant Director of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén (19021920). In 1910, he presented a study at the Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana about the pass that Halley’s Comet made near the earth that year, which he carefully monitored from the observatory’s telescope. He reported and advised Cubans about the hurricanes of 1919, 1924, 1926, and 1932. He served as director of both the Observatorio del Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat in Cienfuegos (1920-1925) and of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén (19281943). At the observatory, he also founded a radio station from where he transmitted daily weather reports and commented on scientific topics. Fr. Gutiérrez-Lanza died in Havana on December 24th, 1943. In his honor, on September 8th 2007, the Pardavé de Torío Plaza in León was renamed as the Plaza Astrónomo Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza.
property acquired by the Jesuits in 1883, which was located on the outskirts of Havana in an area known as Luyano. The seismographs had to be moved to the Quinta de la Asunción because vibrations emitted by the installation of cable cars in Havana (1905), near the school’s Compostela Campus, caused the seismic instruments to malfunction. Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ directed the seismic station Quinta de la Asunción for several years, as he also continued to assist Fr. Lorenzo Gangoiti, SJ in directing the observatory.
Dolores at the Jesuit school in Santiago de Cuba. Fr. Viña served as the observatory’s director in Santiago de Cuba until 1951.
In 1924, hurricane advisories by Fr. Lorenzo Gangoiti, SJ carried out at the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén helped to save two ships, Alfonso XIII and Governor Cobb, from the path of the hurricane that passed through Cuba on October 19 th of that same year. Meanwhile, Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ had succeeded Fr. Simón Sarasola, SJ as director of the Observatorio del Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat in Cienfuegos, when Fr. Sarasola had left to Colombia. Fr. Gutiérrez-Lanza remained in Cienfuegos until 1925, when he was asked to return to Havana to assist Fr. Gangoiti at Observatorio del Colegio de Belén in its new location at the Marianao Campus. In January of 1925, Fr. Gutiérrez-Lanza attended the third Pan American Scientific Congress in Lima, Peru, where the observatory’s work was also honored in a proclamation stating:
“The Third Pan American Scientific Congress calls for a vote of applause to the Colegio de Belén of Havana, an institution which has for over seventy years consistently observed and studied the hurricanes of the Antilles to the great the benefit of navigators.”19
Fr. Mariano GutiérrezLanza, SJ. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1944.
In 1909, Fr. Simón Sarasola, SJ (1871-1947), another reputable Jesuit meteorologist arrived in Cuba and formally founded the Observatorio del Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat at the Jesuit school in Cienfuegos. Fr. Sarasola remained at the observatory in Cienfuegos until 1920, when he left Cuba to found another Jesuit observatory at the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé in Bogotá, Colombia.18 In an effort to continue to expand the Jesuit network of observatories in Cuba during 1924, Fr. Santiago Viña, SJ (18761952) founded the Observatorio del Colegio de Nuestra Señora de
The school’s move to the Marianao Campus allowed for the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén to move into a tower that protruded above the school’s façade, and included ample space for its own library and accommodations for its director and staff Three years after the observatory had been functioning at the school’s new location (1928), Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ became its third director, a position he held until his death in 1943. During his tenure, he submitted hurricane advisories which were crucial for the preparations that saved lives during the storm that passed through Cuba October 20th, 1926. He lectured extensively and published several works on tropical hurricanes.
On August 31st, 1935, Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ established a long-standing tradition for the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén as well as for all Cubans. Twice per day, meteorological reports from the observatory were broadcast through the RHC Cadena Azul radio network in Havana. On October 20th, 1940, the observatory installed its own short wave radio station with the identifier COLD and increased
Observatory Tower at the Colegio de Belén in Marianao.
Photograph from the Ecos de Belén, 1944.
Students at the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén in Marianao. Photographs from Ecos de Belén, 1943.
the frequency of their weather broadcasts throughout the day. The observatory grew to have two short-wave and one long-wave radio receptors and two short-wave radio stations that were heard throughout the island and as far away as Puerto Rico. The collaboration of Jesuit Brother José María Lasa at the observatory since 1931, contributed to short-wave hurricane advisory work, particularly during the states of emergency brought on by the storms.
After the death of Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ in 1943, Fr. Simón Sarasola, SJ returned from the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé in Bogotá, Columbia to direct the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén. Fr. Sarasola’s hurricane advisory work covering the storm that passed through Cuba, on October 18th, 1944 drew high praise from Cuban government officials and earned him the eminent “Adoptive Son” title from the Province of La Habana. Fr. Sarasola directed the observatory until his death in 1947, at which point, Fr. José Rafael Goberna, SJ (1903-1985) became its director. Fr. Goberna held the observatory’s director position until 1961.
In May of 1954, as part of the Colegio de Belén’s one-hundredth anniversary, the Jesuits held celebrations. In an effort to show the school’s sense of pride for the work and scientific achievements of the observatory, the Jesuits commissioned a bronze and marble plaque by renowned Cuban sculptress Rita Longa (1912-2000). The plaque honored the scientific and humanitarian achievement of Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ and the pioneering research that he conducted in the field of meteorology about the study of tropical hurricanes and hurricane tracking. The plaque also enumerated the laws of cyclonic circulation and trajectory that Fr. Viñes Martorell had identified.20
During the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén’s tenure in Cuba (1857-1961), the Jesuits diligently funded, without any public aid, the instruments, research, and training of the observatory’s personnel. By the time that the school was nationalized and forced to relocate to South Florida (1961), the work of the Jesuits at the observatory comprised over one hundred years of valuable and dedicated service to the Cuban people. During which, the Jesuit’s work had not only helped to further the science of meteorology and the study of hurricane tracking, but also helped to save countless lives and property on the island.
The Ten Year War
Even prior to the Jesuits returning to Cuba in 1853, challenges to Spanish colonial rule prevailed not only on the island, but also throughout Latin America. By 1825, Spain had lost all of its colonial territories on the Latin American mainland, and only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under its control. Although Cuba was known throughout the Spanish realm as the “Siempre Fiel” or forever faithful of its colonies, several factors contributed to the development of annexationist, separatist, and reformist ideals among the island’s residents. Among them, was the establishment of independent governments throughout Latin America, continued political instability on the Spanish mainland, and competing interests and beliefs about taxation, representation, trade, and slavery. Spaniards, their peninsular descendants, and Creoles of either Spanish or mixed decent, supported either a reformist agenda that called for a reorganized system of colonial rule or favored a separatist option, which was to result in either an independent Cuban government or annexation to the United States.21
In an attempt to further the reformist agenda, negotiations were undertaken on the Spanish mainland in 1867 between representatives of the Junta de Información and government officials. The futile attempt to reorganize the colonial system ended with Spain reneging on the agreements reached during negotiations, the disbandment of the board, and new taxes being imposed on the island. Meanwhile, Isabella II of Spain faced serious political instability as her absolutist tendencies eventually alienated all the major liberal and conservative factions, and these united to oppose her, staging the Spanish Glorious Revolution in September of 1868. The new Spanish revolutionary government immediately began reversing some of Isabella’s more controversial policies, such as the restoration of the religious orders. As a result, on October 12th, 1868, the Society of Jesus was suppressed in Spain once again.22 The suppression forced the Jesuits to relocate in foreign lands. Many of them escaped by train in disguise, and as they passed through railway stations, they heard the mobs shouting, “Death to the Jesuits!”23
Once again, the suppression of the Society of Jesus in Spain raised questions about the permanence of the Jesuits in Cuba as well as
the Colegio de Belén. In defense of the school, Havana residents sent a letter on November 13th, 1868 to Spanish provisional government President Francisco Serrano y Domínguez (1810-1885) that pleaded both for the school to remain open and for the Jesuit leadership to be allowed to remain. In the letter, the residents asserted that the Colegio de Belén had made an enormous contribution to the island’s social order by providing enlightened and illustrious education to its youths.24 The request was passed on to the Spanish Minister for the Ultramar Colonies, Manuel Becerra y Bermúdez (1820-1896), and the school was able to continue operations.
Meanwhile, the lack of reconciliation between reformist and separatist agendas in Cuba ensued after the Junta de Información failed
The Colegio de Belén seal used during the colonial years (14921898) with the symbols of the Spanish regions of Castile and León. Photograph courtesy of the Georgetown University Libraries, Varia Collection.
José Rafael Goberna, SJ.
Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1958.
Fr. Mariano GutiérrezLanza, SJ broadcasting from the radio station at the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén in Marianao.
Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1939.
Manuel Mesa,The Last Moments of the Students. 1957, oil on canvas, 22 ¼ by 28 in. Courtesy of the
to reform the colonial system; therefore, support for separatist ideals increased, and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (1819-1874) proclaimed an official declaration of war against Spanish colonial rule with the Grito de Yara, on October 10th, 1868. The Ten Year War was a conflict fought out on the island’s countryside, where sugar mills and cane fields burned to the ground, and combat between the Spanish Army and Cuban rebels left many casualties.25
Although the more intense and destructive aspects of the war, such as loss of life and property, never reached the western parts of the island, the resurgence of the Cuerpo de Voluntarios, a militia vigilante force charged with guarding the cities and their ongoing activities, had detrimental consequences for city dwellers, particularly in Havana. Primarily created several centuries before to complement the work of the Spanish Army in preserving colonial rule, the volunteers were charged with guarding the cities but also engaged in spying and persecuting any person or group suspected of separatist activity. Historically, the volunteers abused their power, bypassing judicial processes by imposing penalties on suspected separatists, which included loss of property, kidnapping, and disappearances, and at times even forced exile.26
An event involving the Cuerpo de Voluntarios and several Colegio de Belén graduates from the class of 1870 specifically illustrates how the volunteers’ activities brought untold grief upon the school, its leaders, and many Havana families. On November 25th, 1871, Cuban colonial governor in charge of political affairs, Dionisio López Roberts visited the classrooms of the Facultad de Medicina de la
Real Universidad de La Habana to investigate an accusation by a caretaker from the Cementerio de Espada, Vicente Cobas, which claimed that on November 23rd, medical students had defaced the tomb of the La Voz de Cuba newspaper former director, Gonzalo Castañón (1835-1870). Once a devoted Spanish journalist, Castañón had also been a colonel in the Havana Cuerpo de Voluntarios. Since his death, which occurred at a gunfight against Cuban separatists in Key West, Florida, he had been revered as a martyr by the volunteers. Allegedly, the medical students had scratched the glass plate on Castañón’s cemetery vault.
The first stop made by Dionisio López Roberts at the medical school was at the second-year student’s classroom, where Profes-
sor Manuel Sánchez de Bustamante, MD a Colegio de Belén alumnus, bravely defended his students against the governor’s accusations, and insisted that if they were arrested, López Roberts would have to take him as well. Roberts recoiled after Dr. Sánchez Bustamante’s challenge, as the professor was a highly respected professional, but proceeded instead to interrogate the first-year medical students in another classroom later that day. During the questioning, López Roberts was confronted by Colegio de Belén alumnus, Carlos Augusto de la Torre y Madrigal (1851-1871), who vehemently denied the allegations. Fermín Valdés-Domínguez (18521910), one of the medical students arrested and later sentenced to six years in prison for the incident, related De la Torre’s statement in Tragedy in Havana, September 27th, 1871:
“Carlos Augusto de la Torre spoke up and said that the governor was wrong, and in the name of all present, he demanded that the governor reveal the names of those responsible. If the governor really knew who was involved, he should reveal the name of the guilty. If not, then all of us would know that he [Governor López Roberts] was the one lying.”27
In fact, Dionisio López Roberts had no proof or evidence. Nevertheless, he had the entire first-year medical school class of nearly fifty students arrested. Spanish authorities confined and questioned all the students throughout the night. As testimonies were taken, these revealed the same account about the events of November 23rd. The first-year medical students had gathered at the Anfiteatro San Dionisio to wait for their anatomy professor, Domingo Fernández Cubas. The amphitheater was annexed to the Cementerio de Espada. As they waited, four of the students -Anacleto Bermúdez (1851-1871), Ángel Laborde (1853-1871), José de Marcos y Medina (1851-1871) and Pascual Rodríguez y Pérez (1850-1871) -climbed in a cart used by the school to carry the anatomy class cadavers. The students rode the empty cart around the plaza in front of the cemetery. Another student, Alonso Álvarez de la Campa (1855-1871), picked a flower from the cemetery flower bed. All denied the allegations of defacing the cemetery vault belonging to Gonzalo Castañón in any manner.
On the following day, November 26th, thousands of volunteers poured out on to the streets of Havana, demanding “death to the traitors” for defacing their martyr’s tomb. Under pressure from the volunteers, Mili-
tary General Romualdo Crespo, who had been left in charge of Havana because Cuban Governor General Blas Villate y de la Herra (1824-1882) was on a military campaign on the eastern part of the island, convened a Council of War tribunal. The students’ defense was undertaken by Spanish Army Captain Federico R. de Capdevilla, who tried in vain to plead their case before the tribunal. Colegio de Belén Rector Fr. Andrés García Rivas, SJ (1833-1898) intervened on behalf of the medical students to almost no avail. He was only able to obtain the release of Octavio Justo Smith y Guenard, a fourteen-year-old Colegio de Belén student, who had also been accused along with his classmates.28
At the summary trial, the tribunal returned a guilty verdict, but at first, refrained from handing out the death penalty. The news enraged the volunteers, who demanded that General Romualdo Crespo grant them a new trial presided by another Council of War, on which the volunteers were to have more representation. On the morning of November 27th, the newly formed Council of War convened for another summary trial, and by one o’clock in the afternoon, almost all of the students had been found guilty. Eight were sentenced to death by firing squad, a sentence that was carried out at four o’clock on that same afternoon. After the execution, authorities also refused family requests for the student’s bodies to be released for funeral services. All eight students were then buried in a common grave.
Exemplary Colegio de Belén students carried a wreath to the Monumento a los Estudiantes de Medicina in Havana on November 27th of each year. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1942.
The Universidad de La Habana Medical Students executed in 1871. Image on display at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the Belen Jesuit West Miami-Dade campus.
Ramos Collection.
A Modernist Poet
c. 1893.
Julián del Casal was born in Havana, on November 7th, 1863. He attended the Colegio de Belén (1873-1879), where during the Ten Year War (1868-1878), he founded a clandestine newspaper entitled, El Estudiante Del Casal’s publishing effort at the school was only the first of many literary and journalistic endeavors. Although he enrolled at the Universidad de La Habana to study law and later worked at the Ministry of Finance, Del Casal’s most important professional accomplishments did not occur in the field of Law or in Finance, but as a result of his prolific writings. By 1890, he had already published his first book of poems: Hojas al viento, which was followed in 1891, by another book of poetry, Nieve. He became the editor of the weekly magazine, La Familia Cristiana (18911892) and collaborated in La Habana Elegante, where he published a series of articles about Havana society. He also contributed at various magazines and newspapers such as: El Fígaro, La Habana Literaria El Hogar, El País La Caricatura, Diario de la Familia Ecos de las Damas La Lucha El Pueblo El Triunfo and La Unión Constitucional Some of his prose was translated into English and later published as: The Selected Prose of Julián del Casal Although he died suddenly on October 21st, 1893, from a brain hemorrhage he suffered while having dinner at a friend’s home, he is still regarded by literary critics and historians as a renowned Cuban poet, as well as one of the most important forbearers of modernist poetry and prose in Latin America.
Among the eight students executed by firing squad were two Colegio de Belén alumni Carlos Augusto de la Torre y Madrigal (1870) and Eladio González y Toledo (1870). One of the students executed, Carlos Verdugo y Martínez (1854-1871), had been visiting his family in Matanzas, and therefore had not even been in Havana on November 23rd. In addition to the executions, the Council of War tribunal sentenced thirty-five other students to prison terms ranging between six months and four years. Among the students that were sentenced to prison were five Colegio de Belén alumni, Alfredo de la Torre y Madrigal, Pedro de la Torre y Núñez, Carlos Rodríguez Mena y Álvarez, José Ramírez y Tovar, and Guillermo del Cristo y del Cristo.
In Spain, revolts reemerged during the early 1870s, along with political intrigues and hostility, forcing foreign monarch, Amadeus of Savoy to abdicate the throne in 1873. The Spanish Parliament proceeded to declare the first Spanish Republic, prompting even more political instability, which in 1874 resulted in a military coup d'état and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. Alfonso XII of Spain (1857-1885), the son of Isabella II of Spain, assumed the throne and subsequently reinstated the Society of Jesus within the Spanish realm. The Jesuit religious order’s reinstatement by Alfonso XII helped to ensure the permanence of the Colegio de Belén in Havana, even as activities related to the Ten Year War continued to have an impact on its day-to-day existence. After the execution of the medical students, many Colegio de Belén students took a separatist stance. One example of this view was documented by Julián del Casal (1863-1893), who in 1877 founded a clandestine newspaper, El Estudiante, at the school to champion the separatist cause. Others joined the bands of rebels who fought Spanish government troops on the Eastern part of the island.
During his bid for power, Alfonso XII engaged the assistance of Spanish Brigadier General Arsenio Martínez-Campos (1831-1900).
Prior to his role in the 1874 Spanish military coup d'état, MartínezCampos had fought against the Cuban rebels in 1869, where he gained his military rank. His role in restoring the Bourbon monarchy earned him the title of Governor General of Cuba in 1876, where he came with the explicit purpose of dealing with the rebels. Martínez-Campos put an end to the Ten Year War (1868-1878) with an uneasy peace accord, El Pacto de Zanjón (1878), which some rebels, such as Antonio Maceo (1845-1896), refused to accept since it did not include, amongst its provisions, the immediate abolition of slavery. Although most rebels were forced to leave the island, instability continued, and another conflict, the Small War (1879-1880), broke-out. The conflict, however, also proved unsuccessful at gaining Cuba’s independence from Spain.
The execution of the eight medical students and incarceration of thirty-five others caused surprise as well outrage in Spain. Over sixty Spanish congressmen solicited a government pardon for those involved in the incident, which was signed in 1872 by Amadeus of Savoy (1845-1890), an Italian prince appointed by the Spanish Courts to rule Spain (1870-1873), after the Glorious Revolution (1868) had forced Isabella II of Spain to flee to France. Amadeus’s pardon commuted the prison sentences of the incarcerated medical students. Unfortunately, it was too late for the eight students who lost their lives, as well as for their grieving families.
Yellow Fever Research
During the 1870s, progress in the study of the sciences had taken center stage at the Colegio de Belén. Not only had Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ gained international acclaim at the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén, but one of the most lauded medical professionals in Cuban history, Carlos J. Finlay, also came to work at the school. Dr. Finlay had already identified himself as a scientist by the time he joined the Colegio de Belén staff and he would end up serving as the school’s resident physician for over fifty years. At the school, Dr. Finlay conducted experiments and observations which led him to establish a connection between an 1867 cholera epidemic and the contaminated running waters of Havana’s sewage drain, known as the Zanja Real. In 1872, he conducted experiments with Fr. Viñes and presented a paper with his support as part of his induction into the Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana. The study established a record and discussed the high alkaline levels of atmospheric conditions in Havana.29
It was not until 1879, however, when the governor of Cuba, General Ramón Blanco y Erenas (1833–1906), appointed Carlos J. Finlay as an advisor to collaborate with a US commission researching yellow fever, that the doctor’s research took him on a path that would eventually gain him international recognition.30 Although the work of the original US Yellow Fever Commission failed, Dr. Finlay decided to continue researching the causes for the disease and the history of its outbreaks in Cuba. In early 1881, he presented a paper at the International Sanitary Conference in Washington, DC, in which he outlined a revolutionary medical concept. Dr. Finlay theorized that a transmitting agent, specifically, the mosquito, played a role in the spread of yellow fever. He then proposed to continue his research by allowing experimentally-infected mosquitoes to bite susceptible candidates, and thus determine whether as a result of the bite, these candidates would develop yellow fever.
When Carlos J. Finlay returned to Havana, he explained his theory to Governor Ramón Blanco y Erenas, as well as his need to conduct experiments on susceptible candidates. Dr. Finlay also explained to the governor that yellow fever had existed in Cuba for several centuries, and many island residents were already immune to the disease; therefore, Dr. Finlay’s susceptible candidates had to be persons who were recent arrivals to the island.31 For this task, the governor reached out to newly-arrived Spanish Army soldiers, twenty of which agreed to volunteer for the experiments. Throughout the summer of 1881, Dr. Fin-
lay allowed mosquitoes to bite the soldiers, and in August, he reported his findings at the Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana. It was during his presentation at the academy that he first identified the culex or aedes aegypti mosquito as the transmitting agent for yellow fever; however, some at the academy simply did not find his findings credible, and the only recognition he received for his efforts was his being dubbed as the “mosquito doctor.”32 The academy’s lack of interest in his theories also did not help in sustain-
Carlos J. Finlay was born Juan Carlos Finlay y Barrés on December 3rd, 1833 in Puerto Príncipe (later Camagüey), Cuba, of French and Scottish descent. In 1853, he received his Doctorate in Medicine from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA and considered staying in the United States, but chose instead to further his studies in Paris and Havana. He eventually established a medical practice, specializing in general medicine and ophthalmology in Havana and on October 16th, 1865, married Adele Shine and started a family. Sometime thereafter, Dr. Finlay turned his attention to yellow fever. In 1881, he was the first to theorize that a mosquito was the transmitting agent for the disease. Although Dr. Finlay’s research was disregarded by the medical community, it was at the Colegio de Belén, where his son Carlos E. Finlay attended, that Dr. Finlay found support for his work. Not only did the Jesuits at the school offer their retreat facility as a venue for his research, but fifty-four of them also served as volunteers for his yellow fever experiments. Dr. Finlay collaborated with three US Commissions researching yellow fever, the last of which arrived during the United States occupation of the island (1898-1902), and was headed by Walter Reed, MD. He worked with Dr. Reed and the other members of the United States Army Yellow Fever Commission to create a vaccine and implement measures to reduce the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases. His discovery helped the US Army Surgeon General William Crawford Gorgas, who had also served as US Chief Sanitary Officer in Havana, reduce the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases during the US campaign to construct the Panama Canal (1904-1914). Dr. Finlay’s work was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, but was never awarded the prize itself. He died in Havana on August 20th, 1915.
A Great Medical Discovery Anonymous Photograph, Carlos J. Finlay. c. 1915. Cuban National Library of Medicine.
Anonymous Photograph, Julián del Casal,
Entrance Gate of the Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano, where Carlos J. Finlay conducted yellow fever experiments. Photograph from the Álbum Conmemorativo del Colegio de Belén, 1914.
Entrance Breezeway of the Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano. Photograph from the Catalogo de la Solemne Distribución de Premios del Colegio de Belén(1911-1912).
ing the support that Dr. Finlay had been offered by the island’s colonial authorities and he soon found that he would not be able to continue his experiments on the newly-arrived Spanish Army soldiers.
The scientific community’s lack of encouragement could have prompted Carlos J. Finlay to give up on his yellow fever research; however, it was precisely when his work seemed to be at its worst impasse that he received an invaluable proposal from the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén. The Jesuits suggested that Dr. Finlay could request volunteers from amongst the steady influx of Spanish Jesuit priests and brothers who arrived on the island to serve as part of their educational ministry.
The newly-arrived Jesuits, not having lived on the island, had never been exposed to yellow fever, and therefore, were more than suitable to become Dr. Finlay’s susceptible candidates for experimental research. Between 1881 and the end of the century, over one-hundred volunteers allowed themselves to be bitten by mosquitoes infected with yellow fever. Of these, fifty-four were Jesuit fathers and brothers, and three were employees of the Society of Jesus at the Colegio de Belén. Of the Jesuits who volunteered, three were Colegio de Belén rectors Fr. Benigno Iriarte, SJ, Fr. José María Palacio Avellaneda, SJ, and Fr. Isidoro Zameza, SJ. Rector Fr. Iriarte died as a result of being infected with yellow fever. The other Jesuit fathers who volunteered were: Eustasio Urra, SJ, Doroteo Zarranz, SJ, Juan Ontoria, SJ, Manuel Gil, SJ, Juan Álvarez, SJ, Antonio López, SJ, Miguel Obeso, SJ, Carlos Varona, SJ, Ladislao Aparáin, SJ, Rafael Vicente, SJ, Juan Aramendi, SJ, Asterio Ruiz, SJ, Juan José Egaña, SJ, Carlos Izu, SJ, Miguel Aizpuru, SJ, Evaristo Ipiñazar, SJ, José Errasti, SJ, Simón Azpiroz, SJ, Faustino Fernández, SJ, Amalio Morán, SJ, José Arrí, SJ, José Arencibia, SJ, Rufino Remondegui, SJ, Mariano GutiérrezLanza, SJ, Celestino Suárez, SJ, Cándido Arbeloa, SJ, Pedro Arbide, SJ, Desiderio Aldasolo, SJ, Joaquín Santillana, SJ, Félix Pereira, SJ, Miguel Santisteban, SJ, Anselmo Jáuregui, SJ, Mauricio Cruz, SJ, José Aramburu, SJ, Juan Uribe, SJ, Manuel Gómez Prieto, SJ, Matías Ibinagabeitia, SJ, Manuel García, SJ, and Lino García Bolaños, SJ. The Jesuit brothers who volunteered for Dr. Finlay’s experiments were: Antonio Ozalla, SJ, Jerónimo Larrañaga, SJ, José Antonio Alberdi, SJ, Casimiro Goñi, SJ, José Olazábal, SJ, Ignacio María Bereciartúa, SJ, José González, SJ, Cipriano Morán, SJ, Miguel Galarraga, SJ, Laureano Albizua, SJ, Santiago Illera, SJ, and Francisco Cendoya, SJ. Three Colegio de Belén employees also volunteered. These were: Juan Sixto, Belardino, Andrés Vallín. Unfortunately, in addition to Rector Fr. Benigno Iriarte, SJ, Fr. Lino García Bolaños, SJ and Br. Antonio Ozalla, SJ also died as a result of being infected with yellow fever.33
retreats based on St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises and after 1907, would house the seismic and magnetic station of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén. The seismic and magnetic station was under the direction of Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ, who while serving as a Jesuit scholastic at the school (1891-1899) also agreed to serve as one of Carlos J. Finlay’s volunteers. It was to Fr. Gutiérrez-Lanza that Dr. Finlay related how he had experienced his unexpected eureka moment of discovery. Apparently, one night, while praying the rosary, Dr. Finlay had been incessantly disturbed by a mosquito. The constant buzzing noise distracted him from his prayer, and it was at that moment that Dr. Finlay considered the possibility that the insect could perhaps be the transmitting agent for yellow fever.35 At the Quinta de la Asunción, Dr. Finlay thoroughly documented the yellow fever cases and his research records included data on their symptoms, temperature, and pulse.36
In addition to serving as volunteers for the yellow fever experiments, the Jesuits also offered Carlos J. Finlay the Quinta de la Asunción as a venue to conduct his research. Secluded outside the city, the Jesuits proposed that the forty-four acre property located on the outskirts of Havana in an area known as Luyano was the perfect location to isolate the newly-arrived Jesuits who would participate in Dr. Finlay’s experiments. Colegio de Belén Rector Fr. Tomás Ipiña, SJ (1844-1916) had purchased the property in 1883 to help alleviate the space constraints at the school’s Compostela Campus. Over the years, the property developed into a multi- purpose facility. It served the school as a sports and recreational area for students, both during the school year and in the summertime.34 It also served as a place to hold Jesuit religious
Carlos J. Finlay continued his experiments through the late nineteenth century, cooperating with three additional yellow fever commissions from the United States. The first commission arrived in 1888, headed by George Stenberg, but it failed to consider Dr. Finlay’s research as valid. Another commission, headed by E. Wasdin and H.G. Gedding, also failed to lend any legitimacy to Dr. Finlay’s work.37 Lastly, the United States Army Yellow Fever Commission, headed by Walter Reed (1851-1902) and his assistants, James Carroll (1854-1907) and Jesse Lazear (1866-1900), met with Dr. Finlay at his home in Havana during August of 1900. At the meeting, Dr. Reed examined the records that Dr. Finlay had kept throughout his many years of research. He also examined the eggs of the aedes aegypti mosquito. While at first, Dr. Reed was not convinced about the scientific validity of Dr. Finlay’s theories, he also felt that Dr. Finlay’s work deemed further research. Hence, he asked Dr. Carroll and Dr. Lazear to remain on the island in order to further investigate Dr. Finlay’s theories. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Carroll and Dr. Lazear allowed themselves to be bitten by infected mosquitoes, and both subsequently developed yellow fever; however, while Dr. Carroll survived, Dr. Lazear died from the effects of yellow fever on September 25th, 1900. His death brought both attention and validity to Dr. Finlay’s research. Shortly thereafter, Camp Lazear was established in the outskirts of Havana, near the Quinta de San José and the Quinta de la Asunción, where for years, Dr. Finlay experimented on the newly-arrived Jesuits who volunteered for his research.38
The members of the US Army Yellow Fever Commission meet with Carlos J. Finlay in August of 1900 at his home in Havana. Standing from left to right are US Army physicians Jesse Lazear, James Carroll, Walter Reed, Antonio Díaz-Albertini, and Carlos J. Finlay. Colegio de Belén alumnus Carlos E. Finlay, MD who was also Dr. Finlay’s son, is leaning on the table. Painting by Esteban Valderrama, El triunfo de Finlay, 1944, oil on canvas, 147 by 80 in. Courtesy of the Ramos Collection.
Fr. Cándido Arbeloa, SJ, facing the plaque at the Colegio de Belén in Marianao listing the fifty-four Jesuit fathers and brothers, as well as the three employees of the Society of Jesus who participated in Carlos Finlay’s yellow fever research. Photograph from the ceremony honoring Fr. Arbeloa as the last surviving member of the school’s volunteer group in Ecos de Belén, 1954.
The experiments conducted at the camp after the death of Jesse Lazear left no doubt as to the validity of the research conducted by Carlos J. Finlay. In 1902, William Crawford Gorgas (1854-1920) arrived on the island to serve as the US occupational government’s Chief of Public Health. As part of his position, Dr. Gorgas was in charge of implementing the preventive measures that Dr. Finlay had presented in 1894 at the Eighth National Congress of Hygiene and Demography in Budapest, Hungary. The measures called for isolating yellow fever patients, fumigating to destroy mosquitoes, screening homes, and eliminating the accumulation of standing water whenever possible, in order to prevent breeding grounds for mosquitoes.39 In a letter to Walter Reed, W.C. Gorgas characterized Finlay’s contribution in this way:
“His reasoning for selecting the Stegomyia (culex or aedes aegypti) as the bearer of yellow fever is the best piece of logical reasoning that can be found in medicine anywhere.”40
William Crawford Gorgas implemented Carlos J. Finlay’s preventive measures through a public health campaign that eradicated most of the mosquito’s effects in Cuba. The measures were also implemented years later by Dr. Gorgas to help prevent further deaths due to yellow fever during the building of the Panama Canal. After the founding of the Cuban Republic (1902), Dr. Gorgas departed back to the United States, and Dr. Finlay became Cuba’s Chief Sanitary Officer, a position he held for eight years before retiring in 1909.41
Besides the assistance provided by Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ and Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ, the role of the Jesuits that volunteered for Carlos J. Finlay’s ground-breaking , who as well as the support provided by the Colegio de Belén at both the Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano and the Quinta de San José played an invaluable role in Dr. Finlay’s scientific studies. One of Dr. Finlay’s biographers, César Rodríguez Expósito, describes the faithful collaboration of the Jesuits in the doctor’s yellow fever research as follows:
“The Jesuits, whom Dr. Finlay served as a physician, never doubted nor wavered about Finlay’s theories. The Jesuits lent themselves with diligence and support instead, serving as subjects to Dr. Finlay’s experiments, while also observing how the mortality rate among them decreased extraordinarily because of his care.”42
In May of 1954, as part of the Colegio de Belén’s one-hundredth anniversary celebrations, a bronze and marble plaque by renowned Cuban sculptress, Rita Longa (1912-2000) was unveiled honoring the scientific and humanitarian achievement of Carlos J. Finlay’s pioneering research to eradicate yellow fever. The plaque also listed the names of the Jesuits who volunteered as part of his yellow fever research experiments. As part of the ceremony, Fr. Cándido Arbeloa, SJ, the only Jesuit yellow fever volunteer that was still alive in 1954, received a Dr. Finlay bust and diploma in which Fr. Arbeloa was praised as a “hero of experimental medicine.”43
The important research to eradicate yellow fever carried out at the Colegio de Belén by Carlos J. Finlay also served to demonstrate the Jesuits’ dedication and commitment to scientific research. Their contribution not only benefited the Colegio de Belén students and their community, but also the world at large. Considered one of the most important medical discoveries of the twentieth century, Dr. Finlay’s identification of the culex or aedes aegypti mosquito as the transmitting agent of yellow fever remains one of Cuba’s and the international medical field’s greatest scientific achievements.
Independence and Uncertainty
Throughout the years that the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén supported the yellow fever research carried out by Carlos J. Finlay, political unrest continued in Cuba. The uneasy peace accord, reached at the end of the Ten Year War, prompted one of the most well-known figures in Cuban history, José Martí (1853-1895), to return to Cuba in 1878. Martí had been originally deported in 1871 after serving several months of hard labor for anti-Spanish activities. In 1878, his stay on the island was short-lived, since his involvement in separatist activities was discovered by authorities shortly after his arrival, and he was once again deported to the Spanish mainland.
In 1881, Martí made his way to New York City from where the welleducated writer and poet traveled to the Cuban-American communities that had developed in Ybor City and Key West, Florida, in an effort to rally support for the Cuban independence movement. Throughout the 1880s and the 1890s, he collaborated with Máximo Gómez (1836-1905), Antonio Maceo, and others, and in 1892, he founded the Partido Revolucionario Cubano in the United States. Under the newly formed party, Martí organized efforts to declare a new war of independence against Spain; however, years of observing US politicians and business men convinced Martí that a newly-formed Cuban republic would need to handle its relationship with the United States wisely. He also realized that in a new war, Cuban separatists needed to achieve success swiftly, thus averting the need for the United States to intervene in the conflict. More than anything, Martí wanted to prevent the exchange of one colonial power for another in Cuba, since he advocated the establishment of an independent republic based on law, order, and the hard work of its inhabitants.44
As talk of another independence war developed, the Jesuit leadership at the Colegio de Belén became concerned over the future of the school. The Catholic church as well as the school contained a high amount of Spanish clergy. The Spanish government’s attacks on religious orders during the nineteenth century had weakened the church. Moreover, the destruction to seminaries, schools, churches, and chapels in certain Cuban rural areas, as a result of the independence wars, caused the church to waver in its support of the rebels and favor colonial rule instead.45 Nevertheless, the Jesuits, having been subjected throughout their history to expulsions and expropriations for political reasons, worried that their association, sporadic receipt of monetary support from Spanish colonial authorities, and the
high amount of Spanish-born Jesuits at the school would make them a target for political retribution if a change in government occurred.
The property rights to the school building were uncertain since the Jesuits had never received an official deed or title to the Compostela Campus. Uncertainty over whether the United States would intervene in Cuba was also a prevalent concern, evident in the writings of Superior General Fr. Luis Martín García, SJ (1846-1906), who as former Superior of the Jesuit Castile Province, had also supervised Jesuit works in the Antilles. Father General Martín García believed that the United States wanted the Antilles to gain independence from Spain in order to “exploit them commercially and as a means to eventually annex the islands as US territories.”46
In an effort to prepare for what they perceived as an uncertain future, the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén established correspondence with their superiors in the Castile Province, as well as with the New Orleans Province in the United States, and inquired about acquiring land in Florida. In January of 1892, the Jesuits received approval from provincial superiors in Spain and purchased sixty acres of land in the area that is today Tampa, Florida. The area had been developed by Vicente Martínez Ybor (1818-1896), a Spanish-American industrialist and cigar manufacturer, who had left Cuba during the Ten Year War. Mr. Martínez Ybor founded the town known today as Ybor City in 1886, where a thriving Cuban exile community worked in cigar factories and in businesses set up by other entrepreneurs that Mr. Ybor encouraged to invest in the area.
Hence, during the uncertain years leading up to the last Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898), the Jesuits considered plans to build a school on the newly acquired land, and even discussed transferring the Colegio de Belén from Havana to Tampa if the religious order was expelled or if the school’s building was expropriated in Havana.
Antonio Sánchez-Aráujo, Martí con los tabaqueros de Tampa. 1922, oil on canvas/board, 33 by 40 in. Courtesy of the Ramos Collection.
Ensured Jesuit Permanence in Cuba
Luis Martín García, SJ was born on August 19th, 1846, in Burgos, Spain. In 1858, he entered the Seminario de Burgos and began studies for the priesthood, after which he chose to enter the Society of Jesus in 1864. Due to the Spanish Glorious Revolution (1868), he was forced into exile in Poyanne, France, where he completed his philosophical training and was ordained a priest on September 14th, 1876. He returned to Castile in 1880, where he served as rector of the Seminario de Salamanca (1880-1884), director of the El Mensajero del Corazón de Jesùs (1884), superior of the Centro de Estudios Superiores de Deusto-Bilbao, and superior of the Castile Province (1886-1891). During his tenure as the provincial of Castile, he oversaw Jesuit work at the Colegio de Belén in Cuba. In 1892, Superior General Fr. Antón María Anderledy, SJ (1819-1892) appointed him as the vicar general of the Society, and after Father General Anderledy’s death, he was elected and declared as the XXIV superior general of the Society of Jesus on October 2nd, 1892. At the urging of the XXIV General Congregation of Jesuits, during his tenure (1892-1906), he implemented an extensive Jesuit effort to write the history of the Society and its work throughout the world. Since he had personal experience with forced Jesuit exile due to political turmoil, he also provided guidance and assistance to the Jesuits facing political unrest in countries such as France, Italy, England, and Cuba. He worked diligently, even appealing to the Vatican for their support, to ensure the permanence of the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén during the US occupation of the island that occurred after the end of Spanish colonial rule (1898-1902). His mandate that the Jesuits document their history, led to the publishing of the Álbum conmemorativo del quincuagésimo aniversario de la fundación en La Habana del Colegio de Belén de la Compañía de Jesús in 1904, which contains a history of the Jesuit presence in the Antilles, Cuba, and Florida dating back to 1566, as well as an account of the first fifty years of the Colegio de Belén in Havana. Father General Martín García died in Rome, Italy on April 18th, 1906.
While the Jesuit leadership considered the future fate of the Colegio de Belén, the fundamental differences between pro-Spanish supporters and the separatists eventually led to the Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898). Renowned Spanish novelist and playwright Alberto Insúa (1885-1965), who was a Belén student until his family left Cuba for Spain in 1898, wrote his memoirs in Madrid during the 1950s. Mr. Insúa related his experiences at the Colegio de Belén during these troublesome days as follows:
“Something I realized while at the school surprised me as well as injured me. Not all my fellow students shared my sentiments about Spain… I learned about “insurrectionist” students, who spoke about a free Cuba and hid under their lapels a five pointed star, the symbol of the separatists… I was not impressed by their stars or by the red, white, and blue flags
painted by a student named Arango… More astounding was that some of my friends, the children and grandchildren of Spaniards, also did not share my views about Spain… At recess, I fought with Arango, when he called me insulting names such as “patón” (big-footed) and “gallego” (derogatory term meaning Galician); I never accused him though, because then I would be known as a “chota” (snitch) and that I could not take; When the names of the paladins of the free Cuba cause, Martí, Maceo, Máximo Gómez, and Calixto García, were uttered at Belén with enthusiasm, I simply laughed, because at home, I had heard that General Martínez-Campos would arrive from Spain very soon “para meter en cintura a los cubanos” (to make the Cubans get back in line)… later, at home they also said the same about Weyler... I have to admit today that Arango was right, and I remember that the number of students that had his five-pointed star under their lapels quickly multiplied.”47
Alberto Insúa’s account of his life at the school during the end of the nineteenth century provides insight as to how the independence conflict affected the Colegio de Belén student body. It also offers an example of the fondness with which the school’s alumni remember their alma mater, and the lessons of faith that they learned while amid the conflicts. He writes:
“My time with the Jesuits deeply influenced my life spiritually in two ways: first, it indelibly ingrained the seal of the Catholic faith in me (which juvenile readings later attempted in vain to erase). Secondly, it instructed me in methods of obedience and self-discipline that have helped me combat those desires that attempt to separate us from the shining path that only the Gospel is able to provide.”48
What remains as truly remarkable about Alberto Insúa’s recollection, however, is that even though more than fifty years transpired between the time he attended the Colegio de Belén and the time at which he wrote his memoirs, this accomplished playwright remembered his time at the school with vivid, insightful detail. Most importantly, Mr. Insúa’s memoirs also served to establish a testament to how the Jesuit educational experience impacted students in a truly profound way. His memoirs also show that even after fifty years, neither political schism, distance, or the passage of time was able to diminish or detract from the transcendent spiritual impact that Jesuit education had on the lives and character of its students.
United States Occupation
The Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898), which began on February 24th, 1895 with the official war cry, El Grito de Baire, as well as uprisings across the island, would not turn out according to what José Martí had envisioned. Martí arrived in Cuba on April 11th, but he was killed in battle on May 19th, only twenty-eight days after his return to the island. Spanish General Arsenio Martínez-Campos also returned to Cuba to supervise the war effort, while the colonial army troop presence began rising exponentially. By the middle of 1896, however, the Spanish Army seemed to be in full retreat, and the rebels were gaining victories throughout the island. The Spanish government recalled General Martínez-Campos and replaced him with General Valeriano Weyler (1838-1930), whose cruel treatment of the Cuban population caused even more Cubans to rally behind the separatist cause. Weyler carried out a brutal campaign against the rebels during 1897, where six alumni from the Jesuit schools on the island died fighting against the Spanish forces. These were: Serafín Sánchez Valdivia (Sancti Spíritus 1858), Ricardo Pocurull y Oña (1869), Carlos Soler López (1874), Joaquín Lastres (1880), Ismael Cejas y Castro Palomino (1886), Eduardo Rosell y Malpica (1888), and Gabriel Forcade Jorrin (1889). In late 1897, the Spanish government classified Weyler’s campaign as ineffective, and recalled him to Spain. Former Cuban Governor General Ramón Blanco y Erenas replaced Weyler.
In early 1898, the USS Maine exploded and sunk in the Havana Harbor. As a result, US President William McKinley (1843-1901) and the US Congress declared war on Spain. The Spanish American War lasted from April 21st to August 12th, 1898. The conflict ended with
the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1898), which stated that Spain was among other provisions, relinquishing all claims to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. US Major General John R. Brooke (1838-1926) became military governor of Cuba, a post that Brigadier General Leonard Wood (1860-1927) also filled from 1899 until the establishment of the Cuban Republic on May 20th, 1902.
In 1898, once news spread about the incoming United States occupational government, the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén were apprehensive. Would the occupation result in the expulsions and purges that religious orders had suffered in other Latin American countries after those achieved their independence from Spain? Their concerns also grew regarding the property rights of the Compostela Campus. Having been expropriated from the Bethlemite religious order in 1842, the building had technically become the property of the Diocese de San Cristóbal de La Habana because it was attached to the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén. The colonial government, however, had never officially transferred the building’s property rights to the diocese. Moreover, although in an 1854 letter to Bishop Francisco Fleix y Solans, Spanish Governor General Juan González de la Pezuela y Ceballos had officially designated the building for the establishment of a Jesuit school, in 1854 and again in 1898, the Spanish governors had ordered that the premises be used as quarters for the Spanish Army. Would the US occupational forces therefore attest that the building was in fact government and not diocesan property?
In order to help secure the property rights of the Compostela Campus for the Colegio de Belén, Jesuit Superior General Fr. Luis Mar-
The USS Maine entering Havana Harbor, January 1898. Photograph from the US Department of Defense Public Domain Imagery.
Father General Luis Martín García, SJ Photograph from the Colegio de Belén Archives.
A Devoted Benefactor of Jesuit works in Cuba
Narciso Gelats was born in Spain and arrived in Cuba in 1857 as the heir of his uncle, Tomás Maig, whose estate he eventually inherited. He attended the Colegio de Belén’s Compostela Campus (1890-1895). After graduation, he established a financial partnership, Gelats y Hermanos. Subsequently, he married, started a family, and enrolled all of his sons, Joaquín, Juan, and José Narciso Gelats at the Colegio de Belén. In 1901, Narciso Gelats established a financial institution, N. Gelats and CIA. His constant support of the Jesuits and the Colegio de Belén included four stained glass windows (1912) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus statute installed in the central courtyard at the Compostela Campus in 1918. The N. Gelats and CIA also supported many of the school’s endeavors as well as its expansion. Narciso Gelats was also one of the principal benefactors for the construction of the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola in Havana. After his death in 1929, his son Joaquín Gelats became president of the fi nancial enterprise. After Joaquín’s death in 1934, another of Narciso’s sons, Juan Gelats became president of the financial institution which did business as the Banco Gelats de La Habana. In 1954, at the Colegio de Belén’s one-hundredth anniversary celebration, the school honored Narciso Gelats with the dedication of a bust of his likeness, by the Cuban Sculptor Sergio López Mesa. His son Juan Gelats, as well as other members of his family, were in attendance at the Donor Day ceremony and continued to support the Colegio de Belén and the Jesuits throughout their tenure in Cuba.
Nevertheless, the school promptly undertook measures to make changes that conformed to the end of Spanish colonial rule. Spanish military stripes and braids were eliminated from all uniforms, and the school’s crest was redesigned to do away with the references to the Castile and León regions of Spain.50
The Cuban Republic
tín García, SJ sent a letter to the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Mariano Rampolla (1843-1913), requesting a resolution. Subsequently, Havana Bishop Manuel Santander y Frutos (1835-1907) registered the building as property of the Havana diocese on August 24th, 1898. The building property was then transferred to the Society of Jesus, and the deed was recorded at the Property Registry Office in Havana. In the meantime, the Holy See appointed New Orleans Archbishop Placide Louis Chapelle (1842-1905) as Apostolic Delegate to Cuba (1898-1899). At the suggestion of Archbishop Chapelle’s and Father General Luis Martín García, SJ, a Jesuit from the New Orleans Province was also designated to the Colegio de Belén to help the school in its dealings with the US occupational government (1898-1902).49
During the first months of the US occupation, Colegio de Belén Rector Fr. Vicente Leza, SJ (1857-1943) continued to express some concern in his letters to provincial superiors about the school’s dealings with the occupational government and the future Cuban Republic.
The fears of the Jesuit leadership, with respect to the government of the United States, seemed to have subsided within the first year of the occupation. Cuba’s independence did not result in the expulsions and purges that religious orders had suffered in other Latin American countries after those achieved their independence from Spain. Moreover, since the Compostela Campus property rights issue had also been settled, Colegio de Belén Rector Fr. Vicente Leza, SJ obtained approval from provincial superiors to begin a series of much needed construction and renovation projects. Improvements included new floors, classroom furniture, and physics and chemistry lab materials. Construction of a third floor wing that had begun in 1896 was completed, and the library, physics and natural science museums were enlarged. Electrical power and fixtures were installed throughout the school and the church, and the entire building was painted inside and out. A few years later, other improvements followed such as the curriculum’s enhancements of 1911, which included typewriting classes, an innovative decision for the time. Students practiced typewriting skills by typing dictation blind-folded, and within fifteen days of their first class, they were reported to type thirty words per minute. Moreover, as a result of a generous donation from Belén alumnus, Narciso Gelats (1895) in 1912, four stained glass windows designed to represent Religion, Philosophy, Science, and Virtue were placed at the school, while others were also installed at the adjacent Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén.
Overall, the years of the US occupation proved beneficial for the school’s permanence and prestige in Havana. US Brigadier General Leonard Wood presided over the Colegio de Belén graduations that took place while he served as the island’s governor. Then, as the electoral campaigns proceeded in preparation for filling executive and legislative posts in the new republic, it became evident that some of the alumni from the Colegio de Belén would end up serving in important governmental positions. Hence, since it became evident to the Jesuits that the future of the Colegio de Belén in Havana would not be adversely affected by the incoming government, the school began to make plans for the eventual celebration of its fiftieth anniversary on the island (1904).
The official establishment of the Cuban Republic occurred on May 20th, 1902, as the first President of Cuba, Tomás Estrada Palma (1832-1908) took his oath of office. The United States relinquished command over the island to the newly established government, but because of the Platt Amendment, a US Senate Congressional rider appended to the Army Appropriations Act in 1901, the United States reserved the right to intervene in Cuban affairs.51 From the establishment of the Cuban Republic, Belén alums were involved in colonial governmental, educational, and other prominent social and cultural institutions. By 1902, the Colegio de Belén had already been graduating students for almost fifty years, many of which wholly embraced the Jesuit educational ideal of becoming the leaders of their respective fields of study. The civil leadership and service of the Colegio de Belén alumni, throughout the school’s tenure in Cuba, would include presidents, government officials, Universidad de La Habana presidents, Catholic bishops, professors, and well-known journa lists, as well as scientists, medical doctors, writers, and business professionals.
One of the first examples of a Colegio de Belén alumni serving in an important governmental position was Diego Tamayo (1853-1926), who was appointed during the US occupation to General Leonard Wood’s cabinet as his Chief of Staff and continued in the same post during the early years of the Estrada Palma administration.52 Dr. Tamayo and another Colegio de Belén alumnus, the rector of the Universidad de La Habana, Leopoldo Berriel (1843-1915), also served as part of the 1901 Convención Constituyente. Their signatures, therefore, appear on the Cuban Constitution of 1901. Colegio de Belén alums were also elected to the Cuban Congress in the early years of the Cuban Republic, among which were: Rafael Fernández de Castro (1856-1920), Carlos Mendieta (1873-1960), Felipe González Sarrain, Enrique Roig y Fortesaavedra, and Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante (1865-1951). Both Dr. Roig y Fortesaavedra and Dr. Sánchez de Bustamante served as key note speakers at several of the school’s events and celebrations which took place during the first quarter of the twentieth century.
One such celebration, an extensive three-four day program (April 16th-18th, 1904) planned by an alumni committee comprised of René Berndes, Carlos Armenteros, Manuel Secades, Rafael Angulo, and
Don Narciso Gelats y Duvall. Photograph courtesy of his granddaughter, Josefina Gelats.
Colegio de Belén Cuban Library at the Compostela Campus. Established to honor the New Cuban Republic and the Jesuit commitment to establish a repository for Cuban literature and study. Photograph from J.M. Cortina, Ed. Mis Estudios en Belén.
Colegio de Belén’s fiftieth anniversary celebration at the Compostela Campus. Belen Alumni Banquet. Photograph from El Figaro Magazine, 1904.
Ángel González del Valle, commemorated the school’s fiftieth anniversary. During the festivities, some of the Compostela Campus building renovations and improvements completed by the Jesuits were showcased, and a commemorative album was published to document the history of Jesuit works on the island. The Álbum conmemorativo del quincuagésimo aniversario de la fundación en La Habana del Colegio de Belén de la Compañía de Jesús included a list of the school’s alumni and photographs of the celebratory events. President Tomás Estrada Palma spoke at the school’s fiftieth anniversary opening events and Colegio de Belén alumnus and Bishop of the Pinar del Río diocese, Braulio Orúe y Vivanco (1843-1904) performed the convocation. The Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Buenaventura Broderick (1868-1943), officiated over a celebratory Mass.
A Respected Writer and Statesman
Many Colegio de Belén alums, such as the rector from the Universidad de La Habana, Leopoldo Berriel, and professors Esteban Borrero Echevarría, Manuel Valdés Rodríguez, Ramón Meza, and Juan Manuel Dihigo, attended the festivities. Magistrates Joaquín Demestre and Luis Gastón and judges Gustavo Pino, Jacinto Secades, and Antonio Echeverría were also present. Doctor Carlos J. Finlay and alumni medical doctors Carlos E. Finlay, Juan Santos Fernández, Diego Tamayo, Manuel Bango, Luis Ferrer, Francisco I. Vildósola, Federico Córdoba, Octavio Justo Smith y Guenard, and Ignacio Toñarely, as well as the British, Spanish, and Chinese ambassadors to Cuba also attended the festivities. As part of the ceremonies, the Jesuits inaugurated a burial crypt at the Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón where the remains of all Society of Jesus members who died on the island would henceforth be interred.
residence could house national and international visiting Jesuits as well as any other Catholic Church clergy who needed accommodations while in Havana. The leadership, therefore, purchased grounds on Carlos III Avenue, near the corner of Balascoaín Street in 1907, and began to develop plans to build an additional Jesuit residence and a new church in Havana.
All major Cuban newspapers and magazines carried extensive coverage of the events and praised the Colegio de Belén as an institution that provided a great service to the island’s inhabitants and as the educators of some of its most well-known leaders. The ample press coverage served to cement the belief already held by many Havana residents: the Colegio de Belén was one of the great pillars of education in Cuba. In his speech at the banquet, renowned writer and orator, Rafael Montoro (1852-1933) said:
“The Jesuits have with special care prepared the souls of their students to deal with life’s blows. While they have aimed to give knowledge, they have also endeavored to form character, a great necessity in our time. They instill the principle of obedience while awakening a sense of responsibility… calling the soul to action, preparing capable men for hard work, competence and not only energetic defense, but also to produce a bounty of good works based on what their doctrine and beliefs intended.”53
Rafael Montoro Photograph from Álbum Conmemorativo del Colegio de Belén, 1914.
Rafael Montoro was born October 24th, 1852 in Havana, Cuba, where he attended the Colegio de Belén, the Colegio El Salvador, and the Colegio de San Francisco de Asís. In 1868, he traveled to France and later Madrid to study Law and Philosophy, and began his career in journalism as editor and contributor of the magazines: Revista Contemporánea El Tiempo Revista Europea and El Norte In Madrid, he also met José Martí. He returned to Cuba in 1878, where he attended the Universidad de La Habana and obtained a degree in Civil and Cannon Law. In Cuba, he founded the Liberal (Autonomist) Party and its El Triunfo newspaper, also serving as one of its editors. Committed to the cause of achieving Cuban autonomy from Spain, he served as part of the Party’s Central Committee, and was elected as a representative deputy to the Spanish Courts (1886). Since 1883, he practiced law and was a prolific writer of over 350 articles in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and books. He was a founding member of the Academia Nacional de Artes y Letras, and of the Academia de Historia, and published several works including: Nociones de Instrucción Moral y Civica. He was one of the keynote speakers at the Colegio de Belén’s fitieth and sixtieth anniversary celebrations, having great praise and regard for the Jesuits at the school. During this time, he also served as Minister Plenipotentiary in England for the Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma, as Chief of Staff (1913-1921) for Cuban President Mario García-Menocal and as Secretary of State (1921-1925) for Cuban President Alfredo Zayas. He died in Havana, on August 14th, 1933.
The fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Colegio de Belén helped put an end to the uncertainty that the Jesuit leadership experienced about the school’s permanence on the island. Hence, in July of 1906, the school sold the Tampa, Florida property that it had purchased in 1892 to the Jesuit New Orleans Province. The sale of the Jesuit property in Florida allowed for the Jesuit leadership to address one of their long-standing desires: building a separate church and Jesuit residence in Havana. The church would serve parishioners and the
The sale of the Florida property and the Jesuit plans to build an additional residence and church on Carlos III Avenue were indicative that they had abandoned their fear of expulsion from the island. The newly established Cuban Republic, however, soon became riddled with challenges. As early as 1905, the electoral process which re-elected President Tomás Estrada Palma to a new term had been tainted by allegations of electoral fraud. Between April and August of 1906, revolts broke out in the Santa Clara and Havana provinces, and President Estrada Palma requested that US President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) send military troops to intervene. The revolts resulted in the resignation of President Estrada Palma and the establishment of another US occupational government presided by General Charles Magoon (1861-1920). The US occupational government lasted until negotiations between the liberals, conservatives, and moderates brought about elections in 1908. In the elections, the liberal candidate, Jesuit Colegio Sagrado Corazón de María alumnus José Miguel Gómez (1858-1921), prevailed as Cuba’s second president. During his presidential term, President Gómez made it a point to visit the Colegio de Belén and preside at graduations and award ceremonies.
Overall, by 1909, the Cuban population had already increased to over two million inhabitants, mainly due to the almost complete disappearance of yellow fever and the improved health conditions that had come about after the end of Spanish rule. Subsequently, the presidential election of 1912 was considered legitimate, for the most part, and Cubans elected conservative party candidate, Mario García-Menocal (1866-1941) as the island’s third president.54
During the years of the administration of President Mario GarcíaMenocal (1913-1921), the Colegio de Belén celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of the papal restoration of the Jesuit religious order, along with the sixtieth anniversary of the school. Once again, the school organized a program of festivities and published another album to commemorate the celebrations. Although the school’s stand-
ing and its educational reputation remained favorable in Havana, the Catholic Church’s wavering support for Cuba’s independence caused mistrust and anti-clerical sentiments against Spanish members of the clergy.55 Hence, the writings of some journalists and government figures criticized the school’s celebrations as well as the participation of government officials in the festivities. The anti-clerical press stated that some public officials, who had once objected to the presence of Spanish clerics, now seemed to favor the school.56 Ironically, any allusion to favoritism was put to rest when the old issue of the Compostela Campus property rights resurged in 1914.
During 1914, the Departamento de Sanidad y Beneficencia filed a lawsuit against the Colegio de Belén which claimed that the original benefactor of the school’s Compostela Campus, Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado Vélez de Compostela, had intended the building to be used exclusively for charitable activities. Since 1905, the Colegio de Belén had established the Escuela del Niño de Belén at the Compostela Campus, and that program educated children free of charge and without regard to race. The Health and Welfare Department, however, argued that since the campus also included a private school, its complete function went against the original benefactor’s intended use for the building. The lawsuit proceedings lasted over three years, during which the Jesuits had to secure legal counsel and incur the cost of the lengthy litigation. Finally, on November 18th, 1917, the court ruled in favor of the Jesuits, once again securing their property rights to the Compostela Campus.57
Colegio de Belén Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Compostela Campus in 1918. Photograph from J.M. Cortina, Ed. Mis Estudios en Belén Tomo 1º (1914-1918).
Extremely thankful for the favorable outcome of the litigation over the Compostela Campus, in 1917, Colegio de Belén Rector Fr. Antonino Oraá, SJ commissioned a Sacred Heart of Jesus statue for the school’s central courtyard from the Basterra Sculpture Workshop in Bilbao, Spain. The statue, donated by Narciso Gelats (1895), arrived in 1918. On March 1st, Fr. Oraá consecrated the Compostela Campus to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The consecration marked the first in a long-standing tradition which has been observed since then at every permanent campus where the school has resided. The consecration included the celebration of a school-wide Mass. The school’s chorus sang Praise Christ the King, and Brigadier, Eugenio Sardiña delivered words to his classmates as well as a solemn poem.
An International Law Pioneer and Public Servant
Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante. Photograph from the Álbum Conmemorativo del Colegio de Belén, 1914.
Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante was born in Havana on April 13th, 1865. He was the son of Colegio de Belén alumnus and respected physician Manuel Sánchez de Bustamante, who was also a professor of the Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de La Habana. Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante studied at the Colegio de Belén, and upon graduation, he carried out studies Philosophy and Law at the Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de La Habana, from where he received a degree in Administrative Law (1884) and in Civil and Cannon Law (1886). Later, he also served as a Facultad de Derecho professor. His career in public service included terms as senator for the Provinces of Pinar del Río and Havana. He also served as President of the Academia Nacional de Artes y Letras. He was an authority on international law and the author of the Bustamante Code. He served as a Cuban delegate to the Paris Peace Conference (1919) which ended World War I, and also served as Cuba’s representative at the World Court in The Hague. He was also President of the Pan-American Congress (1928), which ratified his Código de Derecho Internacional Privado a piece of international legislation he coordinated that established the international security of a person and their private property. He was nominated in 1949 by the Foreign Minister of Ecuador, Neftalí Ponce, for the Nobel Peace Prize. He attended all the major celebrations of the Colegio de Belén, often serving as keynote speaker. He also founded the Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén on January 31st, 1923, and served as its first President. He died in Havana, on August 24th, 1951.
The lengthy legal battle over the Compostela Campus, however, had also forced the Jesuit leadership to question the viability of premises as the Colegio de Belén’s permanent location. First, the Jesuits considered whether the school itself would be able to adequately function long-term, given the way the city had grown around Compostela Campus. The constant noise made by cable cars, pedestrian traffic, and an adjacent market disturbed class and study time for students and faculty members. The noise also disturbed those that resided at the school during their hours of rest. Church activities, such as Saturday weddings and the celebration of Mass on Sundays at the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén, which was adjacent to the school, also created noise that disrupted activities at the Colegio de Belén during weekends. In addition, the grounds at the Compostela Campus were not large enough to hold student athletic activities. The city’s growth had also made student access to sport practices and events at the Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano, more difficult. The lack of residential space at the Compostela Campus also forced the Jesuits to use the Quinta de la Asunción to house visitors, and once again, its remote location proved inconvenient for their stay. The solutions proposed to deal with the challenges faced by the school at the Compostela Campus were handled through two separate endeavors.
For the purpose of addressing the residential needs, the Jesuit leadership blessed the first stone during a ground-breaking ceremony on August 7th, 1914, and began construction of a church and residence on the grounds that they had purchased in 1907 on Carlos III Avenue near the corner of Balascoaín Street.58 To address possibly moving the location of the school, the Jesuit leadership sent a proposal to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Wlodimir Ledóchowski, SJ (1866-1942) in Rome requesting approval for the purchase of fortyseven acres in the Marianao section of Havana. The extensive plot of land would be used to build an educational complex that would encompass the school, residential facilities to house the boarding students, Jesuit, and lay caretakers, as well as offer ample space to hold sport-related activities. Fr. Ledóchowski approved the project on July 10th, 1919. The Jesuits also purchased a property in the Vedado section of Havana on September 3rd, 1920, which they considered using to house an alternative campus where non-boarding students would attend classes. Although the plans for the alternative campus would never come to fruition, the Jesuits acquired the property and used it for years to come to house personnel and visitors.
In the meantime, at the Compostela Campus, the Colegio de Belén’s class of 1920 began a long-standing tradition by establishing the Pledge of Allegiance to the Cuban Flag ceremony. The class’ treasurer, Carlos Prío Socarrás (‘20) (1903-1977), who later became President of Cuba (1948-1952), was in charge of raising the funds to purchase the flag and plaque that inaugurated the practice. The daughter of Cuban President Mario García-Menocal, Georgina García-Menocal presided during the ceremony.59
On May 3 rd, 1923, Havana Bishop Pedro L. González Estrada (1903-1925) blessed the first stone at the educational complex in Marianao as part of a ground-breaking ceremony. The day before, on May 2 nd, Bishop González Estrada had also consecrated the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola on Carlos III Avenue. 60 To this day, the Gothic style church bears the tallest church tower in Cuba and is also known by locals as the Iglesia de Reina, referencing its location on another part of the Carlos III Avenue, which is called Reina. The church was inaugurated along with a Jesuit residence near the corner of Balascoaín Street.
The construction of the new Colegio de Belén at its educational complex in Marianao took place from 1923 to 1925. During this time, the school celebrated is seventieth anniversary at the Compostela Campus, where the original framework had been laid for their commitment to education in Cuba. Many young men had been educated at the Compostela Campus, and by 1925, most had already become some of the most respected leaders of Cuba’s society. Many years later, in 1944, when the school had already become established at the educational complex in Marianao, International Court of Justice at The Hague Magistrate, and Colegio de Belén alumnus, Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante unveiled a plaque donated by the Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén. Dr. Bustamante placed the plaque at the entrance door of the Compostela Campus to commemorate the ninetieth anniversary of the Colegio de Belén. The words on the plaque, Exegi monumentum aere perennius (a monument has been erected here) also stated:
“Here was located the Colegio de Belén and here thousands of illustrious Cubans were also educated.”61
Nuestra Señora de Belén between depictions of the Colegio de Belén’s Compostela and Marianao campuses. Ecos de Belén, 1926.
Francisco Basterrechea
He ran the race set before him…
Francisco Basterrechea was born in Havana, Cuba, on June 24th, 1911. The family included Francisco, his two brothers, and three sisters. When Francisco was just twelve years old, his mother Dulce María Díaz-Brito passed away, and his father Don Pedro de Basterrechea y Goicochea became the sole parent for his six children. Francisco’s father never remarried. Instead, he looked for familial support in raising his children, which he received from his wife’s sisters as well as other members of his family. When it came time to consider the education of his children, Francisco’s father searched for schools that would educate his children in the Catholic faith, whose faith and values he embraced. He also wanted schools with an established educational tradition and a renowned curriculum. For his sons Pedro, Francisco, and Augusto Basterrechea, Don Pedro chose the Colegio de Belén in Havana, which at the time, was still located at the Compostela Campus. In his memoirs, Francisco recalled his experiences at the school as well as his relationship with the Jesuit fathers who taught him:
“As a Colegio de Belén student, I had the privilege of studying under professors whose accomplishments had earned them international recognition. Amongst them were Fr. Pelegrín Franganillo Balboa, SJ, Fr. Maturino de Castro, SJ, Fr. Lorenzo Gangoiti, SJ, and Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ. I also had enormous respect and developed a formidable relationship with Fr. Bonifacio Alonso, SJ, whose advice I truly valued. In 1938, my future wife Julia Tamargo and I asked Fr. Bonifacio to perform the ceremony at our wedding. Years later, when I was a busy attorney at the law firm that my brothers and I founded, Fr. Bonifacio would call my office on some afternoons and ask if I had the time to take him for a ride in my automobile. Many times, I left important work behind to go take Fr. Bonifacio for a ride. Although it was always a real pleasure to oblige him, I truly believe that it was the wonderful conversations that we shared during those automobile rides that were the real incentive behind me enthusiastically looking forward to driving him.”62
enrolled at the Universidad de La Habana. During his years as a university student, political unrest prompted the Cuban government to close the university several times. Although these temporary closings prevented Francisco from consistently pursuing his studies, he chose to put that time to good use by studying accounting at the Pitman Academy. Finally, in 1937, he graduated from the Universidad de La Habana with degrees in Social and Political Science, Economics, and additional degrees in Civil and Diplomatic Law from the university’s Facultad de Derecho. Francisco’s brothers, Pedro and Augusto, were also awarded law degrees by the university. Hence, the three brothers established the “Bufete de Basterrechea” law firm in Havana, where they specialized in the practice of Civil, Mercantile, and Real Estate Law. At the law firm, Francisco also held the post of Civil Law Notary, a prestigious position that in Cuba was awarded to highly-trained, licensed attorneys who could provide a full range of regulated legal services. Francisco also served on the board of directors of several of his client’s corporations, and he was responsible for urban-development projects that included the building, financing, and sale of several Havana neighborhoods known as Nuevo Vedado, El Fontanar, and Alamar. In 1959, Castro’s revolution and its subsequent turn toward communism changed everything for the Basterrrechea family. At first, Francisco decided to take his wife and only daughter Lourdes on what he hoped would be an extended vacation to the United States and Europe. Like many others, he expected that the island’s political system would return to democracy, and he would then return with his family to Havana.
When the school moved to its new campus in Marianao, Francisco participated as a runner in the relay team that carried out a two-hundred meter race between the two locations. After graduating from the Colegio de Belén in 1928, his life would certainly become representative of a man who ran the race that was set before him. Soon after graduation, Francisco
The Basterrecheas left Cuba in 1960 and settled in Miami. The family then moved to Madrid, Spain for a couple of years, where Francisco gave serious consideration to the possibility of revalidating his law degree. After realizing that the return to Cuba was by then highly improbable, in 1963, the Basterrechea family returned to Miami where extended family, friends, former clients, and the Colegio de Belén, had also been forced to immigrate. In true “Men for Others” fashion, Francisco helped many of his former clients with their business and investment matters pro bono as these were trying to reestablish themselves within the Miami Cuban exile community. He also reached out to the Jesuit fathers at Belen Jesuit, helping Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ (1900-1984) with the establishment of the first Executive Committee of the Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos de los Padres Jesuitas de Cuba, which later became the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami. Francisco’s goal in joining the alumni board was to ensure the school’s successful reestablishment in the United States.
Also, after his arrival in Miami, Francisco decided to study the civil codes of several Latin American countries in order to enhance his professional expertise about real estate laws and investments within those countries. He felt that expertise in this area went along with his previous education and professional experience in law and could serve him in developing a career in the United States. Within a short time, Francisco was selected from a pool of highly-qualified applicants to participate in the Washington Federal Savings and Loan Association Executive Training Program. At the program, his knowledge of Latin American Civil Code impressed the son of one of his Bufete de Basterrechea former clients, Bernardo Benes Baikowitz, who was then serving as a vice president at Washington Federal Savings and Loan. Dr. Benes recommended Francisco for the post of director of the bank’s US Agency for International Development (USAID) Department, which provided assistance to the agency for the implementing and supervising of the Housing Investment and Guarantee Program in Latin America. During this time, Francisco traveled extensively throughout Latin America implementing USAID programs and housing projects. Also while at Washington Federal, he coauthored a publication based on his research for the United Nations Center of Housing, Building, and Planning entitled: A Survey of Home Financing Institutions in Latin America (The Savings and Loan Experience).
During the early 1970s, Francisco Basterrechea became involved in residential real estate development in South Florida, as an investor and active partner with his son-in-law, Néstor Machado. Some of the real estate development ventures that he established are still in place today, as are many of the contributions that he made to those in the community and to Belen Jesuit itself. Undoubtedly, throughout the years, Francisco’s involvement and dedication to the school has never wavered. While Belen Jesuit resided in Little Havana, he served as treasurer of the Executive Committee of the Asociación
de Antiguos Alumnos de los Padres Jesuitas de Cuba and was always active in bringing about the Colegio de Belén’s class of 1928 reunions. For many years, he was the only surviving member of his class, having reached the venerable age of one hundred and one during his lifetime. Francisco passed away on August 24th, 2012.
Francisco’s contribution to Belén continues in his progeny. His grandson, Néstor Francisco Machado (‘91) attended Belen Jesuit, and went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Three of Francisco Basterrechea’s great-grandchildren, the children of his granddaughter, Lourdes Machado de Pardo and her husband Jaime Alberto Pardo, have also enrolled at Belen Jesuit. Alberto Ignacio Pardo (‘15), Felipe Andrés Pardo (‘18), and Javier Francisco Pardo (‘20) have been consistently excelling in their studies at Belen Jesuit. The commitment and dedication that Francisco Basterrechea (‘28) always kept for Belen Jesuit has been continued by his family as well as his descendants for almost a century. For his legacy, it is therefore fitting to quote Proverbs 17: Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged; parents are the pride of their children.
In honor of Francisco Basterrechea (‘28), his daughter Lourdes Basterrechea de Machado and his son-in-law Néstor Machado generously offered to sponsor Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story. For their commitment and dedication, the Belen Jesuit administration will remain forever grateful as their generosity celebrates the life-long achievement of a dedicated husband, father, grandfather, and great- grandfather, as well as an outstanding professional, a committed Colegio de Belén alumnus, and a valuable member of the South Florida community at large.
Basterrechea de Machado, Néstor Machado, Lourdes Machado de Pardo, Jaime Alberto Pardo, Felipe Andrés Pardo (‘18), Alberto Ignacio Pardo (‘15), Javier Francisco
Francisco Basterrechea (‘28) and JuliaTamargo de Basterrechea in 1978.
Photograph courtesy of Lourdes Basterrechea de Machado.
Francisco Basterrechea (‘28) at 101 years of age, surrounded by his family. From left to right: Néstor Francisco Machado (‘91), Antonella Bonvecchio de Machado, Lourdes
Pardo (‘20) and Catalina Pardo. Photograph courtesy of Lourdes Basterrechea de Machado.
Francisco Basterrechea (‘28) after graduating from the Universidad de La Habana Law School. Photograph courtesy of Lourdes Basterrechea de Machado.
COLEGIO DE BELéN MARIANAO
(1925-1961)
“I approve the plans to build this great work that will house the Colegio de Belén in Havana.”
Father General Wlodimir Ledóchowski, SJ
Procession from the Colegio de Belén’s Compostela Campus to the school’s new educational complex in Marianao. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1926.
Moving Forward
The Colegio de Belén’s tenure at the educational complex in Marianao (1925-1961) began on September 16th, 1925, when the school’s enrollment totaled 620 students distributed amongst six divisions. By 1954, the enrollment surpassed 1,200 students, out which some were boarding school interns, while others attended classes daily. Forty members of the Jesuit religious order served at the school, sixteen of which were ordained priests. The Jesuit community at the school grew over the years to reach fifty members. The secular faculty, which totaled fifteen professors during the 1930s, reached a maximum of fifty-five by 1958.1
The closed horseshoe-shaped building, designed by renowned Havana architect Leonardo Morales, had an extensive façade and nine protruding pavilions. It included 1.2 million square feet of working and living space, as well as courtyards with 286 arches, each framed by their corresponding columns. The Colegio de Belén chapel, which was officially inaugurated in 1928 during the school’s seventy-fifth anniversary celebration, contained exceptional murals by several of the Italian artists who had also worked on the interior murals and ceilings of the Capitolio Nacional de Cuba. The chapel, lovingly considered as the “Pearl of the School,” had a vaulted wall
space above the altar, which met the beautifully crafted ceiling. In 1932, renowned Spanish muralist Hipólito Hidalgo de Caviedes (1902-1994), who had also worked on several murals at the Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana, created a mural for the vaulted wall space above the altar. At the mural’s center, an image of Our Lady of Belen is contemplated by St. Ignatius of Loyola and the school’s Jesuit founders, Fr. Bartolomé Munar, SJ, Fr. Cipriano Sevillano, SJ, and Brother Manuel Rubio, SJ. The mural also includes images of Christopher Columbus, Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado Vélez de Compostela, and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. A gold border across the top is inscribed in Latin with the Adoration of the Maggi in Matthew 2:11: “They saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him.” Another gold border on the edge of the arch was inscribed in Greek with the Adoration of the Shepherds in Luke 2:15: “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”2
The inauguration ceremonies of the Marianao Campus took place on December 19th-21st, 1925 and included alumni, press, and government officials as well as many members of the island’s religious and professional communities. The ceremonies began on December 19th, with the celebration of a Mass in the central patio of the new educational complex, presided by Havana Archbishop Manuel Ruiz Rodríguez (1907-1940). After the Mass, the superior of the Jesuit Province of León, Fr. Fernando Gutiérrez del Olmo, SJ (18761942), read the school’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at its monument in the central patio, in accordance to the tradition that had begun at the Compostela Campus in 1918. Fr. Gutiérrez del Olmo also read encouraging words from the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Wlodimir Ledóchowski, SJ, whose support and approval for the new school campus had been imperative in its completion and inauguration.
On December 20th, alumni, students, faculty, staff and other dignitaries gathered at the Compostela Campus. As the doors of this first Colegio de Belén campus were ceremoniously closed, a commemorative document and key were respectively handed to students Jorge Núñez and Julio Toledo. The students carried the document and key during a procession that left from the Compostela Cam-
pus and proceeded to the Malecón Circle. From the circle, students Juan Antonio Rubio Padilla (‘26) (1909-1989), Luis J. Botifoll (‘25), and Francisco Basterrechea (‘28) carried out a two-hundred meter relay race. During a heartwarming recollection at his home in Coral Gables, one-hundred-year-old Colegio de Belén alumnus, Francisco Basterrechea (‘28) recalled:
“I ran down 23rd Street, between avenues K and L. It was one of the proudest moments of my time at the school. The coach assigned me this difficult pass… he called it “La Loma” (the hill) as it had a bit of an incline. It was a proud day for our school, and we were proud to have our Jesuit teachers. They were truly the best that Cuba had to offer.”
The race ended when students arrived at the Marianao complex and handed the document and key to Fr. Fernando Gutiérrez del Olmo, SJ as symbols of the official opening of the new building.4 Plaques with the names of the last graduating class from the Compostela Campus (1925) and the first graduating class of the educational complex in Marianao (1926) were installed on each side of the new Colegio de Belén’s front door.5
Cuban President Gerardo Machado (1871-1939), who had assumed the post in May 1925, and his appointed Secretary of Education,
Guillermo Fernández Mascaró, attended the celebrations, which also included the Colegio de Belén’s student Pledge of Allegiance to the Cuban Flag -a ceremony that had also been established as a school tradition at the Compostela Campus in 1920. Speeches and press accolades emphasized the great admiration of the Cuban people for the educational contributions the Jesuits had made to the island and its youth. As the prominent Cuban newspaper, El Mundo published:
“The Colegio de Belén constitutes a source of great pride for Cuba, a great glory for the Republic. That pride and glory, our homeland owes to the Society of Jesus, for wherever the Society chooses to pitch its tent, it also lays the foundations of virtue and knowledge.”6
The Colegio de Belén’s relocation to the Marianao Campus began one of the most thriving periods of the school’s tenure in Cuba; however, the school and its Jesuits were also forced to face frequent challenges during the years that the school resided in Marianao (1925-1961). The impact of continued Cuban political, economic, and social instability on the school, as well as the anti-clerical rhetoric espoused by certain political groups toward the Catholic Church and religious educational institutions in Cuba, also became a continued source of concern for the Jesuits. Noteworthy times of crisis and violence occurred during the late 1920s and early to mid-1930s. Anticleri-
Mural of Colegio de Belén Chapel. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives. The Colegio de Belén Chapel at the Marianao Campus. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Colegio de Belén
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Marianao Campus in 1925. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1926.
Colegio de Belén Sacred Heart of Jesus Monument at the Marianao Campus. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
cal undercurrents carried over into the public debates held prior to the adoption of the Cuban Constitution (1940), and continued to permeate the political climate throughout the 1950s, as part of the events that both preceded and followed the Cuban Revolution.
Nevertheless, throughout their tenure at the Marianao Campus, the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén demonstrated their unswerving dedication, remaining faithful to their educational ministry and the basic tenets of their Catholic faith. As part of their commitment to education, they implemented educational improvements to the school, which included the development of their athletic programs, as well as the ongoing scientific achievements of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén and the Museo de Historia Natural del Colegio de Belén. Other achievements, such as the literary circles of the Academia Literaria Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda and faculty publishing efforts which included textbooks in mathematics and the sciences as well as poetry, literature, and history were a source of great pride for the school. The Colegio de Belén also established itself as a venue for important Catholic national and international conferences in the 1940s and 1950s.
As part of the Jesuit commitment to fostering the spiritual development of their students and alumni in the Catholic faith, the Colegio de Belén founded Marian Congregations, alumni organizations, and gratuitous educational facilities. These extended the Jesuit’s ministry beyond the academic education provided to its students, also addressing the educational needs of the disadvantaged in surrounding communities. Through the school’s Marian Congregations, the Jesuits encouraged student involvement in helping the disadvantaged. The Jesuits also helped their alumni found organizations such as the
Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén and the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU). For both of these organizations, the Jesuits provided spiritual directors who continued to guide and mentor alumni after they went on to pursue their university studies and professional careers. Through the Marian Congregations and the alumni organizations, Colegio de Belén students and alumni remained involved in fund raising and staffing for several of the gratuitous educational facilities founded by the Colegio de Belén, such as the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén and the Escuela Nocturna Obrera de Belén (ENOB). The success of this synergetic relationship was aptly expressed by Colegio de Belén alumnus, Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante, who also served as a magistrate at the International Court of Justice at the Hague. In his speech, delivered at the Marianao Campus inaugural ceremonies, Sánchez de Bustamante stated:
“The two great social institutions which form a human being for life (and in forming human beings, these institutions also form the nation) are undoubtedly the family and the school. If we could somehow keep statistics of moral forces, as data is kept to measure material endeavors, we would be surprised to realize what the constant, heightened, and noble actions of the Colegio de Belén have meant for Cuba for over three quarters of a century. Our culture, social discipline, human character, and concepts of public and private life owe much more to the Colegio de Belén than we can, at first glance, possibly imagine. To the Colegio de Belén, we profess our best wishes for continued growth and success, which will assuredly add to its already long line of accomplishments and glory.”7
Political Instability and Anti-Clericalism
Although the move to the educational complex in Marianao was in itself a great achievement, the turbulent times, political instability, and challenges that preceded and endured throughout the school’s tenure at its new campus were significant enough to consider their historical origins as well as their effect on the school’s development.
The political instability, which existed in Cuba before and after the Colegio de Belén relocated to the Marianao Campus, originated prior to founding of the Cuban Republic. Beleaguered at first by colonial attitudes that regarded political office as a chance for personal prestige and enrichment, and later by popular attitudes that valued charismatic authority above tangible results, the political leaders of the Cuban Republic were unsuccessful at establishing a stable political climate.8 Since the first elections in 1901, contention between conservative and liberal groups brought about electoral fraud, threats to boycott elections, or the staging of armed revolts, all of which were used as a means of either obtaining or maintaining political office. These dramatic, political successions included high levels of public anticipation and optimism for newly-elected leaders, who always proposed new eras filled with reform and prosperity, but who failed to deliver on their promises. Predictably, accusations of government stagnation and corruption ensued against the incumbents. Opposition groups, in an effort to gain control of the political process, then took to carrying out armed uprisings in the countryside or gang-related violence in the cities, all of which destroyed life and property. As would be expected, the violence resulted in the government’s imposing repressive measures to restore societal order.
Moreover, while the decades which followed the establishment of the Cuban Republic had been characterized by a rapid proliferation of private schools established by members of Catholic religious orders, the mere existence of these schools did not translate into a political environment which consistently favored religious education. Weakened by the anti-clerical policies of the Spanish liberal governments of the nineteenth century, the Catholic Church had wavered in its support for Cuban independence and had instead supported Spanish colonial rule. Even as the establishment of the Cuban Republic did not bring about the religious purges experienced in other
Latin American countries, it did cause pro-independence men, in particular, to regard Spanish clerics with indifference, suspicion, and at times outright anticlerical sentiment. As Jesuit author, Fr. Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ stated:
“The independence efforts and the new Republic became as a consequence anti-clerical. Men seldom participated in Church functions. The liturgies and sacraments were mainly attended by women and children. Even though my family was Catholic and all members went to Catholic schools, anti-clericalism was very strong.”9
In 1925, the same year that the Colegio de Belén relocated to the Marianao Campus, Cuban President Gerardo Machado also took office, and the Cuban people were once again filled with great expectations about their new leader. Machado’s golden promises included a one-term presidency, a new commercial treaty with the United States, an end to the Platt Amendment (1901-1934), judicial and educational reforms, and autonomy for the Universidad de La Habana.10 President Machado’s reforms, however, did not materialize and in April 1928, at his urging, the Cuban Congress passed a constitutional revision abolishing the vice presidency and granting him the right to remain in office until 1935 without holding general elections.11 Students, workers, and political groups opposed to President Machado protested, sometimes violently, and their demonstrations were in turn met with repressive police action, a government shut-down of the university, and the outlawing of all student gatherings and demonstrations.
In 1930, the former superior of the Jesuit Province of León, Fr. Enrique Carvajal, SJ (1872-1956), who had also been appointed on June 10th, 1929 as the superior of the newly-established Jesuit Vice Province of Cuba, arrived at the Colegio de Belén to serve as its rector during the 1930-1931 academic year. Since his arrival from Spain, Fr. Carvajal had an opportunity to witness some of the political instability and anti-clericalism prevalent on the island; therefore, he urged the Jesuits to continue their educational ministry, stressing piety and religious devotion to students as they were to become also
An Honest President
tion as prices plummeted. Near the Colegio de Belén, an explosive charge was set off during exams, and although it failed to cause damages or loss of life, the ongoing violence was a constant source of concern for the Jesuits.14
Carlos Mendieta Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Carlos Mendieta was born at the La Matilde sugar mill near San Antonio de las Vueltas, in the Cuban Province of Las Villas, on November 4th, 1873. After attending the Colegio de Belén, the Colegio El Mesías, and the Instituto de Santa Clara, he enrolled in the Universidad de La Habana to study medicine but interrupted his studies to join the Liberation Army, where he earned the rank of Colonel during the Cuban War of Independence (18951898). After the war, he obtained a Doctor of Medicine (1901) but never practiced his profession. After the founding of the Cuban Republic (1902), he was elected as a Congressman (19021923) representing various political parties and coalitions over the years. As part of the Unión Nacionalista, he fought against President Gerardo Machado and was deported to the United States in 1931. He returned after Machado’s fall in 1933. On January 18th, 1934, he began serving provisional President of Cuba. During his presidency, women earned the right to vote and the government rescinded the Platt Amendment. However, continued political unrest -which included university student revolts, labor union strikes, threats to boycott the elections of 1936, and an attempt on his life- forced his resignation in December of 1935. About him, Historian Hugh Thomas stated: “Mendieta had shown himself in two years of compromises as an honest man among thieves, who could not, however, bring himself to believe that the thieves were less honest than he.”12 After this time, he fluctuated between public service and private business. After Fulgencio Batista’s military coup in 1952, he formed a coalition that attempted to negotiate elections and return to the rule of law. He died in Havana on September 27th, 1960.
the beacons of faith and hope for their families.13 By March 1932, however, bombings, murders, general strikes, university student uprisings, and gangster-like activity were an everyday occurrence in Havana, and it seemed as if a mini-civil war was on its way. In the countryside, violence also spread, affecting sugar produc-
In May 1933, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) sent Ambassador Summer Welles (1892-1961) to mediate between President Machado and the opposition groups. In August, after many failed attempts by Gerardo Machado to restore stability and much negotiation by Welles with different prominent politicians, Machado left the island, and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada (18711939)15 became the first of seven, provisionally-appointed, “nonelected” presidents of Cuba. As a result of the violence that ensued after Machado’s exit, and the anti-clerical rhetoric espoused by certain Cuban political groups, the superior of the Jesuit Vice Province of Cuba, Fr. Ignacio Francia, SJ (1872-1956), was understandably concerned over the safety of the Jesuits, their educational institutions, and churches. As a result, Fr. Francia issued a strict recommendation on August 19th to all Jesuits on the island, asking that they remain politically neutral and profess both calm and temperance to those around them in the hope that the violence would eventually subside, and their safety would be ensured.16
The violence continued during the last days of August 1933, as Gerardo Machado’s political rivals took revenge on his supporters. The De Céspedes provisional government quickly began to fall apart. In the Marianao section of Havana, near the Colegio de Belén, former members of the Machado administration were murdered and more than three hundred homes were ransacked.17 Then, on September 4th, disgruntled, enlisted members of the Cuban army, amongst which was Sergeant Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973), carried out a military coup d’état at the Columbia Army headquarters near Havana. The 1933 military coup represented a turning point in Cuban history, as it established the military as political force in Cuban politics and Batista, who was soon to become Army Chief of Staff as a commanding figure in Cuban governmental affairs.
Confusion ensued as groups negotiated for power. Shortly thereafter, Fulgencio Batista, acting as the military’s leader, reached an agreement with the Federación Estudiantil Universitaria (FEU). The agreement placed university professor, Ramón Grau San Martín (1887-1969), as president. The Grau San Martín’s government how-
ever, was also short-lived, as popular support for its policies waned, and the United States failed to recognize it as legitimate. On January 14th, 1934, under pressure from Fulgencio Batista, President Grau San Martín resigned. The Cuban Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Hevia (1900-1964) replaced Grau, but he also resigned two days later. Manuel Márquez Sterling (1872-1934) replaced President Hevia, but only for a few hours. The presidency was then filled by Colegio de Belén alumnus, Carlos Mendieta, whose provisional government the United States recognized five days later. As author José Manuel Hernández explained:
“By January 15th, 1934, the headline printed in the El Mundo newspaper on September 23rd, 1933, which questioned “Who is in charge in Cuba?” had been cleared up manu militari (with a military hand). The one in charge in Cuba was the sergeant that had stirred up the troops on September 4th. Many feared a violent reaction from the people, who had instinctually supported the revolutionary government (of Grau San Martín), but after various years of fighting and uncertainty, the desire for peace and stability was almost universal.”18
President Mendieta’s provisional presidential term lasted almost two years, during which the controversial Platt Amendment (19011934) was rescinded through the 1934 Treaty of Relations with the United States. Political unrest surrounding the 1936 elections, however, forced his resignation in December 1935. A New York Times headline read:
“Mendieta Resigns Cuban Presidency; Steps Out After His Failure to Conciliate Political Parties Preparatory to Elections. State Secretary Named Barnet Provisional Executive; Ministry and Council of State to Meet Today.”19
José Barnet (1864-1945) succeeded President Mendieta as the seventh provisional president to take office after Gerardo Machado left the island. Elections were finally held in January 1936, and Jesuit Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat alumnus, Miguel Mariano Gómez (1889-1950) was inaugurated as president on May 20th. President Gómez’s controversial veto of a bill however, that aimed to create 1,000 civic-military schools in remote rural areas, and which was strongly supported by then Army Chief of Staff, Fulgencio Batista,
“Force Alone is Precarious if not Authorized by Reason and Justice”
1936.
Miguel Mariano Gómez was born on October 6th, 1889 in Sancti Spíritus, Las Villas, Cuba. He was the son of José Miguel Gómez (1858-1921), Cuba’s second President (1909-1913). Since Gómez had been educated at a Jesuit school in Sancti Spíritus, he enrolled his son at the Jesuit Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat in nearby Cienfuegos. Later, Miguel studied at both the New York Military Academy and at the Universidad de La Habana, where he obtained a Doctor of Law degree. In 1914, he was elected to the Cuban House of Representatives, where he served until 1926, when he was elected Mayor of Havana. In 1931, however, his activities against President Gerardo Machado forced him into exile. After Machado’s departure in 1933, he returned to Cuba, and President Carlos Mendieta appointed him Mayor of Havana (1934). During his terms as mayor, he created Havana’s maternity and children’s hospitals, and founded a school named after his father. In 1936, he was elected President of Cuba and began a vast program for economic, political, and social reforms; however, he was impeached by the Cuban Congress seven months later (December 1936), after repeated disagreements and vetoes of controversial laws, supported by then Army Chief of Staff Fulgencio Batista, aimed at establishing more military control over the country. In his inaugural address he had stated: “Force alone is precarious if it is not animated and authorized by reason and justice, without which, firm and permanent peace cannot exist.”20 After his impeachment, he was President of the Republican Action Party (PAC). He died on October 26th, 1950, and shortly after his death, in an attempt to vindicate his memory, a resolution presented by Congressman Manuel Dorta-Duque (‘14) (18961964) in the Cuban Congress successfully vacated Gómez’s original impeachment by Congress in 1936.
brought about political maneuvering that led to his impeachment by the Cuban Congress in December of 1936. Vice President Federico Laredo Brú (1875-1946) served out the rest of President Gómez’s term, and in October of 1940, after an extensive presidential campaign, Fulgencio Batista was elected president of Cuba (1940-1944).
Miguel Mariano Gómez
Photograph from Ecos de Belén,
President Fulgencio Batista’s successful bid for the presidency included a program of nationalist social reform. It also included the support of the labor movement, which had close ties to the old Communist Party of Cuba, with which Batista forged an alliance in 1938, known as the Coalición Socialista Democrática (CSD). During the 1920s, internationalist Marxist or communist ideas from the Russian Revolution (1917) through its international communist organization Cominterm (1919-1945) made their way into the political
and ideological agendas espoused by some of Cuba’s labor union leaders as well as some of the student organizations at the Universidad de La Habana. In 1925, labor activist Carlos Baliño López (1848-1926), student leader Julio Antonio Mella (1903-1929), and others founded the first internationalized Communist Party of Cuba. Julio Antonio Mella also founded the party’s other ancillary associations, amongst which was the anti-clerical organization, the Liga Anticlerical. After Baliño López died in 1926 and Mella was killed in Mexico in 1929, some of the other Communist Party members continued to pursue an anti-clerical as well as an anti-religious education political agenda.
The name of the internationalized Communist Party of Cuba was changed in 1937 to Partido Unión Revolucionaria (PUR) and in 1939 to Unión Revolucionaria Comunista (URC), with Juan Marinello Vidaurreta (1898-1977) as its president, and Blas Roca Caldeiro (1908-1987) as its secretary general.21 In 1939, both Marinello Vidaurreta and Roca Caldeiro obtained representative seats in the 1940 Convención Constituyente under the umbrella of the Coalición Socialista Democrática (CSD). Presided by Carlos Márquez Sterling (1898-1991), the constitutional assembly took six months to debate, draft, and ratify a new Cuban Constitution, which replaced the one adopted at the founding of the Cuban Republic in 1902. In the months leading up to the November 15th, 1939 elections, anti-clerical and pro-secular education groups rallied in view of the upcoming constitutional assembly. In August, the Asociación Educacional de Cuba proposed that the constitution include a provision stating that education taught throughout the nation be strictly secular. Along the same lines, declarations at the teacher and student congresses, the Congreso Internacional Americano de Maestros and the Congreso Nacional de Estudiantes, respectively held in September and November in Havana, also proclaimed that Cuban education should be ruled only by secular principles.22
In order to counteract the political agendas of anti-clerical political groups, representatives from Catholic educational institutions, as well as other Catholic organizations, including the Caballeros de Colón (Knights of Columbus), the Federación de la Juventud Católica Cubana, the Caballeros Católicos, and the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU), participated in a national Catholic campaign. It included radio addresses, public demonstrations,
rallies, and mass mailings meant to raise public awareness and express support for preserving the right to religious education. At the school, Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ (18951983), Fr. José Rubinos Ramos, SJ (1898-1963), Fr. Román Galán, SJ, and representatives from the other three Jesuit schools in Cuba attended the first educational congress held in Santiago de Cuba. At the congress, Fr. Calvo spoke against the doctrine of universal secularism, and the much debated issue of religious education. He also addressed the proposed constitutional provisions which called for Cuban natives to be the only ones allowed to teach or write text books used in the nation’s schools.23
Several anti-clerical and pro-secular education advocates acquired seats in the 1940 Convención Constituyente which began deliberations on February 9th at the Capitolio Nacional de Cuba. In an effort to continue the campaign against universal secularization, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ organized a rally near the capitol, at the Teatro Nacional, on February 24th. An estimated 80,000 people protested at the rally, demanding that the constitution include the freedom to provide religious education in Cuba. In April, another constitutional proposal called for the suppression of all religious orders, but that initiative was also met with controversy and was soon abandoned. Notwithstanding the attempts to secularize all education, debates continued throughout 1940, as the Cuban people were forced to think about ideals and principles that they had not examined since achieving their independence from Spain in 1902.24
The Cuban Constitution of 1940 was signed Guáimaro, Camagüey on July 1st, 1940 becoming one of the most progressive constitutions created in Latin America at the time. Undoubtedly, the relentless work of the Catholic organizations was successful in including the most crucial part of their objective into the much debated document. While Article 55 decreed public education as strictly secular, it also granted private schools the right to continue to provide religious education. As part of the same article, private and religious schools were subject to state inspections and rules. This provision was not new and had been enforced by the Ministry of Education throughout the years. It included having students take exams at the regional Institutos de Segunda Enseñanza (Institutes of Secondary Education) upon completing their studies. Students were required to pass the exams in order to validate their diplomas from private educational institutions such as the Colegio de Belén. Nevertheless, in a clear attempt to minimize the influence and instructional role that
A Congressman for Catholic Education
Manuel Dorta-Duque was born on June 27th, 1896 in Corral Falso de Macuriges (Pedro Betancourt) in the Province of Matanzas. He attended the Escuelas Pías and graduated from the Colegio de Belén in 1914. He also earned a degree in Civil Law in 1918 from the Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de La Habana, after which he founded a law firm and La Academic de Leyes, where he taught law to those unable to afford the university’s tuition. During the early 1930s, he defended students and professors against Gerardo Machado’s war council tribunals and won the abolition of the decrees that imposed the closure of the university and other teaching centers throughout the island. In 1936, Cuban President Miguel Mariano Gómez appointed him as head of the Instituto de Estabilización del Café and then as Treasury Minister. He fought but was unable to prevent Gómez’s impeachment and removal from office. In 1937, he was elected national director of the Caballeros de Colón (Knights of Columbus). He was also elected as a delegate to the 1940 Convención Constituyente, where he was the proponent that an invocation to God be included as part of the preamble. He organized the two campaigns (“Por Patria y Reafirmación Católica” and “Por la Patria y por la Escuela”) that advocated freedom of religious education in Cuba. He was elected to Congress as part of the Partido Republicano and later the Partido del Pueblo Cubano (Ortodoxo). He resigned from Congress in protest of the Fulgencio Batista military coup in 1952. Even after the Cuban government turned to communism in 1961, he defended those who were being persecuted until his death on July 6th, 1964. Amongst his children, which attended the Colegio de Belén were Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40), Fr. Francisco Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘48), and Jorge Dorta-Duque (‘51). Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) taught at the school in Havana as well as at Belen Jesuit in South Florida, where he served for almost forty years as the alumni director of the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami.
foreign members of religious orders had on primary and secondary education, Article 56 also established that at all educational centers, public or private, the teaching of Cuban literature, history, and geography as well as that of civics and about the contents of the Cuban Constitution should be imparted by native-born Cuban teachers using textbooks whose authors were also Cuban nationals.
“Por la Patria y por la escuela” Political Protest Rally held at the Teatro Nacional on May 24th, 1941. Photographs from Ecos de Belén, 1942.
Manuel Dorta-Duque (‘14) Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1947.
State control over private education became an issue once again, shortly after the Constitution’s enactment. Through a presidential appointment, Juan Marinello Vidaurreta became president of the Ministry of Education’s Private School Committee, and promptly announced that he was planning to submit a legislative program to the Cuban Congress that would expand the committee’s control over private educational institutions. Once again, Catholic associations mobilized in 1941 under a new and revitalized national Catholic campaign called “For the Homeland and for Schools.” Monumental efforts from Cuban Congressmen, such as Colegio de Belén alumnus Manuel DortaDuque (‘14), the Asociación de Padres de Familia del Colegio de Belén (Parent’s Association), and other Catholic organizations, brought about another rally at the Teatro Nacional on May 24th, 1941.25 In a memorable speech, Dr. Dorta-Duque stated:
“Those who launch this offensive crusade against private schools fail to understand that in their hearts, (Cuban) men and women are not willing to give up the future of their children. Because what we are discussing and debating here pertains to what we most love… at the core of all this is that (they) are not trying to take our health or our lives, but instead they mean to rob us of something much more precious… (They) mean to rob us of the heart and souls of our children.”26
The Catholic campaign succeeded in blocking Juan Marinello’s efforts. In July of 1940, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) (1902-1990), arrived at the Colegio de Belén to assume his new role as the school’s rector. Fr. Baldor’s appointment marked the first time in the history of the school that a native-born Cuban and a Colegio de Belén alumnus would serve as school rector. Almost immediately, Fr. Baldor set out to improve the educational and community service outreach of the school, and took the lead in mobilizing other private schools to continue to preserve the right to religious education. For that purpose, he founded the Confederación de Colegios Católicos de Cuba in 1941. Although it was a Catholic organization, the confederation did not limit its membership to only Catholic institutions. As a result, its membership increased to encompass 245 private schools by the end of the 1940s.27 The confederation held its national congresses at the Colegio de Belén and in 1943, it recorded that its efforts benefited the interests of the more than 24,500 private school students, 6,000 of whom attended those schools at no charge, and an additional 7,500 who only paid minimal tuition.28
A Historic Debate
Efforts by the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén to prevent increased government regulation over private schools were not limited to carrying-out rallies in favor of religious education or the founding of educational organizations to represent the rights of private schools. As the educators of the future leaders of Cuban society, the Jesuits also sought to educate their students about the importance of these issues. As part of their educational efforts, in 1945, the Jesuits established an annual event at the school, during which students debated about freedom of expression, the right to religious education, and the appropriate amount of government regulation over private and/or religious educational institutions. Presided by Havana Archbishop Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt (1879-1963), who the following year would be appointed as the first Catholic Cardinal of Cuba, the Parliamentary Debate was held at the school’s campus in Marianao on March 22nd, 1945. Along with the archbishop, several members of the Cuban Congress including Colegio de Belén alumni Manuel Dorta-Duque (‘14) and José Manuel Cortina (1880-1970) also presided over the debate.
The Parliamentary Debate featured presentations by members of the school’s senior class, including Jorge Sardiña (‘45) (1927-2008), José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) (1925-2013), Ricardo Díaz-Albertini (‘45), Valentín Arenas (‘45), Francisco Rodríguez (‘45), Juan Rovira (‘45), Enrique Yánez (‘45), Luis Juncadella (‘45), Basilio Real (‘45), and Fidel Castro (‘45). During the Parliamentary Debate, Díaz-Albertini, and future Jesuit priest Jorge Sardiña proposed reasons why texts used in private schools should not require the approval of the state. Arenas and future Colegio de Belén professor and Belen Jesuit director of development, José Ignacio Rasco, offered another presentation during which, they examined why the Cuban government should not regulate religious education. Lastly, in his presentation, Fidel Castro explained how government intervention in private education could fluctuate from a condition of complete freedom, where private and/ or religious education is allowed, to one in which the state either gradually or abruptly increases regulation over schools. Castro also explained how concerted increases in government regulation over private schools had eventually brought about the absolute centralization of education in countries such as Russia and Germany.29 Those present at the Colegio de Belén’s Parliamentary Debate on March 22nd, 1945, could not have possibly imagined that amongst the students then presenting, was none other than the future Cuban head of state, who in 1961, would end up abolishing all private and/or religious educational institutions in Cuba. In so doing, Fidel Castro would not only abruptly nationalize his own alma mater, the Colegio de Belén, but he would also absolutely centralize Cuban government control over the country’s educational system.
First Annual Parliamentary Debate held at the Colegio de Belén in 1945. Presiding table including Havana Archbishop Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt, Colegio de Belén alumni José Manuel Cortina (1898) and Manuel DortaDuque (‘14). Photographs from Ecos de Belén, 1945.
Jorge Sardiña (‘45) José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) Fidel Castro (‘45)
Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) addresing a schoolwide audience about the right to religious education in Cuba.
Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1941.
Cuban History and Geography Classroom at the Marianao Campus. Over one of the doors the inscription reads:
“A child has the right to Christian Education.”
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Educational Achievements
In view of the troubling political, economic and social instability that the Colegio de Belén had to face throughout its tenure at the educational complex in Marianao, the success that the school achieved during this period, particularly in the realm of educational achievements, was truly commendable. At both the national and the international level, the Colegio de Belén established itself as a venue for important Catholic conferences and congresses. The school also solidified its educational structure, established traditions, and celebrated some of its most important milestones. All of this not only enabled its growth, but helped to ensure its standing as one of Cuba’s most prominent educational institutions.
The Colegio de Belén’s educational achievements, while at the Marianao Campus, included the school’s appointment in 1936 as the designated United States College Entrance Examination Board testing site on the island, where students could take standardized tests for entrance into US colleges and universities. In 1943, in order to comply with government regulations, the school also added an additional year to its curriculum, creating a designated preuniversity division. It also increased its campus library holdings to more than 55,000 volumes, which were held as part of several oncampus libraries. In 1944, the Jesuits also began developing plans to establish the Universidad Católica de Belén, which would include schools for the study of Humanities, Engineering, and Medicine. Although the Ministry of Education approved the plans in July of 1957, the political changes associated with the Cuban Revolution would prevent the plan from ever coming to fruition. In 1949, the school established a pre-school kindergarten off-campus facility, which started with eighty-five students and grew to teach more than 150 by 1961. A specifi c educational division within the school for the study of Commerce or Business Administration was also made available to students from 1953 to 1957.
Other notable academic achievements were the ongoing scientific research, as well as the editorial and literary publication efforts of the Jesuit faculty, which contributed to the outstanding accomplishments of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén, the Colegio de Belén Museo de Historia Natural, and the Academia Literaria Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. In the field of physical education, the new location in Marianao, with its expanded facilities, allowed the school to improve their athletic programs and launch specialized summer camps and clubs.
Athletics, Summer, and Extracurricular Activities
Physical education and organized team sports at the Colegio de Belén date back to the plan of studies submitted to colonial authorities by the school’s first rector, Fr. Bartolomé Munar, SJ on February 14th 1854. The plan included gymnastics and equestrian instruction as part of the school’s curriculum, a practice that was implemented shortly after the school began operations. Over the years, however, it became evident that the Colegio de Belén’s Compostela Campus had limited space to accommodate the school’s needs for athletic activities and events. Thus, in 1883, the Jesuit leadership purchased the Quinta de la Asunción in the Havana area of Luyano. The forty-four acre property was used over the years to carry out Carlos J. Finlay’s yellow fever research, and to house the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén’s seismic and magnetic instruments. Colegio de Belén students accessed the property in the afternoons by using the Havana Central and Havana Electric cable cars that set out near the Compostela Campus after 1905.30 The Quinta de la Asunción grounds had plenty of space to practice gymnastics and gave students access to four baseball diamonds. The first Colegio de Belén baseball team, named the Belén Giants, practiced at the property right before the turn of the century. During the 1920s, the Quinta de la Asunción also began to be used for track and field events.
Use of the Quinta de la Asunción grounds became less relevant once the Colegio de Belén moved to the Marianao Campus in 1925. With its forty-seven acre grounds, the new campus proved more than ample to implement the school’s commitment to sport activities. The property was outfitted from early on to include a fresh water pool, five basketball courts, five baseball diamonds, five tennis courts, five football fields, and gymnasiums at which students could practice both gymnastics and fencing. In addition, the Jesuit leadership also purchased another property in Miramar close to the coast, where they built a salt water pool, which enabled students to undertake swimming as a sport and use either pool for practice, recreation, and competitions.
By 1941, Aurelio Naranjo taught Physical Education, and Otilio (Capy) Campuzano and Reinaldo Cordeiro served as baseball
Exploradores del Colegio de Belén. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1945.
Colegio de Belén Giants Baseball Team 1917.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Campamento de Verano del Colegio de Belén in El Salado, Baracoa, Provincia de La Habana, 1956. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
coaches. Colegio de Belén students competed against several other Catholic schools such as the Colegio La Salle, the Colegio Baldor the Marist Colegio de Champagnat de la Víbora, and Candler College.31 Ecos de Belén, the school’s official bimonthly magazine, dedicated at least twenty pages to athletics, recording victories, and sports statistics for the school. In January of 1946, as a result of a visit to Havana from the Miami, Florida Gesù School championship basketball team, the Colegio de Belén’s 1946 basketball team traveled with Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ to South Florida and competed against four schools: Miami Beach, Gesù, Ponce de León, and St. Peter and Paul. The Colegio de Belén defeated the last three schools during the competition.
The Colegio de Belén also established a resident summer camp in 1945, under the direction of Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) (1908-1992), which in addition to engaging in physical education and sports, also took field trips to various locations throughout the island. Summer camp students visited places such as the El Salado Jesuit property in Baracoa, Sabicú in Taco-Taco, the Quiñones
Plantation in Bahía Honda, and Camajuaní in the Province of Las Villas.32 The Exploradores del Colegio de Belén, organized somewhat analogous to the Boys Scouts of America, offered students an opportunity to participate in expeditions to some of Cuba’s valleys, caves, and mountain regions, where students camped out, climbed, and observed foliage, rock formations, and bodies of water.
In 1957, the school inaugurated a specialty summer camp at the Jesuit property of El Salado, in Baracoa, near Havana. The architectural plans were executed by Colegio de Belén alumni, Jorge Dorta-Duque (‘51) and Jesús Permuy. Compañía Naroca, owned by Ramón Mestre (‘47) undertook the construction of eight pavilions, which included a chapel, dormitories, bathrooms, a cafeteria, and game room. The camp included sports and activities but also classes and language instruction conducted by Fr. Robert Hayfey, SJ, who came from the United States to teach at the Campamento de Verano del Colegio de Belén en El Salado. Fr. Francisco Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘48), completed the project under the direction of Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Eduardo Martínez-Márquez, SJ (‘23) (1906-1987).
Museo de Historia Natural
A Prominent Jesuit Arachnologist
The Museo de Historia Natural del Colegio de Belén had been originally founded at the Compostela Campus, under the direction of Jesuit Entomologist, Fr. Pelegrín Franganillo Balboa, SJ, whose work represented a great source of pride for the school. After the Colegio de Belén relocated to the Marianao Campus, Fr. Franganillo continued his extensive contribution to the study of the natural sciences by editing textbooks on botany (1927), zoology (1927), and the natural sciences (1927)(1934). Perhaps his best-known works, however, were his collections of arachnids, which he used as specimen exhibits for the Colegio de Belén’s students. During his 18 years of teaching and research in Spain, and later his thirty-five five years at the Colegio de Belén and the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba, Fr. Franganillo, amassed and classified an extensive Cuban spider collection, which today still remains as part of the Instituto de Zoología de la Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana. In 1944, he turned over another Cuban spider collection, with ninety-two cataloged species, to the Universidad de La Habana, which was henceforth used for coursework and experiments in the Facultad de Ciencias at the university.
Pelegrín Franganillo Balboa, SJ was born on December 4th, 1873 in Molina Seca, León, Spain. He entered the Society of Jesus on January 23rd, 1889, and was ordained in 1904. He attended the Colegio Máximo de Oña in Burgos, Spain, where he studied philosophy and theology. He then served as professor of biology and science in Spain until 1918, after which he was sent to Cuba, where he served as a science and biology professor at both the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba and at the Colegio de Belén in Havana. Fr. Franganillo published several studies on the fauna of spiders of Spain and Portugal and carried out extensive research about the types of spiders that existed in Cuba. He published a comprehensive work: Las Arañas, where he explained his findings. He amassed several collections of spiders both in the Havana and Santiago de Cuba areas of the island, which he later donated to the Universidad de La Habana to complement their research on the species. He died at the Colegio de Belén in Havana in 1955.
Pelegrin Franganillo, SJ Ecos de Belén, 1939 and 1952.
Museo de Historia Natural del Colegio de Belén. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
A Writer, Journalist, Orator, and Poet
José Rubinos Ramos SJ was born on April 3 rd, 1898 in La Coruña, Galicia, Spain. He entered the Society of Jesus at Carrion de los Condes in Spain on April 19 th, 1913. He then traveled to Colombia to study philosophy and science. Having completed his studies, he traveled to Quito, Ecuador to complete his Doctorate in Theology. In Quito, he was ordained a priest on July 24 th, 1926. After conducting additional travel to Spain and Colombia, where he founded a Catholic magazine and took his final vows as a Jesuit (1929). In 1930, he began teaching at the Colegio de Belén in Marianao. There, he taught literature and established the Academia Literaria Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaned a, a literary academy meant to enhance student knowledge about literature, journalism, poetry, and oratory practice. He served as editor of several magazines, including the Revista de Belén (1929-1939). In Cuba, he continued to study and obtained a Doctorate in Philosophy and Letters from the Universidad de La Habana in 1942. He was the President of the Asociación Iniciadora y Protectora de la Real Academia Gallega, an association that fostered learning about Galician culture, literature, and traditions. He was a regular contributor and columnist for the Diario de la Marina newspaper’s Catholic Section. In 1958, he received the highest journalistic honor awarded on the island, the José Ignacio Rivero National Prize for Journalism. He was awarded the honor for his article entitled, Niños con los ojos vendados He was also a member of several cultural societies and participated as a lecturer in many conferences. He authored several books in Spanish and in Galician, including: A epopeia da sega (1940) and O esprito das cidades galegas (1948). When the Cuban government closed the Colegio de Belén in Havana and expelled the Jesuits from the island in 1961, he was forced to leave the island. He taught at Belen Jesuit and died in Miami on March 12 th, 1963. He always professed his love for Cuba, recalling how much he missed his days on the island, as well as for his experiences at the Colegio de Belén.
Fr. José Rubinos Ramos, SJ receiving the National Prize for Journalism in 1958 from José Ignacio Rivero. In the center, the Archbishop of Havana Cardinal Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt. Photographs from Ecos de Belén, 1958.
Publications and the Academia Literaria Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda
During the years that the Colegio de Belén resided at the Compostela Campus, the school engaged in publications which were recorded in a catalog entitled: Catalogo de Obras Publicadas de 1858 a 1915 Moreover, as part of their fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries, the school published two commemorative albums in 1904 and 1914, which included not only the history of the school and the Jesuits in Cuba, but also lists and photographs of its alumni and faculty. Seven yearbooks were also published at the Compostela Campus between 1918 and 1925. Nevertheless, Jesuit faculty editorial publishing projects soared at the educational complex in Marianao, with the publication of numerous magazines, textbooks, books, and pedagogical course aides.
Under the direction of Fr. Enrique Pérez, SJ, Fr. José Rubinos Ramos, SJ, and Fr. Maturino de Castro, SJ, the school launched the publication of a magazine called Belén (1926-1938) which was later substituted by Ecos de Belén (1938-1958), which Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ directed until 1950, and which Fr. Gustavo Amigó, SJ, and Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) also directed and managed. Ecos de Belén served as the school’s official magazine. Published bimonthly, it included articles about the ongoing events at the school and on the island, as well as stories or poems written by the Jesuits. It also functioned as the school’s yearbook, featuring photographs of students, the graduating class, and academic awards.
The production and publication of books were also encouraged. Jesuit faculty paid particular attention to publishing textbooks, which included elementary education texts about geography and mathematics as well as pedagogical guides for teaching both subjects. Fr. José Beloqui, SJ also published two editions of books about geography, astronomy, and physics (1920; 1926), and Fr. Maturino de Castro, SJ wrote a two-volume physics textbook. Fr. de Castro also authored another physics textbook (1928) in collaboration with Fr. Santiago María Viña, SJ.
In 1945, Fr. José Rubinos Ramos, SJ published the first of several volumes proving comments and discussion topics about famous poems and world literature. Fr. Rubinos’s 32-year tenure at the Colegio de Belén (1929-1961) included such accomplishments as the founding of the Academia Literaria Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda in 1931. The Literary Academy within the Colegio de Belén cultivated the literary, writing, and oratory skills of its students. Fr. Rubinos chose to name the academy after Cuban writer, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda
(1814-1873), widely known as “La Avellaneda,” whose personal history had ties to the Colegio de Belén. Gómez de Avellaneda had been born in Cuba, in the City of Puerto Principe, the original city that became modern day Camagüey. She lived in Cuba, where she published poems under the pseudonym of La Peregrina. In 1836, she moved to Spain and went on to become one of the foremost Romantic writers of the nineteenth century as well as one of the most highly regarded women poets of her time. When she returned to Cuba in 1859, Gómez de Avellaneda was crowned with gold laurel leaves in recognition for her contributions to Cuban national literature. She took her gold laurels to the church at the Colegio de Belén Compostela Campus and offered them to Our Lady of Belén at her altar. The gold laurels remained at the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén at the Compostela Campus until the school moved to the educational complex in Marianao, where the laurels were placed on display in the Cuban Library Collection section of the school’s library.33
Fr. José Rubinos Ramos, SJ enhanced and maintained the Cuban Library Collection and published essays and articles with such frequency that in 1957, he compiled one-hundred of his articles and short essays for publication. Amongst his more than 20 literary works was the epic poem Covadonga (1950), written in both Galician and Castilian Spanish, and Dial Poético da viaxe dun galego polos Estados Unidos (1958), which was written in Galician but also had an English language version. In September of 1958, Fr. Rubinos received the highest journalism prize awarded in Cuba, the Premio Nacional de Periodismo José Ignacio Rivero (National Journalism Award), at a banquet in the Hotel Nacional where Cardinal Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt, several ambassadors, and other Cuban professionals honored his achievements.
Federico de Madrazo, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. 1857, oil on canvas, 46 by 33 in. Museo de la Fundación Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid, Spain.
Colegio de Belén Library at the Marianao Campus. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
A Cordial President
Carlos Prio Socarrás was born in Bahía Honda, Cuba on July 14th, 1903. He studied at the Colegio de Belén, where he served as treasurer of his graduating class (1920). While at the school, he established the Pledge of Allegiance to the Cuban flag ceremony, a practice that became a long-standing tradition at the Colegio de Belén until it was closed in 1961. Prio Socarrás studied Law at the Universidad de La Habana, where he became involved in political opposition activities to depose Cuban President Gerardo Machado. He helped organize the Partido Revolucionario Cubano Auténtico, which took over after Machado was ousted in 1933; however, he was soon forced to go into exile, when Fulgencio Batista deposed provisional President Ramón Grau San Martín through a military coup de tat and outlawed the Partido Auténtico. He returned to Cuba in 1939, and he was elected to the 1940 Convención Constituyente and as senator for the Partido Auténtico (1940-1944). He served as President Grau San Martín’s Prime Minister (1945-1947) and Labor Minister (1947-1948), and in 1948 was elected President of Cuba. He was called the “Cordial President” and was committed to promoting civil liberties and freedom of expression. He established the Cuban National Bank, civil service, labor courts, increased foreign trade, and made advances in public works. He was deposed by Fulgencio Batista on March 10th, 1952 and went into exile in the United States until 1959, when he returned to Cuba to support Fidel Castro (‘45). In 1961, he returned to South Florida and remained a spokesman against the Castro government until his apparent suicide on April 5th, 1977.
Catholic Conferences and Congresses
Through the end of the 1940s and throughout the1950s, the Colegio de Belén established itself as the venue for important national and international Catholic Conferences and Congresses. In 1945, the school hosted the III Congreso de la Confederación de Colegios Católicos de Cuba (July 31st-August 3rd), hosting representatives from over 245 of the island’s private schools. In 1947, it housed the Catholic male youth activities of the IV Congreso de Acción Católica, (November 16th-17th). In 1949, it also held the II Semana Interamericana de Acción Católica (February 6th-12th) during which Cuban President Carlos Prío Socarrás (‘20) greeted international delegates and expressed his support for their work.
The school also served as a venue for the IV Congreso Latino Americano de Educación Católica in January of 1954. Cuban Cardinal Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt, the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Francis Spellman (1889-1967), and delegations from almost every North, South, and Central American country in the hemisphere attended the congress. The delegations studied the issues challenging Catholic education in Latin America, as translators simultaneously offered sessions in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The Vatican radio transmitted the closing remarks for the conference from Pope Pius XII (1876-1958), who also blessed its participants.
The Asociación Nacional de Padres de Familia was also formally founded on June 2nd, 1957 at the Colegio de Belén with Agustín Vega Penichet as its first president. The association held it first national assembly at the school on February 28th, 1959, which parent representatives from throughout the island attended.
Anniversary Celebrations
The Colegio de Belén celebrated several important milestones during the 1950s, such as the twenty-fifth anniversary of the educational complex in Marianao and the one-hundredth anniversary of the school’s founding in Cuba. On December 17th, 1950, the school celebrated its first twenty-five years at the Marianao Campus. Cuban Cardinal Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt celebrated Mass, and superior of the Vice Province of Cuba and former Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ, renewed the school’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the school’s central patio monument, just as had been done during the inauguration ceremonies in 1925.
The Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén held a banquet to commemorate the event and Cuban Health Minister Juan Antonio Rubio Padilla (‘26) gave the keynote address.
An even more significant celebration was held in 1954. The school’s one-hundredth anniversary was celebrated that year. On March 2nd, the school’s official founding date in Cuba, Cardinal Arteaga celebrated a school-wide Mass for students. Adding to the significance of this memorable occasion, Vatican Foreign Minister Giovanni Battista Montini (1897-1978), the future Pope Paul VI (1897-1978), sent a letter to the Colegio de Belén Rector Fr. Miguel A. Larrucea, SJ (1910-1960) from Holy See. In the letter, Pope Pius XII conferred upon the school the Benemerenti Medal, awarded for its long and exceptional service to the Catholic families and the Cuban community. The letter also offered the Pope’s blessings for the school’s professors, students, and alumni.
The main celebration events for the one-hundredth anniversary took place from April 23rd-25th, 1954, and included visits from Colegio de Belén alumni as well as students and alumni from the other Jesuit schools in Cuba, such as the Colegio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Sagua la Grande and the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba. Students and alumni also visited from the Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On April 23rd, the Jesuits celebrated a Mass dedicated to school benefactors Narciso Gelats (1895), Francisca Grau del Valle and her son, Estanislao del Valle. After the Mass, marble busts of Mr. Gelats and Mrs. Grau del Valle were unveiled in the school’s entrance hall. These were displayed as a reminder of Mr. Gelats’s and Mrs. Grau
del Valle’s generous donations to help build the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola, also known as the Iglesia de Reina in Havana. Mrs. Grau del Valle and her son had also supported the construction of the Jesuit novitiates: Noviciado de Salamanca in Spain and the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario) in Havana.34
On April 24th, students participated in the traditional Pledge of Allegiance ceremony dedicated to Cuban poet, José Martí, and on April 25th, more than 700 Colegio de Belén Alumni attended Mass, and paraded with their respective “banderín” or class graduation flag. The procession included alumni representatives from the classes of 1896-1953, amongst which were such prominent alumni as former Cuban President Carlos Mendieta, Electoral Tribunal President Joaquín Ochotorena, Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel de la Campa y Caraveda, as well as six Jesuits, several novitiates, and junior Jesuits. In another ceremony, Foreign Minister de la Campa y Caraveda bestowed on Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), who at the time was serving as the superior of the Jesuit Vice Province of the Antilles, Cuba’s highest honor: the Order of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. Fr. Baldor dedicated the honor to the Society of Jesus and the Colegio de Belén for its one-hundred years of service to Cuba.
Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) carried the banderin for his class during alumni procession at the one-hundredth anniversary celebration on April 25th, 1954. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1954. Head delegates of the IV Congreso Latino Americano de Educación Católica, held at the Colegio de Belén January 4th -12th, 1954. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1954.
Cuban President Carlos Prío Socarrás (‘20), at the opening ceremonies for the II Semana Interamericana de Acción Católica, February 6th-12th, 1949. Ecos de Belén, 1949.
Marian Congregation Altar at the Colegio de Belén. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1942.
Francisco de Goya, San Luis Gonzaga. c.1785, 102 by 63 in. Museo de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
Spiritual Development and Community Outreach
Throughout the Colegio de Belén’s tenure in Cuba, the Jesuits were deeply committed to fostering the spiritual development of their students and alumni in the Catholic faith. The Jesuits also remained faithful to the missionary principle of their educational ministry, which aimed to provide educational services to everyone, even those who may not otherwise be able to afford it. In order to foster the spiritual development of students and alumni, the Jesuits established Marian Congregations, alumni associations, and held retreats to carry out St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises In order help provide educational and spiritual services to the disadvantaged, the Jesuits established scholarships as well as gratuitous educational institutions at the Colegio de Belén and at several marginal neighborhoods throughout Havana. Hence, a synergistic interaction developed between students, alumni, the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén and the Havana community. The results of this interaction benefited the educational and spiritual development of students and alumni as well as furthered the missionary commitment of the Jesuits, as it addressed the educational needs of the disadvantaged.
Marian Congregations
Marian Congregations were an important part of Jesuit secondary educational institutions. Their common rules stressed the student’s Catholic devotional life. They also emphasized student attention to their studies and personal piety as well as their dedication to the service of the disadvantaged.35 The Marian Congregations established at the Colegio de Belén emphasized student educational goals and spiritual development and became an important component of the community outreach efforts carried out at the school during its tenure both at the Compostela Campus and at the school’s educational complex in Marianao.
Marian Congregations had been part of Jesuit secondary institutions for several centuries. They first originated in 1563 with Fr. Jean Leunis, SJ (1532-1584) and a group of students at the Collegio Romano, which
later became the Pontificia Università Gregoriana. The Collegio Romano student group became the model for other Marian Congregations or Sodalities of Our Lady, as they were also known in Jesuit educational institutions throughout the world. In 1578, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Claudio Acquaviva, SJ approved the common rules for the Collegio Romano Congregation. In 1584, Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585), through the papal bull Omnipotentis Dei, entitled it as the head of all the subsequent Marian Congregations. In a subsequent papal bull, Superna Dispositione, Pope Sixtus V (1520-1590) gave the superior general the right to create aggregate congregations within other schools.
In the eighteenth century, Marian Congregation memberships increased from 2,500 groups to over 80,000. In 1922, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Wlodimir Ledóchowski, SJ (1866-1942), in an effort to revitalize the Marian Congregations, convened a meeting, and a secretariat was founded. In 1948, Pope
Pius XII (1876-1958), with his Apostolic Constitution, Bis Saeculari, also addressed the revitalization of the Marian Congregations, explained their authentic identity, and gave orientations for the future of their works. In 1951, the first world congress of lay apostolate was held in Rome, and in 1953, Pope Pius XII approved the World Federation of the Marian Congregations.36
At the Colegio de Belén, two Marian Congregations were created. The Congregación de San Estanislao, for the younger underclassmen was named after St. Stanislaus Kostka, SJ (1550-1568), a Polish Jesuit novice who in 1567, walked 400 miles from Vienna to Rome in order to join the Society of Jesus despite his father’s objections to his joining the order. For the upper classmen, the Congregación de San Luis Gonzaga was named after St. Aloysius Luigi Gonzaga, SJ (1568-1591), an Italian prince, who also struggled with his family to join the Society of Jesus in 1585, and who died in Rome as a result of trying to help the sick, carrying them on his shoulders to get them help during a plague in Rome. Pope Benedict XIII (1649-1730) canonized both St. Stanislaus and St. Luis Gonzaga on December 31st, 1726. Since then, many religious institutions selected St. Stanislaus as the protector of their novitiates. In 1729, Pope Benedict XIII also declared St. Luis Gonzaga the patron saint of young students, and in 1926, Pope Pius XI (18571939) proclaimed him the patron saint of the Christian youth.
The Marian Congregations were also an integral part of the spiritual development of Colegio de Belén students. Since 1917, some of the students carried out St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises during retreats held at the Quinta de la Asunción. After the school moved to the educational complex in Marianao, the Jesuits designated the fourth floor of the new location for carrying out the Spiritual Exercises By 1942, the school’s fourth floor held retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises for nearly 4,000 participants every year. The school also assigned a Jesuit spiritual director to each student division. During the years that the school was at the Marianao Campus, twenty-eight Jesuits served in the role of spiritual directors. Amongst them were: Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ (1920-1984), and Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) (1918-1990).
During May, the month of the year that was dedicated to the Blessed Mother, the Marian Congregations also prepared altars to for Mary and conducted food drives for the disadvantaged. Marian Congregations also participated in the performances carried out as part of the Día Misional (Day for the Missions). Ticket sales for the performances raised funds for a Jesuit missions in Anking, China.
“Build an Educational Complex In Marianao”
Fr. Wlodimir Ledóchowski, SJ Photogrpah from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Wlodimir Ledóchowski, SJ was born on October 7th, 1866, in Loosdorf, Austria of Polish noble ancestry. He was the nephew of Polish Cardinal Mieczysław Ledóchowski (1822-1902), brother to Saint Ursula Ledóchowska (1865–1939), founder of the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus and to the Blessed María Teresia Ledóchowska (1863-1922), also a nun, who devoted her whole life to missions in Africa. He studied at the Jesuit Theresianischen Akademie in Vienna, and he served as a page to the Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898). After studying law at the Uniwersytet Jagielloński in Kraców, he entered the Tarnów Seminary in Poland. He then studied at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana in Rome, where he decided to enter the Society of Jesus in 1889. Five years later, he was ordained a Jesuit priest, and he took to writing, but was soon made superior of the Jesuit residence in Kraców. He became Polish vice provincial (1901), provincial (1902), and then Jesuit assistant for Germany (1906-1915). After the death of Superior General Fr. Franz Xavier Wernz, SJ, Fr. Ledóchowski was elected as the XXVI General of the Society on February 11th, 1915. Despite the upheaval brought about by World War I and II, and being saddened by the loss of his Jesuit brothers, he led the Society to increase and prosper throughout the world (1915-1942). He promoted high educational standards among Catholics, emphasized Jesuit obedience to Ignatian ideals, and developed new missions in China, India, and the Near East. He fought attacks on the Jesuits in Spain, Germany, and Mexico, denounced the German invasion of Poland (1939), and placed a Jesuit from his personal staff to denounce German atrocities over Vatican Radio despite threats from Germany and Italy during the first three years of World War II. Fr. General Ledóchowski approved and supported the building and establishment of the Colegio de Belén’s educational complex in Marianao (July 5th, 1921) and the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola, also known as the Iglesia de Reina, in Havana. He died in Rome on December 13th, 1942.
Education for Everyone
Jesuit efforts to also extend educational services to students whose families could not afford private education for their children were an integral part of the Colegio de Belén and date back to the school’s founding in 1854. Since the days when the Colegio de Belén had been at the Compostela Campus in Havana, the Jesuit religious order provided educational services to some of its students at either a minimal fee or at no cost to their families. In 1862, out of the 236 students enrolled at the school, only 137 were paying full tuition, while the other 99 were attending at no cost or with some sort of financial assistance provided by the Colegio de Belén.37 A letter sent to Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami Director, Fr. Juan M. DortaDuque SJ (‘40) on March 6th, 1981, by Colegio de Belén alumnus Carlos A. Fernández (‘31) demonstrates one of the many examples where a student attended the school at minimal or no cost to his family:
“I would feel terribly ungrateful if I did not help Belén, for there is something that you do not know about my Belén education. My mother, Amparo Fernández Gyori, was but a poor widow when she took me to Belén at seven years of age. In the enclosed receipt from the Compostela Campus, you can see that only a small monthly contribution was required of her to cover the cost of my education. She was only asked to make this payment the first month, and from then forward, she was never asked to pay again. I attended the Colegio de Belén on full scholarship through graduation. Perhaps now you will understand my enduring dedication to Belén, as well as my ongoing participation in all our alumni events. It is, therefore, with immense gratitude to Belén for who I am today, and in the name of my parents, Amparo and Ladislao Fernández Gyori, that I make this pledge to Belén.”38
Also as far back as 1896, the Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén requested assistance from Spanish colonial authorities to establish gratuitous schools that could provide for the educational needs of students from families who could not afford private education. The schools would also allow student attendance without regard to race, social class, or economic means; however, since assistance from colonial authorities did not materialize, the Jesuits took the initiative and helped to found the Colegio El Ángel de la Guarda (Guardian Angel School) near the Compostela Campus, and the Escuela del Niño de Belén within the school.
Colegio El Ángel de la Guarda
One of the first community outreach initiatives through which the Jesuits helped to found educational facilities outside the Colegio de Belén was the Colegio El Ángel de la Guarda. On November 5th, 1902, Fr. Cándido Arbeloa, SJ (1896-1953) helped secular Professor Mariana Lola Álvarez Martínez (1873-1953) found the Colegio El Ángel de la Guarda in a modest house on Luz Street, by the Colegio de Belén Compostela Campus. The Colegio El Ángel de la Guarda was an all-female educational institution, where for free or at a minimal cost, young women were taught without regard to race, social class, or economic means.39
The school grew quickly, and by 1907, its enrollment reached 160 female students. At first, the school only taught up to sixth grade, but in 1921, it expanded its classes to eighth grade. In addition to their basic curriculum, female students took classes in home economics, knitting, sewing, needlework, cooking, and baking as well as in basic document writing, typing, stenography, poetry, music, drawing, painting, and French. The school moved twice, finally settling in June of 1923, into three houses owned by the Jesuits on Carlos III Avenue and San Carlos Street near the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola. During its tenure, the Colegio El Ángel de la Guarda graduated more than 12,000 students. Several Jesuits served as chaplains for the school, including Fr. Cándido Arbeloa, SJ, Fr. Amalio Morán, SJ, Fr. Esteban Rivas, SJ, and Fr. Camilo García, SJ (1925-1929).40
In 1905, the Colegio de Belén designated two classrooms at the Compostela Campus, to found the Escuela del Niño de Belén. This educational endeavor meant to provide education free of charge or at a minimal cost to students of all races. During the years that the Escuela del Niño de Belén held classes at the Compostela Campus, the Jesuits entered into an agreement with another religious order, the Brothers of Christian Schools or Brothers of La Salle, through which the Jesuits provided for the school’s administration, while the Brothers of La Salle took care of teaching the students. Hence, the instruction of the original seventy-three students who enrolled was under the direction of French Brother of La Salle, Hadelin Marie. Information as to the financial assistance offered to each student’s family at the Escuela del Niño de Belén was kept private by the Jesuit administrators in order to protect both the confidentiality of the student and the family. The school functioned at the Compostela Campus until 1915, when the Brothers of La Salle went on to found their own private religious educational institution in Havana, which came to be known as the Colegio La Salle.
After the school moved to the educational complex in Marianao, discussions began during the 1930s between Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Ignacio Francia, SJ, and the Jesuit provincial authorities to reestablish the Escuela del Niño de Belén. The subsequent Rector, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ, began a project with the Colegio de Belén students to design the new Escuela del Niño de Belén within the educational complex in Marianao. The students took both the initiative and responsibility in building the school, calling the endeavor “Our Project” and dedicating their efforts as homage to their Jesuit professors. In an article published in Hercules magazine, the students proclaimed:
“It is our project. Colegio de Belén students will raise on the grounds of our school a beautiful, gratuitous school, in homage to our Jesuit priests and teachers to commemorate the 400th anniversary (1540-1940) of the Society of Jesus.”41
Although the Escuela del Niño de Belén officially opened its doors at the educational complex in Marianao on September 9th, 1940,
under the direction of Jesuit Brother Jesús Fermín Magdaleno Fernández, SJ (1887-1953), another Jesuit Brother Teodoro Gómez, SJ had already been teaching over 40 students free of charge at the Colegio de Belén since 1936. Brother Fernández directed the school until his death in 1953, when Brother Cipriano González Castro, SJ (1898-1984) took it over until the program was fully incorporated into the Colegio de Belén in 1960. Only three years after opening its doors, the Escuela del Niño de Belén was already providing educational services to 176 students, and its enrollment reached 210 students by 1954. The Escuela del Niño de Belén had its own Marian Congregation under the direction of its spiritual director, Fr. Victoriano Arenas, SJ. The students dedicated their Marian Congregation to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and to St. John Berchmans (1599-1621), a pious Jesuit student of philosophy in Leuven, Belgium, who was canonized in 1888, and remains as the patron saint of altar servers.
Escuela del Niño de Belén students at a tribute to José Martí. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1955.
Escuela del Niño de Belén facilities. Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1942.
Escuela del Niño de Belén
Fr. Felipe Rey de Castro, SJ, the founder and director of the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU).
Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1952.
Alumni
Associations and Specialized Marian Congregations
The Jesuits at the Colegio de Belén also continued to foster the spiritual development of their alumni, even after these had gone on to pursue their university studies and professional careers. For this purpose, the school helped alumni found the Asociación de los Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén and the specialized Marian Congregation known as the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU). The Jesuits also encouraged the participation of the school’s Marian Congregations, the alumni association, and the ACU in fund raising activities aimed at to creating scholarships and establishing additional gratuitous educational institutions within the Marianao Campus such as the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén and the Escuela Nocturna Obrera de Belén (ENOB).
Agrupación Católica Universitaria
Since 1925, Fr. Felipe Rey de Castro, SJ (1889-1952) and members of the Colegio de Belén’s class of 1926 began meeting and developing the concept to found a specialized Marian Congregation for university students. Officially founded in 1931, the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) was created to address the specific spiritual development of Catholic university students. Its members were meant to carry out the Jesuit way of life in a secular manner by assuming dynamic leadership roles and becoming the auxiliary soldiers of the Catholic Church by sharing the good news of the Gospel throughout Cuban society.42
fourth floor for holding St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises until the organization’s own Pio XII (Pope Pius XII) retreat facilities were completed in 1956. The ACU also developed its own community outreach services at the “Las Yaguas” neighborhood in Havana and published its official magazine Esto Vir, whose name means “be a man” and which provided Catholic views about the issues of the day. As part of their community outreach activities, ACU members taught night school and catechism at the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola, and visited leprosy patients at the Sanatorio de El Rincón and at the Chung Vah home for the elderly. ACU members participated in the Catholic campaigns during the 1940s to preserve the right to provide religious education in private schools. In 1953, the ACU founded the Buró de Información y Propaganda (BIP), which conducted and published a study to raise public awareness about the impoverished lives of the Cuban rural population. After Fr. Rey de Castro’s death in 1952, Fr. Amando Llorente, SJ (1918-2010) became the spiritual director of the ACU and continued to guide and mentor alumni throughout the organization’s tenure in Cuba, and after the ACU reestablished itself in the United States in 1961. Fr. Llorente remained the ACU’s spiritual director until his death in 2010.
Asociación de los Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén
The Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén held its first general assembly on January 31st, 1923, followed on February 24th by a luncheon at the Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano, where 230 alumni commemorated the founding of an alumni association. At its inception, the association enrolled 700 alumni.43 In 1923, the association also began to function out of an office on Prado Street in Havana, where International Court of Justice at the Hague Magistrate, Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante, served as its first president.44
The Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén members participated in many of the Colegio de Belén’s community outreach efforts and established scholarships at the school to fund the education of those that could not otherwise afford to attend the school. A letter to the association, from the school’s alumnus, Emilio Cueto (‘60) recounts how the association provided such a scholarship for him. Mr. Cueto’s father, Emilio Cueto Erbiti (‘24), had passed away in a tragic car accident his son was only five years old. His mother, a widow, did not have the means to afford Emilio’s education. In order to help the family, the alumni association provided a scholarship for Emilio. In a letter published in the alumni association’s 1960 Boletín Informativo, Emilio wrote:
Although it was a Catholic university student organization operating at its own facilities outside of the Colegio de Belén, the ACU organization always remained under the spiritual direction of the Jesuits. ACU members participated in many of the Colegio de Belén’s community outreach efforts as well as in its conference and educational activities, and used the school’s
In 1945, a Colegio de Belén student, José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) founded the Agrupación Católica Pre-Universitaria (ACPU), as a specialized Marian Congregation that would prepare students to join the ACU, once they reached the university. ACPU students volunteered as teachers at the Escuela Nocturna Obrera de Belén (ENOB). They also volunteered at a Sunday catechism program that had been established at the “Las Cañas” disadvantaged neighborhood in Havana under the direction of Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and Fr. Enrique Pérez Martín, SJ. The ACPU published Vincam, a magazine whose name meant “I shall conquer” and which featured articles about the Colegio de Belén, its students, and their activities, as well as the current news and issues on the island. The organization also developed a visiting and assistance program to the Hospital San Juan de Dios and to several homes for the elderly, where several times per week, ACPU students would take the school’s projector to play movies for the residents.
“Yesterday, June 16th, 1960 was the solemn day of my graduation, when I officially finished with the Colegio de Belén; I say “officially” because I will never finish with Belén. The formation I’ve received and all that Belén has given me, I owe to all of you… and I offer my most expressive thanks to you and the Association for all that you have done for me.”45
In addition to funding scholarships, obtaining corporate sponsorships and gathering donations for fund raising events, the alumni association also participated in other Jesuit gratuitous educational initiatives. One of the Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén’s most notable community outreach achievements came in September 1941, when it helped to found the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén. The association remained responsible for the school’s ongoing financial support, and carried out fund raising activities such as theatrical and musical events for its benefit.
Colegio de Belén Tómbola in Marianao. Photographs from Ecos de Belén, 1947.
Escuela Electromecánica de Belén
The concept of founding a technical school at the Colegio de Belén had been originally envisioned by Fr. Maturino de Castro, SJ and Fr. Eutiquio Varona, SJ; therefore, when the school was to finally come to fruition; it was founded under the name Escuela Electromecánica Maturino de Castro, SJ. It later came to be known simply as the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén. The school was formally inaugurated on September 21st, 1941, with financial support from the Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén, whose alumni members supported the school throughout its tenure in Cuba (1941-1961).
The school’s first director, Fr. Ángel Arias Juez, SJ (1907-1978), served the school from 1941 to 1952, and structured the technical school’s curriculum with two branches of study as the name of the school suggests: Electrical and Mechanical. The two-year program included theory classes in mathematics, physics, chemistry, sociology, and religion, along with a variety of electro-mechanical courses for which the school hired professors with specific ex-
pertise in elemental and industrial drawing and design, Electrical and Vapor Systems, and Auto Mechanics. The school started out with twenty-three students, but its student body surpassed 130 students by 1943. Students were admitted to the Electro-Mechanical School between the ages of 14 and 40 years old, without regard to race, marital status, or religion. Their enrollment, tuition, materials, and diploma were completely gratuitous.46
The Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén conducted fundraising activities to support the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén, which in 1943 included an open-air dramatic presentation of a play titled La Vida es Sueño (Life is a Dream) by Spanish poet, and Catholic priest, Fr. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681). In 1944, the alumni association sponsored a film festival, and their fundraising efforts to support the school also included the Tómbola de Belén, a yearly carnival, whose proceeds were earmarked for funding scholarships and the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén.
The Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén was also able to secure donations of various commercial enterprises, and by 1944, the labs and workshops already had 24 automobiles available for classes and a fully stocked drawing room able to hold 50 students at a time. Soon thereafter, Architect Felipe Gómez
designed plans to build pavilions that specialized in teaching the technical careers that were most urgently needed to develop the island’s most important industries. In 1952, Fr. Silvio González Herrero, SJ took over the direction of the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén. Two years later, in 1954, the school inaugurated a new diesel pavilion, the Pabellón Diesel Aspuru, made possible through the generous donation of Colegio de Belén alumnus, Manuel Aspuru and his wife María Antonia Alonso de Aspuru. The new pavilion enhanced the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén as it continued to graduate students who went on to pursue careers in Cuba’s most important technical professions.
Escuela Nocturna Obrera de Belén
The concept of founding a technical school envisioned by Fr. Maturino de Castro, SJ and Fr. Eutiquio Varona, SJ, which eventually came to fruition with the founding of the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén in 1941, also included establishing a gratuitous night school that could function as a feeder school to the Escuela Electromecánica. Hence, prior to the official opening of the Electro-Mechanical School, the Colegio de Belén also established a gratuitous night school: the Escuela Nocturna Obrera de Belén (ENOB). Students at ENOB would be offered admission to the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén after they were finished with their preliminary secondary studies. Fr. Antonio González Quevedo, SJ (1906-1994) founded ENOB in 1941, which also functioned under the direction of Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) and Colegio de Belén alumnus, Armando Abay (‘44). ENOB was staffed by Jesuits and Colegio de Belén upperclassmen, some of who were members of the Agrupación Católica Pre-Universitaria (ACPU) and the Congregación de San Luis Gonzaga. Colegio de Belén alumni, who were either members of the Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén or of the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU), also donated their time for this worthwhile endeavor. At ENOB, students were trained first in basic subjects of study and then offered to pursue technical careers during a seven-month program which included classes in civics, arithmetic, geometry, geography, history, Spanish, English, and religion. The Escuela Nocturna Obrera de Belén (ENOB) functioned from 1941 until 1961 at the Colegio de Belén, and taught a student body of 140 to 200 students yearly, free of charge.
Practical Design Exhibit Competition at the Pabellón Diesel Aspuru in 1956. Photographs from Ecos de Belén, 1956.
Students and the facilities at the Escuela Electromecánica de Belén. Photographs from Ecos de Belén, 1950.
Havana police await with water hoses to quell student bon fire demonstration on the steps of the Universidad de La Habana. Oscar GarcíaRivera. La universidad. 1954, oil on board, 17 by 26 in. Courtesy of the Ramos Collection.
A Stance of Conviction and the Exodus
At the Colegio de Belén, the 1940s and 1950s were years marked by steady growth, and filled with educational achievements, celebrations, spiritual development, and increased community outreach. Those same years also posed difficult challenges brought about by the political instability and turmoil that preceded and followed the Cuban Revolution, and the systematic turn toward communism taken by its leadership. Nevertheless, the Jesuits remained faithful to their educational ministry and the basic tenets of their Catholic faith as they also solidified the school’s educational services and traditions. Their determination and hard work not only strengthened the Colegio de Belén’s standing as one of Cuba’s most prominent educational institutions, but also ensured its survival and eventual relocation to South Florida in 1961.
Political Turmoil
Cuban presidential administrations consistently transferred political office through elections during the 1940s, but turbulence never ceased to plague Cuban politics and society. During the presidential terms of both Ramón Grau San Martín and Colegio de Belén alumnus, Carlos Prío Socarrás (‘20), controversy continued, as accusations of corruption, an unproductive Congress, labor issues, and violence at the Universidad de La Habana, continued to erode the political
system. In September of 1947, within the city of Marianao Orfilas neighborhood near the Colegio de Belén, rival policemen fought one another under gunfire for hours. The battle, known to be associated with police support of rival gangs from within the Universidad de La Habana, caused much bloodshed and was broadcast live over the radio.47 Moreover, a former Partido Revolucionario Cubano Auténtico Senator and Colegio de Belén alumnus Eduardo Chibás (‘24) (19071951), who had left the Auténticos to found the Partido Ortodoxo, brought the attention of many Cubans to government corruption by openly denouncing elected officials during a weekly radio program. Both the violence and Mr. Chibás’s accusations had detrimental consequences for Cuba’s political system, as expressed by Harvard College Professor and Colegio de Belén alumnus, Jorge I. Domínguez:
“The effect was to reduce the legitimacy of the entire political elite. Regardless of the honesty of particular individuals, the legitimacy of all government activity was questioned, weakening the entire system. Compromise and negotiation- the hall-mark of Cuban politics up to that time- became much less likely. Intransigence, said Chibás, was the shield of the righteous politician; it also destroyed the system.”48
The Cuban presidential elections that had been scheduled for July 1952 never took place. Former Cuban President and Army Chief of Staff Fulgencio Batista, the long-shot contender in the elections, carried out another coup d’état on March 10th, 1952, and seized political power. President Carlos Prío Socarrás (‘20) sought political asylum at the Mexican Embassy, and went into exile. Then, on July 26th, 1953, a small band of rebels led by former Colegio de Belén alumnus, Fidel Castro (‘45) carried out an unsuccessful raid on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Amongst the rebels were Colegio de Belén alumnus Manuel Aguiar García and school employees, Hermeneguildo Fleitas García, Manuel Gómez Reyes, and Virgilio Gómez Reyes. Mr. Fleitas García, the Gómez Reyes brothers, and Aguiar García were killed during the raid. As the survivors of the attack were being sought by authorities, the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Enrique Pérez Serantes (1883-1868), intervened on Castro’s behalf to ensure his safety upon his surrender.49
Fidel Castro (‘45) was tried and sentenced to fifteen years, but was released in May 1955 because of a general amnesty law passed by the Cuban Congress. After his release, he traveled to Mexico, founded the Movimiento 26 de Julio, and returned on December 2nd, 1956, aboard a boat named Granma, to launch a rebellion against Fulgencio Batista’s government. The Movimiento 26 de Julio rebels conducted armed raids and guerrilla warfare out of their encampments in the Sierra Maestra mountain region against the Cuban Army and the local guard. The violence eventually also spread, as resistance groups emerged in cities and some of the major towns. Several Colegio de Belén alumni joined the resistance against the Batista government and perished as a result of their activities. Amongst them, José A. Macau Cossío (‘54) was assassinated by the military police in Havana on April 10th, 1958, and Calixto Bergnes Brauet (‘54) was killed by the Batista military near Guantánamo, on April 14th, 1958.
In March of 1958, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) asked Batista to hold elections, and the United States government announced that it would stop selling arms to Cuba. Batista held elections, which left Andrés Rivero Agüero (1905-1996) as the last elected president of Cuba. The elections were heavily boycotted by a large amount of the population, who tried to show their dissatisfaction and distrust for Batista. In December of 1958, US Ambassador Earl Edward Tailer Smith (1903-1991) informed Batista that the United States could no longer support his regime.
Fulgencio Batista signed a letter of resignation and left Cuba on the night of December 31st, 1958. Fidel Castro (‘45) and his supporters emerged from the Sierra Maestra Mountains after Batista’s exit and traveled across the island to Havana in a caravan that took until January 8th to reach Havana. The caravan also paraded through the city, with Castro and some of his rebel leaders on top of a military tank.
Two blocks from the Colegio de Belén, on Avenue 41 at the Calzada de Columbia, parents, teachers, and students waited for the Castro caravan holding the Colegio de Belén “banderín” or class flag from Castro’s class (1945). Upon seeing the group, the Castro asked for his tank to stop, then greeted the crowd from the school, and ceremoniously kissed the “banderín.”
At the Colegio de Belén, initial enthusiasm over the new incoming revolutionary government mirrored the wave of popular support and nationalist sentiment prevalent throughout Cuban society during the first few months of 1959. In addition, the Cuban Catholic
Formoso
The Mártires de Guajaibón
On December 26 th, 1958, four Universidad de La Habana students, members of the Jesuit Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU), left Havana with Manuel Zabalo Rodríguez, a former guerrilla fighter from the Escambray Mountains, on-route to the northern section of the Pinar del Río province. According to ACU Director, Fr. Amando Llorente, SJ (1918-2010), the four ACU students, certain of their Catholic faith and commitment, as well as of their patriotic idealism, planned to provide the rebels in that region with medical assistance, clothes, and food. Their plan was also to return to Havana on December 31 st, to celebrate New Year’s Eve with their families. Cuban military guards, however, arrested the group at a gas station near the town of Bahía Honda, and took them to the Cuartel de la Guardia Rural de Las Pozas. At the rural guard station, they were all brutally tortured. On December 28 th, a military transport took the group on foot to the highest mountain in the region, Pan de Guajaibón, where they were hanged by rural guards and buried in a common grave. Since the students did not return to Havana as planned, their parents inquired with Fr. Llorente, who carried out an extensive search of the Pinar del Río area where they had been headed. During the first few days of January 1959, Fr. Llorente made inquiries and eventually located the common grave with the semi-decomposed bodies of the murdered ACU students. Two of the students were Colegio de Belén alumni, Javier Calvo Formoso (‘55) and Julián Martínez Inclán (‘57). A third ACU member, José Ignacio Martí Santacruz (Dolores ‘56), also known as Nacho, was an alumnus of the Jesuit school in Santiago de Cuba, the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores. The fourth ACU student member found in the grave was Ramón Pérez Lima, a graduate of the Colegio Baldor. After he found the grave, Fr. Llorente had the bodies exhumed and transported back to Havana, where a funeral Mass was held for the young men henceforth known as the Mártires de Guajaibón. During 1960, the Jesuits established a Monumento dedicado a los Mártires de la Lucha contra Batista at the Colegio de Belén in Marianao, which included the Mártires de Guajaibón. On May 20 th, 2009, Javier Calvo Formoso (‘55), Julián Martínez Inclán (‘57), and José Ignacio Martí Santacruz (Dolores ‘56) were inducted into the Belen Jesuit Wall of Martyrs.
Fidel Castro (‘45) and Huber Matos as they went past the Colegio de Belén in a caravan on January 8 th, 1959, the day that Castro made his triumphant entrance into Havana. He is shown saluting the banderin for his graduating class. Photograph courtesy of Emilio Cueto (‘60).
Church, who had been calling for an end to the armed conflict, initially saw the new revolutionary government as an opportunity to support social justice for the poor through the literacy and agrarian reform campaigns that their leaders proposed.50 At the school, thirty Colegio de Belén students volunteered to provide literacy instruction to the 2,000 soldiers and officers that had come from the countryside as part of the rebel forces and were stationed at the Managua military installation. Soon after, however, the students began to attend the camp to give their classes, rumors and objections arose as to whether their classes would include teaching Catholic religion. Shortly thereafter, the student volunteers were asked not to return to teach at Managua.51
In January of 1959, students also established the Federación Estudiantil del Colegio de Belén (a student federation) at the school that purchased two tractors as well as agricultural tools to create the Columna Intercolegial Agraria (Agrarian Inter-Collegial Column). Colegio de Belén alumni also helped to teach farming techniques to some of the countryside Cubans who came to Havana, to the July 26th, 1959 celebration. Over 500 of the farm workers that came to Havana were housed at the Colegio de Belén for ten days (July 21st-31st). While at the school, the farm workers participated in masses, several baptisms, and a short procession through the Marianao neighborhood with the image of Cuba’s patron saint, Our Lady of Charity. In September of 1959, the new school year began, but the school’s enrollment had already decreased by 150 students, some which had either left the island or whose parents were uncertain about enrolling them in a private school. The Colegio de Belén awarded more than 200 full scholarships for the new school year (1959-1960), and incorporated the students from the Escuela del Niño de Belén into the regular student body.
A Stance of Conviction
By the summer of 1959, contention had already started not only within the revolutionary leadership, but also between the government and Catholic Church. The contention involved the revolution’s possible turn toward communism. In July of 1959, disputes between Prime Minister Fidel Castro (‘45) and Cuban President Manuel Urrutia (1901-1981) led to Castro to make a public threat that he was about to resign. President Urrutia had made a series of critical public comments against what he saw as the growing influence of communists within the new government. Castro denounced Urrutia, claiming that his excessive anti-communism was detrimental to the new government. Crowds surrounded the presidential palace demanding President Urrutia’s resignation, which the president promptly tendered. On July 23rd, Castro resumed his position, as premier. In addition, Jesuit Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat alumnus Osvaldo Dorticós (1919-1983) replaced Urrutia as president. On October 19th, one of the Movimiento 26 de Julio leaders from Camagüey, Huber Matos, also resigned in protest over the communist turn that the revolution was taking. Matos was arrested two days later, judged during a televised trial, and sentenced to thirty years in prison. On October 28th, another revolutionary leader, Camilo Cienfuegos (1932-1959), who many claimed had become disgruntled over Matos’s arrest, mysteriously disappeared without a trace during a night flight from Camagüey to Havana.
The contention between the Catholic Church and the revolutionary government also became public shortly after the summer of 1959. The executions of Batista officers had prompted the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Enrique Pérez Serantes (1883-1868), to urge Fidel Castro (‘45) in February to “temper revolutionary justice with mercy,” By September, the Diario de la Marina newspaper, under the direction of Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) member, José Ignacio Rivero (1920-2011), began to carry sections from the Vatican newspaper on the incompatibility of Marxism and democracy.52 As arrests, trials, disappearances, and executions continued. At the Colegio de Belén, members of the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) began teaching an after school course entitled: Communism: Its Philosophy and Tactics. Moreover, the superior of the Jesuit Vice Province of the Antilles, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), who was then also serving as
the school’s rector, authored a pamphlet entitled: Comunismo para que? At school meetings, employees received a copy of the pamphlet which explained why communism as a form of government was not the answer for Cuba.
In October of 1959, the Diario de la Marina newspaper published a call by the Cuban bishops for a National Catholic Congress to be held in November of 1959. The Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, and Universidad Católica de Santo Tomás de Villanueva Rector, Eduardo Boza Masvidal (1915-2003), declared that Roman Catholics in Cuba could not “support the tendencies toward materialistic communism and totalitarianism in the Cuban Revolution.”53 At the Colegio de Belén, 350 students from the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba, the Colegio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Sagua la Grande, and the Seminario del Cobre, were housed at the school during the Congreso Católico Nacional held on November 28th and 29th, 1959.
Almost one million Catholics attended the rally organized for the Congress at the Plaza Cívica, the Havana city square that would soon be renamed the Plaza de la Revolución. Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ recalled the stormy night as follows:
“The inclement weather was worse than anything I had ever experienced on the island. Extreme cold and constant rain, accompanied by hurricane force winds, threatened to bring down the Episcopal altars and installations that had been built. But Cuban Catholics would not budge. They held hands, standing in full force, some kneeling, all praying and singing without ceasing… as they expressed their love for God and their patron saint, Our Lady of Charity. Fidel Castro (‘45), who had descended from the Sierra Maestra covered in the religious medals and rosaries of his people, arrived, but his presence was not acknowledged. He was no longer fooling anyone. The Congreso Católico became a testimony to the faith and Christian courage of the Cuban people, even as their society would soon be officially declared Marxist-Communist.”54
Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) delivered a radio address and blessing from the Vatican, and the final session ended with “down with communism” shouts from the crowd.55 At the Colegio de Belén,
the graduating class of 1960 adopted the image of Cuba’s patron saint, Our Lady of Charity. It had been used as part of the Congreso Católico Nacional’s flag, and it was also placed on the “banderín” of their graduating class. To show solidarity with Cuban Catholics, the banderín also stated that they were the class of the Catholic Congress. During their graduation Mass, Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ told the graduates that they should call themselves “Los cadetes de la reina” or the cadets of the queen, referring to Cuba’s patron saint, Our Lady of Charity. The members of the class of 1960 have faithfully recalled the name given by Fr. Calvo at every class reunion since then, as they also express their dedication to Cuba’s patron saint and remember the extremely difficult times that they witnessed as they were graduating from the Colegio de Belén.
Also in November of 1959, Minister of Education, Armando Hart Dávalos held forums in the Cuban House of Representatives Chamber from November 9th to the 23rd. Four representatives from each Cuban educational institution discussed the government’s Ley de Reforma Integral de la Enseñanza, which regulated the qualifications of teachers and educational institutions as well as established new methods to evaluate and test students. Colegio de Belén alumnus and professor, Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) attended as a rep-
National Catholic Congress held in Havana in November 1959. Photograph from iglesiadesantocristo.org
Colegio de Belén’s Monumento dedicado a los Mártires de la Lucha contra Batista.
Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1960.
resentative of the Confederación de Colegios Católicos de Cuba. The government announced the Education Reform Law on December 25th, 1959, in which there was no mention of the nationalization of private educational institutions. On the contrary, at a meeting between Prime Minister Castro, Education Minister Armando Hart Dávalos, the Auxiliary Archbishop of Havana, Evelio Díaz y Cía (1902-1984), Fr. DortaDuque, and other representatives of private educational institutions, the prime minister assured them that “the revolution did not have the will or the capacity to take over private schools, and he gave personal assurances that nationalization was not part of the revolution’s educational plan.”56
In a speech on January 20th, 1960, however, Castro began to criticize the Catholic Church as well as the members of Catholic religious orders. He also said that the working class clergy, who were humble, charitable, and hardworking, were the victims of the exploitation of the elite clergy.57 Conflicts between Castro and the Catholic Church continued as Bishops published pastoral letters and gave homilies criticizing the government’s turn toward communism. In July of 1960, violence erupted in front of the Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana after a Mass during which the Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Eduardo Boza Masvidal criticized the communist persecution of Catholics. Fidel Castro (‘45) responded by going on television and calling the Spanish clergy serving in Cuba “falangists,” a word used to describe the supporters of Spanish General Francisco Franco (1892-1975), who was then ruling in Spain.58 Violence outside churches and against Catholics ensued. Clergy at the churches threatened to suspend religious services if the government did not guarantee freedom of worship. In August, Cuban Cardinal Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt and eight Archbishops signed a collective pastoral letter, which condemned the advance of
communism and Cuba’s ties with the Soviet Union. It also stated that Catholicism and communism had opposing views about the nature of man and the world, and these views were impossible to reconcile.59
Subsequently, mobs surrounded the Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana, and priests began to be systematically harassed. By September of 1960, all Catholic radio and television programs were shut down.
At the Colegio de Belén, on February 24th, 1960, the school had unveiled a bronze monument and plaque, which they named the Monumento dedicado a los Mártires de la Lucha contra Batista. Amongst those honored by the monument were the Colegio de Belén alumni and Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) members, Javier Calvo Formoso (‘55) and Julián Martínez Inclán (‘57), who were known as the Mártires de Guajaibón. Both alumni, as well as two other ACU members, had been tortured and killed at the Cuartel de la Guardia Rural de Las Pozas, on December 28th, 1958, and buried in a common grave near the Pan de Guajaibón mountain peak. The monument also included the names of alumnus José A. Macau Cossío (‘54), who had been killed by the Batista military police in Havana on April 10th, 1958. Also included were alumnus Manuel Aguiar García as well as Colegio de Belén employees, Hermeneguildo Fleitas García, and Brothers Manuel and Virgilio Gómez Reyes, who had been killed during the raid on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, on July 26th, 1953.
Over 1,000 students began attending classes at the Colegio de Belén in September of 1960, but within weeks, enrollment was already down to only 750 students. From one day to the next, students left the country with or without their families. In some cases, government repression or the knowledge of oncoming arrest for writing articles or distributing any materials arbitrarily judged to be anti-revolutionary, forced students to seek the help of the Jesuits in leaving the island.
One such case was that of Colegio de Belén alumnus, Juan Junco (‘60), whose mother, a prominent attorney and former judge, learned of his oncoming arrest. Mr. Junco, one of the “Cadetes de la Reina” from the class of 1960, had published and distributed an article in the Agrupación Católica Pre-Universitaria (ACPU) magazine, Vincam criticizing the visit of Soviet Foreign Minister Anastas Mikoyan (1895-1978) to Cuba. He had also participated in writing other materials arbitrarily deemed by the government as anti-revolutionary. Knowing full well that her son’s arrest would also mean that his life would be in danger, as summary trials and executions continued, she appealed to Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ for help. With the help of the Jesuits, Mr. Junco was able to obtain a Spanish visa and left Havana two days later on a ship called the Guadalupe. The ship was bound for La Coruña, Spain. Only 18 years old at the time, Mr. Junco, who had never traveled outside of Cuba, had some time during the voyage to contemplate his future in a country where he had no family and not a single acquaintance. About his arrival in Spain, he said:
“Fear and sadness overwhelmed me when the Guadalupe docked. As the other passengers disembarked and went looking for their loved ones, I just sat there, unable to face what was ahead. It finally sunk in: no one was waiting for me... Feeling hopeless, the tears just rolled down my face. Where would I go, and where would I stay? The ship emptied, and I heard the porter calling out my name, Junco, Juan Junco! I was the only passenger left and I had to get off the ship. I stepped out and then I saw it! In the distance, beyond the walkway, a black figure stood next to someone in uniform. I had a single thought, Belen! Dressed in the order’s customary black cassock, a Jesuit priest waved. Next to him, wearing the uniform of the Jesuit school in Vigo, was another Colegio de Belén student who had also reached Spain with Jesuit help. We left the port and took a four-hour train ride to Vigo. When I arrived at the Colegio Apóstol Santiago, I couldn't believe my eyes! The entire school was gathered to celebrate a Mass for my welcome. Shortly afterwards, the Jesuits told me that Fr. Arroyo had sent a telegram asking them to meet me at the port. They offered me a place to stay and went on to help me arrange my papers for travel to the United States. I realized then that not only had Fr. Arroyo saved my life by helping me get out of Cuba, but he had arranged for my safety and well-being fot the time I was to stay in Spain. But then again, that is how the Jesuits always cared of us. For them, for being a part of Belen, and for the life that I have had the opportunity to live with the help of God and Our Lady of Belen, I will always remain monumentally grateful.”60
Juan Junco (‘60) aboard the Guadalupe in 1961, after leaving the island with the help of Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ and other Jesuits from the Colegio de Belén. Photograph courtesy of Juan Junco (‘60).
The Exodus
The Colegio de Belén Seized
During the month of December in 1960, rumors circulated throughout Cuba about an oncoming invasion. As the first Catholic US President, John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), was about to be sworn into office, Cuban Catholics expected that the United States would intervene to help put an end to the spread of communism on the island. Instead, 1961 proved to be the year during which communism was fully implemented as the official ideology of the government in Cuba.
On January 6th, 1961, militiamen claiming to be protecting Catholic seminaries, churches, and educational institutions from the threat of invasion, seized several of them, including the Colegio de Belén. At two o’clock in the morning, eighty armed militia men under the command of Colegio de Belén alumnus, Captain Emilio Aragonés Navarro (19282007) entered the school grounds to set up a command post and began military exercises, which included the setting of machine gun nests and guard posts. Another one-hundred militiamen arrived the next day, and began to search each student as they entered the school. Because student attendance continued to decline due to the military occupation and the searches, the school suspended its classes. The school’s military occupation lasted until January 19th, and two days later, the school celebrated the traditional celebratory Mass for its patroness, Our Lady of Belen. It would be the last of its kind held at the Colegio de Belén in Cuba.61
As a result of the events of January 6th, the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Enrique Pérez Serantes (1883-1968), published a pastoral letter protesting the government’s seizure of Catholic institutions as well as the arrests of clergy and several Catholic youth leaders.62 On January 23rd, Fidel Castro (‘45) called the clergy “thugs who wore clerical collars,” accusing them of also being supportive of the active counterrevolutionaries that plotted against his government. Archbishop Pérez Serrantes released another pastoral letter in February defending himself against charges that he was “the pastor of conspirators.” In the pastoral letter, he also stated:
“The boundaries are already drawn… It can no longer be said that Communism is at the gates, because in truth, it is within. Not in vain, have some clear-sighted persons been preparing to fight those who try to impose the heavy yoke of this new form of slavery.”63
In response to Archbishop Pérez Serrantes’s pastoral letter, in March of 1961, Fidel Castro (‘45) began to threaten the possible expulsion
of all Spanish clergy from the island. The pastoral letter would be the last of its kind issued in Cuba until 1969.
As if fully aware of what was to come, on April 15th, 1961, the Cuban government began to make arbitrary arrests of anyone suspected of being able to aid in the expected invasion, which actually took place on April 17th at Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), near Playa Girón in South Central Cuba.64 Nearly eighty alumni from Jesuit Schools in Cuba trained as part of the Brigada Asalto 2506 (Brigade #2506) invasion troops. Six Jesuits, including Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45) and Fr. Tomás Macho, SJ served as chaplains for brigade members, while these were in training camps.65 Fr. Macho landed with the troops near Playa Girón, and he was captured by the Cuban military along with over 1,200 Brigade #2506 members when the operation fell apart.66
Several Colegio de Belén alumni were killed either in combat or as a direct result of the imprisonments that took place before and after the invasion. Jorge Jones Castro (‘54) and Julio Caballero González (‘57) were killed in combat, and Raúl Vianello y Alacán (‘45) and Daniel Fernández Mon (‘50) perished when the airplanes they piloted were shot down on April 17th. Alfredo José Cervantes Lago (‘51) died from asphyxiation on April 21st, when the Cuban military transported the captured Brigade #2506 members to Havana in a semi-truck without proper ventilation.67 Once again, armed militiamen surrounded churches, Catholic schools, convents, and religious residences, as over 120,000 people, including professors and clergy, were held under arrest throughout the island.
Between April and October of 1961, arrests, trials, and hundreds of executions took place in response to the invasion.68 Amongst them, two Colegio de Belén alumni were executed by firing squad at the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, where alumnus José Luis Carballo (‘48) had also been executed in 1960. At the Fortaleza, Virgilio Campanería Ángel (‘57) was executed on April 18th, 1961 along with underground resistance leader Rogelio González Corzo (‘51), who was sent to the firing squad on April 20th. Another Jesuit alumni, José Antonio Muiño Gómez (Sagua ‘36) was also executed at the Cabaña fortress on February 2nd, 1962. Two other alumni were executed by firing squad in 1961, in the Matanzas Province. Jorge Fundora Fernández (‘48) was executed at the Castillo de San Severino on October 12th and Antonino Díaz Pou (‘54) at the Campo de Tiro de Limonar in 1961.
The day of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Superior of the Jesuit Vice Province of the Antilles Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ (1909-1992) requested that all
Jesuits move to the Colegio de Belén. The school was also occupied, at first only by a thirty-soldier battalion of Cuban militiamen, but subsequently, the number of militia at the school quickly grew to over 300 soldiers. The school, as well as other Jesuit properties, was subject to an extensive search. If militiamen identified certain Catholic pamphlets as being anti-revolutionary propaganda, they detained members of the clergy, and in some cases, took them to police stations or guard posts for questioning. Among some of the Jesuits detained for questioning were Fr. Fernando López, SJ, Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ, Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ, and Jesuit Brothers Luciano Cofréces Cea, SJ and Nicomedes Oribe, SJ.69 At most Jesuit residences, the movements of those who had not been arrested were restricted to an area of the building under guard, and they were not allowed to use the telephone or leave the premises. At the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola, priests were only allowed to access the church confessionals, and masses were suspended to prevent any sort of public gathering. As the invasion brought about an abrupt end to teh school year, a Jesuit memorandum written at the Colegio de Belén on April 23th, 1961 stated:
“The truth is that Fidel knows Catholic schools all too well, having attended both here and at Dolores… he also realizes the Catholic schools would represent a major barrier to expanding his communist ideology, since he has clearly labeled us as the “breeding grounds of the counter-revolutionaries which will surface to oppose him in 10 years.” It is obvious that he means to take over all the schools and is merely drafting the means to do so… For all these reasons, we believe that the abrupt end to this school year also signifies the end of all the Catholic schools as well as to all Catholic education throughout Cuba.”70
On May 1st, in a televised address Prime Minister Fidel Castro (‘45) announced the enactment of the Ley de la Nacionalización de la Educación. Although not officially recorded until June 7th, the law stipulated in its second article that all educational institutions operated by private persons and/or entities were henceforth adjudicated in favor of the Cuban state. All of the goods, rights, and property that belonged to those institutions were also to be seized and would henceforth fall under state
control. While Article IV of the same law also stated that the Ministry of Education would determine the amount that the Cuban state would indemnify each educational institution for its nationalization, no such indemnification ever occurred for the Colegio de Belén.71
On May 3rd, the government’s designated an interventionist, Julio Antonio Bauta Delgado, who arrived at the school accompanied by several Colegio de Belén lay professors. Amongst them were: Alfredo Armenteros López, Rafael Gallardo, Enrique Ferrer, Víctor Carriba, and Enrique Cruz Álvarez. Also part of the government’s intervention team was another school employee, Pablo Ferre Elías. Several of the Colegio de Belén professors who accompanied Mr. Bauta Delgado had already published a pamphlet a few days prior to the intervention announcing “the fall of the Colegio de Belén after more than a century of mistaken, sterile, and erroneous teachings.” Methodically, Mr. Bauta Delgado sealed each classroom after taking inventory of the contents. The official act of intervention also stated that all buildings and bank accounts belonging to the school were now under the care of the intervening officer under resolution 4352 of the Havana Province Director of Education. Within one week, 600 public school students were transported to the Colegio Belén to begin classes in what was already provisionally called the Centro Escolar Gildo Fleitas. Shortly thereafter, authorities renamed the school, Escuela Tecnológica Hermanos Gómez. The names were meant to honor the memory of Hermeneguildo Fleitas García, and Brothers Manuel and Virgilio Gómez Reyes, the Colegio de Belén employees who had been killed at the Moncada military barracks attack in 1953, and whose names had been made part of the school’s Monumento dedicado a los Mártires de la Lucha contra Batista.72
At first, the Jesuits were notified that they could remain in their rooms at the school, but only to live, as they were to refrain from any activity that was not considered by the guards as strictly religious. On May 6th, however, Mr. Bauta Delgado told Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ that the Jesuits had to vacate the premises. Fr. Calvo explained that the other Jesuit facilities and residences on the isalnd had been seized and remained under the control of the government’s militia since April 17th and therefore, the Jesuits did not have a place large enough to
Casa de Ejercicios Pio XII, the retreat facility where the Jesuits from the Colegio de Belén were forced to move after being expelled from the Marianao Campus on May 13 th, 1961. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Covadonga ship where Catholic clergy were forcibly expelled from Cuba, including twenty-six Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles and the Colegio de Belén. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
accommodate them. Mr. Bauta Delgado then asked which other Jesuit facility could accommodate the community of Jesuits who resided at the school. Fr. Calvo suggested the Casa de Ejercicios Pio XII. The Agrupación Católica Universitaria’s (ACU) retreat facility, which was located in the La Coronela neighborhood in the outskirts of Havana, had however, been occupied by militiamen and remained under their control. In response to Fr. Calvo’s suggestion, over the span of one week, government authorities commanded the militiamen occupying the retreat facility to leave, and ordered the Jesuits to vacate the Colegio de Belén once and for all. On May 13th, 1961, thirty-one Jesuit priests, seven junior Jesuits, and twenty-two brothers that had up to that time resided at the school, were forced to vacate the educational complex in Marianao. Although their exit officially ended the Colegio de Belén’s 107-year educational tenure in Cuba, all was not lost for the school or for its Jesuits.
Shortly after arriving at the Casa de Ejercicios Pio XII, some Jesuits were reassigned to serve at parishes throughout the island. Their objective was to help the ecclesiastic personnel serve and provide support for Catholics who were experiencing a perilous and unstable political climate. Among the Jesuits who went to serve at parishes throughout the island were, Fr. Otto Traber, SJ went to serve at a parish in Camagüey and Fr. Francisco Bartolomé Chico, SJ went to another in Sagua la Grande. Within the Province of Havana, Fr. José Manuel Miyares, SJ, Fr. Luis Morín, SJ, and Fr. Gerardo Freire, SJ went to a parish in San Miguel de Los Baños and Fr. Edelman Nogueiras, SJ went to another in Puentes Grandes. Fr. Bernardo Redondo, SJ and Fr. José María Herreras, SJ went to serve at several parishes in the Province of Matanzas and Fr. Silvio González Herrero, SJ and Fr. Antonio Luis Ros SJ went to other in the Province of Pinar del Río. Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) also relocated to Pinar del Río, to a parish in Los Palacios, near his family’s home. The increasing controversy between the Catholic Church and the Cuban government however,
would continue to bring about Catholic demonstrations and protests, and the government’s response to these would also eventually prevent the Jesuits from carrying out their parish pastoral duties for very long.
The one clash during a political demonstration that directly affected the fate of the Jesuits in Cuba, occurred in September of 1961, when the Cuban government refused to allow the September 8th religious processions and ceremonies traditionally carried out to commemorate the feast of Cuba’s patron saint, Our Lady of Charity. After much insistence, the Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Eduardo Boza Masvidal, received government permission for a procession to be held on September 10th, during which 4,000 Catholics gathered at the Plaza de la Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana. Yet, confusion over whether permission had once again been rescinded by the government spread through the gathering, and a disturbance between militiamen and the crowd broke out. Shortly thereafter, militiamen opened fire on the crowd, killing a member of the Juventud Obrera Católica (JOC). Fidel Castro (‘45) blamed Auxiliary Bishop Boza Masvidal for the incident, and during the following days, in an overall show of force against the Catholic Church, armed militiamen began arresting priests throughout the island.
The militia arrested 131 priests, and summarily deported them aboard the Spanish vessel, the Covadonga, on September 13th, 1961. Amongst those deported were Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Eduardo Boza Masvidal and twenty-four diocesan priests including Fr. Agustín Román (1928-2012), who would later become one of the Archdiocese of Miami’s Auxiliary Bishops. Also deported aboard the ship were 107 members of various religious orders. Amongst them were twenty-six Jesuits. These were: Superior of the Vice Province of the Antilles Fr. Ceferino Ruiz Rodríguez, SJ, Jesuit fathers Francisco José Arnáiz Zarandona, Félix Feliz Lozada, Fernando Novoa Rodríguez, Federico Arvesú, (‘39) (1922-1999), Fernando Arango, SJ (‘42), Teodoro Bercedo García, Ángel Olano Arias, Esteban Ribas Serna, Manuel López Rodríguez, Juan del Río Ratón, Silvio González Herrero, José Rafael Goberna, Eutiquio Varona, Rafael Garrido Vicente, José Rubinos, Juan M. Dorta-Duque (‘40), Alberto Villaverde Alcalá Galiano, Francisco Tadeo Herrero, Severino Hidalgo Juárez, Francisco Bartolomé Chico, and brothers Luciano Cofréces Cea, Estanislao Peláez Nozal, Juan José Muñoz-Arriceta, Ramón Pérez Martínez, and Esteban Bedoya Gómez.73
Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) was amongst the twenty-six Jesuits that were forcibly expelled aboard the Covadonga. He was held at gunpoint overnight, questioned and harassed near the parish in Los Palacios, in the Cuban Province of Pinar del Río, where he had been assigned after the Colegio de Belén had been nationalized in May of 1961. He was then transported by armed militia men to the pier where the
Covadonga was docked. He recounted that for safety reasons, the ship’s captain refused to take any passengers who were not on his manifest. The captain explained that the ship was full and carrying the additional passenger would cause a safety hazard for the ship. The armed militiamen then forced most of the civilian passengers to disembark in order to make some room for the clergy who were being forced into exile. Eventually, a long line of priests wearing what was at the time their official garment, black cassocks, began to board the ship. The long line of black cassocks reminded Fr. Dorta-Duque of the Jesuit expulsions from other countries that he had read about. In this case, the clergy were forced on to a ship, without as much as toothbrush, for their sea voyage to Spain. The few passengers left onboard scrambled during the voyage to gather clothing and personal items for the priests so their cassocks could be laundered. Upon their arrival at La Coruña in Spain, the Jesuits regrouped and reassigned their members.74 Although some ended up far away from Cuba, the Antilles, and Florida, fortunately the expulsion did not mean a final end to the work of the Jesuit religious order in Cuba, and indeed it was also not the end for the Colegio de Belén as a Jesuit secondary educational institution.
The revolutionary turn to communism and anti-clerical stance evident in Cuba since the summer of 1959 had prompted the Colegio de Belén Jesuits to begin to prepare for the worst. Familiar as they were with the history of their religious order, the Jesuits were not strangers to either government expulsions or to the nationalization of their property. Once again, as their counterparts had done during the years that led up to Cuba obtaining its independence from Spain, the Jesuits had set their eyes on Florida as a possible alternative location for their school. Also prompted in 1960, by the beginning of a steady exodus of families and children, many of which had been sent to the United States without their parents, the Jesuits had begun to make inquiries about opening a temporary school in South Florida. For that purpose, Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), who had for several years served as a Jesuit faculty member at the Colegio de Belén, but whom at the time, was serving as the rector of the Jesuit Seminario San Ildefonso in Aibonito, Puerto Rico, traveled to Miami in November 1960 to meet with Bishop Coleman F. Carroll (1905-1977). After their meeting, in an official letter, Fr. Chisholm requested Bishop Carroll’s formal approval for the establishment of a “branch” of the Colegio de Belén in Miami.75 Fortunately for the South Florida community, the Colegio de Belén’s tenure in South Florida did not turn out to be provisional.
When the Cuban government chose to shut down the Colegio de Belén, nationalize its holdings, and expel the members of the Jesuit religious order, it ignored the school’s faithful contribution to Cuba, which by 1961 surpassed more than a century of dedicated educa-
tional and religious service. Undoubtedly, the relentless dedication and foresight of the Jesuits was not to be underestimated. During the Colegio de Belén’s tenure in Cuba, the Jesuits worked to establish the educational structure and traditions which solidified the school as an exemplary institution, and represented much more than just a compilation of buildings, land, and physical property. In retrospect, the school’s tenure in Cuba also yielded something far more important to the Jesuit religious order. In the words of a Jesuit author:
“The works of art produced by teachers are their students: For there is no greater recommendation that can be achieved by professors, schools, or educational systems. We cannot, therefore, receive any other complete demonstration, or eloquent praise of the good foundation that we’ve taught in our classrooms, than the extensive list of illustrious Cuban men who have emerged from within them…”76
The Colegio de Belén’s legacy in Cuba can be ascertained by how well the school continued that legacy at its subsequent locations in South Florida. No testimonial can better express the school’s success than the contributions of the faculty and staff the unwavering support of its alumni, families, and benefactors, and the dedicated work of the Jesuit religious order. The founding of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in 1961, and its complete restoration in South Florida, would require a formidable effort, but it would remain as one through which Belen has also most assuredly lived up to its standing as one of Cuba’s most highlyregarded Catholic educational institutions.
The twenty-six Jesuits expelled by the Cuban government aboard the Covadonga on September 13 th, 1961. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Jesuit Centro Hispano Católico
Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ (1961-1962)
“With my paternal request, I exhort you as I can [North American Provinces] and all others from the Society that you make a great effort to assist in any way that you can, your [ Vice Province of the Antilles] Brothers, with which you have been united in Christ’s love.”
The First Belen Jesuit School Administration working at the Gesù Church Rectory in 1961.
From left to right sitting: Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ (Disciplinarian) Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) (Vice Rector), and Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ (Principal).
Standing: Brother José Feliz, SJ (Secretary).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
New Beginnings
The founding of an educational institution is fraught with many challenges. Even when conditions are optimal, and a school can begin with adequate facilities, resources, and financial support, it is no small endeavor to carry out the process involved in establishing a school. The task is even more daunting, if one considers the displacement of an entire religious community, the loss of all its property, as well as the nationalization of several iconic educational institutions, such as those built and administered by the Jesuits during their 107-year tenure in Cuba.
The Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles who arrived in South Florida in 1961 were encumbered with many challenges. The prospect of reopening the Colegio de Belén in South Florida without any funding, building facilities, a Jesuit residence, or even a single book, desk, or blackboard was certainly an intimidating proposition for even the most determined of men. Moreover, the establishment of a private, Catholic educational institution initially intended to help meet the needs of children from an exile community which itself was suffering from loss, displacement, language barriers, family separation, financial destitution, and hardship was also wrought with obstacles. Being in such dire straits, how could those families possibly afford tuition? Given their own circumstances, how could the Jesuits offer them even partial scholarships? Even more heart wrenching was the steady influx of unaccompanied children, arriving from Cuba under the program that came to be known as Operation Pedro
Pan. While some of the families and several of the unaccompanied children were also former Colegio de Belén students, how could the Jesuits hope to assist them, if they also lacked the financial resources and infrastructure necessary to care for them?
Nevertheless, the Jesuit correspondence and journals from the summer of 1961 were filled with strength of purpose. Resolute to the point of audacity, the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles constantly reminded each other of God’s “divine providence,” while they also remained on a clear and steadfast plan of action. First and foremost, they consulted with their superiors in Rome and followed the advice of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ (1889-1964), who urged them to request assistance from every Jesuit province in North America. In particular, they engaged the help of their Jesuit brothers from the New Orleans Province, which had an established presence in South Florida since the late nineteenth century. They also requested guidance and support from Bishop Coleman F. Carroll at the Diocese of Miami, and worked with Fr. Bryan O. Walsh (1930-2001) from the diocese’s Catholic Welfare Bureau as part of the Operation Pedro Pan program. At every step, they anticipated generous answers and at every turn they followed through with their next task. Never faltering and never doubting that 107 years of Jesuit ministry and educational service in Cuba were not to end in oblivion, the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles would indeed be successful in founding their school. As the current President of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) acknowledged:
“This educational institution, and those of us who serve here, stand today on the shoulders of those faithful giants, who arrived in 1961, some of them my teachers at our Colegio de Belén in Havana. Those Jesuits refused to have all that was Belen taken away from them, and with God’s help, not only overcame great obstacles and adversity, but also replanted the seeds of our Jesuit educational ministry in South Florida. Today, we acknowledge that the founding of Belen Jesuit and its survival during the last fifty years would certainly not have been possible without the hard work and determination of those faithful giants.”1
Gesù Church, New Orleans Province and the Diocese of Miami
Jesuit efforts to establish the Colegio de Belén in South Florida began when Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) met with Bishop Coleman F. Carroll in November 1960, at what was then the Diocese of Miami; however, the actual process to secure resources and financial support for opening a school came about shortly before the Colegio de Belén’s educational complex in Marianao was seized by the Cuban militia on April 18 th, 1961. Efforts became even more determined after the Jesuits were finally forced to evacuate the school in Havana on May 13 th, and the Cuban government nationalized all of the Jesuit educational properties and financial resources on the island.
Two Jesuits arrived in South Florida during April of 1961, with instructions from the superior of the Vice Province of the Antilles, Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ to begin efforts toward the establishment of a Jesuit school in South Florida. 2 The first was Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), who had served as the spiritual counselor of the Colegio de Belén’s first division in Havana. Fr. Ripoll arrived on April 7 th, and began working with the Diocese of Miami’s Catholic Welfare Bureau, which had been dealing with the steady arrival of unaccompanied Cuban children as part of the program that came to be known as Operation Pedro Pan. The outreach program, directed by Fr. Bryan O. Walsh, received and supervised over 14,000 Cuban children between December of 1960 and October of 1962, and the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles would play an important role in its implementation. Fr. Ripoll met with Fr. Walsh specifically to explore the possibility of the Jesuits helping the boys who were emigrating from Cuba.
On April 29th, another Jesuit from the Vice Province of the Antilles, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, who had served as principal at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, also arrived in Miami. Fr. Arroyo’s instructions from Vice Province of the Antilles Superior Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ were to correspond via letter with Fr. Alberto Moreno, SJ at the Curia Praepositi Generalis Societatis Iesu in Rome about the Cuban government’s actions toward the Jesuits in Cuba and the efforts that the Vice Province of the Antilles were about to carry out in the hope of establishing a Jesuit school in South Florida. Fr. Moreno was
the assistant for the North Latin American region to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ. The Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles had already been in contact with Fr. Moreno in reference to the political situation in Cuba and the potential consequences that the government’s turn toward communism would have on the members of the Jesuit order on the island as well as on their schools and residences in Cuba. From Miami, Fr. Arroyo related to Fr. Moreno that with few exceptions, such as the Jesuit churches and their attached rectories and residences, most of the Jesuit schools and properties in Cuba had already been seized. He also reiterated the proposal from the Vice Province of the
Gesù Church Postcard from the late 1950s. Postcard from the Gesù Church Archives.
Antilles to establish a Jesuit school in South Florida for the children of the Cuban refugees who had been steadily arriving in the area since January 1959.
Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ also instructed Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ to discuss the proposal for establishing a Jesuit school in South Florida with Bishop Carroll and with the assistant to the superior of the Jesuit New Orleans Province, Fr. Andrew C. Smith, SJ. The state of Florida was within the territory assigned to the Jesuit New Orleans Province, which had established a parish in downtown Miami in 1896, built around the Gesù Catholic Church. The parish, originally founded by Fr. Ambrose Fontan, SJ in a small wooden church, had grown substantially over the twentieth century, particularly after the original structure had been replaced in 1925 by a new and much larger church, which could easily accommodate nearly 1,100 parishioners.
After his arrival in Miami, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ resided at the Gesù rectory, and received the hospitality of its pastor, Fr. John Sweeney, SJ. Fr. Arroyo found that the parish included Gesù School, a K-8th grade school located in a colonial-style building adjacent to the church, which had, until 1953, also housed the first and oldest Catholic high school in Miami. Fr. Arroyo also found that the church served a Hispanic community that developed during the 1950s in the neighborhood area that later came to be known as Little Havana. Moreover, in response to the growing influx of Cuban refugees since 1959, the Diocese of Miami had also established the Centro Hispano Católico within the building that housed the Gesù School. The center, which opened in September of 1959, operated with employees and a string of volunteers, and provided medical and dental care, childcare, legal aid, employment services, food, clothing, language classes, and monetary assistance to Cuban refugees throughout the 1960s.5 The building that housed the center and the parochial school would become increasingly important for the Cuban community, as well as to the efforts of the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles, to reestablish Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami.
Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ and Gesù Catholic Church Pastor Fr. John Sweeney, SJ met with Bishop Coleman F. Carroll on May 29th, 1961. The bishop, who in December of 1960 had expressed to Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) his willingness to cooperate with the Jesuits, reiterated his support for the establishment of a Jesuit school in South Florida.
Bishop Carroll also stated that he thought the project would be more successful at obtaining support if it was founded as a permanent -not just as a temporary- Jesuit institution. Bishop Carroll also gave additional suggestions to Fr. Arroyo. He felt that the Jesuit school should allow for open enrollment instead of concentrating strictly on meeting the needs of Cuban refugee children and their families. He also suggested that classes be taught in English, and that the guidelines for the school’s operations and administration should be in accordance with the educational norms required by state and local agencies and observed by the other Catholic parochial schools within the diocese.
The events that transpired after Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ met with Bishop Coleman F. Carroll indicate that the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles were more than willing to accommodate the Bishop’s suggestions to achieve the establishment of a Jesuit school in South Florida. Shortly after the meeting, Fr. Arroyo notified Fr. Moreno in Rome as to the bishop’s suggestions and requirements, and he made plans to complete the second part of his instructions from Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ. He subsequently traveled to Ponchatoula, Louisiana to meet with Fr. Andrew C. Smith, SJ, who at the time served as the assistant to the superior of the New Orleans Province Fr. Lawrence O´Neill, SJ.6 During his meeting with Fr. Smith, Fr. Arroyo discussed the proposal that the Vice Province of the Antilles establish a Jesuit school in South Florida within the territory of the New Orleans Province. Fr. Arroyo also discussed Bishop Carroll’s suggestions with respect to establishing the school. Fr. Arroyo explained to Fr. Smith that while the plan called for the school to be staffed and operated by the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles, if the school was to teach in English, it would require that the New Orleans Province assign some English-speaking Jesuits as teachers. While most of the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles had been educated at Jesuit universities in Europe and the United States, and were English proficient, none had specialized in teaching English, particularly to students who were going to learn it as a second language. Since the New Orleans Province was understaffed, Fr. Arroyo offered that in return for the English teachers, Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles would teach Spanish at the Jesuit High School in New Orleans.7 The meeting proved preliminary, but it established the understanding that the Vice Province of the Antilles would be able to establish and administer their school within the territory that had been traditionally under the jurisdiction of the New Orleans Province.
A Determined, Visionary, and Compassionate Leader
Coleman F. Carroll was born February 9 th, 1905 in Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from Duquesne University in 1926, studied Theology at St. Vincent Seminary, and was ordained a priest on June 15 th, 1930. He earned a Doctor of Canon Law degree from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC and served as a parish priest in the Diocese of Pittsburgh for 23 years before Pope Pius XII appointed him as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh (August 25 th, 1953) and later as the first Bishop of the newly-created Diocese of Miami (August 13 th, 1958). In South Florida, he founded St. John Vianney College Seminary (1959), St. Vincent de Paul Seminary at Boynton Beach (1963), The Voice (1958) diocesan newspaper, and the Catholic Welfare Bureau (now Catholic Charities). He also founded the Centro Hispano Católico (1959) to help Cuban refugees fleeing the Cuban Revolution, and supported Operation Pedro Pan. In 1961, he also supported and approved the reestablishment of Belen Jesuit in South Florida. In support of Cuban Catholics and their love for the island’s Patroness, Our Lady of Charity, he celebrated Mass at the Orange Bowl on September 8 th, 1961, and donated land in 1966 to build the Ermita de la Caridad Shrine on Biscayne Bay. When Pope Paul VI elevated the Diocese of Miami to the rank of an Archdiocese on March 2 nd, 1968, Bishop Carroll was also elevated to become the Archdiocese’s first Archbishop. He also supported and helped found the Senior Citizens Center at Gesù Catholic Church in 1972. His endeavors during his tenure included the development of Catholic Charities, through which he had homes built for the elderly and unwed mothers, opened substance abuse rehab centers, cared for orphans, educated the mentally handicapped, and provided emergency help for the disadvantaged. He died in Miami, on July 26 th, 1977.
Bishop Coleman F. Carroll (1958)
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives
Centro Hispano Católico and Gesù School building entrance. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Curia Praepositi GeneralisSocietatis
Iesu near the Vatican, where Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ and Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) met with Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ in 1961 to request assistance in reestablishing Belen Jesuit in Miami.
Photograph from sjweb.com.
Father General Janssens and the Jesuit North American Provinces
To assist with the efforts of Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ and Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) in reestablishing Belen Jesuit in South Florida, on June 27th, 1961, the last serving rector of the Colegio de Belén in Havana, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ arrived in Miami. Another Jesuit, Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ, who had also served at the school as its assistant principal for discipline, traveled with Fr. Calvo. In his book, Mi Consagración Sacerdotal y Religiosa, Fr. Calvo recalled the difficulties that the Jesuits endured while living through the island’s turn toward communism. He also recounts the last days he spent at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, and his experience as he and Fr. Nuevo left the island on the last ferry that ran between Key West and Havana:
“There had been very difficult days (September 1959-June 1961). With much heartache, Fr. Nuevo and I said goodbye to our dear Jesuit brothers who we left behind at the Pius XII retreat facility in Havana not knowing of course, that they were soon to be forcefully expelled from the island after the upcoming feast of Cuba’s Patron Saint [Our Lady of Charity]. With much sorrow, we watched from the ferry as the beautiful Malecón and the island’s coast faded into the distance! Later, on the high seas, Fr. Nuevo and I sang as loud as our lungs would allow us. We also thanked God and took in the air of freedom that we felt sweeping in from the new shores to which we traveled.”
As residence space at the Gesù Catholic Church was limited, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ and Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ found accommodations at the Assumption Academy on Brickell Avenue, a private girl’s boarding school administered and operated by sisters from the Religious of Assumption order. The Religious of Assumption sisters offered their hospitality and support to the Jesuits, while their school was temporarily closed for summer vacation. On June 30th, Fr. Calvo received a telegram from Fr. Moreno which approved his travel to Rome to meet with him and the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ at the Jesuit world headquarters, the Curia Praepositi Generalis Societatis Iesu.
Almost immediately after his arrival from Cuba, and prior to departing for Rome, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ also met with Bishop Coleman F. Carroll to discuss the progress of the Jesuit endeavor to found a school in South Florida. Fr. Calvo, Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ and Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ explained to Bishop Carroll how the project had a more determined outlook, evident by the arrival of several Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles in Miami, and their upcoming meeting with Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ in Rome. It was at this time that Bishop Carroll, with a spirit of cooperation and generosity, gave an invaluable offer of support to Fr. Calvo, Fr. Nuevo, and Fr. Arroyo. He proposed that the Jesuits should open their school in September on the fourth floor of the building that housed the Centro Hispano Católico adjacent to the Gesù Catholic Church. The Jesuits, greatly appreciative of Bishop Carroll’s offer, promised to discuss the particulars with Father Janssens in Rome.
Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ traveled to Rome on July 2nd. On his way to Rome, he had a stopover in New York City and traveled with Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) to New Jersey, where he visited Colegio de Belén alumnus, Guillermo F. Kohly (1895). Fr. Calvo stressed the needs of the Jesuits, with respect to the establishment of the school, to Mr. Kohly. As a result, in a most generous gesture, Mr. Kohly offered to include a grant in his last will that would help Belen Jesuit in the United States. Many years later, for his gift to the school, the school’s first auditorium at the Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade would be named the Guillermo F. Kohly Auditorium.
Upon arriving in Rome, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ met with Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) who had been reassigned from his post as rector of the Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola in San Juan, Puerto Rico to serve as rector of the Pontificio Collegio Pio Latino Americano in Rome. It was Fr. Calvo’s hope to secure guidance and approval for establishing a Jesuit school in Miami, and to also address the question of the safety of the Jesuits who remained in Cuba with Jesuit Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ. Fr. Calvo wanted Fr. Chisholm to accompany him to the meeting with Father General Janssens and Fr. Alberto Moreno, SJ.9 At the meeting, Fr. Calvo received both approval and support. In an encouraging letter recapping the meeting, Fr. Moreno explained that Father General Janssens remained concerned over the situation in Cuba. While the loss of the Jesuit schools and properties were regrettable, it was the Cuban government’s threat of expulsion against religious orders and foreign members of the clergy that was truly of grave concern, and the Jesuit Curia would do anything that was in its power to continue to support and provide for the safety of the Jesuits who remained in Cuba.
With respect to the founding of the Jesuit school in Miami, Father General Janssens had been encouraged by the proposal from the Vice Province of the Antilles as well as by the preliminary support that the Jesuits had been able to obtain prior to the meeting in Rome, from the Diocese of Miami, and the New Orleans Province. Yet, since the school aimed to serve students whose Cuban families had been forced to leave most of what they owned behind when they had gone into exile, and the resources of these families were clearly limited, Father General Janssens also understood the grave need for financial assistance that the Vice Province of the Antilles would need in order to open and administer the school. Hence, he suggested sending Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) on a mission on behalf of his Jesuit brothers. Fr. Chisholm would visit every Jesuit Province in North America and deliver a proposal. This would include an account of what the government of Cuba had nationalized from the Jesuits, an explanation of the preliminary strategy, and the financial and personnel needs of the Vice Province of the Antilles for establishing a Jesuit school in South Florida.10 A letter for support from Father General Janssens followed the visits. In his letter, he stated:
“As we are all aware, Reverend Fathers and Brothers, grave and deplorable are the things that the Lord has allowed, and our Vice Province of the Antilles has suffered since the previous state of affairs changed, and ill-intentioned men took control
Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ was born December 22nd, 1889 in Mechelen, Belgium. He studied Philosophy and Classical Philology at the University Faculties St. Aloysius, today the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel. He entered the Jesuit order in Drogen, Belgium on September 23rd, 1907 and earned doctorate degrees in Civil Law from the KaHo Sint-Lieven Universiteit, and in cannon law from the Pontificia Università Gregoriana. He taught Cannon Law at the Jesuit Theologate in Lieven, where he also served as rector (1923-1929), tertian master (1935-1938), and superior of the Northern Belgian Province (1938-1946). The XXIX General Congregation of Jesuits in 1946, called four years after Fr. General Wlodimir Ledóchowski’s death because of World War II, elected Fr. Janssens as the superior general of the Society of Jesus on September 15th, 1946. During his tenure, he restructured the order’s educational apostolate by calling for the establishment of Prefect of Studies Offices at the provincial, national, and international levels, appointed Jesuit visitors for colleges and schools throughout the world, and coordinated international meetings to formulate common criteria among Jesuit educational intuitions. His Instruction on the Social Apostolate (1949) gave impetus to the creation of Centers of Information and Social Action, aimed at creating greater awareness of social justice. His guidance and support for the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles included a letter requesting the support of the North American Provinces and the entire Society of Jesus for their survival as a vice province, and for the reestablishment of Belen Jesuit in South Florida. He died in Rome, on October 5th, 1964.
of their nation’s government, wanting to see her [the island] stripped of all Christian education. Many of our own have been subjected to innocuous interrogations and harassment. Some have been detained in prisons; almost all our houses have been occupied by military soldiers, our property confiscated, and a large part of our Fathers and Brothers banished. How many things lost, how many works destroyed, how many efforts and hopes thwarted, and above all, how much of the good done for souls shattered! ... At the same time that I thank those provinces, that when Cubans had to take refuge in them, received them with fraternal charity and exquisite pleasure. With my paternal request, I exhort you as I can [North American Provinces] and all others from the Society, that you make a great effort to assist in any way that you can, your [Vice Province of the Antilles] Brothers, with which you have been
Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ
united in Christ’s love. I have no doubt that all of you want to help your Brothers with prayers and holy requests offered to God as a precious cry for help. This really should come first, and there is not one of you who should not do it constantly. But, not content with this, those who can help your Brothers with human aid, do not delay in doing so… know that you will be doing a work pleasing to God, who because of his inscrutable designs, is used to visiting his children while in the midst of their tribulations.”11
During August and September of 1961, Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) traveled extensively, visiting the Jesuit provinces of New York, New Orleans, Missouri, California, Oregon, Chicago, Wisconsin, Detroit, Buffalo, English Canada, French Canada, Maryland, and New England. He spent only two or three days in each city, but kept a daily journal that detailed how each province responded favorably, some offering financial support as well as personnel. Although the amount received over the last half of 1961 was less than was needed, and the provinces could spare only a few Jesuits to begin a project of such magnitude, the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles continued steadfast in their efforts to establish Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in South Florida.12
After Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ returned from Rome, and while Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) was undertaking his mission throughout North America, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ put out a letter to the families of former students from the Colegio de Belén and the Jesuit Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba that were residing in South Florida. Some of these families had already established contact with the Jesuits. While it did not provide many specifics, the letter surveyed the interest that these families could possibly have in enrolling their children at a Jesuit school in South Florida. It stated:
“We consider it too early to provide you with details; however, we believe our school would teach in English, allow access to all American students, and employ the methods and lesson plans that are in accordance with those used by American schools.”13
As they took steps to open Belen Jesuit at the Centro Hispano Católico and Gesù School building, the Jesuits also decided to research the possibility of purchasing or obtaining lands on which to build a the
school a campus of its own in Perrine, Homestead, and as far away as Boca Raton; however, they were unable to secure anything feasible. While they were grateful for Bishop Coleman F. Carroll’s offer and support, it was also important for the school to secure a place of its own to fully establish itself in South Florida. One thing was also certain, the school needed to be near the community it aimed to serve, and the Jesuits were set on providing assistance to Cuban refugee families and Operation Pedro Pan kids, all of whom seemed geographically concentrated near the Gesù Catholic Church as well as near the Hispanic neighborhood which the parish served, which later would come to be known as Little Havana.
On July 31st, the Jesuits held another meeting with Bishop Coleman F. Carroll and the superior of the New Orleans Province, Fr. Lawrence O´Neill SJ at the Diocese of Miami to discuss their progress. While Bishop Carroll remained amenable with the concept of the Jesuits opening their school, he did not agree with the idea of the Jesuits purchasing land and building a school, particularly outside city and county boundaries. Hence, the Jesuits decided to accept the bishop’s advice as well as his generous offer and open the school at the Centro Hispano Católico and Gesù School building. Bishop Carroll offered his full official approval for opening Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in a letter dated August 29th, 1961, where he stated that he approved the establishment of a Jesuit secondary school within the Diocese of Miami to “substitute the school that the Jesuits had in Havana.”14
On August 8th, the Jesuits leased two homes in the Brickell Avenue area near Assumption Academy, where some of the Jesuits had been residing temporarily. One home would function as a Jesuit residence, and the other as a boarding home for the unaccompanied boys from Operation Pedro Pan, thus beginning the official Jesuit involvement in the program. Hence, in a sequence of events that Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ acknowledged as “divine providence,” the determined work of the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles, the generous support of Jesuit Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ, Bishop Coleman F. Carroll, and the North American Jesuit provinces, and the Jesuit involvement with Operation Pedro Pan coalesced enabling Belen Jesuit Preparatory School to open at the Centro Hispano Católico and Gesù School building on September 18th, 1961. Moreover, the school had been able to open without interruption, just as it would have done in Havana if it had not been nationalized, and was thus also able to begin providing its 108th year of educational service, the first of many, in the United States.15
Belen Jesuit at the Centro Hispano Católico
Attaining the uninterrupted establishment of the Colegio de Belén as Belen Jesuit Preparatory School over the span of one short summer could not be interpreted as anything other than “divine providence” by the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles. For the exiled Cuban families displaced by the political turmoil that had befallen their country, the Jesuit offer of a familiar educational option for their children also appeared as God’s blessing during a troubled time. Although many families were unable to afford paying tuition for their children to attend a private school, the Jesuits, even while they were still without funds themselves to fully operate their school, worked with every single family who came to request admission. As a result, their initial roster shows that 80 percent of the 172 students who attended Belen Jesuit at the Centro Hispano Católico and Gesù School building did so at no charge, and the remaining 20 percent paid only five dollars per month.16
The school opened at the Centro Hispano Católico on September 18th, 1961 with Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) as vice rector, Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ as principal, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ as disciplinarian, Fr. Vicente Rodríguez, SJ (‘48) as spiritual counselor, and Brother José Feliz, SJ as secretary. The administrators worked out of one small office in the Gesù rectory, and by October, the enrollment at Belen Jesuit reached 172 students. In addition to the administrators, other notable Jesuits who would go on to develop long careers of service at Belen Jesuit as well as within the apostolic and educational work of the Vice Province of the Antilles served at the school. Among these were: Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), Fr. José R. Tey, SJ (19262007), Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), Fr. José Sánchez, SJ, Fr. José A. Díaz Marqués, SJ (1908-1996), Fr. Bartolomé Malvárez, SJ (1926-2001), Fr. Enrique Oslé, SJ (1908-1998), Brother José Arrieta, SJ (19061990), and Brother Aquilino Gutiérrez, SJ (1931-2004).
As part of the personnel exchange agreement with the Province of New Orleans, Fr. Oren W. Key, SJ and Fr. Austin N. Park, SJ came to teach English at Belen Jesuit, and in October of 1961, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ went to teach Latin and Spanish at the Jesuit High School in New Orleans. Fr. Andrés Ruisánchez, SJ (1930-1981) replaced Fr. Arroyo as disciplinarian. In February of 1962, Fr. Thomas Ambrose,
SJ (1917-1997) and Fr. Herbert Kane, SJ arrived from the New York Province to teach at the school. Two other Jesuits from the New York Province, Fr. Thomas Robinson, SJ (1916-1974), Fr. Robert H. Coussineau, SJ, and Fr. Edward Dunn, SJ (1916-1925) also taught at the school when Fr. Ambrose and Fr. Kane returned to their province. Several Jesuits who were not yet ordained priests also came to serve as faculty members at the school during that first year. Among them were Jesuit scholastics, Ángel Julio Burunat, SJ, Alfredo Cuadrado, SJ (1936-1989), Eduardo Torralba, SJ, and Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54).
The initial student body at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School consisted of former students from the Colegio de Belén (55 percent), the Jesuit Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba (10 percent), the Colegio de los Hermanos Maristas (8 percent), the Colegio La Salle (8 percent), the Escuelas Pías (3 percent), and the remaining (26 percent) were from various other Cuban religious and secular educational institutions, some of which had also been closed by the island’s government.17 Financial support from the Jesuit Provinces in North America included funds from the two Canadian provinces,
Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25)at the Miami International Airport during the early 1960s. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Jesuit students working on Vincam, April 1962. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Francisco PérezLerena, SJ (‘44) teaching Belen Jesuit students in April 1962 at the Centro Hispano Católico and Gesù School building. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Francisco PérezLerena, SJ (‘44), Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39), Fr. José A. Díaz Marqués, SJ and Jesuit fathers from the North American Provinces teaching at Belen Jesuit at the Centro Hispano Católico and Gesù School building. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
as well as the provinces of Maryland, New England, New York, Missouri, and Detroit. While logistical and financial issues remained a concern throughout the school year, the school moved forward, implementing its curriculum and many of the traditions that had been established at the Colegio de Belén in Havana. In an October 2nd, 1961 letter to Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ stated:
“Two American fathers have arrived and are working hard… Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45) is doing a great job. While our main issue had been that we did not have any textbooks from which to teach, these finally arrived today… We are full to capacity with good boys, some from the best of Belén and Dolores. They certainly are behaving themselves. Fr. John Sweeney, SJ is doing his best to accommodate us. He told the boys during Mass that while we may be located in a building that is a far cry from the one they attended in Havana, we are also proving that there can be an excellent school even without a great building to house it.”18
In the same letter, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ inquires as to the fate of the priests who were expelled from Cuba aboard the Spanish ship Covadonga on September 17th. He explains that in Miami, a letter had been published from Auxiliary Bishop of Havana Eduardo Boza Masvidal, who was on voyage with the twenty-six Jesuits expelled from Havana. Amongst the Jesuits on the Covadonga was the Superior of the Vice
Province of the Antilles, Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ who after a short time, also made his way to Belen Jesuit in South Florida. Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Boza Masvidal visited Miami in January of 1962 and celebrated Mass at the Orange Bowl for thousands of Cubans. In an optimistic and hopeful article, the Belen Jesuit Echoes yearbook states:
“Auxiliary Bishop Boza Masvidal taught by example while he was among us during January of 1962. Henceforth, from Caracas, Venezuela, his voice will reach all the corners of the world where Cubans have taken refuge as they prepare for a new homeland. His voice reaches us through letters, publications, and advice to speak of a union of Cubans in exile who, when God decides, will form a union of Cubans in our homeland.”19
While Belen Jesuit remained housed at the Centro Hispano Católico, students played basketball, went on field trips to Crandon Park, Key West, West Palm Beach, and Tampa. As part of their extracurricular activities, students participated in some of the same organizations that had been part of the educational traditions established at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, such as the Congregación de San Luis Gonzaga and the Academia Literaria Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. New organizations, such as the Catholic Student Youth and the Social Studies Study Groups, were also founded by students that first year with help from the Jesuit faculty. On week-
ends, the students from the Congregación de San Luis Gonzaga (St. Luis Gonzaga Marian Congregation) taught catechism to over 160 children from the neighborhoods that surrounded Gesù Catholic Church. Students also managed to raise funds to publish a few issues of their newspaper, Vincam meaning “we shall conquer.” The publication had also been a long-standing component of the Colegio de Belén in Havana.
By the end of the 1961-1962 academic year, students had been able to raise enough funds to print the first Belen Jesuit yearbook published in the United States. Printed in Spanish, and containing only forty-eight pages, the 1962 yearbook did not reinstate the name Ecos de Belén (Echoes) as the school’s yearbooks had been called at the Colegio de Belén. The yearbook did, however, bear the school’s crest, thanked Bishop Coleman F. Carroll and the North American Provinces for their financial support, and explained that school operations could not have been covered by its minimal tuition income. In the yearbook, the Vincam staff expressed their hope that students could soon be editing their publication back in Cuba.
Within their 1962 yearbook page, the Social Studies Study Groups, advised by Fr. Enrique Oslé, SJ, who had served as the director of the Juventud Obrera Católica (JOC) in Cuba, expressed their concern with political and social issues:
“Our work has been slow and humble. We did not attempt to solve the larger social problems facing today’s world. We meet once a week to “examine our consciousness.” That is, we ponder in our spirit the major social problems facing society today, as we prepare to take our leap to the university and to the rest of our lives. We adopt a Christian perspective, as we ponder the issues in our spirit, analyzing reality through the formidable prism of the Gospel and contemplating the practical applications that we take from the Social Encyclicals. These are documents wherein the Church adapts the issues of the time to the doctrine of justice and love that the Nazarene preached. We learned to stay away from liberalism -not following myopic sociologists who think to fix the world with confused Rousseauian formulas and economic panaceas. We learned to steer away from Marxism in all its subtle or openly cynical forms. With humility, but with zeal of spirit, we opened our minds to the uncompromising spirit proclaimed by Pope John XXIII in the Encyclical Mater et Magistra: Our time is being assailed and permeated by radical errors; it is altered and torn apart by deep unrest, but it is also an era that opens up immense possibilities for the greater good that comes out of the fighting spirit of our Church.”20
Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Eduardo Boza Masvidal celebrates Mass at the Orange Bowl in early 1962. Photographs from Belen Jesuit Echoes, 1962.
The Jesuit Boys’ Residence near Brickell Avenue where the young men from Operation Pedro Pan lived with Jesuit priests and scholastics. Photograph courtesy of Clemente C. Amézaga (‘63).
Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ and their wards from Operation Pedro Pan were featured in the Miami News, September 22 nd, 1961, when they were forced to leave Whitehall. Photograph courtesy of Clemente C. Amézaga (‘63).
Operation Pedro Pan and the Jesuits
The official involvement of the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles in the Diocese of Miami’s Catholic Welfare Bureau’s Operation Pedro Pan also began in August of 1961. The bureau had been dealing with the steady arrival of unaccompanied Cuban children, as part of an outreach program overseen by Fr. Bryan O. Walsh. Operation Pedro Pan received and supervised over 14,000 Cuban children between December of 1960 and October of 1962. As part of their involvement, on August 8th, the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles leased a property close to the Assumption Academy where some of them had been residing after their arrival from Cuba. The original home for Operation Pedro Pan children had been used historically as a boarding house known as Whitehall. Located at 1300 Brickell Avenue, the house was a home for over twenty boys, and was overseen by Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) and Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ who had been transferred from Camp Matacumbe.21 At first, the boys attended Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, and as the Jesuits began to take care of a larger number, some attended other Catholic schools in the area.
Unfortunately, on September 22nd, shortly after moving into Whitehall, the boys and the Jesuits were ordered to vacate the premises by the City of Miami Fire Department, due to complaints from neighbors, which alleged overcrowding that supposedly violated city fire safety ordinances. The Jesuits complied with the health inspector ordinances, but the calls from the owners of a nearby hotel did not stop, and neither did their claims that the boys making their “Spanish-talk” would surely ruin their business. Other neighbors came to the defense of the Jesuit Boys’ Residence, explaining that they were well-mannered and kind, but their efforts were ig-
nored by the Fire Department, who asked them to leave Whitehall.22 After being evicted from their first facility, the Jesuits moved the boys into 163 SE 15th Road, a house which they leased from José Ferré, a real estate investor, whose son Maurice Ferré would eventually become Mayor of the City of Miami (19731985), and a great supporter of Belen Jesuit’s expansion during the 1970s. At this new location, the Jesuits established the Jesuit Boys’ Residence, run by Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) and Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ, with the help of Fr. Andrés Ruisánchez, SJ, Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45) and Jesuit scholastics, Alfredo Cuadrado, SJ, Eduardo Salvadó, SJ, and Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54). In July of 1962, the Jesuits took over an adjacent house (175 SE 15th Road) that also belonged to the Ferré family, which up to that time had been occupied by the Sisters of St. Joseph, who were also caring for other children from Operation Pedro Pan.
The students under the Catholic Welfare Bureau’s Operation Pedro Pan, who lived at the Jesuit Boys’ Residence and were able to attend Belen Jesuit, interpreted their situation as a blessing from God. On their page, in the Belen 1962 yearbook, they described their home life as peaceful, and listed their daily activities, in-
cluding sports and recreation in the afternoon, doing homework, and praying the rosary in the evening. In a used green bus, Eduardo Salvadó, SJ transported them to school each weekday and also took them on outings on weekends. They went to the beach, to the movies, and also to Gesù Catholic Church to attend Mass on Sundays. The 1962 yearbook page offered a touching, open invitation to other Belen Jesuit students who might want to visit the Jesuit Boys’ Residence after school:
“We invite you to experience the goodwill of those who have given a home to those of us who have lost it all to the hands of communism.”23
It was at the Jesuit Boys’ Residence where the Jesuits and the boys endured the days of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. From the Brickell area homes, the Jesuits and the boys watched as military vehicles used Brickell Avenue in the weeks that followed the crisis. Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), who was then a Jesuit scholastic teaching at Belen Jesuit, recalled the following:
“Most of the boys were sick with worries. We tried to come up with activities to keep their minds off the crisis, but the ability to see the military vehicles from our windows made that task quite difficult. At school, we telephoned Cuba for news about their families. It was a rough time, and we prayed frequently. Eventually, the crisis subsided, and they continued to work, carrying out their homework and practicing sports after school. We cared for them until, little by little, their families began to arrive, and they were able to reunite with their parents.”24
The Jesuits would continue to play a key role in the housing, education, and care of the boys from the Operation Pedro Pan program. In January of 1964, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) took over as the director of the Camp Opa-locka facility, at a former Marine and Naval Station that included six barrack buildings located in the block delimited by Ely Road on the North, Bennet Road on the East, Langley Road on the South and an alley named Música Road along the West. According to the document, Miami Camps Group Homes, by Eloísa Echazábal Pi and Belen Jesuit alumnus Clemente C. Amézaga (‘63), there were two barracks for sleep-
Jesuit Operation Pedro Pan Residence at: 175 SE 15th Road.
Photograph courtesy of Clemente C. Amézaga (‘63).
Fr. Bryan O. Walsh at Camp Opa-locka for Operation Pedro Pan young men.
Photograph courtesy of Clemente C. Amézaga (‘63).
Operation Pedro Pan young men unload their belongings upon arriving at Camp Opa-locka. Photograph courtesy of Clemente C. Amézaga (‘63).
Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ and Fr. Bryan O. Walsh at Belen Jesuit in the early 1960s. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
ing, a mess hall, a chapel, an administrative office, a barrack for the clergy quarters, and a laundry. The facility had been opened in January of 1963 to house 500 Operation Pedro Pan boys who first came from the Kendall Children’s Home (January 1963), and were later followed by those from Camp Matecumbe (May-June 1964). The camp had been run by the Marist brothers prior to the Jesuits assuming its administration. Fr. Ripoll served as the camp’s director, Fr. Enrique Oslé, SJ as principal, and Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45) assisted them in the camp’s daily operations. The boys at the Camp Opa-locka facility also attended several of the Catholic schools in the area such as: Monsignor Edward Pace High School, Immaculata La Salle High School, and Belen Jesuit. They also participated in many sports activities with excellent teams of baseball, softball, and basketball. As Cuban families began to arrive through several established immigration programs and were reunited with the boys, the number of residents diminished, until finally, the facility was closed down. The Jesuits also closed the houses in the Brickell Avenue area in September of 1964, and any boys who were left went to reside at Camp Opa-locka until it too was closed on June 6th, 1966.
In September of 1965, an announcement by Fidel Castro (‘45) stating that as of October 10th, the port of Camarioca in Cuba would be opened to those desiring to leave for “the Yankee paradise” caused an exodus of several thousand Cubans who took advantage of Castro’s offer between October and November of 1965. Soon thereafter, the United States and Cuba negotiated what became known as “Freedom Flights,” using commercial aircraft to transport those Cubans who wished to immigrate safely to the United States. The reunification of families, expedited through the “Freedom Flights” between Varadero Beach in Cuba and Miami, helped to reunite some of the boys with their families; however, some of the boys never saw their parents again.
After Camp Opa-locka closed in 1966, the Jesuits still had 25 teenage boys that were waiting for the arrival of their parents. At that point, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) leased the Sweet Dreams Motel, at 83 SE 8th Street. Along with instructor Alberto Cuartas, who had been a professor at Escuelas Pías in Havana, Fr. Ripoll stayed with the boys until 1970, when those who remained moved to a final location with Fr. Bryan O. Walsh, two cottages behind St. Martha’s Church in North Miami.25
The End of the First Academic Year
After undergoing great challenges, the 108th academic year (19611962) came to a close. The school’s permanence in South Florida was still uncertain, as it remained undeniably tied to the uncertainty of Cuba’s political situation and dependent on the financial support of the Jesuit North American Provinces for its survival. Regardless of their circumstances, the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles wanted to give thanks for God’s providence and profess their faith and hope for the future. Hence, the theme of the first Graduation Mass held by the school in South Florida was one of thanksgiving and hope, as twenty-seven graduates from the class of 1962 and their families gathered at Gesú Catholic Church, where Bishop Coleman F. Carroll celebrated Mass and congratulated both the Jesuits and the graduates for all that they had been able to accomplish. Fr. Enrique Oslé, SJ served as Master of Ceremonies and Fr. Bryan O. Walsh gave the formal Graduation Address. The ceremony included, not only the traditional awarding of diplomas and rings, but also the official induction of twenty-seven new alumni into the Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos de los Padres Jesuitas de Cuba, which later became known as the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami. The Alumni Association had been reestablished that year by Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ Holding the first Graduation Mass at Gesú also established the church as a traditional venue to hold the school’s graduation Mass, something that would occur numerous times during the ensuing fifty years.
After the Mass, the Jesuits turned their attention back to the permanence of their school in South Florida. Again, the summer months presented an opportunity to find Belen Jesuit a place of its own, but the idea seemed as filled with options as it was once again wrought with challenges. Should they purchase land and build a new edifice or find an existing location which they would be able to adapt to their needs? Where would they obtain the financial support necessary to carry out either option? These questions were the points of discussion and reflection at meetings and spiritual retreats in the summer of 1962, during which the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles continued to faithfully trust in “divine providence,” as they also remained steadfast in their plan to rebuild the long-standing tradition of educational and apostolic service, which they had enjoyed in Cuba within their new South Florida community in the United States.
Class of 1962 Graduation at Gesù Catholic Church. Raúl Herrera (‘62), Daniel Soler (‘62), Eugenio Santiago (‘62), Fernando Álvarez (‘62), Luis Blanco (‘62), Rafael Giro (‘62), José Rodríguez (‘62), Luis Domínguez (‘62), Rodolfo Godínez (‘62), Miguel Bustillo (‘62), León Argamasilla (‘62), Alberto Pérez Blanco (‘62), Joaquín Palacio (‘62), Jorge Sowers (‘62), José García Medrano (‘62), Manuel Lubián (‘62), Luis Morales (‘62), Javier Muñoz (‘62), Manuel Chambless (‘62), José Argamasilla-Bacardi (‘62), José Díaz (‘62), Juan Mondéjar (‘62), Raúl Ajamil (‘62), Jorge Cinca (‘62), Octavio Averhoff (‘62), Juan Simón (‘62), José Manduley (‘62). Photograph from Echoes, 1962.
Section V
BELEN JESUIT
LITTLE HAVANA
(1962-1981)
“Today, our prime educational objective must be to form Men for Others; Men who will live not for themselves, but for God and his Christ.”
Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ
A Place of our Own
Belen Jesuit Entrance at the campus in Little Havana. Photograph from Echoes, 1969.
During the academic year that Belen Jesuit resided at the Centro Hispano Católico (1961-1962), the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles continued to consult with their superiors in Rome about the possibility of moving the school to a location of its own. While they were grateful to the Jesuit North American provinces, Bishop Coleman F. Carroll, Fr. Bryan O. Walsh, and Gesù Pastor Fr. John Sweeney, SJ for all their support, the Jesuits also believed that establishing Belen Jesuit at its own location would give the school an opportunity to forge an identity of its own. Securing a venue for the school, however, would be only the first of many steps involved in reestablishing Belen Jesuit in South Florida. Undoubtedly, the school would have to become financially independent. Not only would it have to forgo the support provided by the North American provinces, but the Jesuits would also be forced to balance their commitment to the young men from Operation Pedro Pan and to the families of students who were unable to afford tuition, with their ability to generate the financial resources that were required to keep the school open.
Nonetheless, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles continued to follow the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola, acting as if everything depended on them, while faithfully trusting that they were dependent on God’s divine providence for everything else. Gradually, they developed a comprehensive strategy to ensure the school’s survival as well as its growth. First, they employed qualified lay educators to complement the Jesuit faculty, and they implemented both a rigorous curriculum and an athletic program that stressed Catholic values, community service, and the Je-
suit educational principles for which the school was known. Second, they established vital links with student families, Colegio de Belén alumni, and the surrounding community to gain support for their endeavor. Third, they developed fundraising campaigns to not only finance the school’s growth and expansion, but also to provide financial assistance to those whose capability to pay for private education continued to be limited. Finally, they kept true to their continuing mission to help the young men from Operation Pedro Pan who remained under their care throughout the greater part of the 1960s.
This comprehensive approach was, at its core, also based on the Jesuit ideal of forming and educating leaders in service, striving for the ideal of Jesus Christ. Young men who with competence, conscience, and a compassionate commitment would answer the call that Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ (1907-1991) made in 1973 during the Tenth International Congress of Jesuit Alumni in Europe:
“Today, our prime educational objective must be to form men for others; men who will live not for themselves, but for God and his Christ - for the God-man who lived and died for all the world; Men who cannot even conceive of love for God, which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; Men who are completely convinced that love for God, which does not take issue with the injustice of others, is a farce.”1
Hence, it was on their educational ministry that the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles concentrated their efforts. Also, as they provided young men with Catholic education and Christian conviction, the Jesuits hoped that these men would develop a special bond with each other and with their school. It was also their hope that as these young men became professionals, they would also become the core of the Belen Jesuit alumni, and continue to actively participate in the subsequent growth and development of their school. Undoubtedly, it was through this comprehensive approach that Belen was able to survive its relocation to the United States. It was also thanks to the dedication, generosity, and commitment of its Jesuits, lay faculty, staff families and alumni that the school managed to ensure its permanence as one of South Florida’s most prominent educational institutions.
Early Challenges
During the summer of 1962, the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles continued to search for a new location for their school. Although they reflected on whether to acquire land and build a new facility, the extraordinary financial requirements that were necessary in order to carry out such an endeavor were at the time, simply unavailable. After an extensive search, therefore, the Jesuits opted for purchasing an existing building, which they determined as the most appropriate and affordable location for their school.2 Comprised of three adjoining halls in need of some repairs and functional improvements, the one-story building in Little Havana, at 824 SW 7th Avenue, had been used by the Miami Dance Center as a dancing academy. Toward the end of the summer of 1962, Belen Jesuit students and some of their family members joined hired workers to help carry out some of the remodeling and repairs necessary to get the school ready to open for the 1962-1963 academic year. The modest, one-story building included four classrooms that could each hold thirty-five students. A multi-purpose hall was also remodeled, and for quite some time functioned as an administrative office, cafeteria, faculty lounge, and school chapel, where masses were held daily.
Classes at the Little Havana campus began on September 19th, 1962, with students enrolled in grades seventh through twelfth. The enrollment roster had 166 students, 60 percent of whom were still attending the school at no charge, and another 15 percent who were on partial scholarship, which meant their families were making only minimal contributions in place of tuition. The first two academic years (1962-1964) at the Little Havana campus, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) served as vice rector, and Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ as principal. In addition, at first under the title of prefect, and later as assistant principal for discipline, Fr. Andrés Ruisánchez, SJ also served at the school while Fr. Vicente Rodríguez, SJ (‘48) continued in his role as spiritual counselor.
The ceremony to officially bless the school took place on October 1st, 1962, during which Bishop Coleman F. Carroll performed the blessing. Belen Jesuit Vice Rector, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), read the school’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, faithfully honoring the Co-
legio de Belén tradition started in 1918, at the Compostela Campus. The Jesuits thanked Bishop Carroll for his support and generosity, and the Bishop promised to celebrate Mass at the school after his return from Rome, where he was due to travel to attend the Vatican II Ecumenical Council. On February 15th, 1963, shortly after returning from Vatican II, Bishop Carroll celebrated Mass at the school once again. During the homily, the Bishop shared words from Pope John XXIII’s (1881-1963) opening remarks at the Vatican II Council, which he especially wanted to convey to Belen Jesuit students:
“Men, illuminated by the light of Christ, will understand their true nature, dignity, and purpose.”4
Only a few days after Bishop Carroll’s Mass, on February 20th, 1963, the school received the honorable visit of the Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Eduardo Boza Masvidal, who had been expelled from the island by the Cuban government on the Covadonga in September of 1961. Auxiliary Bishop Boza Masvidal had taken up residence in Venezuela since the expulsion. During his visit to Belen Jesuit, he celebrated
Miami Dance Center Building, prior to becoming Belen Jesuit in 1962. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
Students from the Belen Jesuit Oratory Literary Academy carry out Revolución vs. Evolución Discussion and Debate.
Photograph from Echoes, 1963.
Mass and exhorted students about the importance of freedom and Cuban issues. Students interviewed Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Boza Masvidal and published an article about him in the Vincam newspaper. The bishop also gave a conference at the school, which he delivered during the official act to establish the Unión de Católicos Exiliados (UCE), an organization of Cuban Catholics in exile.
Classes at Belen Jesuit during this time included: English, mathematics, science, social studies, modern languages, and theology. These were all conducted in English by either the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles, or with the help of other Jesuits from the provinces of New Orleans and New York, who had agreed to help teach at the school. The school also hired lay faculty members to help them fulfill all areas of their academic curriculum. During the first few years at Little Havana, students took classes in mathematics with Jesuit scholastics Alfredo Cuadrado, SJ and Ángel Julio Burunat, SJ who also taught general science and biology. Fr. Francisco PérezLerena, SJ (‘44) and Javier Muller taught algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Carlos Muller taught both mathematics and physics. Fr. Robert H. Coussineau, SJ, Fr. Edward Dunn, SJ, and Fr. Thomas
Robinson, SJ all taught English as a second language and Fr. Robinson also taught United States history, which he continued to do until 1968. In 1963, Colegio de Belén alumnus Antonio Abella (‘59) began teaching biology at the school. His recollections of the early years provide the sense of purpose and camaraderie that sometimes is found during challenging times:
“We had limited resources, and I had to improvise many times to teach science and conduct experiments. I remember bringing an onion from home to inspect under the microscope to teach my lessons; however, the common purpose that the Jesuits had was that the school must not only remain open, but it also needed to thrive and live up to the reputation it had enjoyed in Cuba. Everyone had Belen’s permanence and improvement as a goal. Although we functioned within established norms of discipline and professional respect for one another, you also had the feeling coming to work every day that we were all part of one family. I have wonderful memories of those days.”5
During the academic year of 1962-1963, students participated in the St. Luis Gonzaga Marian Congregation, or Sodality which had been part of the religious formation and apostolic service that students participated in at the Colegio de Belén in Havana. The Sodality was one of the first enrichment activities reestablished at Belen Jesuit at the Centro Hispano Católico and Gesù School building during the previous academic year (1961-1962). The Sodality functioned as the heart of the school’s extracurricular activities and coordinated these through the Catholic Cooperation Secretariat. Students who participated in the Marian Congregation saw themselves as soldiers of Christ under the protection of the Blessed Mother. Students carried out activities as part of the Oratory Literary Academy, as ell as the Writers, Liturgical, and Cuban academies. Fr. José R. Tey, SJ and scholastic Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) advised students on the publication of the student newspaper Vincam taught at literary academy meetings, and worked with the students from the literary guild, practicing speeches and oratory events, which were later delivered as school-wide presentations.
As part of the Marian Congregation’s apostolic service, and under the direction of Fr. Vicente Rodríguez, SJ (‘48), students developed a catechism program at the school on Saturdays, where boys from the Little Havana neighborhood came to Belen Jesuit for instruction, a Mass, and outdoor games and activities. The students also established
an apostleship of prayer, and with Fr. Rodríguez, carried out a census that identified sixty-two Catholic families in the area. With this information in hand, they cooperated with the St. Peter and Paul Parish to coordinate the St. John Bosco Mission, which started out celebrating two Sunday Masses every week. The mission eventually developed into the St. John Bosco Church and School in Little Havana.6
As the first school year at the Little Havana campus (1962-1963) came to an end, thirty-three seniors graduated at Gesù Catholic Church in a Mass celebrated by Diocese of Miami Bishop Coleman F. Carroll. One of them, Eduardo Álvarez (‘63), whose parents had sent him to live with relatives in exile until they themselves were allowed to leave Cuba, entered the Jesuit order right after graduation.
As the summer months began, a meeting to plan for the upcoming 1963-1964 academic year took place. At the meeting, the school’s administration was encouraged when they realized that five students of North American origin had been enrolled at the school. The Jesuits interpreted the enrollments as a clear indication that North American families were starting to entrust them with the education of their children. They were also encouraged by the opportunity to diversify the school’s student population. Another more pressing item on the meeting’s agenda however, took precedence over the good news. Since its reestablishment in South Florida, the school’s finances had remained a source of concern for the Jesuits. The financial assistance they had received from the North American provinces during the initial academic year (1961-1962) had been enough to cover that year’s operational expenses. The assistance had also helped to secure the Little Havana campus location and helped to pay for the costs in-
volved in the construction to open the school. While the operational costs for its second academic year (1962-1963) had been reasonable, the school’s income had been minimal. Unfortunately, 60 percent of the families whose children attended the school had been unable to contribute any tuition, and another 20 percent had only been able to make minimal contributions. The result amounted to a substantial deficit at the end of the second academic year. Moreover, although the North American provinces had agreed to help cover the deficit, they had also notified the Vice Province of the Antilles that given the financial commitments that they had to missions within their own territories, it would be impossible for them to continue to support Belen Jesuit indefinitely.
The school’s financial challenges became even more pressing shortly thereafter, when the superior of the Vice Province of the Antilles, Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ, received a letter from Jesuit Father General JeanBaptiste Janssens, SJ, who questioned the provincial as to whether it was actually feasible to keep Belen Jesuit open in South Florida. In his letter, Father General Janssens asked Fr. Ruiz if the school had focused their education on preparing the exiled young men to return to Cuba or if it had encouraged them to assimilate into their new society. Father General Janssens also stated in the letter that he was concerned that if even part of the school’s focus continued to be on the eventual return of these students to the island, this would somehow limit their assimilation to life in the United States.
Marian Congregation Saturday Catechism Classes. Photograph from Echoes, 1964. Marian Congregation members who made their consecration during the Vigil of the Immaculate Conception included future Jesuit priests, Eduardo Álvarez (‘63) and Javier López-Muñoz (‘63). From left to right: Álvarez, Carlos Botta (‘63), Maximiliano Trujillo-González (‘63), López-Muñoz, José Luzárraga (‘63), Luis Salces (‘63), José Delgado (‘63), Tomás RodríguezMartos (‘63), and Luis Pérez Aguayo (‘63). Photograph from Echoes, 1963.
In his response, Fr. Ruiz first expressed his gratitude for all of the support that Father General Janssens and the North American provinces had given the school. Then, he acceded that the original intent for the reestablishment of Belen Jesuit in South Florida had been to educate the sons of Cuban exiles and the Operation Pedro Pan children. Fr. Ruiz also explained that the hope of those at the school and of the exile community was with God’s favor, the Cuban communist government would fall. If that were to happen, it was also their hope that these young men would end up as leaders in rebuilding the Cuban nation. The school’s objective since its inception had also been however, to promote the assimilation of its students into their new society. Undoubtedly, the school intended for this assimilation process to be different from that of other immigrating minorities, whose abrupt and hostile experiences had left their children ashamed of their past, family, and origins. Instead, the school hoped to encourage knowledge and appreciation in their students for their native language, culture, and heritage. They also hoped to assist them in learning to adapt to their new environment. With that in mind, students were urged to continue their studies at colleges and universities in the United States, as a means to succeed in the new country in which they resided. Fr. Ruiz then ended his response with a great leap of faith. He requested that Father General Janssens allow the Vice Province of the Antilles the opportunity to keep Belen Jesuit open in South Florida, a task for which he was willing to take personal responsibility.
After receiving a positive answer from Jesuit Father General JeanBaptiste Janssens, SJ and with the new academic year (1963-1964) fast approaching, the Jesuit administration established a plan to keep Belen Jesuit open in South Florida. They established strict controls over spending and developed the initial objectives for the Brick Campaign, a fundraising effort to carry out the school’s expansion. The Jesuits then took on additional responsibilities during the summer months at area parishes and donated the compensation they received from the parishes back to the school in order to contribute to its operating expenses for the upcoming year.9 At this time, it also became increasingly clear to the Jesuits that if the school was going to be able to remain open, an appeal had to be made asking the its families for support. After all, having Belen Jesuit in South Florida had to be a combined effort, -one desired by parents who wanted to have the Jesuits educate their children, and one where the Jesuits continued to work diligently to develop the school. Belen Jesuit Vice Rector Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), therefore, sent a letter to the Belen Jesuit families during the summer of 1963, in which he explained the school’s dire financial situation. Fr. Ripoll also explained the importance of keeping the school open to offer an integral, human, and Catholic education to the exiled young men who the Jesuits still believed were to become prominent leaders in the eventual reconstruction of a democratic Cuba. He assured parents that the school had tried to find alternative solutions to remain open, but having been unable to secure any additional support, had opted to request that each family make a tuition payment of $25.00 per month. The heartfelt letter gave parents suggestions as to how to look for support in paying for their son’s education. The school offered coupons that parents could use to seek out scholarships on their son’s behalf from area businesses and friends of the school. If corporate entities decided to sponsor a child, the scholarship donation would be tax deductible. Given that the school’s ultimate concern was for their students, the letter also included many assurances for parents who would be unable to pay tuition. In the letter, Fr. Ripoll states:
“We know very well that for some of you this amount ($25.00) is completely out of your means, and Belen does not want the economic factor to determine who will be a student at our school. We ask that every mother and father understand that only with everyone’s cooperation, will we be able to continue to serve students at our school… also be assured that economic difficulty will never be a decisive factor for us not allowing your son in school, provided of course that we can keep our doors open,
and this will only be possible if we all work together in a common effort that is also supported by our parents. Please keep us in your prayers.”10
The school remained sensitive to the needs of each family, and it helped those who could not afford tuition to obtain scholarships. Fr. José R. Tey, SJ worked with students, their families, and local businesses and organizations to raise scholarship funds for Belen Jesuit students. It was with the help of local organizations, such as the Inter-American Alliance, that the school was able to continue to provide scholarships. The Alliance, which had been founded in 1940 by Virginia Torruella to support programs for the civic and cultural improvement of all of the people of the Americas, awarded four full-tuition scholarships to students for the academic year 1963-1964. These students were: José Rovira (‘66), Luis Hernández, Rolando Fernández, and Francisco Ramos. The awards were given out during a formal ceremony at the Inter-American Alliance offices in Miami.11
As the 1963-1964 academic year came to an end, it was evident that everyone had made an effort to support the school’s survival. For the Jesuits and those who diligently supported keeping the school open, the accomplishment confirmed both the need and merit of their mission as well as their continued hope for God’s divine providence. As Belen Jesuit Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) told the seniors and families from the class of 2012 at the annual senior banquet:
“Whether it is archaic ideological dictatorships, addiction, fear or death… the love expressed by Christ on the cross, his glorious resurrection, and ascension into heaven fill the world with hope. This is the same exact hope that fifty years ago encouraged a small handful of battered and bruised Jesuit priests and brothers to make their way to an unknown land and raise from the ashes of despair a school that refused to lie down.”12
Although during the 1963-1964 academic year, 32 percent of students were still attending on full-scholarship, and another 24 percent were only making partial tuition payments, the percentage of those paying full tuition had risen from 25 percent (1962-1963) to 43 percent (1963-1964). At the Graduation Mass, celebrated by Bishop Coleman F. Carroll at Gesù Catholic Church, graduates received their
diplomas. By this time, Belen Jesuit alumni were already enrolled at prestigious universities throughout the United States including: New York University, Fordham University, Catholic University of America, Marquette University, Loyola University New Orleans, the University of Miami, and Florida State University, which not only validated the solid structure of the Belen Jesuit curriculum, but the commitment of the students to making the most of the education that they were receiving at the school.13
In 1964, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) finished his tenure as vice rector and took over the Operation Pedro Pan at Camp Opa-locka facility, where he served as director (1964-1967). The camp closed in June of 1966, but even during the last year of operations, Fr. Ripoll also served as one of Belen Jesuit’s spiritual counselors, a position in which he would remain for over two decades (1965-1987). Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ, who had served as superior of the Vice Province of the Antilles (1958-1963), and had been teaching theology and French at the school and serving as spiritual counselor during the academic year 1963-1964, took over as rector of Belen Jesuit in 1964. Fr. Ruiz had also served as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1947-1953) and during his tenure at Belen Jesuit (1964-1966), the school carried out the Brick Campaign, inaugurating new facilities and taking the first steps to develop an athletics program. Upon the end of his tenure as superior of the Vice Province of the Antilles (1958-1963), Colegio de Belén alumnus, Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39) assumed the role of provincial of the Vice Province of the Antilles, which by this time had been permanently relocated to the Dominican Republic.
Bishop Coleman F. Carroll celebrated Mass at the Belen Jesuit campus in Little Havana. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Inter-American Alliance founder Virginia Torruella, presents scholarship donation to Fr. José R. Tey, SJ. Photograph from Echoes, 1964.
Brick Campaign Brochure, 1964. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Miami Mayor Robert King High cuts the ribbon at the Belen Jesuit campus in Little Havana flanked by Rector Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ, Provincial Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39), Principal Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ, and Miami Commissioner Stephen Clark on December 17th, 1965.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Brick Campaign
As part of the plan implemented by Belen Jesuit’s Rector Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ to ensure the school’s permanence and growth in South Florida, the Jesuits embarked on their first official fundraising campaign. The Brick Campaign, or “Campaña del Ladrillo,” with brochures and materials in both English and Spanish, meant to reach out to speakers of both languages. All funds raised by the campaign would be used to finance the purchase of additional land space adjacent to the Little Havana building, as well as to expand the existing building and build a second floor. The Brick Campaign brochure stated that a one dollar donation would buy a brick toward the construction. The amount was meant to be an affordable way for families to contribute to the school expansion, even if their means were limited. The expansion would allow for the construction of an area that could be used as a modest library and the establishment of a hall that could serve both as a permanent cafeteria and an auditorium. The construction of a second floor on the existing structure would be used to effectively double the number of classrooms, and establish chemistry, physics, biology, and modern language labs. Land acquired as part of the same purchase would also provide the space for a basketball and volleyball court, as well as afford an area to hold physical education classes. The rationale behind the expansion was that if the school could increase the amount of classrooms and space, it could also take on additional students, and the increased enrollment would help the school’s permanence in South Florida.
The Brick Campaign brochure also explained that by 1963, nearly 15,000 exiled Cuban teenage young men were already living in Miami, and asserted that their presence had overstrained the area’s public schools. Given the limited size of its existing location, Belen Jesuit could only offer admission to 130 young men; however, if the funds necessary to expand the school could be raised, Belen Jesuit would be able to provide educational services to an additional 150 students. Hence, the donor’s commitment would help provide exiled young men with Catholic education as well as alleviate the burden of the public school system in South Florida. Furthermore, those who gave were also reminded that Belen Jesuit was still committed to educating the future leaders of a democratic Cuba. The brochure stated:
“We are being prepared to lead in a democratic, post-communist Cuba… we are relieving the overcrowding of American schools… how can there be others like us? Exiled by Castro, Belen provides Cuban boys in Miami with the authentic, democratic tradition of their homeland, preparing the leaders who must be ready to step in when things return to normal again. Many such leaders are needed. You can help greatly with just one brick.”14
The Brick Campaign meant to appeal and address the needs of the entire South Florida community and Belen Jesuit was a viable option for Cuban-American families interested in the future of a free Cuba, as well as North American families who were concerned about educating their children in overcrowded schools. Fundraising continued through the 1964-1965 academic year and included donations from
families, alumni, and a generous commitment from José M. Bosch (1899-1994), one of the former presidents of the Jesuit Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) in Santiago de Cuba.15 With funds from the Brick Campaign, Rector Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ and Fr. José R. Tey, SJ oversaw the compilation of plans and permits for the school’s expansion into its newly added space, and by the time that the academic year ended, work had already begun. For the fourth year in a row, Bishop Coleman F. Carroll celebrated the Belen Jesuit Graduation Mass at Gesù Catholic Church for the class of 1965, where thirty-four graduates received their diplomas, as everyone also celebrated the success of the brick campaign and the oncoming expansion.16 Construction continued throughout the summer, but delays involved in the permitting and inspection process caused the work to continue through the beginning of the following academic year (1965-1966). During November of 1965, Belen Jesuit press releases prompted local newspapers to announce the inauguration and blessing of the newly expanded Belen Jesuit Preparatory School (December 17th, 1965), which upon completion of its expansion would have the capacity to teach over 300 students.17
The inauguration and blessing of the new Belen Jesuit facilities included a ribbon-cutting ceremony, where Miami Mayor Robert King High (1924-1967) officiated and cited the expansion as a “new step in the educational development of Miami.” Bishop John J. Fitzpatrick, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Miami, blessed the school and installed a blessed crucifix at the new building. Belen Jesuit Rector Ceferino Ruiz, SJ offered words of gratitude to Bishop Coleman F. Carroll, the City of Miami, and its residents for their cooperation in the establishment and expansion of the school.18 Shortly thereafter, an advertisement placed by the school in the Diocese of Miami newspaper, The Voice, read:
“Belen is a bilingual, academic high school that welcomes boys whose native tongue is either English or Spanish. It gives such students the opportunity to preserve and develop their own language and culture, while making conspicuous progress in the other language and culture. Belen Jesuit aims to provide bilingual education, spiritual guidance, extracurricular activities, speech, journalism, and sports.”19
The success of the Brick Campaign enabled the school to expand its programs. For example, the Modern Languages Department, which already taught Spanish, French, and Latin complemented its course offerings with classes in Latin American and Spanish literature taught in Spanish. In mathematics and science course offerings also increased to include calculus and chemistry in addition to al-
gebra, trigonometry, biology, and physics. Also during the academic year, the school paid tribute to a beloved Jesuit writer, journalist, orator and poet, faculty member Fr. José Rubinos Ramos, SJ, who had taught at both the Colegio de Belén and at Belen Jesuit, and who had passed away in Miami on March 12th, 1963. During the presentation, students recited Fr. Rubinos’s poetry and unveiled a portrait painted in his likeness that had been commissioned by the school.20 Physical Education classes also started, and the school took its first steps to begin an athletics program by reestablishing basketball as a team sport during the 1964-1965 academic year, and baseball the following year (1965-1966). The basketball and baseball games were a great boost in school spirit, and even included for the first time in school history, Belen Jesuit cheerleaders. Although the Athletics program began with modest means on a simple basketball court, it would grow throughout the years into one of the most respected middle and high school athletics programs in South Florida.21
Belen Jesuit in Little Havana after the Brick Campaign expansion. Inauguration and blessing on December 17th, 1965. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
First Prom held at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana in 1966. From left to right are Belen Jesuit students: Lawrence Root (‘66), Pedro Trevin (‘66), Evelio Tabío (‘67), and Felipe Suárez (‘66) and their dates. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Growth and Challenges
The accomplishment of the school’s expansion in 1965 was the first step toward a ensuring the permanence of Belen Jesuit in South Florida. After the expansion, the Miami community also began to see the school as a permanent school, and North American families also began to consider it as a viable option for educating their children. The support of local officials, business leaders, alumni, and the press also continued during the mid-1960s. An example of this support appeared in Jack Kofoed’s Miami Herald column, where he regularly wrote about the school and appealed to Miami residents to support its ability to provide scholarships. In his column, he wrote:
“[Belen Jesuit] One of the finest projects of the Cuban exile colony… I cannot think of a better project for developing warmer relations between peoples of differing cultures, and the forward steps made by these youths are the most important of all.”22
Although the school continued to enhance its educational services throughout the tenure of Rector Fr. Ceferino Ruiz SJ (1964-1966), extracurricular activities were still limited to the Marian Congregation, and the production of the yearbook and the Vincam newspaper. The yearbook, which started out during its first year in South Florida (1961-1962) as a soft-cover forty-page booklet in Spanish, produced two eighty-plus page hardcover books that were almost entirely in English in both 1965 and 1966. In addition to the yearbook, the Mar-
ian Congregation, and Vincam during the 1964-1965 academic year, a Student Council was also established at the school.23 During the following academic year (1965-1966), science faculty member Antonio Abella (‘59) also established the Future Scientists of America Club at the school. Also that same year, Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ (1922-1997) arrived to serve his first three-year tenure as Assistant Principal for Discipline (1965-1968), a role to which he returned (1972-1988).24
Fr. Izquierdo’s arrival coincided with the holding of the first schoolwide dance in the auditorium, followed at the end of the school year with the first Belen Jesuit Senior Prom, which the beloved disciplinarian closely supervised. The school also used its auditorium to hold its first in-house graduation ceremony in 1966, during which Bishop Coleman F. Carroll elaborated about the many ways in which the Cuban community contributed to the overall growth and wellbeing of the South Florida area. As the bishop explained during the graduation, on June 4th, 1966:
“The Miami community is convinced that Cuban exiles are providing an enormous contribution to the cultural, economic, and social development in this area. I, therefore, consider you a unique class that is part of a school that is also quite unique.”25
During the summer of 1966, Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ went to the Dominican Republic to assume the post of rector at the Instituto Politécnico Loyola, where he served from 1966 to 1979. At that time, Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) who had been serving as the rector of the Pontificio Collegio Pio Latino Americano in Rome (1962-1966), took over as Rector of Belen Jesuit in South Florida. Fr. Chisholm was a Colegio de Belén alumnus (‘25) who had worked diligently in 1961 to obtain support from the North American provinces for the reestablishment of Belen in South Florida. By the time that Fr. Chisholm arrived at Belen Jesuit, he had been involved with the school as a student, Jesuit scholastic, priest, and counselor for over forty years, and had acquired experience during his years as a Jesuit, all of which enabled him to take a school to the next level. As he stated just a few days before taking over as the school’s new Rector at the class of 1966 graduation ceremony:
“Although some of you [Belen Jesuit graduating students] are Cuban, we have to admit that you are now part of one of the communities that make up this nation…We have to be conscious of the fact that Belen’s continuity has to be based on
looking forward. We cannot pretend that the school, as it existed and functioned prior to Castro, could function in Cuba again, at least not for many years. Students have integrated themselves into this country, and while our original intent was to help the Cuban refugee families, particularly those whose children had not finished their studies in Havana, the time of pure family need has passed, and those same families are asking us for a permanent school with all the facilities that can be provided by a Jesuit institution. If we are to continue to help families in need and grow as a Jesuit educational institution, we must all work together toward achieving our goals.”26
During the 1966-1967 academic year, the school’s enrollment reached 225 students. The school added additional classes in seventh, eighth, and ninth grade and continued to make additional improvements, which included expanding the cafeteria, installing air-conditioning, and dedicating an area to a small school library that the students could easily access.27 The expansion during this year was not limited to the physical building. The reestablishment of the Belen Tómbola (referred to, during its early years in South Florida, as the Belen Festival) took place in an effort to raise funds for scholarships. The increased involvement of Belen Jesuit students, families, and faculty allowed for the establishment of several new extracurricular activities at the school. The Future Scientists of America Club, still moderated by Antonio Abella (‘59), welcomed the addition of the Science Club under the direction of Jesuit scholastic César Incera, SJ, who also moderated the Movie Club. With great effort and parent support, Jesuit scholastic Román Espadas, SJ reestablished the Belen Explorers, a Boy Scout type troop fashioned after the Exploradores del Colegio de Belén in Havana. The Explorers participated in outdoor activities and field trips. Along the same lines, scholastic Espadas, served as the scoutmaster of the first Belen Jesuit Eagle Scout Troop (#43). The scouts visited and camped out in the Everglades, Key Biscayne, Cape Florida, Turkey Point, Hallandale, Jonathan Dickenson, Camp Sebring, and the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Miami-Dade County Mayor Chuck Hall (1918-1974) commended the accomplishments of the Belen Jesuit Eagle Scouts, as well as that of their families, when he attended an Eagle Scout ceremony at the school, where seven of Belen Jesuit’s scouts were promoted. During the ceremony, Mayor Hall noticed that each Belen Jesuit student was accompanied by both of his parents and commented as follows:
“All of you serve as examples to our families. Cubans have come to enrich Miami. Although you arrived with nothing six or seven years ago, you have not only found your way
through, but have also contributed to the overall well-being of this community.” 28
At the end of the academic year, the school announced that Rector Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) had been appointed to serve as a minister at the Curia Praepositi Generalis Societatis Iesu in Rome, where he served until 1979.29 At this point, another Colegio de Belén alumnus, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) who had also served as its rector (1940-1947; 1959) as well as superior of the Vice Province of the Antilles (1952-1958) and as the vice provincial of Venezuela (19591962) took over as the rector of Belen Jesuit. Fr. Baldor’s arrival signaled the beginning of a tenure during which the school grew and developed into a larger institution as well as began plans to find a new campus in order to expand its operations and educational services and move toward its future.
Belen Jesuit Eagle Scout Troop #43 camping at Cape Florida in Key Biscayne. The Cuban Flag, a Belen Jesuit mom, and grandmother help to identify the multi-cultural camp. Photograph from Echoes, 1967.
Belen Jesuit Rector Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ ('19) Jesuit Jubilee (1919-1969) Celebration at the Sheraton Four Ambassadors Hotel in Miami in December of 1969. Photographs from Echoes, 1970.
Steps to the Future
The arrival of Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ ('19) at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana marked the beginning of a five-year period (1967-1972) during which the rector not only placed great emphasis on the school’s development, but also helped to pave the way for its longterm permanence in South Florida. During his tenure, Fr. Baldor supported the continued development of the school’s athletic program, strengthened the outreach of the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami, enhanced the school’s religious education and Christian formation programs, and expanded the role of lay faculty within the school’s administration.30 Fr. Baldor also endeavored to secure the establishment of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the school, and worked closely with José M. Bosch in order to obtain the first ten acres of land that would one day be home to Belen Jesuit’s West-Miami Dade campus. Fr. Baldor’s fifty years of service as a Jesuit (1919-1969), as well as his two prior tenures as the rector of the Colegio de Belén, and his commendable service in several posts at the Jesuit Provincial level, gave him both a unique understanding and a determined vision for the school. Colegio de Belén alumnus Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), who served as Belen Jesuit’s Athletic Director and its Assistant Principal for Discipline during the last two years of Fr. Baldor’s tenure (1970-1972), clearly remembers the rector’s determination:
“Several times, I returned to the school past midnight after dropping off students from basketball night practices or games. As I went to get in my car to leave, after unloading equipment and
preparing my work for the next day, I would see the lights on in his office. I can not tell you how many times I found him working way into the night and thought: now, here is this man, in his late sixties, and he never complains about being tired. Rather, all he ever talked about was how to move the school forward, how to make it better. He was a great inspiration, a true servant, and by far, one of the best men I’ve ever known.”31
One of Fr. Daniel Baldor’s first tasks was to reassert the school’s integral and unique approach to educating Cuban-American students who would succeed in the United States. While Fr. Baldor was adamant about the school educating young men who would not only preserve but also take pride in their Cuban heritage, he was also determined to prepare these men to succeed in the pursuit of both higher education and professions within the United States. In an interview provided to the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami’s Boletín Informativo newsletter, Fr. Baldor explained how the school served as a setting to emphasize both languages (English and Spanish) and to integrate what was best about both American and Cuban culture. When asked if he saw a culture clash between Belen “Cubanism” and its new residence in South Florida, he stated with much fervor:
“Absolutely not! Next to the American flag, we hoist the flag with the solitary star. Next to George Washington, our students will also revere José Martí. We prepare Cuban Christians that can be useful citizens in the United States and other countries, but these students also remain faithful to their Cuban traditions. Belen is not an isolated school. We have North American children whose parents like our style of education and our high academic achievements. We have achieved integration.”32
As a means of expanding the athletics program that Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ had put in place (1964-1965), Rector Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) approved the establishment of additional uniform and physical education requirements, as well as the expansion of basketball and baseball as team sports into the junior high grades. The school also established new team sports such as cross country (1970-1971), track and field (1971-1972), and football (1971-1972). Fr. Baldor also reinstated Rector’s Day (1968-1969), a field day which had been a long-standing tradition at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, and encouraged activities such as faculty versus student softball and basketball games, which
were played at Southside Park. As a way to recognize student efforts in athletics, during the 1967-1968 academic year, Fr. Baldor also approved the holding of an annual sports banquet that would take place at the end of each academic year. The ceremony would include publishing the Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program to record the achievements of those students that participated in athletics.33 Additional events to recognize students included academic award ceremonies and the Belen Jesuit Ring Ceremony, where, during a celebratory Mass, the rings of the upcoming senior class were blessed and distributed to students. Envisioned and implemented at the suggestion of Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), the Ring Ceremony also included bestowing the charge of caring and leading the school for the following year to the upcoming senior class. The first Belen Jesuit Ring Ceremony was quite modest and took place toward the end of the 1968-1969 academic year in one of the small classrooms at the campus in Little Havana. During the Mass, Fr. Baldor personally blessed the rings, and spoke to the students from the class of 1970, who were then juniors, about the expectations he would have for them as the school’s new leaders during their upcoming senior year.
In early 1968, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) called on Colegio de Belén alumnus and professor, Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40), who had been serving the Jesuit order in Quito, Ecuador, to assist Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ in strengthening the Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos de los Padres Jesuitas de Cuba or Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami. As an initial step, Fr. Dorta-Duque compiled a list of alumni, the majority of whom were in Miami. Others were scattered throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Latin America, Europe, and even Asia. Fr. Dorta-Duque
The first Ring Ceremony at Belen Jesuit was held in a classroom at the campus in a Little Havana for the class of 1970. Photographs from Echoes, 1969.
also began to compile an archival collection including the Ecos de Belén yearbooks, and photographs from the Colegio de Belén in Havana. He expanded the Boletín Informativo alumni newsletter that Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ had begun to publish in 1964, and updated its format to include not only a review of what was taking place at the school, but also documenting the news and gatherings of alumni throughout the world with photographs and announcements.
Most significantly, Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) began making visits to alumni throughout the world almost immediately after his arrival. He visited alumni and coordinated reunions in Jacksonville, Washington, DC, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Denver, Tucson, St. Louis, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Boston, and Puerto Rico. He also traveled throughout the years as far away as Europe and Latin America in search of establishing vital links with Belen alumni. Fr. Dorta-Duque also held spiritual retreats based on St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, Masses, weddings, baptisms, and conferences about religious topics for alumni not only in Miami, but also wherever else he traveled to visit them. As he explained in his Boletín Informativo newsletter, his service to Belen alumni had been inspired by the call made during the XXXI General Congregation of Jesuits (1965-1966), and later reiterated in a letter from Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ to the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami:
“Those who have been our students represent the fruits of our educational work. Care for them and relate to them, so that they may enter society with Christian and Apostolic spirit, mutually helping one another while carrying out their professions and by virtue the ties that unite them to the Society of Jesus can become narrower. Their common efforts will in turn encourage our works so that these become even more effective and fruitful.” 34
Besides class reunions, Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) also began coordinating the Belen Jesuit Tómbola at the campus in Little Havana in an effort to raise scholarship funds for the school. As he explained in the 1968 summer edition of the Boletín Informativo ninety-three out of the 240 students enrolled for the upcoming 1968-1969 academic year, were on financial aid. The success of the Belen Jesuit Tómbola would endure throughout the years, making it one the most important events at the school dedicated to provide financial support for scholarships. With respect to scholarships, in a statement to the Diario de las Américas during the 114th academic year (1967-1968), Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) stated:
“Thirty-three percent of students, the sons of Cuban exiles, still require financial assistance to attend our school. In order to accomplish this without endangering the minimal stability needed by our institution, we work twice as hard, teaching in the evenings, organizing all type of activities, as we also count on the great support and generosity provided by our parents, our more than 4,000 alumni, the Cuban community, and others who reside in the City of Miami and who are also generous enough to help us.”35
During his tenure at Belen Jesuit (1967-1972), Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) also decided to enhance the school’s religious education and Christian formation program. In order to enhance the program, during the 1968-1969 academic year, Fr. Baldor brought Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, SJ (1924-2010) to join Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) at the Belen Jesuit Spiritual Counseling Department in Little Havana. In an effort to get students to “bridge the historical Christ with the sacramental Christ,” Fr. Azcoitia held student discussions, not only about what Christ visibly did during his stay in the world, but also about what Christ continued to do for his people on a daily basis. He also hoped students would be able to identify how Christ manifested himself in their own lives every day.36
In addition to structuring student discussions, Fr. Azcoitia also began to coordinate retreats for Belen Jesuit students using St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises Although the Jesuits had conducted retreats at the Operation Pedro Pan Camp Opa-locka facility, these had not been offered as part of a structured program for Belen Jesuit students as a whole. Hence, the beloved spiritual counselor, who quickly came to be known to everyone as Fr. Tino, began to coordinate retreats for Belen Jesuit students. Along these lines, in September of 1968, Fr. Azcoitia worked with Fr. Francisco Lemus, SJ (‘49), a fellow Jesuit
from the Vice Province of the Antilles, who visited the school from the Dominican Republic, to direct the first three-day retreat held for Belen Jesuit students. The retreat took place at the Boy’s Camp in North Miami Beach, and Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), as well as Jesuit scholastics Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ, Narciso Sánchez, SJ (1944-1989), and Manuel Maza, SJ, served as spiritual counselors during the weekend. Belen Jesuit professor José Solís also helped with the retreat.37 In preparation, Belen Jesuit students studied about St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, and the Jesuit fathers met with both students and parents to determine their individual and combined objectives and to answer any questions. During the retreat, spiritual directors assisted students as they reflected about their lives, families, and Christian values. The retreat Mass was of special significance for the students as well as for their Jesuit spiritual advisors. According to Fr. Cartaya:
“We were surprised when Fr. Lemus decided that he wanted to hold the retreat Mass on the sand, quite near the ocean shore. The students were moved by his homily, which included a most beautiful comparison. Fr. Lemus told the students that just as Christ had first met his disciples near the lake shore, He was also there to meet them in the celebration of the Eucharist by the ocean shore. In a most profound way, Fr. Lemus made Christ’s call to his disciples come alive for those boys, and I was also quite moved by his words.”38
Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, SJ continued to foster Christian spirituality at Belen Jesuit for nearly four decades. In 1970, he decided to also begin coordinating retreats that included Belen Jesuit student families. This effort eventually became another Jesuit ministry in South Florida, known as Encuentros Familiares.39 The retreats were meant to promote reflection about Christian family roles and relationships, as well as to address specific issues affecting exile families. For example, some retreat discussions examined how younger generations of exiles assimilated language and culture faster than their parents and grandparents. Groups also discussed the older generations’ preoccupation with preserving the Spanish language, Cuban traditions, and culture, even as they also assimilated into their new community and learned English as a second language. Using communication and the Christian experience of prayer, the Encuentros Familiares, or Family Encounters, helped Belen Jesuits students and their families gain a Christian perspective as to how to develop better relationships within their home. Just like the individual goals had been set for students during individual retreats, the goals of the family retreats included having each family member develop a more profound sense of faith, and as a result, gain
an increased awareness of all that Christ represented within their own family. The Encuentros Familiares retreats began during the 1970-1971 academic year, when Fr. Azcoitia, Fr. Cartaya, and Fr. Juan M. DortaDuque, SJ (‘40) conducted the first retreat for Belen Jesuit students and their family members. About the concept behind the ministry, Fr. Azcoitia stated: “Dialogue is the love between parents and children put into words.”40 In order to describe the memorable experience during the retreat, students printed the headline in the 1971 Echoes yearbook: “Three days we will never forget!”41 Encuentros Familiares has continued to offer family retreats for over four decades, but not only to Belen Jesuit students and their families. The Jesuit ministry, which after functioning out of several temporary facilities began residing at the Casa Manresa Retreat House in 1987, extended its services to Catholic fami-
Photographs from Echoes,1971.
Fr. Juan M. DortaDuque, SJ (‘40) with the Belen Jesuit Tómbola Planning Committee. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Jesuit Family Retreats, pre-cursors to the Encuentros Familiares Jesuit ministry. Top: Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, SJ, George Busse and Ana Dolores Busse, with students. Bottom: Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40)with students.
lies throughout South Florida since its inception in 1971. The ministry’s goal has been to “cooperate in the creation of families who share peace and unity among them and firmly believe that they also have a mission to cooperate with faith in spreading the kingdom of God.”42
In addition to enhancing religious education and Christian formation at Belen Jesuit, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) also wanted to raise student awareness with respect to the plight of those who were less fortunate or who suffered hardships as a result of their socio-economic conditions and environment. Along those lines, Jesuit scholastic Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ arrived at the school during the 1968-1969 academic year, and began teaching sociology. In addition to teaching specific topics about sociology, his students participated in workshops on weekends, which were held in tents. The purpose of staying in the tents was to experience some of the hardships that others had to undergo in order to live. The experience also meant to encourage student involvement in service-oriented activities, in the hope that they would also answer the Jesuit call to make a difference in the world.
Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) also implemented various personnel changes at Belen Jesuit, which included hiring additional lay faculty to teach at the school, and for the first time in school history, the use of lay professors to fill some of the administrative posts which had traditionally been held by Jesuits. The unprecedented personnel changes were related to several changes that occurred at the Jesuit provincial level. One such change occurred on July 31st, 1968, when the Jesuit Vice Province of the Antilles, whose curia had relocated to the Dominican Republic, and under whose auspices Belen Jesuit had been reestablished in South Florida in 1961, achieved full provincial status within the Jesuit order.43 Increased provincial responsibilities created
additional personnel demands for the Antilles Province and this, in turn, affected the number of Jesuit faculty who could remain fully engaged at Belen Jesuit. For example, in 1967, when Baldor first arrived at the school, 76 percent of the faculty was comprised by Jesuit priests or scholastics; however, three years later, during the planning sessions for the 1970-1971 academic year, Fr. Baldor discovered that Jesuits would only account for 46 percent of the school’s faculty in the upcoming school year. Hence, Fr. Baldor decided that he not only needed to hire additional lay faculty to work at Belen Jesuit, but also for the first time in school history, he would need to promote lay professors to fill some of the administrative posts that had traditionally been held by Jesuits. At this time, Colegio de Belén alumnus Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), who had been teaching at the school and serving as its Athletic Director, became the first lay Assistant Principal for Discipline. Another Colegio de Belén alumnus, Antonio Abella (‘59), who had been teaching as part of the school’s Science Department since 1963, became the first laymen to hold the office of School Principal in the history of Belen Jesuit. Both served in their respective positions for two academic years (1970-1972). Prior to hiring additional laymen as faculty and administrators, Fr. Baldor had already decided to implement another unprecedented personnel change at the school. For the 1968-1969 academic year, he hired Barbara Behnke to teach English at Belen Jesuit. Although she only taught at the school for one year, Miss Behnke became the first woman to serve as part of the school’s faculty in the 115 years that the school had been established as an academic institution.44
Also during Fr. Baldor’s tenure, the Antilles Province took the first concrete steps toward achieving what up to that point had been one of the main focuses of Jesuit prayers, administrative gatherings, and
planning sessions at Belen Jesuit: finding land to build a new and more adequate campus for the school. For this endeavor, the Jesuits wanted first and foremost to obtain the blessing of Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll. Hence, on February 12th, 1969, Jesuit Fr. General Pedro Arrupe, SJ sent a letter to Archbishop Carroll requesting his approval for building a new Belen Jesuit campus in South Florida. In an effort to explain the Jesuit mission and to also convey the sacrifices that the Antilles Province was willing to make in order to build the new campus, Father General Arrupe stated:
“The High School project in Miami for which I ask your Benediction would be a bicultural high school, with an outstanding educational and academic level, and not exclusively for rich boys. We hope to achieve this by reaching out to those who can help us, and raising their interest in the school. We also resolve on our part to renounce to a portion of the remuneration corresponding to the teachers from the Society of Jesus and commit to maintaining efficient administration of our school.”45
After the approval had been obtained, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and the Jesuits from the Antilles Province began looking for support to both acquire land and build a new campus. For this purpose, in 1970, Fr. Baldor established an alumni committee. The Bulldog Committee, as it was christened by Fr. Baldor, would concentrate first on raising funds to purchase the land on which to build. The committee included Alumni Director Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) as well as alumni Enrique Ruiz Williams (‘40), Humberto Estévez (‘44), John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48), Adalberto Vara (‘48), Mario Martínez-Malo (‘55), and Manuel Losada. Zenon C.R. Hansen and the firm Mack Trucks served as a supporting sponsor for the committee. Its members also engaged the assistance of Louis G. Milione from Investing America, who helped plan the committee’s fundraising strategy.46
In addition to the committee, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) also requested the assistance of one of the former presidents of the Jesuit Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) in Santiago de Cuba, José M. Bosch, who had supported the Belen Jesuit Brick Campaign in 1964 and that of his son, Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores alumnus and the president of Bacardi & Company Limited, Jorge Bosch. The Bosch family responded admirably, and as a result of their generosity, on August 22nd, 1971, Belen Jesuit obtained the first ten acres of land destined for the school’s West Miami-Dade campus.
Soon after the acquisition, on September 23rd, the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami Boletin Informativo announced that the Dade County Commission had given unanimous approval for the land to be used as the future site of an educational institution. Soil tests conducted shortly thereafter also revealed that the site could in fact support the construction of school buildings. Although another four years would transpire before any additional strides could be made toward achieving the construction of the new campus, Fr. Baldor had been instrumental in taking the first steps to ensure that Belen Jesuit could in fact have a new school campus in South Florida.
Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) then turned his focus to his next task. With much perseverance, he answered the initiative of another Colegio de Belén alumnus, John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) and moved to secure the establishment of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at Belen Jesuit. The school’s success in having the library reside on its premises would be two-fold. First, it would lead to the expansion of the school’s campus in Little Havana after Fr. Baldor finished his tenure as the school’s Rector in 1972. Lastly, the library’s trust would commit vital financial support for the construction of Belen Jesuit’s new campus in West Miami-Dade. Overall, Fr. Baldor took great strides during his tenure as rector to ensure the school’s positive development. He also helped to pave the way for the building of its new campus, contributing to Belen Jesuit’s stability and long-term permanence in South Florida.
Belen Jesuit Retreat at the Boy’s Camp in Miami Beach with Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, SJ and Fr. Francisco Lemus, SJ (‘49). Photograph from Echoes, 1969.
Belen Jesuit Rector Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ ‘19) shows Belen Jesuit alumni the site plan of the first ten acres acquired to build a new campus for Belen Jesuit in West Miami-Dade. Photograph from Boletín Informativo, 1971.
“A Public Library Shall be established in Memory of my Father”
The Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library
The story of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library and how it came to be established at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School begins many years prior to the library’s inauguration on June 3rd, 1972, at the school’s campus in Little Havana. The library’s history is primarily a testament to the prevailing commitment to education shared by the Belen Jesuit administration and the members of the Guiteras family across several generations. The events that led to the establishment of the library at Belen Jesuit also have to do with
the life of Ramón Guiteras Font (1811-1873) and his eventual resettlement during the nineteenth century from Matanzas, Cuba to Bistrol, Rhode Island. The history of the library also involves the last will and testament of Guiteras’s daughter, Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras (1855-1941), the establishment of a public library in Matanzas (1955-1962), and the personal initiative of Colegio de Belén alumnus John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48), who during the early 1970s worked tirelessly to ensure that the library would come to reside at Belen Jesuit in South Florida.
A Man with a Special Place in his Heart for Matanzas, Cuba
In order to comply with the stipulations of the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras trust, the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island contracted Joseph L. Wheeler, a Brown University graduate in library science, who by the 1950s had already been involved in the establishment of almost one-hundred libraries throughout the United States. Dr. Wheeler traveled to Matanzas and formulated a plan for the establishment of the public library at a government-owned building in that city, which had been previously occupied by an American Consulate branch. To house the library, the bank leased the building to house the library from the Cuban government for twelve dollars per year in a lease that was set to last for eighty-nine years.50
Ramón Guiteras Font was born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1811, the eldest son of Ramón Guiteras de Molins and Gertrudis Font, a Catalonian couple who immigrated to the island from Barcelona, Spain at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Guiteras de Molins became one of Matanzas’s most successful merchants by establishing several businesses. His profitable enterprises allowed him to provide for the comprehensive education of his eldest son, Ramón, and for that of his other five children, Juan (1812-1831), Pedro José (18141890), Antonio (1819-1901), Eusebio (1823-1893) and Gertrudis.47 Ramón Guiteras Font’s education showed that he had an aptitude for linguistics and this allowed him to become proficient in several languages. He traveled extensively in Europe and throughout the Americas, using his linguistic ability to work in several enterprises. After some time, he established a maritime commerce enterprise that transported goods between the Port of Matanzas and Bristol, Rhode Island, the town where he also met his then future wife, Elizabeth Wardwell. Ramón and Elizabeth were married in Bristol on September 27th, 1853.48 Subsequently, they had a son who was also named Ramón and a daughter named Gertrude Elizabeth. During his years in Bristol, Ramón Guiteras kept a special place in his heart for Matanzas, the city of his birth, as well as for its people and the extended family that resulted from the marriages of his two youngest brothers, Antonio and Eusebio, who always resided in Matanzas. He transferred that special feeling for the city of his birth to his daughter, Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras, who years later established a public library in Matanzas in memory of her father. Ramón Guiteras Font died in Bristol, Rhode Island in 1873.
The establishment of the library at Belen Jesuit is directly related to the establishment of another public library in memory of Ramón Guiteras Font in the Cuban north seaside city of Matanzas in 1955. A beautiful city with a port and bay by the same name, it was in Matanzas where the first members of the Guiteras family arrived in Cuba. The Guiteras family settled in Matanzas during the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was also in Matanzas where Ramón Guiteras Font was born in 1811; however, Mr. Guiteras left the city of his birth after finishing his education. After traveling extensively throughout Europe and throughout the Americas, during the 1850s, Ramón Guiteras finally resettled in Bristol, Rhode Island, where he married Elizabeth Wardwell.
Ramón Guiteras Font and Elizabeth Wardwell had two children, Ramón and Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras. Guiteras’s son, named Ramón Guiteras Wardwell, became a physician and went on to live and practice medicine in New York City, where he passed away in 1917, without ever having married or having had any children.49 His daughter Gertrude Elizabeth lived in Bristol all of her life. She also never married nor had any children. After her death on December 31st, 1941, Miss Guiteras’s last will and testament called for the foundation of a trust that was to be administered by the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island. The trust included a directive stipulating that a public library should be established as a memorial to her father, Ramón Guiteras Font, in his beloved city of Matanzas, Cuba.
After its design by renowned Cuban architect Enrique Marcet, the establishment of books and periodical collections, and the education and training of the library’s personnel, the Biblioteca Pública Ramón Guiteras opened its doors in Matanzas, Cuba on June 26th, 1955.51 Dr. Wheeler’s plan established a Board of Trustees composed of ten members, which included two members of the Guiteras family, Inés Guiteras de Llorens and Edith Guiteras de Fehrmann. Dr. Wheeler also appointed two other members of the Guiteras family, Inés Llorens de Pages and Marta Fehrmann de Abete, to serve as librarians.52 The library’s existence in Matanzas, however, would be short-lived. In response to the Cuban government’s turn toward communism, and the seizure of all US corporate and/or privately owned properties on the island, the government of the United States established limited economic sanctions toward the island, and strengthened those into a commercial, economic, and financial embargo on February 3rd, 1962.53 As a result of the embargo, the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island ceased all financial ties with the Biblioteca Pública Ramón Guiteras in Matanzas in 1962; however, severing ties with the library would soon create another predicament for the bank. While the trust investments continued to appreciate and generate interest, if there was no longer a library to benefit from those proceeds, how would the bank’s officers comply with the directives established by the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras trust? Remarkably, it would be as part of the Industrial Bank of Rhode Island’s subsequent efforts to resume compliance with the trust’s directives that the idea of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library residing at Belen Jesuit in South Florida would first be considered during the early 1970s, by Colegio de Belén alumnus, John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48).
Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras Wardwell was born in Bristol, Rhode Island in 1855. The daughter of Ramón Guiteras and Elizabeth Wardwell, she was educated in Bristol and never married or had children. She did, however, have an ardent interest in her family and their genealogy, having several volumes bound about the history of both the Guiteras and Wardwell families. During her lifetime, she supported several charitable organizations such as the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the Salvation Army, and the First Congregational Church of Bristol. Although she inherited property in Matanzas, which included a home, Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras never traveled to Cuba. She did, however, keep in contact with her relatives, and after her death on December 31st, 1941, her last will and testament provided for several members of the Guiteras family who lived in both Matanzas and the Unites States. The will’s largest provision, however, created the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras trust, which included a directive for the establishment of a public library in Matanzas in memory of her father. In 1955, the Biblioteca Pública Ramón Guiteras opened in Matanzas, but the subsequent United States embargo (1962) prevented the trust’s continued support for the library, and it was subsequently stripped of its name. Given that it was impossible to have the library in Matanzas, and thanks to the generosity and dedication of Colegio de Belén alumnus John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48), the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library was reestablished at Belen Jesuit’s campus in Little Havana and later in West-Miami Dade. As a public library in memory Ramón Guiteras, it has continued to fulfill the wishes of Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras, as well as preserve Cuban history and its culture for the South Florida community at large.
Ramón Guiteras Font Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library
Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras, c.1870.
Photograph courtesy of John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48).
Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras circa 1900. Photograph courtesy of John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48).
The RGML at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana
In an effort to resume compliance with the stipulations of the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras Trust, the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island sent a letter in 1971 to all of the Guiteras family members living in the United States. In the letter, the bank explained that since neither Gertrude nor her brother Ramón Guiteras Wardwell had any descendants, it was up to the Guiteras family members to suggest a new beneficiary for the trust’s interest proceeds, which had been accumulating since 1962. One suggestion made by the Industrial Bank of Rhode Island was for the interest to be donated to the International Rescue Committee, the organization in charge of assisting Cuban refugees. The committee could earmark the funds to specifically assist Cuban Refugees from the City of Matanzas. The letter also requested that if the Guiteras family members could propose any other alternative project that could qualify to receive the proceeds of the trust, they could submit their request to the bank. Any proposed beneficiary or project would then have to be approved by the Rhode Island Superior Court, as complying with the original intent of the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras Trust.54
Among the recipients of the letter from the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island to the Guiteras family members was Colegio de Belén alumnus, John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48), who had
brought his family into exile in 1960 and had become actively involved with the reestablishment of Belen Jesuit in South Florida. Mr. Guiteras served as part of the Executive Committee of the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami that was working to help the school in its efforts to grow during its first decades of operations. Like many Colegio de Belén alumni, he was extremely committed to the school’s permanence and continued success in the United States. Mr. Guiteras knew that among its many needs, Belen Jesuit required a more adequate library.
Although the school had established a modest library at its campus in Little Havana, (which had been enhanced in 1963 thanks to the donation of an Enciclopedia Espasa-Calpe from the Galdós Solauno family), its resources were by no means adequate for a middle and high school library. 55 Therefore, after receiving the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island letter notifying him of the bank’s intentions with respect to divesting itself of the interest from the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras Trust, he decided to consult with his attorney, Arthur England, a prominent counselor, who later served as Chief Justice of the State of Florida Supreme Court. After meeting with Arthur England, Mr. Guiteras
determined that he could propose that the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras Trust proceeds would contribute to the establishment of a library in memory of Ramón Guiteras Font at Belen Jesuit in South Florida. With this objective in mind, he approached the school’s rector, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19).
Needless to say, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) was both grateful and enthusiastic about the possibility of establishing a more extensive library at Belen Jesuit. The possibility not only represented a vital step in the school’s plan for growth, but it also resonated with Fr. Baldor as another testament of God’s divine providence for Belen Jesuit during a time when the school continued to face many financial challenges. After all, what other explanation could there be for Fr. Baldor other than God’s providence? What was the likelihood that proceeds from a trust established during the 1940s by someone, who more than likely had never even heard of
Belen, would end up benefiting Belen Jesuit and its students over thirty years later? As it would turn out, the extent of the benefits for the school brought about by the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras Trust went far beyond anything that Fr. Baldor could have possibly imagined after his initial meeting with John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) during the early 1970s.
Shortly after their meeting, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) reviewed Gertrude Guiteras’s last will and testament, and after careful consideration, agreed that the original stipulation that her father’s library be a public library should be taken into account, if the school was going to propose that it would become the site of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library. The idea of establishing a library at the school accessible by the general public was given careful consideration by Fr. Baldor and the Belen Jesuit administration. It was determined that having a library that allowed public access would also provide an invaluable opportunity for the school to extend its educational services beyond its student body to the South Florida community at large. In itself, extending library services beyond the school would represent an important component of the missionary character of the school, as a Jesuit educational institution.
Hence, at Fr. Baldor’s request, Colegio de Belén alumnus Antonio Abella (‘59), who was then serving as Principal of Belen Jesuit,
The Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library exterior entrance at the Belen Jesuit campus in Little Havana.
Photograph from Echoes, 1972.
Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the Belen Jesuit campus Little Havana, June 3 rd, 1972
Photograph from Echoes, 1972.
The interior of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the Belen Jesuit Campus in Little Havana. Photograph from Echoes, 1975.
A Faithful, Caring, and Dedicated Colegio de Belén Alumnus
John “Jack” Guiteras was born in Havana, Cuba on January 24th, 1930. Jack was the son of John Raúl Guiteras (19001939) and Frances Ferrer. He was also a direct descendant of Eusebio Guiteras, the brother of Ramón Guiteras, in whose memory the library at Belen Jesuit was established. When Jack was nine years old, his father, a decorated US Navy graduate of West Point Academy, died in a tragic accident in New York City, after which Jack’s mother chose the Colegio de Belén for her son. Jack graduated in 1948 and soon after established Lorraine Travel across the street from the American Embassy in Havana. In 1951, he met Luisa Gutiérrez Olachea, a student at the Universidad de La Habana, who was involved in the Marian Congregation at the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola in Havana. They married at the Colegio de Belén Chapel in Marianao on October 31st, 1954, where Rector Fr. Eduardo Martínez-Márquez, SJ (‘23) performed the ceremony. They subsequently had six children: John, Margarita, Luis, Greg, María Cecilia, and Daniel. In February of 1959, the new Cuban government’s initial turn away from democracy and free enterprise concerned Jack, and on October 16th, 1960, he brought his family into exile. He also established Lorraine Travel in Miami, where it has continued to thrive to this day. Jack’s involvement in and dedication to Belen Jesuit began soon after his arrival. During the early 1970s, he worked tirelessly to bring the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library to reside at the school. Belen Jesuit lost a beloved alumnus when John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) died in Coral Gables, Florida on October 7th, 2011, and the school remains forever thankful for his dedication and generosity, which amounted to over four decades of zealous work for the development of the library as well as for its continued mission as a repository for Cuba’s literature and cultural heritage.
contacted architect Amaro Taquechel, who prepared a rendering of the school’s Little Havana building, with an entrance doorway on Eighth Street that would not only allow for public access, but also clearly identify the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library as a distinct entity from the school. The rendering accompanied the proposal that attorney Arthur England prepared on behalf of the school for submission to both the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Superior Court. The proposal explained that the library would also be used as a repository for a future Cuban Collection aimed at preserving the island’s literature, history, and culture. This collection would be accessible to the South Florida community, which had the largest concentration of Cubans residing in the United States.
As Arthur England prepared the proposal, officials from the University of Miami contacted the attorney and advised him that the university also intended to apply for the proceeds of the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras Trust. The University of Miami proposed that if the trust awarded proceeds to the Otto G. Richter Library, it would in turn rename its Cuban Collection in memory of Ramón Guiteras. In the spirit of cooperation with the university, and following the advice of Arthur England, Belen Jesuit partnered with the University of Miami to develop a combined proposal for the trust. If approved, the proceeds would be divided between both facilities, and each library would receive half of the available funds.
After several months of waiting for a response, on November 12th, 1971, the State of Rhode Island’s Superior Court Judge, the Honorable Joseph R. Weisberger ruled that establishing the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School would absolutely satisfy the intent of the trust, given that the library at the Little Havana campus would be accessible by the public. The court also determined that the University of Miami proposal, although valuable, did not satisfy the “accessible to the public” provision in the trust, since the university’s library was only open to its students and faculty. Judge Weisberger also stated that in his opinion, the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at Belen Jesuit would: “perform the function of preserving and maintaining the Cuban people’s pride and knowledge of their culture and that of their ancestors.”56
The school inaugurated the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library on June 3 rd, 1972 at its campus in Little Havana. Bishop Bryan O. Walsh and John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) offered remarks at the inauguration, and Luisa Guiteras cut the ribbon as the designated representative of the Guiteras family. Allocating space for a library within Belen Jesuit’s already tight quarters at the campus in Little Havana was a challenge. Located in the space previously occupied by the school’s auditorium, the library included nearly 12,000 volumes at its inception, a photocopy machine, microfilm machines, and projectors. Despite its modest beginnings, the library still made a significant contribution to the school’s educational advancement as well as to its development. In August of 1972, in order to make up for some of the space allocated to the library, the school also purchased the Dalkranian Rugs building next door to the library’s public entrance on Southwest Eighth Street. 57
Also in 1972, the library established a Board of Trustees composed of school representatives, members of the Guiteras family, and representatives from the bank. The board unanimously elected John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) as chairman, a position in which he served for nearly four decades. The five-member board included a representative from the Industrial Bank of Rhode Island (Thomas J. Hayhurst), Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, and Belen Jesuit Principal Antonio Abella (‘59). Other notable members of the Belen Jesuit community have served on the RGML Board of Trustees since its inception, including Belen Jesuit presidents, Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, and Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58). Director of Development José Ignacio Rasco (‘45), Chief Administrator Carolina Calderín, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) and Executive Assistant Principal, Leopoldo Núñez have also served on the board. Elizabeth Sue Black served as the library’s first librarian when it opened at the Belen Jesuit Little Havana campus, but remained at that post for only one year. María E. Eireos, who had been serving as the library assistant of the modest library that Belen Jesuit had originally established at the campus in Little Havana during the 1969-1970 academic year, also continued serving as the librarian’s assistant at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library, a position which she faithfully held for over forty years. In 1973, Gilberto Fort became librarian. After his departure in 1975,
Guillermo Jorge took over as the RGML librarian and oversaw the library’s move to its new facility at the Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade. Mr. Jorge served in the capacity of Library Director until his retirement in 1993. Subsequently, three library directors, Marta Alday (1993-2001), Sylvia Hernández (2001-2007), and Marta Cosculluela (2007-present) have consistently served Belen Jesuit students and the South Florida community at the RGML. Many volunteers throughout the years, as well as other valuable personnel, have also served at the library. The have included: Margarita Roza, Jorge Pérez, Connie Ricardo, Orealys Miret, Eric Ballesteros, Oldemar Tapanes, Jesús Suárez, María Consuegra, Lauren Campos, and Alicia Diago.
John “Jack” Guiteras (‘ 48) Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Drawing for proposed Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the Belen Intercultural Center (West MiamiDade Campus) Fundraising Campaign Presentation. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Ramón Guiteras Intercultural Center Foundation Conference: The National Characteristics of Cuban Literature (1984). From left to right: José Ignacio Lasaga (‘31), Humberto Piñeira, Luis J. Botifoll (‘25), Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, and Armando Alejandre. Photograph from Alumni, May 1984.
John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) and Luisa Guiteras cut the ribbon at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade on October 29th, 1981. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The RGML at Belen Jesuit in West Miami-Dade
As Belen Jesuit developed its Intercultural Center funding campaign to build a new school campus in West Miami-Dade, it included the library in its plans for expansion. In turn, the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island agreed to make the earned interest that had been accumulated by the Gertrude Elizabeth Guiteras Trust since the early 1960s available for the construction of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the new campus. The accumulated funds not only represented a substantial contribution to the building of Belen Jesuit’s new campus, but also served as “seed-money” to facilitate the school’s ability to secure the necessary financing to build the new school. As part of the plans for the new campus, the library would reside at a two-story building of its own, and be equipped with all of the amenities necessary for both a scholastic and a public library.58 The proceeds of the trust would subsequently be used to supplement Belen Jesuit’s continued investment in the library’s operations, improvements, and services to its student body as well as the South Florida community at large.
On October 29th, 1981, six weeks after Belen Jesuit opened its doors at the campus in West Miami-Dade, and nine years after the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library’s original inception, the library was installed in its new locale. More than 300 boxes of books that had been
kept in storage were finally added to its shelves, amongst which was the collection of Eva Khuly Samuels, widow of Freddy Samuels, an intimate friend of author, Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961).
As part of this collection, the library acquired a collection of first edition books autographed by H.G. Wells and Ernest Hemingway.59
The library inauguration featured a visit from Ramón Guiteras’s grandnephew, Néstor Guiteras, who unveiled the commemorative plaque installed at the library’s entrance. John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) and his wife Luisa Guiteras conducted the traditional ribbon cutting ceremony, and John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) shared with the audience the history of the library and the plans for its future. Amongst the library’s goals, which included continuing to serve the Belen Jesuit student body and surrounding community, were also plans for conferences, presentations, and study groups. The library’s new locale included custom shelving, an ample reading room, and working tables.60 The contents of the library at its inauguration in 1981 totaled almost 22,000 volumes that included an impressive 1,845 volumes classified as the Cuban Collection.61
In November and December of 1983, the Ramón Guiteras Intercultural Center Foundation, founded by Colegio de Belén alumni, Luis J. Botifoll (‘25) as president, José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) as secretary, and Antonio Abella (‘59) as treasurer, started to present its
first round of conferences entitled The Founders of Cuba’s National Conscience with the participation of speakers such as, Raúl Shelton, Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román, Humberto Piñeira, and Carlos Márquez Sterling.62 For the next twelve years (1983-1994), each spring, the Ramón Guiteras Intercultural Center Foundation held rounds of conferences that examined Cuba’s history and culture, featuring speakers such as José Ignacio Rasco (‘45), José Ignacio Lasaga (‘31), Néstor Carbonell, Bishop Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41), Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), Guillermo de Zéndegui, Reinaldo Paya-Sardiña, and Rolando Castañeda. Topics covered in the presentations included, The National Characteristics of Cuban Literature (1984), Cuba and the United States: A Historical Trajectory (1986), Cuban Exiles in the United States (1988), Cuban Scientific Themes (1989), Analysis about the Work of Spain in the Americas (1991), and Forum about the Cuba of Tomorrow: A Prospective Vision (1994).63
Shortly thereafter, in 1984, a non-profit publishing organization, the Editorial Cubana Luis J. Botifoll, began operating out of the library. Also founded by Colegio de Belén alumnus, Luis J. Botifoll (‘25), the Editorial Cubana’s goal was to reproduce books originally published in Cuba and not readily available in the United States, as well as new volumes dedicated to promoting Cuban history and its culture. One of the books, Presidentes de Cuba: Desde Carlos Manuel de Céspedes hasta Gerardo Machado y Morales is an anthology of the third round of conferences given by the Ramón Guiteras Intercultural Center Foundation, March through May of 1985, discussing the ad-
A Great Supporter of Cuban History and Culture
Luis J. Botifoll was born on June 27th, 1908 in Havana, Cuba. He attended the Colegio de Belén, from where he graduated in 1925. During his graduation year, he was selected as the intercollegiate athlete of the year, after establishing new records in the 50-yard dash, triple jump, and long jump. After graduating from the Colegio de Belén, he went on to study Law at the Universidad de La Habana, from where he graduated in 1930. He then worked as an attorney and legal advisor to the Cuban Department of Commerce, as the editor of the El Mundo newspaper, and later as president of Unión Radio. Arriving in Miami in the 1960s, he became a prominent community leader. In 1970, he joined Republic National Bank, and with remarkable foresight, he offered credit to Cuban exiles. Within a few short years, he saw those, with whom he had established banking relationships, thrive and grow. At the bank, he served as director and chairman (1978-1993). He also served as a member of the board of trustees for both the University of Miami and the United Way. In Miami, he received doctorates, honoris causa, from the University of Miami, Florida International University, and Barry University. He constantly worked on the problems facing the exile community and helped to build bridges among South Florida’s ethnic groups. An avid supporter of preserving Cuba’s heritage and culture, the Oral History Project at the University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection has been named in his memory. He was a tireless supporter of Belen Jesuit, providing the school with endless dedication. He worked on the Intercultural Center Campaign to raise funds for building the school’s West Miami-Dade campus. He was also a great supporter and collaborator of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library. In 1983, he founded the Ramón Guiteras Intercultural Center Foundation, which held rounds of conferences at the library about Cuba’s literature, culture, and history. In 1984, he also founded the Editorial Cubana, a non-profit publishing organization within the RGML that reproduces out of print books originally published in Cuba, and makes these available in the United States. For his athletic performance at the Colegio de Belén, he was posthumously inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Luis J. Botifoll (‘25) died in Miami on September 24th, 2003, but his high regard for Cuban heritage, history, and culture will continue to inspire generations of Cubans for years to come.
ministration of Cuban presidential leaders (1868-1933). Throughout the years, the Editorial Cubana has continued to function out of the library, directed for many years by José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) and Armando Cobelo (1928-2014).
In 1985, John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) commissioned a portrait of another member of the Guiteras family, Antonio (Tony) Guiteras Holmes, from artist Guillermo Arruza. Jack Guiteras’s son, John Guiteras (‘76), who by then had begun to serve on the board of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library, conducted the portrait’s unveiling, and spoke about the significance of Antonio (Tony) Guiteras Holmes in Cuban history.64
The interior of Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library when it first opened at the Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade (1981). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Luis J. Botifoll
Recent History of the RGML
Since the 1990s, the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library has not only advanced in resources and technology, but it has also undergone many improvements and accepted several important donations to its collection. On May 9th, 1990, the Spanish Consulate in Coral Gables donated an extensive collection of books belonging to the father of Belen Jesuit Principal, Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ.65 The library’s director at the time, Marta Alday, also began a campaign to modernize the collections, increase access to technology, and improve the library’s space allocation by redesigning the circulation and reference areas. During her tenure, Belen Jesuit graduating class banners were first displayed at the library, and the class of 1998 commissioned a painting by renowned Cuban-American artist, Humberto Calzada, El sueño de un hombre del trópico, which they offered as their class gift to grace the library’s main area. The library also began holding an annual Book Fair and a mini-Christmas Book Fair to both raise funds and increase student interest in reading.
In an effort to enhance the library’s technological resources, IBM matched Mrs. Alday’s personal donation with a grant that contributed to the acquisition of computers, printers, and scanners for the library.66 Moreover, in 1997, in light of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at Belen Jesuit, the library
inaugurated the Frances F. Guiteras Computer Center, named after John “Jack” Guiteras’s mother. The center has been a welcomed addition to the school, and it contributes to student advancement in computer knowledge and research capabilities.67
Also during this time, the library began offering the Information Retrieval Skills Program, which has been under the responsibility of Librarian Eric Ballesteros since his arrival in 2001. The faculty librarian coordinates with faculty to host student groups that are working on specific research projects for their classes and instructs them on how to use electronic databases, tools, and resources to complete their projects. The program, considered one of the most important services that the library provides to students and faculty, has grown from originally completing only four to five projects per year, to carrying out over seventy projects and hosting over 300 classes across several academic departments during the 20102011 academic year.68
One of the most important accomplishments at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library has been the development of the Cuban Collection. Organized by library volunteer José Lacret, the collection now encompasses over 8,000 volumes, including thousands
of documents and pamphlets. The Cuban Collection is not only of valuable use to researchers looking for hard to find materials about Cuba’s culture and history, but its existence fulfills the mandate of the Superior Court of Rhode Island, expressed by the Honorable Joseph R. Weisberger, that the library should perform the function of preserving the Cuban people’s pride and knowledge about the culture of their ancestors.
In 2001, library director Sylvia Hernández established a duplicate exchange program with the University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection through which the library purchases Cuban Heritage’s duplicate materials in order to enhance the scope of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library’s Cuban Collection. Guest speakers, conferences, and book signings have also been a continued tradition at the library. In 2002, guest speakers at the library included Jesuit author and historian, Fr. José Luis Sáez, SJ who presented his book, Breve Historia del Colegio de Belén activist Humberto Colas, who offered a symposium on Independent Libraries in Cuba Cuban-American author Carolina García-Aguilera, and Belen Jesuit faculty member author/activist, Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat. In cooperation with
the English Department, the library also hosted presentations in 2002 by Dave Horner, author of Shipwreck and by Robert Logan, the maker of a documentary film on the same subject. In cooperation with the Science Department and the Belen Jesuit Observatory, the library hosted a presentation in 2002 by Max Mayfield, the director of the National Hurricane Center in the Miami, Florida. In 2003, guest speakers included Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), who offered a conference entitled Cloning and Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), who spoke about Jesuits in the Sciences. In cooperation with the Modern Languages Department and to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of José Martí in 2003, the library hosted a presentation by Emilio de Armas, and Aaron Tucker also offered a presentation about Nicaraguan poet, Rubén Darío.69
In 2004, Cuban-American Economist and University of Pittsburgh Professor, Carmelo Mesa-Lago, PhD presented his book, Economía y bienestar social en Cuba a comienzos del siglo XXI which discussed the socioeconomic crisis faced by the island in the new millennium, in light of the growing international isolation that the Cuban government encountered after the jailing of seventy-five peaceful dis-
The Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Cuban Collection. Photograph courtesy of Víctor Arrieta (‘95)
The Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Main Room features Humberto Calzada’s El sueño de un hombre del trópico, 2004. Photograph courtesy of Víctor Arrieta (‘95).
Alberto Bustamante and Fr. Marcelino García, SJ at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante Bust Dedication, November 5th 2005. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Staff.
Marta Cosculluela, Alicia Diago, Eric Ballesteros, María E. Eireos and María Consuegra. April 27th, 2012. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
sidents.70 On January 9th, 2004, the library sponsored another book presentation by Carlos Eire, Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University. Dr. Eire’s book, Waiting for Snow in Havana, won the National Book Award for non-fiction in 2003. During his presentation, Dr. Eire shared some of the childhood memories that he included in the book, his experiences as one of the Operation Pedro Pan children who came to the United States without his parents in 1960, and his decision to write his first book without footnotes.
On January 21st, Nicolás Calzada (‘98) presented his documentary film Vitamina, Vitamina filmed in Havana, Cuba (2003) about a local parish’s attempt to care for the elderly from its impoverished neighborhood. On November 5th 2005, the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library hosted a reception to commemorate the placement of a bust in the library of the likeness of Colegio de Belén alumnus Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante.71 Renowned Cuban sculptor Juan J. Sicre (1898-1974), whose most famous sculpture was the José Martí Memorial that still stands in the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana, created the Sánchez de Bustamante bust in bronze and marble. An
exhibit of Dr. Sánchez de Bustamante’s original writings, photographs, and memorabilia as well as lithographs from Cuban Cigars and other antique prints -on loan from Dr. Sánchez de Bustamante’s grand-nephew Alberto Bustamante and the cultural organization, Herencia Cultural Cubana- were also on display at the library during the event, at which Belen Jesuit Director of Development José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) delivered remarks about Dr. Sánchez de Bustamante’s life and work.72
In 2007, Marta Cosculluela took over as library director. Since her arrival, the library has continued to develop closer relationships with the Belen Jesuit faculty and enhanced its services to students. Electronic resources have been restructured, and as a result, the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library presently offers in house as well as remote online access to all the databases available through the Gale Company including the Teaching and Educational Reference Center, Global Issues in Context, and the Health and Wellness Reference Center. Students have full access to the best electronic resources available, as well as to over 95,000 electronic books, and to the more than 60,000 titles that now form part of the library’s collection, which include 8,000 from the Cuban Collection.73
Guest speakers since 2007 have included author Kay Abella, who presented her book, Fighting Castro: A Love Story about the struggles of Colegio de Belén alumnus, Lino Fernández (‘49), who fought against life-threatening cruelty and humiliation during the seventeen years he spent as political prisoner in Cuba.74 Also in 2007, President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, presented his book, Discover your Character 75 In 2009, University of Florida Professor Emeritus, José Álvarez, gave a presentation that discussed several of his books about Cuban Agriculture and Economics. In 2010, au-
thors Lily Prellezo and José Basulto presented their book, Seagull One: The Amazing True Story of Brothers to the Rescue,76 about the humanitarian organization made up of pilots who flew missions to rescue Cuban rafters crossing the Florida straits. The authors also discussed the February 24th, 1996 shoot down of two of the Brothers to the Rescue planes by a Cuban Airforce MiG-29UB, which caused the death of four of their pilots.77
Important donations to the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library since 2007 have included those from the Jesuit community at Belen which have been allocated to develop and enhance a Jesuit collection within the library dedicated to the loving memory of the Jesuit fathers and brothers that died while residing at Villa Javier. These are: Br. Pedro Estévez, SJ (1927-2003), Fr. Gerardo Freire, SJ (1916-2004), Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59) (1941-2007), Fr. Jorge Munguía, SJ (1934-2005), Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), and Fr. José R. Tey, SJ.
Celebrated author and journalist Carlos Alberto Montaner also donated over 400 books about Latin America from his personal library to be housed at the library, and Clara Baloyra donated over 300 titles to the Cuban Collection from the personal library of her husband, University of Miami Professor Enrique Baloyra (1947-1997).78
After four decades of providing library and technology services, as well as conferences, and community events, the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library remains one of Belen Jesuit’s most treasured establishments, and one which the school continues to support through its continued investment to enhance its operations and services. Throughout the years, the Jesuit administration at the school has continued to recognize the great contribution provided by the Guiteras family, and particularly that of its alum, John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48). On May 2 nd, 2012, the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library celebrated the fortieth anniversary of its inception at Belen Jesuit, during which the school paid a special tribute to John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48). His foresight, dedicated service, and commitment to education not only followed in the historical tradition established by his ancestors, but also endowed Belen Jesuit with an important requirement for its growth as an educational institution, and enabled it to provide four decades of continued library educational services to its students as well as to the South Florida community at large.
The Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Main Room.
Photograph courtesy of Víctor Arrieta (‘95).
Fr. Eduardo Álvarez (‘63), SJ and Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ celebrate Mass on the basketball courts at the campus in Little Havana. Photograph from Echoes, 1979.
Improve and Expand
Within the auspices of the Antilles Province, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) returned to the Dominican Republic after the end of the 19711972 academic year and went to serve as the superior of the Centro Bellarmino in Santiago de los Caballeros. During the last semester of Fr. Baldor’s tenure at the school, Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ designated Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ to serve as Belen Jesuit’s new rector. By the time he started his eight year tenure at the school (19721980), Fr. Arroyo had already acquired extensive experience during his thirty-five years of service as a Jesuit educator and administrator. His experience included a long history of service at the Colegio de Belén, where he had done his regency (1944-1947), and had also served as spiritual counselor and principal (1954-1961). In 1961, when the Cuban government nationalized the school in Havana, Fr. Arroyo traveled to South Florida and helped to re-establish Belen Jesuit at the Centro Hispano Católico, where he also served as disciplinarian. His expertise as an administrator outside of Belen Jesuit
was further enhanced when he served at the Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in Santiago de los Caballeros, where his accomplishments included establishing programs in the study of education (1962-1971). His extensive experience and commitment to education ensured that Fr. Arroyo’s years at Belen Jesuit would be filled with the same definitive Jesuit mission that had been such an integral part of the school’s development throughout its history. Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40), who worked with him toward achieving the goals with which the Antilles Province had charged the school, wrote the following about Fr. Arroyo:
“With admirable tenacity, Fr. Arroyo was always number one in all that he attempted. He was number one in the service he rendered during his regency, and as spiritual counselor and principal of the Colegio de Belén in Havana, in fighting to re-establish the school in South Florida, and in the planning and pushing forward the construction for a new Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade… Whether as the soul of the Education Department at the Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, or at his post broadcasting to Catholic families from the Radio Santa María (1980-1984) Catholic radio station in the Dominican Republic, he always embodied patience, peace, acceptance, joy, and a soul given over to the Lord in all things… but that was Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, a soul given over to the Lord in all things…”79
Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ began with his tenure at Belen Jesuit (19721980) by concentrating on increasing enrollment which grew from 375 students for the 1972-1973 academic year, to 535 students in the 1979-1980 academic year. There were several initiatives that he undertook to achieve this goal. First, he worked to improve the level of educational services offered at the school. Then, Fr. Arroyo reworked the school's administrative structure, expanded the Little Havana campus, and established formal academic departments with chairpersons as leaders. He also increased the amount of faculty members, and promoted the establishment of programs and extracurricular activities. With stellar determination, he also established the Intercultural Center Campaign to raise the funds that were needed to build a new campus for the school in West Miami-Dade.
A significant modification made by Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ was the changing of the title of the school’s highest administrative position from rector to president. The new title would update the term and job description to that used by most Jesuit secondary educational institutions in the United States. Fr. Arroyo served as both president and principal during the first and last two years of his tenure (1972-1974 and 1978-1980). Between 1974 and 1978, however, he served only as president and Fr. Alberto García, SJ and Fr. Narciso Sánchez-Medio, SJ (‘63) served as principals, with Fr. García serving for the 1974-1977 academic years and Fr. Sánchez-Medio for 1977-1978 academic year. In another effort to further improve the school’s administration, Fr. Arroyo realized the need for a dean of students who would complement the assistant principal positions on his administrative team. During Fr. Arroyo’s tenure, several Jesuits served in the dean of students position: Jesuit scholastic Carlos García-Carreras, SJ (1972-1973), Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) (1973-1974), and scholastic Carlos Botta, SJ (‘63) (1974-1975). Lay faculty member Leopoldo Núñez also served as the Dean of Students (1975-1980). Several Jesuits also served in the various assistant principal positions at the school’s campus in Little Havana. Fr. Enrique Campo, SJ (1972-1975) and Fr. Sergio Figueredo, SJ (1977-1978; 1979-1980) served as the assistant principals for studies, where they were responsible for curriculum and class scheduling. Then in 1972, Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ returned to the school to serve in the assistant principal for discipline position that he had previously held (1965-1968) and in which he would remain until 1988.
In addition to reorganizing the school’s administrative structure, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ also addressed the space constraints at the school’s campus in Little Havana. Since its re-establishment in 1962, space at the Little Havana campus had always been limited. Moreover, the establishment of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library in the east corner of the existing school building during the last part of the 1971-1972 academic year had taken part of what was then a small auditorium/chapel. Hence, in an effort to acquire additional space, during the summer of 1972, Belen Jesuit purchased a locale to the west of the existing school building, which had been previously occupied by Dalkranian Rugs. The school remodeled the new building, making it possible for it to include a modest auditorium, a permanent chapel, five additional classrooms for high school students, and two offices for spiritual counselors. The expansion proved beneficial in that it allowed for the seniors to have a modest, yet small, area to call their own. It also allowed for the use of a small chapel to hold small religious gatherings and celebrate Mass. It also allowed for a more private area where students could access the offices of the spiritual counselors. For the construction, Fr. Arroyo appealed to Belen Jesuit families, and by January of 1973, thirty-seven families had already contributed to the project.80
The Belen Jesuit Chapel at the campus in Little Havana. Photographs from Echoes, 1980.
Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ gives student a late pass at the campus in Little Havana. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Student Council Election Campaign Poster asking students to vote for “Flea” Edward Iturralde (‘82). Photograph from Echoes, 1982.
Bilingualism
and Cuban Culture in Little Havana
During the years that Belen Jesuit resided at its campus in Little Havana, Cuban culture continued to permeate throughout the school in the study of the Spanish language, literature, and culture. Even the themes chosen to organize events at the school and the food served in the cafeteria was Cuban and/or Hispanic. While the Jesuit vision in developing their school in South Florida included preparing young men who would be useful and successful United States citizens and professionals, they also continued to promote faithfulness to the school’s Cuban and/or Hispanic traditions.81 Moreover, the concept of a bicultural school was not only instrumental in the school’s growth as an institution, but it was also considered by the Jesuits as one of its unique and most important assets, since the school remained located in a city that was fast coming to be known as the Gateway to the Americas.
The ties to Cuban and Hispanic culture that the school endorsed led to certain practices and traditions that emerged within the school. One case and point was the practice of coining interesting nicknames for certain areas of the school, the faculty, and one another. The practice of establishing nicknames (Spanish-nómbretes) for people and places went hand-in-hand with a Cuban phenomenon commonly
known as “choteo” which Cuban-American scholar Gustavo PérezFirmat identified as a component of the Cuban national character.82
Choteo is the Cuban term for mockery, jest, and poking fun at others. One prominent Cuban writer, Jorge Mañach, wrote in the essay Indagación del Choteo that the practice of poking fun at others and/ or their circumstances was in fact how Cubans used humor to deal with whatever made them uncomfortable.83
One of the ways that Cuban “choteo” was first used at Belen Jesuit had to do with the limited space available at the school’s campus in Little Havana. It started when students took to the practice of coining interesting nicknames (nómbretes) for certain areas of the school. The practice poked fun at the way that the school tried to solve their limited space issues. An example of this practice included students renaming the Dalkranian Rugs locale that the school’s administration purchased to provide additional classroom and office space as the “West Campus.” Another example had to do with renaming the dusty and rocky field behind the Dalkranian Rugs locale as the “Dust Bowl.” Obviously, the modest building was far from being a campus and the field was even father from being a Bowl-like Stadium.
Coining the nicknames and spreading the word about them soon went from a simple past time to becoming a standing-tradition. The nómbretes stuck and are remembered with much fondness by those who attended and worked at the campus in Little Havana. The practice did not seem to take away from the sense of genuine gratitude that students, faculty, and staff felt for the school’s ability to thrive in its modest and limited surroundings. As a matter of fact, the practice was in its own way a celebration of the ingenuity exhibited by the school’s faculty and administration when dealing with these challenges. Such was the case when a medium-sized storage closet became a classroom and later, the office for Dean of Students, Leopoldo Núñez. A desk strategically placed in the landing of the staircase out of the faculty lounge also became and was used for several years as the Athletic Department’s office. As the Dean of Students, Leopoldo Núñez recalled:
“The feeling of family was overwhelming in Little Havana. I guess it was also the feeling that we were doing so much with so little. I remember working out of that small closet, where I literally had to move the chairs out of the way to open and close the door when I needed to talk to students. But during all that, we worked and appreciated the blessing that it was to have survived those years as a cohesive institution. As I look back now, however, I think that having been able to thrive with over 500 students in such a small setting was simply miraculous. God was with us, no doubt about it.”84
Students also took their time and practiced ingenuity when coming up with the nicknames. For example, students coined an interesting nickname for the open corridor or alleyway that ran north-south between the existing building and the West Campus, and which also connected Eighth Street to the area behind the school. The name given to the corridor was the “Ho Chi Minh Trail,” referencing the communication system of trails and paths that the Vietcong used during the Vietnam War to surreptitiously move arms and troops from north to south. The “Ho Chi Minh Trail” received its nickname because Assistant Principal for Discipline, Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ used the cramped corridor to quickly access the front and the back areas of the school and keep a close eye on his students. Some students claimed that Fr. Izquierdo, like the Vietcong guerrillas, moved
A Disciplinarian Who Served to Shape Student Character
José M. Izquierdo, SJ was born in Burgos, Spain on May 23 rd, 1922. He entered the Society of Jesus in Salamanca, Spain on August 10 th, 1929 and was ordained a priest on July 15th, 1953.
He served at the Colegio de Belén in Havana and at the Colegio de Nuestra
Señora de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba until 1961. In the Dominican Republic, he served as the rector of the Colegio Loyola and the director of the Instituto Politécnico Loyola in San Cristóbal.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, he taught at the Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola. He first arrived in South Florida in 1964 to help with Operation Pedro Pan at the Camp Opa-locka facility. When the camps closed, he served as Assistant Principal for Discipline at Belen Jesuit (1965-1968; 1972-1988). He also served as the school’s Principal (1988-1992). On May 29 th, 1982, Georgetown University awarded Fr. Izquierdo a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, to recognize his “humble and ceaseless devotion to his students and his God.” The beloved disciplinarian had been nominated for this honor by Belen Jesuit’s students, who believed that he had been instrumental in the shaping of their character. He is remembered as a stern, yet gentle disciplinarian, who never raised his voice, but whose presence commanded unending respect from all his students. In line with Belen Jesuit tradition of coining nicknames for teachers and students alike, Fr. Izquierdo was also known as “The Shadow,” for the capable way in which he would suddenly appear, as if out of thin air, to put an end to students’ attempts at nonsense. He died in Miami, Florida on May 22 nd, 1997.
Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ Photograph from Echoes, 1983.
in what they perceived as a swift and stealth-like manner, and was capable of suddenly appearing out of thin air to put an end to their attempts at nonsense. The practice earned the beloved disciplinarian the nickname “The Shadow” and he is traditionally remembered for his resourcefulness as well as for the magnitude of his presence. Actually, Fr. Izquierdo seemed to command respect without ever having to raise the sound of his voice. Not only does it seem unusual that without raising his voice, he obtained stellar behavior from his students, but what was truly remarkable about him is that even though he was a disciplinarian, the enforcer of school rules, and by definition someone who the students should have feared or disliked, he is remembered by most of them as one of the most beloved Jesuits to have taught at Belen Jesuit.85
Student not only coined nicknames (nómbretes) for faculty members such as Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ (The Shadow), but they also coined them for one another. The coining of nómbretes became a Belen Jesuit tradition, with some students becoming so well known by the nicknames that they chose to keep them even after they graduated from the school. In one case, Edward Iturralde (‘82), who ran for vice president of the student council in 1981, used the posters and banners that urged everyone to vote for “Flea” for vice president, referring to his Belen-coined nómbrete. The nickname not only helped Iturralde attain the vice president position by ensuring name recognition, but it followed him to Florida International University, where in 1986, he was elected to the Student Government Association (SGA) President position using the same nickname that he had used at Belen Jesuit.86
Students also coined unique names for nearby businesses, such as the La Muralla China Restaurant, (Great Wall of China Restaurant) located next door to the West Campus, which was owned by León Yi and Carmen Yi. Students called the restaurant “La Chineria” (a place where there are Chinese) and many frequented the place whenever possible. León and Carmen Yi, Cuban exiles of Chinese descent, became part of the Belen Jesuit culture. Many of the alumni from the campus in Little Havana remember wonderful stories about them, their willingness to run accounts for student purchas-
es, and their consistent advertisements in the Echoes yearbook. Students also remember Mr. Yi’s prompt reactions to nonsense or ill-behavior within the restaurant. They soon realized that if the poor behavior was not immediately corrected, news of the incident could make its way back to Assistant Principal of Discipline, Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ, and, in some extreme cases, suspension from being in the Chineria could also be enforced.
During some of the years that Belen Jesuit was at the campus in Little Havana, students also enjoyed a mid-morning “Pastelito Break.” The practice started because the faculty wanted to minimize the congestion that occurred in cramped hallways during class change. Hence, students were assigned a homeroom, where they remained all day long, and with the exception of physical education, it was the faculty members who changed from class to class to teach them. The system worked well; however, keeping students in one room until lunch time seemed to foster some restlessness amongst most. Hence, the administration and the faculty established the “Pastelito Break” in order for students to “stretch their legs” and work off some of their energy.87 Pastelitos (Sweet Cuban Pastries) and other Cuban foods have always been traditional staples at most Belen Jesuit functions, and remain as a constant reminder of student attachment and school pride in the school’s Cuban-American culture.
The emphasis on maintaining the dual culture was influenced by the school’s location in the heart of Little Havana, as well as by the school having a high number of Cuban-American young men as students. The most important motive behind the practices, however, had to do with the Jesuit vision that the school offer a unique, bicultural and bilingual setting, where the best of Cuban and United States cultures and languages could be celebrated. It was that Jesuit vision that also became one of the core concepts of the Belen Jesuit Intercultural Center Campaign launched to build its new campus in West Miami-Dade. The intercultural campus, as well as the bilingual and bicultural Belen Jesuit student, would therefore remain as much a vital component of the school throughout the years, as it had been during the time that the school resided at its campus in Little Havana.
Miami bus bench on Southwest Eighth Street, advertising the Belen Jesuit Tómbola Festival in Little Havana. Photograph from Echoes, 1977.
At the La Muralla China Restaurant next to the campus in Little Havana, owners León Yi and Carmen Yi attend to Belen Jesuit students at the counter in 1976. Photograph from Echoes, 1976.
Belen Intercultural Center Campaign
During the 1970s, in an effort to improve the overall quality of the educational services offered by Belen Jesuit, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ concentrated on expanding the size of the campus in Little Havana. He also engaged additional faculty to accommodate increases in student enrollment, enhanced academic programs, and increased the amount of extracurricular and athletic activities. Yet, even while the school’s administration continued to carry out these efforts, the Jesuits from the Antilles Province realized that the school’s campus in Little Havana could never be the permanent location of an exemplary Jesuit secondary educational institution such as those that already existed in the United States. As the Provincial of the Antilles Province, Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) recalled:
“We always knew that the ultimate goal was to build a much larger campus on ample land, but the financial requirements of such an endeavor continued to pose a great challenge for our Province. Remember that at the time, little over a decade had transpired since the nationalization of our works in Cuba, which had resulted in great losses for everyone involved. Our Lord had already faithfully helped Belen reestablish in Miami, however, and we trusted that He would provide us with the support necessary for us to continue our work at Belen Jesuit.”88
By 1975, Belen Jesuit had already made some progress toward building a new campus. In 1971, the school had acquired ten acres of land in West Miami-Dade, thanks to the generosity of Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores alumnus and president of Bacardi & Company Limited,
Jorge Bosch. Moreover, after the establishment of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the school, the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island had also agreed to fund the construction of an extensive library at the new campus, a provision that would help to defray some of the construction costs. Even with these objectives in place, Belen Jesuit still needed a tangible plan and a solid fundraising campaign, if it was going to achieve its ultimate goal. Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ took several concrete steps toward this purpose. First, he requested the assistance of the Jesuit Province of Wisconsin, whose superiors sent Fr. Edward Justen, SJ to open a formal Belen Jesuit Office of Development. Fr. Justen would remain at the school from 1976 to 1977. Secondly, in an effort to inspire professional alumni, parents, and community leaders to take further interest in the school’s future as well as have them provide input according to their own area of expertise in bringing about a new campus, on November 4th, 1975, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ created the Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors, with José M. Bosch as its Honorary Chairman. Mr. Bosch, who at the time was the former president of Bacardi & Company Limited, expressed his high regard for the school’s contribution to bilingual education and his desire to help Belen Jesuit in raising the funds necessary for building a new campus in West Miami-Dade:
“I find it admirable to see the important contribution that Belen and the Jesuits have made to prepare and educate our young people, perfectly bilingual, who know the best of American traditions and the Spanish-American culture. For this reason, I am happy to assist in this endeavor and to request the generous contributions of all.”89
Mr. Bosch’s son, Jorge Bosch, who was the president of Bacardi & Company Limited at the time, served on the Board of Advisors as active Chairman. In addition to the chairman, the original board had fifteen members. It included Fr. Arroyo and four other Jesuits, Centro de Investigación y Acción Social Director Fr. José Luis Alemán, SJ (‘46), Gesù Catholic Church Pastor Fr. John Edwards, SJ, Belen Jesuit Principal Fr. Alberto García, SJ, and Development Director Fr. Edward Justen, SJ. The Board of Advisors also included Bishop Bryan O. Walsh, American Bankers Life Insurance President John P. Walsh, the Florida International University (FIU) Dean of Humanities Ricardo
Arias Calderón, Belen Jesuit English Department Chair Howard McCune, First National Miami Realty President Manuel de la Fuente, and five Colegio de Belén alumni: José A. Garrido (‘46), Eugenio Cosculluela (‘47), Agustín de Goytisolo (‘47), John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48), and Carlos de la Cruz (‘60).
The first meeting of the Board of Advisors took place in January of 1976, during which members organized themselves into three committees. The first committee was charged with helping articulate the school’s philosophy and mission. The second would examine and make recommendations with respect to financial plans and issues, and the third would focus exclusively on achieving the construction of a new campus in West Miami-Dade. From its inception, Fr. Arroyo had great confidence in the Board of Advisors. As he explained in a letter to Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ:
“Our hope of being able to carry out [the new campus project] rests first in our trust in God. I believe it is a well thought-out project that will be carried out for His service. It also rests to a certain extent in our trust in men, and I believe that our first assistance from the Lord has come in the form of the qualified and responsible people that now advise us.”90
Discussions at Board of Advisors meetings concentrated almost exclusively on how to begin to take the necessary steps to achieve the construction of a new campus for the school in West Miami-Dade.
At the first meeting, Gesù Catholic Church Pastor Fr. John Edwards, SJ raised the issue of whether ten acres were sufficient to establish a Jesuit school. Fr. Edwards explained that most of the Jesuit schools that he had visited over the years were built on land that was two or three times larger than the ten acres that the school had already secured. Even if Belen Jesuit could not build all of its facilities at once, acquiring enough land would allow the option for future expansion, development, and growth.91 Hence, the committee resolved to inquire if additional land was available near the existing property in West Miami-Dade. The search revealed that two contiguous lots existed next to the original ten acres of land, and soon thereafter, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ requested approval from Antilles Provincial Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) to acquire the additional land.
The two contiguous lots, purchased in 1976, brought the total land available for the new campus to nearly thirty acres. By June of 1976, Fr. Arroyo published a letter in the Alumni magazine in which he explained the school’s rationale:
“The requirements of our educational institution are greater each day, and it is impossible for us to remain on this [Little Havana] corner permanently. This presents a terrible alternative. Either we move, or we close. And we are choosing to move… because we believe that we have much to do in Miami… In a magnificent spirit of cooperation and responsibility, our students’ families have pledged to bear the cost of the additional land… We trust that we will meet our goal…We have something great and interesting to achieve ahead of us, and it will be for the good of our young people.”92
Jorge Bosch served as the first Chairman of the Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors (1975-2012).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Intercultural Center Campaign brochure.
Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy, Mayor Stephen Clark, Don Shula, John P. Walsh, Jaime Pino, and Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ at the campaign launch, April 26th, 1978. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors continued their work over the next two years, carrying out efforts toward building the new campus. As part of their work, the board requested approval for the new campus project from the Curia Praepositi Generalis Societatis Iesu in Rome, and on August 16th, 1977, Jesuit Vicar General Vincent T. O’Keefe, SJ (1920-2012) sent a letter to Antilles Province Provincial Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) offering the formal approval of Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ for a new Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade. Both the Board of Advisors and the school’s administration then began working with Architect Adolfo Albaisa (1937-2006) to develop architectural plans for the construction project. By January of 1978, the school was already on its way to formally launching the Belen Jesuit Intercultural Center Campaign and planning its 125th anniversary celebration. For these purposes, American Bankers Life Insurance President and Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors member John P. Walsh donated a float to the school that had been used by American Bankers for the Orange Bowl Parade. The school reworked the float in order to participate in the Three Kings Day Parade.93 The Jesuit administration also used the float’s appearance parade to announce the oncoming fundraising campaign that the school would officially launch on April 26th, 1978.94
Prior to the launch of the fundraising campaign, the school developed a brochure and pledge plans which gave a summary of the school’s history. The brochure explained that because Belen Jesuit had been educating young men for 125 years in both Hispanic and Anglo cultural environments, it was uniquely experienced to provide an ideal setting to address the multi-cultural and bilingual educational needs of young men growing up in South Florida. The new facility in West Miami-Dade would offer functional, efficient, and well-lighted classrooms, as well as equipped science labs, that would be used to study the work of many scientists including Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ and Carlos J. Finlay, whose scientific accomplishments had been intimately connected to the school. Moreover, language laboratories would offer students the opportunity to become proficient in Spanish as well as English. While Phase I of the project would not include athletic facilities, other than additional land to conduct physical education activities, Phase II would include a complete gymnasium/athletic center, where the Belen Jesuit athletic teams could practice and continue to obtain championship titles. An impressive main building, a complete kitchen and cafeteria, and a new and more extensive Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library, would
wrap around a courtyard that would also include the circular concrete-block structure enclosing the Belen Jesuit Chapel.
The Intercultural Center Campaign received unprecedented support from local politicians, as well as religious and business leaders. Amongst those present at the official campaign kickoff on April 26th, 1978 at the Intercontinental Hotel were television personality and Colegio de Belén alumnus Gustavo Godoy (‘61), who served as master of ceremonies, and Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy (1918-2005). Also in attendance were City of Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré, Dade County Mayor Stephen Clark (1923-1996), and Miami Dolphins Head Coach Don Shula. They all expressed the viability of the project as well as the reasons for their support. Archbishop McCarthy emphasized the leadership roles that Belen Jesuit students would play in South Florida’s future and the need for such an educational institution when he stated:
“Belen is providing excellent, religiously oriented educational opportunities for young men in our area who are the future leaders of the Archdiocese and the community. The need for new and adequate school facilities is beyond question.”95
Coach Don Shula expressed his interest in the development of athletics at Belen Jesuit by participating in the campaign. He highlighted his Jesuit educational background and the Jesuit tradition of educating well-rounded future leaders; total men who could make a difference in a complex world. He stated:
“As a Jesuit graduate, I am pleased to give my support to the Belen Jesuit project. The value of a Jesuit education, emphasizing the development of the total man, is more important than ever because of the complexities of today’s world. My Jesuit background, over the years, has been of lasting personal value to me.”96
Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy with the proposed drawing of the Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade in 1978. Photograph from the Intercultural Center Campaign Brochure, 1978.
In 1978, seventh grade students Manuel Cambó (‘83) and Edward Fuller (‘83) presented a check of the proceeds from the student-led Coca-Cola fundraising campaign to Board of Advisors Chairman Jorge Bosch, and Intercultural Center Campaign Coordinators Jaime Pino and John P. Walsh. Photograph from Boletín Informativo, 1978.
Drawing of the proposed Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade. Image from the Intercultural Center Campaign Brochure, 1978.
City of Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré, whose father had provided the three original homes where the Jesuits and the Operation Pedro Pan kids had resided during the early 1960s, emphasized the need for bilingual education in Miami by stating:
“Belen Jesuit’s bilingual and multicultural programs will provide graduates with the skills needed to become effective leaders in the growth of the Miami community. An investment in this institution is an investment in Miami’s future.”97
The Intercultural Center Campaign went forward with full force. In addition to coordinating the work of the Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ had former Belen Jesuit Rector Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), who had been serving as a minister at the Curia Praepositi Generalis Societatis Iesu in Rome, return to the school in 1978 to assist with the fundraising campaign. Fr. Chisholm became Director of Development, a position in which he would remain until 1992. To assist Fr. Chisholm with the Intercultural Center Campaign, Colegio de Belén alumnus, José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) served as Director of Public Relations in the Office of Development.
The campaign also included an inspiring show of support from Belen Jesuit alumni, families and students. Alumni established their own fundraising committee headed by Emiliano Prats (‘46) and Raoul García-Vidal (‘47) and held its first fundraising meeting shortly after the Intercultural Center Campaign was officially launched on April 26th, 1978. Advised by Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ and Fr. Juan M. DortaDuque, SJ (‘40), the committee included alumni Luis J. Botifoll (‘25), Ramón Rasco (‘40), Pablo Carreño (‘42), Gonzalo Lage (‘42), Carlos Penín (‘45), Raúl Piélago (‘46), José García-Montes (‘47), René Maresma (‘52), Mario Alfonso (‘54), Gastón Cantens (‘57), and Antonio Abella (‘59). The alumni committee held a series of fundraising dinners, the first of which took place at the home of Colegio de Belén alumnus Gonzalo Lage (‘42) on July 21st, 1978.
Belen Jesuit families pledged their faithful support for the campaign as did the students. At the school, students started the “Coca-Cola” campaign, in which they gave up their daily allowances to buy a Coke and donated their money to the Intercultural Center Campaign. During the 1977-1978 academic year, seventh grade students Manuel Cambó (‘83) and Edward Fuller (‘83) presented Board of Advisors Chairman Jorge
Bosch, and Campaign Committee Coordinators Jaime Pino and John P. Walsh with a check from the proceeds of the Coke campaign. The enthusiasm of Belen Jesuit families over the new campus showed in their pledges and support. According to Marina Hernández, who at the time was the Administrative Assistant for the Office of Development, the support from families never wavered:
“It was amazing to see how the Belen Jesuit families responded. Even while the United States was undergoing an economic crisis during the late 1970s that included inflation and long lines at gas stations, our families made sacrifices and gave generously to the project. Even if they could only afford to give a little, it was not about the amount. It was about contributing to the education for their children as well as to that of their future generations. I cannot tell you how many Belen grandmothers have come by my office after the new millennium and reminisced about the great work everyone did to fundraise for building this campus.”98
The fundraising campaign continued during 1979, as the school celebrated its 125th anniversary, and Belen Jesuit received the great honor of having Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ visit the school. Upon Father General Arrupe’s arrival at Miami International Airport, he was awarded the key to the City of Miami by a representative of Mayor Maurice Ferré. Father General Arrupe visited the campus in Little Havana on August 15th, 1979, where he had a chance to converse with faculty members, students, and some of their family members. He also visited the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami office and reviewed the drawings and architectural models for the new campus.99 Father General Arrupe also visited the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) facilities and celebrated Mass at Gesù Catholic Church. It was the first time in Belen’s 125-year history that a Jesuit Father General had visited the school, and the administration, faculty, and staff led by Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, were not only truly honored to host Fr. General Arrupe, but also pleased to confirm his support for the Intercultural Center Campaign. The Father General’s wishes for the new campus were clear as to what should be the real purpose behind building a new campus:
“Today, we know of your efforts to give Belen Jesuit a better building, not luxurious but much more appropriate to impart the education we want to provide our students: the “Men for Others” of tomorrow.”100
Called for the Jesuits to form “Men for Others”
Pedro Arrupe, SJ was born in Bilbao, Spain on November 14th, 1907. After completing secondary studies, he went to study medicine at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid; however, after witnessing hundreds of pilgrims seeking healing at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, he decided that he wanted to serve God. In 1927, he joined the Society of Jesus in Spain, but the expulsion of the Jesuits from that country in 1932 forced him to carry out his studies in the Netherlands and Belgium. In 1936, he was ordained as a priest, and in 1938, he traveled to the United States to carry out a doctoral program in Medical Ethics at St. Louis University. His studies were cut short, however, when his provincial sent him to serve as a missionary to Japan. Over the next twenty-six years, Fr. Arrupe served as parish priest, master of novices, vice provincial, and provincial in Japan. During World War II, he was arrested by Japanese security forces on suspicion of espionage, and kept in solitary confinement for thirty-three days. On August 6th, 1945, he was serving at a novitiate just four miles from the center of Hiroshima, where the blinding flash of the first atomic bomb almost destroyed the building. He quickly transformed what was left of the novitiate into a makeshift hospital and used his medical training to treat wounded Japanese civilians. He described that event as “a permanent experience outside of history, engraved in my memory.” The experience led him to the conviction that Jesuit ministry should concentrate on helping the poor, oppressed, and suffering people of the world. In 1965, he was elected superior general of the Society of Jesus, and during his sixteen-year tenure, he created a brand of Christian services based on the idea that Jesuit education around the world should yield: “Men and Women for Others” who would promote social justice as well as the Catholic faith. Father General Arrupe was the first superior general to visit Belen Jesuit. On August 15th, 1979, he visited the campus in Little Havana, and offered his unequivocal support for the school’s campaign to build a new campus in West Miami-Dade, where he specifically wanted the “Men for Others” of the future to be formed. In 1981, he suffered a debilitating stroke, and eventually had to resign as Father General in 1983. Thereafter, he remained in an infirmary, almost completely dependent on God and others for his day-to-day existence, until his death on February 5th, 1991. “Fr. Arrupe has been called the second founder of the Society of Jesus… His legacy is one committed to human dignity, the common good, and the integration of lay men and women into the Jesuit mission: the service of faith and the promotion of justice.”101
Father General Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ
Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ with members of the Belen Jesuit faculty and staff during his visit to the school on August 15th, 1979. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
José Ignacio Rasco (‘45), Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, and Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) show Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ a model of the proposed new campus for Belen Jesuit in West Miami-Dade.
Fr. Francisco PérezLerena, SJ (‘44) and Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) examine the construction site of the new Belen Jesuit campus in West MiamiDade. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
Transition to a New Campus
At the end of the 1979-1980 academic year, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ returned to the Dominican Republic, where he went on to supervise radio schools from Radio Santa María in La Vega. During this last year of Fr. Arroyo’s tenure at the school, Colegio de Belén alumnus Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), who had just finished his tenure as Provincial of the Antilles Province (1974-1979), arrived at the school to begin familiarizing himself with its day-to-day operations. The following year, Fr. Pérez-Lerena began his tenure as Belen Jesuit’s new president (1980-1983). By the time he started his three-year tenure at the school, Fr. Pérez-Lerena had already acquired extensive experience during his thirty-three years of service as a Jesuit, which included extensive studies in Austria, Belgium, and Rome. He had also served as the Antilles Province Master of Novitiates (1964-1973) in the Dominican Republic, where he had taught at the Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, and served as rector of the Filosofado Diocesano in Santiago de los Caballeros (1968-1974). Fr. Pérez-Lerena had also taught at Belen Jesuit during the first year of the school’s reestablishment in South Florida (1961-1962).
During his tenure as Belen Jesuit President (1980-1983), Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) continued with the administrative structure
that had been put in place by Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ in 1972. During Fr. Pérez-Lerena’s tenure, Fr. Sergio Figueredo, SJ served as principal, and Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ continued to serve as assistant principal for discipline. After the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, Albert Hernández assisted Fr. Izquierdo with discipline for the seventh and eighth grade students, and Jimmy Pérez became the disciplinarian for students in ninth and tenth grade. Also during Fr. Pérez-Lerena’s tenure, Leopoldo Núñez served as dean of students (1980-1981) and then as assistant principal for studies (1981-1983).
Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) continued the work of the Belen Intercultural Center Campaign. In November of 1980, the new president signed a contract with general contractor Lázaro Milton, whose company, Milton Construction, would build the new campus in West Miami-Dade. Mr. Milton’s sons, Alexander Milton (‘84) and Maurice Milton (‘88) both attended Belen Jesuit. On December 6th, Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop John J. Nevins represented Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy at the site for the new campus on Southwest 127th Avenue, where the official ground-breaking included laying and blessing the first stone. At the ceremony, Fr. Pérez-Lerena as well as former school rectors,
Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), and Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ all delivered remarks about God’s faithfulness in providing a new campus for the school and thanked the Board of Advisors, Belen Jesuit families, and alumni for their support.
The first phase of the new campus in West Miami-Dade, which included the main building, the Belen Jesuit Chapel, and the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library, was scheduled to be completed for the 1981-1982 academic year. Although the school had obtained a respectable response to the campaign, it had also been forced to obtain financing to complete the construction as promised. Therefore, Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) and Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) continued to fundraise during the construction period, with the support of community leaders, alumni, and Belen Jesuit families. For this purpose, on February 23rd, 1981, a cocktail reception took place at the home of Colegio de Belén alumnus Gonzalo Lage (‘42), where in addition to the alumni fundraising committee founded by Emiliano Prats (‘46) and Raoul García-Vidal (‘47), two other committees were established. The first, headed by Gastón Cantens (‘57) would handle fund raising within the Belen Jesuit student families, and the other, named the Friends of the Society of Jesus, and headed by Mr. Lage would solicit funds from the South Florida community. Moreover, beginning in March of 1981, the Diario de las Américas published a series of articles about prominent community leaders, which supported the project. The articles featured Fr. Pérez-Lerena, Intercultural Center Campaign Board member Jaime Pino, and alumni Luis J. Botifoll (‘25), Gonzalo Lage (‘42), John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48), and José A. Garrido (‘46). The newspaper even ran an article about the school’s student council president Jorge Blanco (‘81). As part of additional fundraising events, on June 21st, 1981, the committee began planning the first Belen Jesuit Gala, a fundraising fête that was to take place on October 3rd, 1981 at the Omni International Hotel to celebrate the school’s arrival at the new campus. The committee was presided by Fr. Pérez-Lerena, Fr. Chisholm, and Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) as well as Board of Advisors Chair Jorge Bosch, and Gala Chair Nilia Milton. 102
In August of 1981, the school prepared to change its location, but chose not to hire a moving company. As with all school endeavors, it was the Jesuits, faculty and staff as well as students and parents
who carried out the difficult move, and in the Belen Jesuit nickname/nombrete tradition, the uncomfortable work soon prompted the group to call itself the “gypsies.” With much hard work and diligence, the gypsies moved everything from the Little Havana campus to its proper destination at the new campus, including office equipment, kitchen utensils, chemistry-lab cabinets, conference tables, and hundreds of library books. Within two weeks, the Belen Jesuit campus in Little Havana was an empty shell and a remarkable era at the school had come to an end. After twenty years of providing shelter and bearing witness to the hard work and determination of its occupants, the school’s Little Havana campus had a “for sale” sign placed on its doors. During an interview with the Diario de las Américas on August 9th, 1981, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) placed the mission of the move within the context of the school’s history as well as its future, when he stated:
“I must emphasize that the purpose of our school is to unite; to build a solid link between Latinos (Spanish-speaking) and Anglos (English-speaking), a sentiment that flows from a profound, evangelistic sense of gratitude towards the community who welcomed us with open arms twenty years ago. Our mission has always been, and must remain as such in the future: to establish ties of unity, solidarity, and Christian love among people in order to achieve together, in an eternal embrace of fellowship, a happy coexistence for all.”103
Fr. Eduardo Álvarez ‘63) reads at the podium on December 6th, 1980, at the groundbreaking/first stone blessing ceremony for the Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade. From left to right: Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), Miami Auxiliary Bishop John J. Nevins, Fr. Francisco PérezLerena, SJ (‘44), Fr. Eduardo Barrios, SJ (‘60), and Fr. Enrique Oslé, SJ. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Section VI
BELEN JESUIT
West Miami-Dade (1981-2012)
“Belen is a Catholic School under the direction of the Society of Jesus. This means that its objectives are framed within the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the mandates of the Catholic Church, as St. Ignatius of Loyola himself directed. Without this dimension, the most excellent of educations would be incomplete... I am pleased that the school, as well as all the other associations linked to the members from the Society of Jesus, have put Christ as the center of all their projects.”
Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ
The Sower Reaps and the Phoenix Rises
A sense of satisfaction and accomplishment filled the arrival of the Jesuit administration, faculty, staff students, and their families at the new campus in West Miami-Dade. After so many years of dreams, prayers, hard work, fundraising activities, and sacrifices, the school was finally at its Intercultural Center, and everyone was ready to begin making history. Immediate concerns arose, however, when Tropical Storm Dennis dumped twenty-five inches of heavy rain over Dade County, between August 17th and 19th in 1981, which inundated the school’s fields and created a large pond that reached the parking lot. Nevertheless, in true Belen and Cuban choteo/nómbrete fashion, the phrase “Belen by the Lake” was soon heard throughout the school as everyone dealt with the uncomfortable prospect that the school grounds were susceptible to flooding. After about two weeks, the waters receded, but the grounds remained saturated. The administration made this challenge a first priority and moved to find financing for this unforeseen project.2
(‘82) read the Pledge of Allegiance, and Fr. Pérez-Lerena cut the official navy blue and gold ribbon that draped across the staircase of the main building, thus allowing students to proceed to their classrooms. The following Saturday (September 19th), Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy, Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), and the school’s Director of Development Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) celebrated the official Inauguration Mass and Blessing of the school’s new campus in West Miami-Dade. While Archbishop McCarthy made the official blessing, six former Belen rectors, including Fr. Chisholm, Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ, Fr. Eduardo Martínez-Márquez, SJ (‘23), and Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) joined Fr. Pérez-Lerena in quietly thanking God for his faithfulness in providing Belen Jesuit with a new campus. All of those at the Mass also prayed for the school’s continued success in South Florida. During a speech after the Mass and blessing, Fr. Pérez-Lerena acknowledged that the Jesuits were also celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their arrival in South Florida, and for the first time in school history, six of those who had served in the rector/president position had been able to gather in one room to celebrate the momentous inauguration of its new campus in West Miami-Dade. Basing his words on the Parable of the Sower from the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Fr. Pérez-Lerena stated:
Although Tropical Storm Dennis delayed the school’s opening in West Miami-Dade, finally, on September 14th, 1981, students arrived for the long-awaited first day of school at the new campus. At the main entrance, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), Principal Fr. Sergio Figueredo, SJ, and other Jesuits as well as faculty and staff greeted students. At 8:25 a.m., Student Council President Héctor Formoso-Murias
“This new building, the fifth for Belen, is not a mere gift that we receive. It also includes the great responsibility of nurturing the school’s growth for it to bear fruit within the abundance of the Lord’s grace. In the 1980s, we, the administration, faculty, and all those at the school, have a great challenge before us: educating youth who is already at the door of the 21st century. It is a challenge in which we must avoid going backwards. Rather, we must continue forward planting the Word of God in a society that seems deaf to the Words of Eternal Life.”
After Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) finished his speech, Colegio de Belén alumnus Gonzalo Lage (‘42), acting on behalf of Dade County Mayor Stephen Clark, presented to all the Jesuit fathers a Dade County Commission Proclamation, which declared September 19th as Belen Jesuit Preparatory School Day, to be observed within the county’s borders. In honor of the school’s accomplish-
ment, the Echoes yearbook staff chose the phoenix as its theme for the 1981-1982 academic year, and stated:
“It is fitting that the phoenix, with its intimations of immortality and its allegory of resurrection, be the symbol for the new Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, since it also has been born anew and has surmounted many obstacles. In September of 1981, the phoenix rose once more from its ashes. The cutting of the ribbons the first day of school marked an emotional and climactic moment for the entire Belen Jesuit community. If the school has not only survived, but prevailed against so many setbacks, it is because it has a well-defined and altruistic reason for being. There is only one phoenix. There is only one Belen, adamant in its pursuit of excellence. It now pledges to continue to produce men of education, spirituality, enlightenment, and wisdom.”6
Belen Jesuit student enrollment, at the time of the school’s arrival at its new campus in West Miami-Dade, was 599, only a slight in-
crease from 539 students who attended the school during the last year at the campus in Little Havana. As the school year progressed, the administration, as well as the faculty, staff and students, began “breaking-in” their new surroundings. Certain issues, such as the school’s cafeteria not being fully operable the first academic year (1981-1982), forced alternative solutions, which included catering food from fast food restaurants on a daily basis. Others, such as filling the grounds to prevent further flooding, took longer to resolve. Regardless, Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) concentrated on both increasing enrollment, which reached 712 students for the following academic year (1982-1983), and on continuing to fundraise to finish some of the school’s vital areas. Besides filling the grounds in order to prevent further flooding Fr. Pérez-Lerena and the rest of the Jesuit administration wanted to finish the interior of the school’s chapel in order to celebrate daily Mass. The school carried out several fundraising events for these immediate needs that went on to become long-standing traditions at the school. Among these were the Belen Jesuit Gala, a Fashion and Jewelry Exhibit Luncheon, and an Alumni Field Day. The proceeds from these events, as well as the generosity of Belen Jesuit families and its alumni, allowed for the inauguration of the Belen Jesuit Chapel on June 16th, 1983.
In addition to fundraising affairs during the first year that the school was at the new campus in West Miami-Dade (1981-1982), Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) reestablished the Academic Achievement Awards Ceremony that had been a long-standing event at the Colegio de Belén in Havana. The awards selected students for excellence in subject areas as well as for overall academic performance. The practice has been an integral part of the Belen Jesuit administration’s determination for the academic excellence of its students ever since.7
Edward
the official Inauguration Mass and Blessing of the school’s newly-built campus in West MiamiDade on September 19th, 1981. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Francisco PérezLerena, SJ (‘44) reestablished the Academic Achievement Awards Ceremony, which had been a long-standing event at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, during the 1981-1982 academic year. Photograph from Echoes, 1982.
Aerial photograph of the newly-built West MiamiDade Campus. Students cut the ribbon at the main staircase at the campus on the first day of school (September 14th, 1981).
Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Miami Archbishop
A. McCarthy, Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román, Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), and Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) celebrated
The Miami Sound Machine Band, with its lead singer Gloria Estefan, performed at the Belen Jesuit Fiesta Latina in April of1982.
Photograph from Echoes, 1982.
Lucila Jiménez, Fr.
Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40), Mercedes Maulassena de Ferré, Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré, and Gala Chair Nilia Milton at the first Belen Jesuit Gala on October 3rd, 1981.
Development and Celebration
Plans to celebrate the school’s arrival at the new campus had already been put in place since July of 1981, and included holding the first annual Belen Jesuit Gala on October 3rd at the Omni International Hotel. In order to promote attendance to the Gala, Chairperson Nilia Milton held a mid-afternoon gathering at her home on September 12th, supported by other Belen Jesuit mothers like Gloria Arazoza and Teresita Cambó.9 Pre-Gala gatherings became an integral part of the success of the Gala since the first event was coordinated. After 1982, the gathering was reworked as an evening event that came to be known as the Pre-Gala Cocktail. On October 3rd, at the first Belen Jesuit Gala, the decorations included flower arrangements and plants, all provided by Trías Flowers. The arrangements were generously donated by Joaquín Trías and Hortensita Trías, the parents of student Julio Trías (‘86), who were also partially in charge of the Decorations Committee with Teresita Menéndez. Barcardí Imports, Inc. was a grand sponsor for the Gala, providing beverages for the event, thanks to the generosity of its president and Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors Chair Jorge Bosch, a tradition that continues until the present day. At the Omni International, Alumni Director Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) and Gesù Catholic Church Pastor Fr. John Edwards, SJ gave thanks to guests for their support, and Belen Jesuit President Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) gave the invocation. Renowned Cuban-American entertainer and singer Willy Chirino and the Sounds Express Orchestra performed at the first Belen Jesuit Gala, and 750 guests danced and celebrated the reality of the new campus for the school.
Because of the monumental success of the first Belen Jesuit Gala, school administrators and families collaborated toward establishing it as an annual event at the school. At first, fundraising from the Gala helped to finance school development projects, but later, the bulk of its proceeds went to fund the general Belen Jesuit scholarship fund. Coordinated almost entirely by Belen Jesuit mothers through the Belen Jesuit Office of Development, the galas have been under the guidance of Belen Jesuit presidents, Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, and Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58). Development Office Director Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) with
the assistance of José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) and Marina Hernández, also helped to organize the Belen Jesuit galas until 1992. After Fr. Chisholm passed away, José Ignacio Rasco (‘45), Javier Riera (‘91), and since 2009, Fr. Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ have also helped with the coordinating of the Belen Jesuit galas. Since 1981, the assistant for the Department of Development, Marina Hernández, has served to coordinate this event with the Belen Jesuit mothers
who take care of every detail, including establishing themes, searching for underwriting sponsors, obtaining items for the silent auction, as well as carrying out ticket sales and decorations for the event. Among the Belen Jesuit mothers who over the years served as chairs of the Belen Jesuit Gala are Nilia Milton and Lucila Jiménez, who served as Chairs respectively in 1981 and 1982. For the following three years (1983-1985), Teresita Menéndez served as
The Belen Jesut Tómbolas during the 1980s included Social Studies faculty member Eugene Zoller selling his legendary “Pan con Lechón,” the most successful fundraising tool in the history of the Tómbola. Photograph from Echoes, 1980s.
Gala Chair, followed by Carolina Calderín, who served in both 1986 and 1987, as well as in 1991 and 1992. Olga M. Saladrigas served as Gala Chair in 1988, 1989, 1990, and with the assistance of Mercy Hernández also in 1993. Dulce Negret served as Gala Chair for four years (1994-1997), followed by Aurora Powell de Garrido in 1998 and Lucy Arán in 1999. Adela Hernández served as Gala Chair for three years (2000-2002), followed by María Guerra in 2003, as well as Mari Rovira, Carolina Macías and Ofelia Fernández in 2004. Marianela Aran served as Gala Chair in 2005, as well as Maribel Alvarado, who served in 2006 and 2009). Marta Castillo served as Gala Chair in 2007, followed by Yamile Jiménez, who served during three years (2007, 2008, and 2010), and Laura Munilla and Lourdes Belfrain, who served as Gala Co-Chairs for the Golden Jubilee Gala that was held on November 5th, 2011.
Soon after the first Belen Jesuit Gala took place on October 3rd, 1981, Belen Jesuit mothers began organizing another fundraising event, the Belen Fashion Show and Jewelry Exhibit. The first was held during a luncheon at the Four Ambassadors Hotel on December 5th, 1981. Coordinated by Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) and organized by Rosita Abuín de Lamela and a committee of Belen Jesuit mothers that included Lietty Raventós de Pubillones, Lilian Martínez Ibor de Portuondo, and Julia Jelke, the first luncheon included fashions from Lydia Originals, Flora Lamar de Fanjul, and Rivero Designers as well as jewelry designed by Jeweler Peter Maicas. Sculptures donated by Colegio de Belén alumnus and Master Sculptor Manuel Carbonell were also used as auction items to raise funds for the school. The Fashion Show became an annual December event, always held at the Four Ambassadors.
The school held the first Tómbola at the new campus in West MiamiDade from February 18th through February 21st in 1982. The new grounds provided ample space to have more booths and rides, and Tómbola proceeds increased by almost 50 percent from what the event had previously raised in Little Havana. The school has continued to hold the Tómbola in February ever since, and the proceeds from the event continue to make the largest annual contribution to the Belen Jesuit Scholarship Fund. In April of 1982, the school began another fundraising event celebrating Hispanic Culture called Fiesta Latina. The first time that the school held the Fiesta Latina, it includ-
ed live entertainment from the Miami Sound Machine Band, with its lead singer Gloria Estefan. Although Estefan had not yet reached her present day fame when she played in the Belen Jesuit courtyard in 1982, the success of the Fiesta Latina made it an annual event at the school. Over the years, the Fiesta Latina brought other well-known local musical groups to play at the school and Los Sobrinos del Juez and Continental Brass played at the Fiesta Latina on April 26th, 1986.10
The fundraising efforts of the early 1980s were imperative for the Jesuits in continuing to move forward with their new campus in West Miami-Dade. Phase I had been completed and the school continued to grow, as enrollment reached 739 students for the 1983-1984 academic year. The success of initial development and fundraising culminated in the inauguration of the Belen Jesuit Chapel on June 16th, 1983.
Gala Committee members Olga Pita, María Urbay, Lourdes Belfrain, Ana María de la Fe, Gala Chair Yamile Jiménez, Aida María Rigueiro, Yvonne Von der Osten, Laura Munilla, Mariela Fernández, Annie Zaldívar, Marina Hernández, Jacqueline Munilla, Roxanna Lamarche, and Carolina Macías at the Belen Jesuit Gala in 2010.
Photograph from Alumni Magazine, Winter 2010.
During the 1990s and after the new millennium, the Tómbola included a larger carnival and booths serving Latin American fare. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Golden Jubilee Celebration Gala, featuring Cuban-American Artist Willy Chirino, held at the Doral Country Club on November 5th, 2011. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
of the proposed
The Chapel
The vision for the Belen Jesuit Chapel at the school’s campus in West Miami-Dade came about early in the Belen Intercultural Center architectural design process. From early on, the Jesuits from the Antilles Province requested that Architect Adolfo Albaisa and his colleague Julio Acosta design the chapel that would reign as the epicenter of the campus, thus signifying the centrality of Christ at the school. In executing the chapel’s design, Mr. Albaisa and Mr. Acosta were inspired by the Jesuit’s wishes as well as by a circular chapel that had been built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1956. Thus, the Belen Jesuit Chapel is a circular block structure, which has remained as the focal point of the school’s central courtyard.
During the chapel’s design phase, the Jesuits also decided that they wanted the interior walls to have the appearance of unpainted, unfin-
ished bricks, so as to resemble the castle at the Santuario de Loyola, where St. Ignatius of Loyola had been born in 1491. The chapel’s round design presented a particular challenge for its construction, and Lázaro Milton, whose company Milton Construction built the campus in West Miami-Dade, brought in specialized masons from the state of Georgia to place the bricks.11 The work was extremely difficult and required much expertise to be carried out exactly as the architects and the Jesuits envisioned.
While the building was being completed, Cuban-American artist, as well as Colegio de Belén alumnus Manuel Carbonell (1918-2011) requested that the school’s Jesuit administration allow him to carry out the artistic design of the chapel’s interior, and the Jesuits were delighted at the generosity and foresight that Carbonell exhibited in carrying out the task. Carbonell, considered one of the last Cuban
master sculptors, designed, created, and donated artistic works for the chapel, dedicating his efforts to his former Jesuit professors, Frs. Víctor Villanueva, SJ, Faustino García, SJ, Raúl Barrado, SJ, Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), and Brother José Arrieta, SJ (1906-1990).12
For the chapel, the master sculptor Manuel Carbonell created the figure of a resurrected Christ to be suspended from the ceiling by three golden chains. The Christ, sculpted out of bronze, has a black patina that emphasizes the stigmata of Jesus’s passion. With arms extended, the sculpted Christ exhibits a tender posture of both embrace and benediction as its suspension from the ceiling leaves the sculpture inclined toward those who visit to indicate the Savior’s love and blessings for all his children. The golden crown and nails, as well as the polished bronze on the cross, symbolize the precious value of the Christ’s suffering as well as that of His resurrection. A former Provincial of the Antilles Province, Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39) penned some observations about the Belen Jesuit Chapel’s Christ after it was suspended from the room’s ceiling. In reflecting about the overall chapel, Fr. Arvesú used the theology of French Jesuit poet, scientist, and mystic Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ (1881-1955) as a point of reference. With respect to Carbonell’s works of art, he stated:
“The sculptor captures in a single stroke of genius, the vision of the cosmic and liturgical Christ with the historical Christ in death and glorious resurrection. This historical and mystical vision further emphasizes the corresponding synthesis celebrated in the Eucharist. The students, partaking of the Sacrament, will be visually reminded daily about the eternal and glorious mystery they celebrate.”13
Along with the Christ, Manuel Carbonell designed two candle holders, representing two of Christ’s disciples, Mark and Matthew. For the altar, which was dedicated to Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39), Carbonell used a single piece of mahogany brought from Cuba, which was actually the door to a residence on the island. The hole on the lower part of the altar is designed to resemble the cave at Manresa, where St. Ignatius of Loyola spent several months in prayer and meditation. JHS, the first letters of the word Jesus in Greek, which serve as the symbol of the Society of Jesus, are also inscribed on the altar. The chapel’s ceiling was painted black to symbolize looking at the heavens in search of God. Carbonell also conceived the wooden
The Garrido Family Plaza shows the exterior of the Belen Jesuit Chapel during the Golden Jubilee Year (2011-2012). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The procession for the Mass celebrated to bless the Belen Jesuit Chapel Tabernacle on January 25th, 1985 includes Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), and Fr. Oscar Méndez, SJ. Photograph from Echoes, 1985.
Drawing
Belen Jesuit Chapel from the Intercultural Center Campaign Brochure. Drawing from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The interior of the Belen Jesuit Chapel. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Chapel includes the altar with the Society of Jesus JHS symbol. It also has the Christ sculpture suspended from the ceiling, candlesticks, and the Tabernacle that was crafted by Master Sculptor and alumnus Manuel Carbonell. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
pews, able to sit 200 worshippers, to appear as if these were floating, in an effort to symbolize that in the presence of God everything moves toward Him and toward heaven.14
The school inaugurated the Belen Jesuit Chapel on June 16 th, 1983 with a partially completed interior, and Fr. Ignacio Lasaga, SJ, who had been ordained the previous day at Gesù Catholic Church, celebrated his first Mass as a priest at the chapel. The Colegio de Belén’s class of 1958, who that year celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary, graciously donated to the Belen Jesuit Chapel, and one of its members, Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) also celebrated Mass at the school for his classmates and their families. 15 Many Belen Jesuit families and alumni gave generously to complete the chapel design project. 16
For over two years, Manuel Carbonell worked tirelessly on the tabernacle for the Belen Jesuit Chapel, which he sculpted out of bronze. The tabernacle’s interior included a representation of the figures at the Lord’s Last Supper laminated in gold. The ciborium that holds the Blessed Sacrament rests on a grill over a piece of stone that Colegio de Belén alumnus Napoleón Padilla (‘37) brought from the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem specifically for the chapel’s tabernacle. Carbonell dedicated his work on the tabernacle to Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19). Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy gave his blessing over the chapel’s tabernacle on Janu-
ary 25th, 1985, when he celebrated Mass, at the Belen Jesuit Chapel. Carbonell and his family were present at the Mass and the archbishop praised the work of the Jesuits in continuing their mission at the new campus in West Miami-Dade.17
On December 8th, 1987, Manuel Carbonell made another important donation to the Belen Jesuit Chapel: a painting by Italian Artist Victor Zucchi, Immaculate Conception which the artist had originally painted in 1922 for the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey and which had been removed from the cathedral in 1971. Zucchi created the painting as a replica of the Bartolomé Murillo, Inmaculada Concepción-La Niña (1682), and it had been blessed by the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Francis Spellman
when he first completed the artwork in 1922. After the painting was removed from the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark, Zucchi had made a gift of the artwork to his close friend, Carbonell. Then, in 1987, Carbonell decided that he wanted the painting to be a permanent part of the Belen Jesuit Chapel. The blessing of the painting took place on the feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8th) and student representatives from each Belen Jesuit class attended the ceremony and Mass. Members of the Carbonell family, including Manuel Carbonell, Josefina Carbonell, Ángela Carbonell, and Luis González Carbonell also attended the Mass which Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ presided.
Other items are exhibited on the walls of the Belen Jesuit Chapel, with some of them having been donated to the school by graduating classes. Among these are relics of Jesuit saints and martyrs which belonged to Belen Jesuit vice rector and beloved counselor Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36). The wall behind the altar holds several coins from 1981, and a newspaper from the school’s inaguaration day. Originally, a Cuban flag was framed in placed in the chapel. Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) took the frame to the Notre-Dame de
Lourdes shrine in France, where a delegation of Belen Jesuit students went to tend to the sick. Upon graduation, the Belen Jesuit class of 1994 donated an image of Our Lady of Belen, a replica of the one that was at the Colegio de Belén, and which remains housed at the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola in Havana. At a Mass on August 8th, 1994, officiated by Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), the image was officially blessed.18 As their graduation gift to the school, the class of 2005 donated the stained glass designs for the doors of the Belen Jesuit Chapel. One of the stained glass designs on the Chapel’s entrance doors represents St. Ignatius of Loyola. The other represents St. Francis Xavier.
Since its inauguration in 1983, Jesuits, faculty, staff, and students come together at a quarter past seven o’clock in the morning and during the homeroom time period to celebrate Mass at the Belen Jesuit Chapel every weekday. The chapel is the place where the Jesuits have celebrated Mass over the years for members of the Belen Jesuit family and their extended families. It also remains a place of solitude, prayer, and reflection for all those who attend or visit the school.
The Belen Jesuit Chapel is also graced by a painting of the Immaculate Conception (1922) originally created by Italian Artist Victor Zucchi for the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ. The painting was donated to Belen Jesuit in 1987 by master sculptor and alumnus Manuel Carbonell. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Vincam student newspaper announces the establishment of a sixth grade at Belen Jesuit. Image from Echoes, 1985.
Twenty-five years of Service Commence
After the 1982-1983 academic year, Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) went to serve alongside Pastor Fr. James Donald Pearce, SJ at Gesù Catholic Church. At the parish, Fr. Pérez-Lerena was to lay the groundwork for many important programs to help the elderly and disadvantaged Gesù parish community in downtown Miami.19 Hence, during the summer of 1983, Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ appointed Fr. Marcelino García, SJ to serve as the new president of Belen Jesuit. By the time he began his twenty-five year tenure at Belen Jesuit (1983-2008), Fr. García had over two decades of extensive experience and service within the Antilles Province. His experience included extensive studies in the United States and Spain. In the Dominican Republic, he also had served as a professor at the Instituto Politécnico Loyola, as president of the Unión Nacional de Colegios Católicos, and as rector of the Colegio Loyola (1976-1983).
During his first decade at Belen Jesuit, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ served as president of the school and continued the administrative structure that had been in place prior to his arrival. While Fr. García served as president, Fr. Sergio Figueredo, SJ continued to serve as principal (1980-1988), and Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ also remained in his position as assistant principal for discipline until 1988. After
Fr. Fi eredo’s reassi ment in 1988, F
cipal (1988-1992). Fr. José Esquivel, SJ (‘60) also served as assistant principal for discipline (1988-1989) and as assistant principal to the middle school. In addition to the administrative support provided by the Jesuits serving at the school, Fr. García also relied on the administrative assistance of Leopoldo Núñez, who served as assistant principal for studies (1981-1988) and as executive assistant principal (1988-2004).
The first year that Fr. Marcelino García, SJ served as president of Belen Jesuit (1983-1984), he approved a project plan from Athletic Director Carlos Barquín for the establishment of the Belen Summer Camp, which was inaugurated during the summer of 1984. The successful coeducational program soon became one of the largest available in Dade County and has been operating every summer for almost thirty years.20 Fr. García also worked with several Belen Jesuit families in an effort to build some of the athletic facilities needed at the school such as a swimming pool and tennis courts. The tennis courts were ready for the 1984-1985 academic year, and Belen Jesuit inaugurated the swimming pool facility in time for the 1986 summer camp.21
at Belen Jesuit after they completed their elementary education at DCPS schools would have to move their children twice, once after fifth grade into a public middle school, and then once again in seventh grade if they were to attend Belen Jesuit.22
Hence, after seeking the council and approval of Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop Fr. Agustín Román and Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and the Jesuit administration decided to open a sixth grade for the 1984-1985 academic year.23 This new configuration would parallel the composition of the Belen Jesuit student body to the new middle school (sixth-eighth grade) and high school (ninth-twelfth grade) structure established by the Dade County Public Schools Board of Education. Only one year later (1985-1986), the addition of the sixth grade already showed a notable improvement in student performance in seventh grade. As Belen Jesuit Mathematics Department Chair, Carol Ann Vila stated:
“The new sixth grade students were educated last year with special emphasis on English and Math. This occurred at an earlier age, and thus gave them certain skills earlier. The results have been extraordinary, since they have achieved a higher skill set, and thus the ability to do work at a higher level in seventh grade.”24
García, SJ noted that the school had attained several important milestones since its arrival in South Florida. Although many additional challenges lay ahead, the Belen Jesuit administration planned to answer them with the same determined outlook that had been traditional at the school. As Assistant Principal for Studies, Leopoldo Núñez stated:
During the 1983-1984 academic year, enrollment at Belen Jesuit reached 739 students, and the school’s organizational structure mirrored that of Dade County Public Schools (DCPS). The structure included students in grades seventh through ninth, which were under a junior high school classification, and students in grades tenth through twelfth, who were considered to be part of the high school. In 1984, the Dade County Public Schools Board of Education released a five-year plan for grade level configurations (1985-1990), in which it directed DCPS to move the system toward a new organizational pattern. The DCPS Board of Education directed the public school system to reorganize its structure by first having elementary schools encompass kindergarten through fifth grade. Newly created middle schools would accommodate students in grades sixth through eighth, and the high schools would be composed of grades ninth through twelfth. The new DCPS organizational structure ordered by its Board of Education posed certain challenges for Belen Jesuit. Historically, 70 percent of the students who entered the school in seventh grade came from DCPS schools; therefore, if the school kept its organizational structure intact, parents who wished to enroll their children
In addition to the academic benefits that students received by entering the school in sixth grade, the Athletics Department also established a series of middle school and sixth grade athletic teams to give sixth grade students the opportunity to participate in sports. Student participation in athletics earlier resulted in them obtaining a higher skill set when they reached junior varsity and varsity teams in high school. Moreover, the response to having younger students was also met with enthusiasm by the students already enrolled at the school. To help the sixth grade acclimatize to Belen Jesuit, Student Council established the Big Brother program, through which a senior member took on a Little Brother in sixth grade and “showed him the ropes” at the school. Seniors explained school events, their significance and purpose. They also encouraged new students to participate in student organizations that met their interests as well as those that helped to support special school activities and goals, such as the Tómbola raffle ticket sales.
During the 1985-1986 academic year, Belen Jesuit celebrated its twenty-fifth year in South Florida. In his talks with students, Fr. Marcelino
“The old cardboard school had been left behind with memories of blackouts, termite invasions, discomfort, and also of dedication on the part of the many teachers who fought against the many limitations of the physical plant and gave their best to educate a generation of students who consistently proved their worth in colleges and universities, and later on as professionals… At Belen, we see life as a constant challenge that must be taken up... because the Jesuits believed in 1961 that greater efforts were necessary... because we believe in Ignatian “magis” we continue to set new goals and reach new heights. So it must be, as the exemplary St. Ignatius of Loyola continues to be at the core of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. May it always be so!”25
As Belen Jesuit progressed through the end of the 1980s, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ continued to increase student enrollment, and the quality of the school’s academics, athletics, programs, and activities. Fr. García also established additional events to formally recognize students as well as the school’s faculty and staff. To establish recognition for students, during the 1988-1989 academic year, Fr. García started a new tradition: a Pin Ceremony for ninth graders that symbolized the beginning of their new responsibilities as members of the high school.26 The Pin Ceremony was later changed to take place at the end of the student’s eighth grade year to also symbolize their graduation from middle school. Also during the 1988-1989 academic year, Fr. García celebrated a special
Image of the 1986 Echoes cover that celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of Belen Jesuit’s reestablishment in South Florida.
During the visit of Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ to South Florida, he and over forty priests, most of which were Jesuits, celebrated Mass for over 1,600 members of the Miami community at the Intercontinental Hotel, on June 5th, 1989. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Mass to honor the school’s faculty and staff for their years of service at Belen. At the Mass, faculty and staff who had served at the school for over ten years received pins inscribed with the amount of years of service they had provided to Belen Jesuit. At this point, spiritual counselor and former Belen Jesuit Vice Rector Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) and Julia Reboredo, who had provided food service at the cafeteria, both received twenty-six year pins, while Assistant Principal for Discipline Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ received a pin for twenty-one years of service.
Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ also continued to work with the office of development, its director Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), and its financial director, José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) to complete the second phase of construction for the school’s new campus in West Miami-Dade and to foster the school’s traditional mission to offer scholarships to students who may not otherwise be able to attend the school. Fr. García knew that in all things it was always better to give:
“Jesus taught us to give. Belen had a long-standing tradition of helping students whose families could not afford to pay for private education. It had been so at the school in Havana and at the other Jesuit schools throughout Cuba. It was even more so when the Jesuits first arrived from Cuba in 1961, and later when they established our first campus in Little Havana. We had always found a way to give scholarships while we also trusted that God would abundantly provide for our school to continue to grow, and God has blessed us abundantly through our families, alumni, and friends in the community. This is something that we Jesuits believe will continue to be so always.”27
In order to raise scholarship funds, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ offered guidance on a variety of annual events such as the Belen Jesuit Gala, the Fiesta Latina, and the Fashion Show. He also served on the board of the Parent’s Club, and with the support of Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque (‘40), offered guidance in the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami and the school-wide organization of the Belen Jesuit Tómbola, Alumni Day, and Alumni Field Day. On June 10th, 1988, the school formally established the Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ Scholarships. At a reception to commemorate the establishment of the scholarship fund, the school installed a plaque in the main building in memory of former Belen Jesuit President Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, recognizing his relentless efforts to build the campus in West MiamiDade.28 By the 1988-1989 academic year, the Office of Development was already providing financial assistance to over eighty Belen Jesuit families, and as the school progressively increased its fundraising for scholarships, many additional families continued to be offered financial aid throughout the years.29
The entire Belen Jesuit community was honored in June of 1989 with the visit of Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, who also visited all the Jesuit works in Miami including the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU), Encuentros Familiares at the Casa Manresa Retreat House, the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami, and Gesù Catholic Church. The Jesuit Assistant General for Latin America, Fr. Álvaro Restrepo, SJ accompanied Father General Kolvenbach on his visit. Moreover, Jesuits from both the Antilles and the New Orleans Province traveled to Miami to meet Father General Kolvenbach, including Antilles Provincial Fr. Benito Blanco, SJ and New Orleans Provincial Fr. Edmundo Rodríguez, SJ. Father General
Kolvenbach was impressed and thankful for all that the Jesuits had accomplished in the Miami area. In his visit to the ACU, Fr. General Kolbenbach praised the retreat facility, as well as the Encuentros Familiares Casa Manresa Retreat House. He also praised the work of Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque (‘40) at the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami, which by this time included over 3,800 members.
When touring Belen Jesuit, Father General Kolvenbach also praised the working project plan for the construction of the Belen Jesuit Observatory as well as the Cuban Collection at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library. On June 5th, Father General Kolvenback also celebrated Mass for over 1,600 at the Intercontinental Hotel, where over forty priests, most of which were Jesuits, joined in the Eucharistic celebration. During this homily, he stated:
“After two thousand years, not even two-thirds of humanity worships the one true God, and amongst the third that do know Him, many of those have doubts… And, it is precisely at this hour that the Lord entrusts us with both an amazing and a disconcerting mission. Go, therefore, to all nations and make disciples... The expansion of the Kingdom of God has not been entrusted to public relations specialists or to a handful of heroic missionaries, but to the people who truly love Jesus... As the Lord has triumphed against the enemy of men with the love revealed through the cross, He uses our human weakness to proclaim the strength of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit throughout the world. He calls all -laymen, priests, and the men and women from religious orders- to continue his work of salvation in the world.”30
After the visit of Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ concluded that if the school was to accomplish the second phase of its construction, which had been originally planned during the Inter Cultural Center Campaign, it needed to launch another methodical fundraising campaign to build the gymnasium/athletic center. In Fr. García’s view, the gymnasium-theater project, as it was originally called, represented an important milestone for Belen Jesuit’s development as an educational institution. The gymnasium would not only serve as a more adequate place to practice and hold sporting events, but it would also provide an indoor meeting facility where large groups could congregate to
“The Jesuits at Belen have put Christ at the center of all their projects!”
Peter Hans Kolvenbach was born in Druten, Netherlands, on November 30th, 1928, where for secondary studies, he attended Canisius College. On September 7th, 1948, he entered the Society of Jesus in the Netherlands at Mariendaal and went on to study Philosophy at Berchmans Institute in Nijmegen. He then completed a Doctorate in Theology at Université de Saint-Joseph in Beirut and was ordained a priest in 1961. He later also attended the Sorbonne in Paris, France, where he obtained a doctorate in linguistics, while being fluent in Dutch, Armenian, German, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Chaldean, and English. After many years of service in academic life, primarily teaching linguistics in Beirut, Lebanon, he was named as the vice provincial of the Near East which included the regions of Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. In 1981, he was appointed as Rector of the Oriental Institute in Rome, a position he held until his election as the XXIX superior general of the Society of Jesus, during the XXXIII General Congregation of Jesuits in 1983. After his election, he carried out his responsibilities with energy and compassion, and his tenure was marked by improvement in relations with the Holy See, by the opening up of the dialogue with the religions of the non-Christian world, and by the strengthening of the Society of Jesus in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. In 1995, he directed the XXXIV General Congregation of Jesuits, which addressed issues including the mission of the Society in the modern world and the impact of the revision of Canon Law. During his tenure, he also visited Jesuit provinces in 112 countries, including several visits to Belen Jesuit (1989, 2000, and 2004). While visiting Belen Jesuit, Father General Kolvenbach praised the Christ-centered way in which all projects and works were handled. In February of 2006, Kolvenbach informed the members of the Society of Jesus of his intention to step down in 2008, with the consent of Pope Benedict XVI. His resignation was accepted at the XXXV General Congregation of Jesuits. When asked about his plans for retirement and his advice for the new Jesuit superior general, he simply said that he wanted to join the rank-and-file Jesuits in the Near East, in the hope that he could be of help in that war-torn region. He also said: “I am not free to give advice… God’s help and favor will supply much, and the general can count on the good will and advice of his companions. My advice is to count on the Lord in prayerful discernment under and with Peter, sustained by the union of hearts and minds of all your friends in the Lord.”31
hold important ceremonies, assemblies, banquets, theatrical productions, dances, expositions, conferences, and school-wide masses. The results would culminate in the completion of the school’s gymnasium in 1995, but not before the school’s administration, its board of advisors, families, alumni, faculty, and staff worked tirelessly to complete the gym construction project.
Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ
Auxiliary Bishop of Galveston-Houston Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41) celebrated Mass at Belen Jesuit for the 450th anniversary (14911991) of the Society of Jesus, and the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Ignatius of Loyola on September 27th, 1990. Photograph from Echoes, 1991.
Growth, Accreditation and Celebration
After 1992, Principal José M. Izquierdo, SJ developed health issues that precluded his continued service at Belen Jesuit, and Fr. Marcelino García, SJ decided to take on the roles of both president and principal (1992-2008). In order to carry out the responsibilities of both roles, Fr. García decided that in addition to Leopoldo Núñez serving as executive assistant principal, he would appoint additional personnel to assist him with the school’s administration. For this purpose, Fr. García appointed Grace Acosta to serve as assistant principal for discipline (1992-2009), Armando Rodríguez to serve as assistant principal for activities (1992-2009), Beatriz Jiménez to serve as Assistant Principal for Development (1993-2009), and Brian Wentzel to serve as assistant principal for admission and guidance (1992-2000). Mr. Wentzel would also serve as assistant principal for personnel (2000-2009). During his tenure as both president and principal, Fr. García also created two additional administrative positions that were essential for the school. One was the director of technology position, in which Carol Ann Vila has served since 1996, and the assistant to the president for administration position in which Carolina Calderín served (2002-2009).
During the early 1990s, with the fundraising campaign for the gymnasium/theater project on its way, the school carried out several important celebrations. On September 27th, 1990, the school celebrated the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the 450th year of the foundation of the Society of Jesus. The Auxiliary Bishop of Galveston and Houston, Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41), who was not only a Colegio de Belén alumnus but had also served as a faculty member at the school, visited from Texas and celebrated Mass in the school’s central patio for students, families, and members of the South Florida community. The following academic year (1991-1992), the school also held a school-wide assembly to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. At this time, Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy conveyed a message about the importance of evangelization since Christopher Columbus’s voyage had made possible the spread of Christianity to the New World. During the assembly, Miami Mayor Xavier Suárez (‘67) gave a speech about the importance of Miami’s geographical position and the unique ethnic composition of its people.32 As part of this important 450th anniversary of the Society of Jesus, and the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ attended a conference in Messina, Sicily about the Jesuit educational methodology in its pedagogical endeavors. The city had been chosen because it had been the site of the first secondary school founded by the Society of Jesus in 1548, which had eventually become the Università degli Studi di Messina. About the Congress, Fr. García related:
“The ideas of force presented at the Congress include four characteristics in Ignatian education. First, non multa sed multum (not too many things, but only one and with much depth), a teacher must express every subject matter in-depth, never superficially. Secondly, everything in the Ignatian paradigm has to do with experience, reflection, and action. Third, cura personalis all students must receive individual attention as St. Ignatius of Loyola offered each disciple who carried out the Spiritual Exercises. Lastly, imparting the concept of social concern, Jesuit educators must seek to transform students into Men for Others, which through service will in turn also transform society.”33
After his return from the Congress, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ continued to incorporate the principles Jesuit educational methodology at the school as the institution organized a series of events to celebrate several important milestones from its history. One such celebration occurred during the 1993-1994 academic year, when Belen Jesuit celebrated its 140th anniversary (1854-1994) with several festivities. One of the most intricate and nostalgic was performing a reenactment of the events of the original first day of school at the Colegio de Belén’s Compostela Campus. Just as had been done in 1854, at six o’clock in the morning on March 2nd, 1994, the Jesuits greeted forty seniors at the iron door of the main building. Each senior was dressed in the original uniform (a blue jacket, white shirt, dark trousers, and a black tie), and the name of an original Colegio de Belén student from 1854, displayed in a tag, was assigned to each student. Then, President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, just as Fr. Bartolomé Munar, SJ had done 1854, greeted students and their families, and ushered them in to the school Central Patio for a candlelight rosary honoring Our Lady of Belen. The Jesuits, students, and their families followed the rosary with a thanksgiving Mass in the school Chapel officiated by the Superior to the Miami Jesuits, Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58). After Mass, the senior homeroom mothers offered a breakfast in the school’s cafeteria.34
Later that morning, sophomores, juniors, and seniors attended a lecture by Colegio de Belén alumnus Marcelo Alonso (‘37), a noted physicist who taught at the Universidad de La Habana, Georgetown University, and the Florida Institute of Technology. The lecture, The Physics of the Twenty-first Century, discussed possible scientific solutions to the world’s major issues. At eleven o’clock in the morning, the entire school gathered in the athletic field for the long-awaited groundbreaking ceremony for the school’s gymnasium/theater. On the field, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, Colegio de Belén alumnus Luis J. Botifoll (‘25), and Student Council President Thomas de Quesada (‘94) offered words of thanks to all those that supported the project and explained the importance of athletics and the facility for the school’s future development. Then, De Quesada and Student Council Vice President Alfonso Durán (‘94) carried a time capsule containing the names of students, faculty, administration, and Board of Advisors, as well items collected from athletic teams and extracurricular clubs, which they buried in the field. In the evening, Dr. Alonso gave a lecture in Spanish to a group of guests, and Fr. García presented him with an award for being the most distinguished alumnus in the field of science.
Belen Seniors dressed with the nametags of the original Coelgio de Belén students from 1854 celebrate the 140th anniversary of the school (1854-1994) at a morning breakfast with Fr. Oscar Méndez, SJ after Mass. Photographs from Echoes, 1994.
Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy celebrated Mass at the school for those that died in the Florida straits as a result of the Cuban rafter crisis in 1994 as students from the class of 1994 carried the Our Lady of Belen painting in the procession. Photograph from Echoes, 1994.
Future Jesuit Priest Christian Sáenz (‘95) and Frs. Marcelino García, SJ, Jorge Munguía, SJ, and Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54). Sáenz is wearing the dress uniform instituted in 1994 for students to wear on special days.
Photograph from Echoes, 1995.
Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors Chairman Jorge Bosch presented Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora with a plaque as the board’s Honorary Chairman following the Mass and blessing of the Belen Jesuit Gymnasium on November 28th, 1995.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The school also held several school-wide masses that year, including one that was offered by Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy. During 1994, a high influx of rafters originating in both Cuba and Haiti had attempted to immigrate to the United States. Many lost their lives during the perilous journey, and the Jesuits requested that the Archbishop offer a Mass at Belen Jesuit for the souls of the rafters who had lost their lives while trying to reach Florida shores. The school followed the Mass with a student day of reflection about the plight of these desperate refugees, and students, particularly those from the Key Club, carried out specific projects to assist the rafters and their families throughout the rest of the year.35
During the 1990s, in order to continue to provide the cura personalis, or individual attention so relevant in Jesuit educational principles, the school established events that focused on family participation. These gatherings promoted a broader understanding of the school as an educational and spiritual institution by allowing the students to share their experiences with all the members of their family. Family-focused events had started in 1985 with Social Studies faculty member Eugene Zoller, who conceived of a Father and Son Day for eighth graders. The day included a special Mass for fathers and their sons and many activities that ranged from basketball and other athletic competitions to playing dominoes. The success of the event led the school to establish Family Day for ninth graders in 1990. On Family Day, high school students would get to share their new school experience with their parents and siblings. The day included food, games, athletic events, and the celebration of Mass. In 1993, the school also started a new tradition, the sixth grade Lock-In, a night during which sixth grade students and their teachers camped out at the school. Additionally, in order to establish a family-oriented event for the sixth grade, the school established the Mini-Olympics in 1996. This was another day filled with athletic competition which included students and their parents and which took place after a celebratory Mass. Also in 1996, the school began a family
activity for seventh grade students. Known as Grandparents Day, the day is filled with special times and activities during which students are able to share their school with their grandparents, with whom they also attend Mass. Years later, the school established a Mother and Son Day for tenth grade students and their mothers, which mirrored the same sort of activities and events including the celebration of Mass.36
The 1994-1995 academic year began with Belen Jesuit on a new road toward distinction. Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and the rest of the school’s administration concentrated on preparing the school for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation assessment. A prestigious organization, SACS remains devoted to recognizing elite institutions and helping them to consistently improve their educational services. Accreditation was a lengthy and complicated process for Belen Jesuit that would call for improvements to the school’s facilities, ongoing education for faculty and staff and an enhanced curriculum as well as additional programs and activities. Once accomplished, accreditation would give the school national recognition and facilitate student admission to better universities as well as provide additional opportunities for them to receive scholarships.37 Hence, in addition to carrying-out the construction of the gymnasium for the following academic year (1995-1996), Belen
Jesuit revamped its curriculum, instituted a new code of discipline and established a dress uniform, which like the original uniform used at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, also included a jacket.38
Construction for the gymnasium/theater continued until the 19951996 academic year, during which Belen Jesuit inaugurated its new 24,000 square foot facility. The gymnasium held two full-length basketball and volleyball courts, athletic department offices, a weight room, three locker rooms, a wrestling room, a training room, and a spacious lobby to display the school’s athletic accomplishments. The gymnasium also provided a venue for school-wide Masses and other large events. To inaugurate the facility, Archdiocese of Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora celebrated Mass in the new gymnasium on November 28th, 1995, met with the graduating class of 1996, and attended a luncheon for guests in the school cafeteria. Also on this historic day, Archbishop Favalora accepted the Honorary Chairman position on the Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors.39
The following academic year (1996-1997), Fr. Marcelino García, SJ held a ground-breaking ceremony for a new Vincam Wing, an expansion to Belen Jesuit’s Main Building that would provide the school with a larger cafeteria, eight new classrooms, and a guest dining room. The Vincam Wing came about as a result of the support of several donors including Belen Jesuit alumnus Carlos Saladrigas (‘67) and José Sánchez, co-founders of the Vincam Group, Inc. Since Mr. Saladrigas and Mr. Sánchez had chosen the name Vincam40 as the name for the company they had founded, Fr. García decided that it was only fitting that the new wing should bear the Latin name that had also been used as the name of the school’s student newspaper.41 That year, the school launched a new food service at the cafeteria,
which was based on an open dining room experience. Moreover, the Belen Jesuit auditorium and the main office also went through some much needed renovation. The campus improvements, the revamped curriculum, and the school assessment resulted in Belen Jesuit’s accreditation which was granted by SACS on December 31st, 1996.42
In May of 1997, the school suffered the loss of former principal and disciplinarian Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ, who passed away. A respected teacher, administrator and priest, Fr. Izquierdo had been admired and loved by all who knew him. During the commencement address for the class of 1997, Belen Jesuit alumnus Carlos Saladrigas (‘67) stated:
“We sadly note Fr. Izquierdo’s absence from today’s ceremony. I know how much he would have liked to have been here. We loved him greatly and he will be missed. There are some saintly individuals who receive much notice and notoriety. There are others who walk through life quietly and barely noticed. He was one of those. I am sure he is today sending you a very special blessing from his eternal abode.”43
In accordance with the tradition to establish scholarship funds in the memory of Jesuits who had served at the school, Belen Jesuit held the first annual Father Izquierdo Memorial Golf Tournament in October of 1997. The proceeds would help fund scholarships for students. The golf tournament turn-out was extraordinary, as those who participated reunited with old friends, raised funds for scholarships, and remembered the great and compassionate man they admired. The event has been held annually ever since.44
Belen Jesuit President/ Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ celebrated a Memorial Mass for Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49) at the Belen Jesuit Gymnasium on November 18th, 1997. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
In 1997, the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami began holding the Father Izquierdo Memorial Golf Tournament, and by 2006, over 350 golfers were attending the yearly event. Photograph from Alumni Magazine, Spring, 2006.
Belen Jesuit inaugurated the Vincam Wing on June 11th, 1998 thanks to the generosity of Carlos Saladrigas (‘67) and José Sánchez. Photograph from Echoes, 1999.
Belen Jesuit President/ Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta at the naming of the Belen Jesuit Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center, April 22nd, 1998. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Toward the end of 1997, Colegio de Belén alumnus and benefactor, Coca Cola Company CEO Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49), passed away. The school administration was saddened by the loss of a beloved alumnus, who had supported the campaign for building the school’s athletic center/gymnasium. Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ held a Memorial Mass at the gymnasium for Mr. Goizueta on November 18th, 1997, the day that would have been his sixty-sixth birthday. Mr. Goizueta’s widow, Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta, his son Roberto S. Goizueta, his daughter, Olga M. Goizueta Rawls, her husband Thompson Rawls, and his grandchildren Tom Rawls, Amelia Olga Rawls, and Cristina María Goizueta as well as representatives from the Goizueta Foundation, William R. Newton and María Elena Retter, attended the Memorial Mass.
In his homily, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ remembered Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49) as a man of honor and excellence who exhibited these qualities when he was chosen as school Brigadier at the Colegio de Belén in Havana. Fr. García also singled him out as a role model to Belen Jesuit students citing that as an immigrant, in a world foreign of his native roots, Roberto had attained great success because his hard work had been accompanied by conduct that was based on Christian values. Fr. García stated:
“Opportunity like freedom is only born out of ideals, it is nurtured by actions. Without action, opportunity and freedom soon shrivel and fade off into a slow death. Roberto seized the opportunity to leave Cuba, his homeland, with his wife and children and little else. He struggled, he overcame, he succeeded, he continued to meet new challenges and climb new heights. He raised a good family, all the while remaining faithful and dedicated to his beloved wife Olguita and to his three children. He proved to the world that
you can have the greatest success, the greatest triumphs, and at the same time, you can nurture a Christian home. In the midst of a world utterly confused with countervalues, the simple Christian values of Roberto proved their worth.”45
Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49) supported the school through both the Coca-Cola and Goizueta Foundations. As a tribute to his memory, on April 22nd, 1998, Belen Jesuit named its gymnasium the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center. The ceremony included presentations from school officials and his widow, Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta, who unveiled the gymnasium’s building sign. Mrs. Goizueta spoke of her appreciation for the school’s tribute to her late husband. Following the death of Roberto Goizueta, Mrs. Goizueta stepped into the role of Trustee and Executive Committee Chairman of the Goizueta Foundation with a desire to expand her husband’s legacy and commitment to continue to support educational programs that promote sustainable change and long-term positive impact on communities. Thus, the Goizueta Foundation established a partnership with Belen Jesuit to establish an endowment whose proceeds support the school’s efforts to provide scholarships. Since 2000, the Goizueta Scholars Program has given many students whose grades warrant high praise, the opportunity to attend Belen Jesuit despite their financial circumstances. In addition to the scholarship program, the Goizueta Foundation also supported the Belen Technology Teach-
ing Program, which focuses on fostering professional development in teaching with the aid of technology and has, since its inception, facilitated student-centered teaching and assessment at Belen Jesuit.
Shortly after the naming ceremony for the gymnasium, on June 11th, 1998, the school inaugurated the Vincam Wing with an official blessing ceremony by Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop Gilberto Fernández (1935-2011). The new wing designed by the West Miami-Dade campus Architect Adolfo Albaisa came just in time to accommodate the 1,020 students that enrolled the following academic year (1998-1999). After the Vincam Wing’s inauguration, and acceding to the recommendations made by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), Fr. García focused his attention on the building of a Science Pavilion and a Center for the Study of the Arts. In addition, he also planned the construction of a Jesuit residence on the west-south side of the campus which would house the Jesuits serving and teaching at Belen Jesuit.
On February 10th, 2000, the Belen Jesuit community was once again honored with the visit of Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, who participated in the ground-breaking ceremony for the Villa Javier Jesuit Residence, designed by school Architect Adolfo Albaisa. Father General Kolvenbach met with Jesuits, alumni, parents, and students during a school-wide assembly. Several Belen Jesuit alumni and school faculty and staff attended both the assembly and the groundbreaking, including Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop Fr. Agustín Román who participated in the ceremony. At the school-wide assembly, Father General Kolvenbach addressed the school community with much praise:
“Belen is a Catholic school, under the direction of the Society of Jesus. This means that its objectives are framed within the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the mandates of the Catholic Church, as St. Ignatius of Loyola himself directed. Without this dimension, the most excellent of educations would be incomplete. The environment that surrounds you is not always conducive to Christian spiritual development in your lives; however, without any sectarianism and always respecting other faiths and each individual’s freedom of thought, this school professes its Christian and Catholic character… Our ideal is that each and every one of you can, through prayer and your own personal experience with God, manifest your faith in Jesus Christ through your participation in Mass and in works of love and justice in your community… And I am pleased that the school, as well as the other associations linked to the Society of Jesus whose members are here today, have put Christ as the center of all their projects.”46
The Christ-centered projects at Belen Jesuit continued, as did the construction of the Science Pavilion and the Jesuit residence. The third millennium had arrived, and Belen Jesuit was well on its way to celebrating 150 years of history. For Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, the work continued as the school began to prepare for its celebrations, accolades, and much recognition brought about by the work of the Jesuits, faculty, and staff as well as the support provided by the school’s families, its alumni, and the hard work of its students.
Fr. Marcelino García, SJ at the groundbreaking of the Science Pavilion with Bishop Fr. Bryan O. Walsh, Science Department Chair Pedro Hernández, and Assistant Principal for Studies Leopoldo Núñez, 1999. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
General Peter
blessed the first stone for the Villa Javier Jesuit Residence at the Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade on February 10th, 2000. Members of the Jesuit community in the background included Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez (‘63), and Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59) Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Father
Hans Kolvenbach, SJ
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) includes the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater and the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
150th Anniversary, Accolades and Recognition
Construction for both the Science Pavilion and the Villa Javier Jesuit Residence continued between 2000 and 2002. By the time that both were completed, it was clear that the expansion of the facilities that had taken place at the school since its arrival at the campus in West Miami-Dade complemented the school’s goal of providing excellence in education. In addition to the new Science Pavilion and the Villa Javier Jesuit Residence, named in memory of St. Francis Xavier (15061552) -one of the original Jesuit missionaries who joined St. Ignatius of Loyola to form the Society of Jesus- the West Miami-Dade campus expansion also included various state-of-the-art athletics facilities such as a football/track stadium, a new baseball complex, new tennis courts, and new outdoor basketball courts.47 The expansions would not have been possible without the generosity of several donors who had offered unwavering support for Belen Jesuit. As the school began to plan for the events that were to take place the following academic year (2003-2004) as part of the 150th anniversary (1854-2004) of the founding of the Colegio de Belén in Havana, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and the Belen Jesuit administration were determined to recognize, some of the generous donors during the celebratory year.
Hence, during a ceremony held on August 26th, 2003, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ named the new Science Pavilion after donors Raúl Rodríguez and Nidia Rodríguez, the parents of Belen Jesuit alumnus Raúl Rodríguez (‘97). The Science Pavilion dedication was an effort by Fr. García to recognize how the Rodríguez’s and their Rayni Foundation had generously provided support of all of the school’s endeavors throughout the years. Two weeks later, on September 4th, 2003, the school also dedicated and named its Main Building Auditorium in memory of its alumnus
Guillermo F. Kohly (1895), who had established a trust during his lifetime that had also generously contributed to the school over the years. A large dedication ceremony also took place for the muchanticipated Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA), where Archdiocese of Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora performed the official dedication and blessing. The ICA included the 675-seat, state-of-theart Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery, a stagecraft workshop, an Art Studio, an Orchestra Rehearsal Hall with five individual practice rooms, and the four classrooms that would be used to teach Art History, Drama, Music, and Philosophy. Shortly after the ICA dedication, on October 17th, 2003, the school also dedicated the football/track/soccer stadium to the De la Cruz Family, which includes Colegio de Belén alumnus Carlos de la Cruz (‘60) and Belen Jesuit alumnus Carlos de la Cruz Jr. (‘81). The De la Cruz family had both personally and through Eagle Brands, Inc. faithfully supported the construction and development of the new fields/stadium. On October 20th, 2003, Belen Jesuit also dedicated a bust of José M. Bosch to be placed under the main building staircase near the main entrance to the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library. José M. Bosch had been a relentless supporter of Belen Jesuit since its reestablishment in South Florida, as the major contributor to the Brick Campaign (1964) which allowed for the first expansion of the Little Havana campus. He had also donated the first ten acres of land for the construction of the West Miami-Dade campus. His son, Jorge Bosch, had also been instrumental in the Intercultural Center Campaign that raised the funds needed for the campus’s construction, and since its inception on November 4th, 1975, had also served as the Chairman of the Belen Jesuit Board of Advisors.48
In addition to the dedication of several campus buildings and facilities and the inauguration of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) in October of 2003, the 150th anniversary year (2003-2004) also included several celebratory events such as a Florida Chamber Orchestra Gala Concert on October 11th, 2003, the Death of Salesman play, and the Spatial Identity Art Exhibit at the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery. During the spring semester, the school also held a concert by Venezuelan-Argentine singer and songwriter Ricardo Montaner on February 12th, 2004 and the anniversary-
themed Tómbola Festival. Moreover, on March 2nd, 2004, the school opened its doors at six o’clock in the morning and held a reenactment of the Colegio de Belén opening day at its Compostela Campus, followed by a ceremony in the school’s chapel. At half past nine in the morning, the Diocese of Tyler, Texas Bishop Álvaro Corrada del Río, SJ celebrated Mass for the entire Belen Jesuit community. Two days later, on March 4th, the school held its yearly Roberto C. Goizueta Symposium. Lastly, an unprecedented event, the Torch Relay, a reenactment of the relay held on December 20th, 1925 from the Colegio de Belén Compostela Campus to what was then the school’s new educational complex in Marianao was held on March 6th. The Torch Relay began at seven o’clock in the morning at the Bayside Mall in downtown Miami, with an invocation from Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54). From there, Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools in Cuba and Miami ran the first leg to Gesù Catholic Church, the first home of Belen Jesuit in South Florida. After a ceremony conducted by Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) at the church, the relay continued until reaching the old Little Havana campus, where Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) and City of Miami Mayor Manuel Díaz (‘73) delivered remarks to those present. The Torch Relay then continued to 122nd Avenue and Eighth Street, where all remaining participants would join the run to the West Miami-Dade campus, and where Fr. Marcelino García, SJ made a speech and thanked the school’s faithful alumni for all their support. Events continued throughout the year to include two additional theatrical performances at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater: A Flea in Her Ear (March 25th-27th) and Fuenteovejuna (May 14th-22nd) as well as the American Dream Exhibit in the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery.49
The role of the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami during the planning stages of the 150th anniversary celebration was also discussed between alumni and Jesuits. The school, through the work of Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40) had vital links to its alumni who contributed regularly to school events and activities and many of whose children attended Belen Jesuit. The diligent work of Fr. Dorta-Duque had been recognized at an honorary banquet that took place on November 3rd, 2002 at the Radisson Hotel Mart Plaza, where hundreds of alumni and the Belen Jesuit community came together to celebrate Fr. DortaDuque’s eightieth birthday as well as the sixtieth anniversary of his entering into the Society of Jesus. 50 The event included a Mass celebrated at the Hotel, and soon plans were devised to embrace the
Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora addressed those attending the blessing of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) on October 2nd, 2003. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Jesuit Antilles Provincial, Jesús Zaglul, SJ with school benefactors Juan J. Roca, Ophelia Roca, Carlos Saladrigas (‘67), Olga M. Saladrigas, Nidia Rodríguez, Raúl Rodríguez, and Miguel Kohly at Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora’s blessing of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) on October 2nd, 2003. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Gilda Sacasas, Bellennium,1999, oil on canvas. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
alumni role and contribution in the 150th anniversary celebration. It was then decided that the celebration would include another unprecedented alumni event: the first Cuba and Miami Jesuit Alumni Congress. The congress took place May 28th-29th, 2004 at the West Miami-Dade campus. Attended by 535 Belen alumni and over two dozen Antilles Province Jesuits including Auxiliary Bishop of Santo Domingo Fr. Francisco José Arnáiz Zarandona, SJ and Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, the congress proved to be a significant event for the development of the alumni association. At the gathering, Father General Kolvenbach stated:
“I am honored to be a participant in a singular event: the celebration of 150 years of a school which, after 107 years of existence, was transplanted from one country to another and which in its new soil sprung anew. I would even dare to say that Belen is a reflection of the Cuban-American experience in the United States of America. It reflects very well its sufferings and struggles, its identity and change, its rebirth, and its limitless future. For this reason, I believe that this assembly of former students of Belen and of other Jesuit schools in Cuba is a propitious moment to expound upon the latest motivations which inspire the Society of Jesus in its work.”51
One significant activity of the event was the discussion of several topics by the alumni. A questionnaire guided the conversations which focused on the ways that professionals working in the fields of law, justice, economics, education, and others should also serve as leaders in building the Kingdom of God according to the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola. During the discussions, Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ urged Jesuit alumni to work for the greater glory of God because of the desperate societal need of men and women of competence and conscience who generously give of themselves for others. The discussions resulted in alumni developing a series of action projects. The first set of projects called for the reorganization of the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami, including creating a Board of Advisors which would include ten members from the Colegio de Belén in Havana, ten from Belen Jesuit in South Florida, five members from the other Jesuit schools that existed in Cuba, and seven Jesuits. The second set of projects had to do with the establishment of a Political and Social Formation Institute. A third set of projects addressed service to others within the communities where alumni live and serve. The alumni questionnaires collected during the congress revealed that most agreed with the Father General’s suggestions from the XXXIV General Congregation of Jesuits. The Congress closed with words from Fr. Vincent Duminuco, SJ (1934-2008), at the time Father General Kolvenbach’s representative to the World Alumni Association.
In the years that followed the reorganization of the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami, alumni made great contributions to the establishment of scholarships at Belen Jesuit. Whereas memorial scholarships had already been established in the name of Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ, Fr.
Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), and Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ, the class of 1985 created a scholarship named after beloved rector and spiritual counselor Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) for the profound effect he had on their lives while they were students at Belen. In a statement of collective sentiment, the class of 1985 stated:
“His wisdom provided a calming, yet objective perspective. His kindness was unsurpassed, and above all, his wit and sense of humor were all encompassing. He is worthy of a scholarship in his name and much more.”52
The scholarships that were created were as varied as the names they honored. The class of 1960 established the Cadetes de la Reina Scholarship, named after the sobriquet given to their class by Colegio de Belén Rector, Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ. The scholarship is awarded to
those with potential to achieve good academic standing, who also show a spirit of service to others, and who are also deemed likely to continue to be of service to the community at large. The class of 1961 created the Luis López de Mendoza (‘61) Scholarship. The class of 1987 created the Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) Scholarship, named after their classmate and Belen Jesuit Principal (2009-2012). During the 2006-2007 academic year, Belen Jesuit partnered with Ocean Bank to create the Agape Scholarships. The program aimed to promote cultural diversity at the school by offering scholarships that covered tuition, books, and other educational expenses to African American students. The school also created a scholarship committee chaired by Ocean Bank Board of Directors member Antonio Cabrera, charged with ensuring the success of the scholarship recipients. City of Miami Mayor and Belen Jesuit alumnus Manuel Díaz (‘73) praised the level of community involvement:
“Too many times companies feel that they can contribute by writing a check, but it’s about a check and participation.”53
The celebration of the 150th anniversary helped to bring the work of the Jesuits as well as the school’s administration, faculty, staff, families, and alumni to the forefront of the community. Within the next
Belen Jesuit President/ Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ carries the torch during the last leg of the torch relay and marathon from Bayside Mall to the campus in West Miami-Dade on March 6th, 2004. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ speaks at the first Belen Alumni Congress of Schools from Cuba and Miami, held at the school’s campus in WestMiami Dade, May 2829th, 2004. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
two years, accolades were pouring in through academic and athletic competitions, and college acceptances to high caliber institutions continued on a steady rise. During the 2005-2006 academic year, the Catholic High School Honor Roll, an organization that acknowledges Catholic schools that maintain high academic standards, uphold their Catholic identities, and prepare their students to actively engage the world, named Belen Jesuit one of the top fifty high schools in the United States. The Honor Roll measures schools in the areas of academic excellence, Catholic identity, and civic education. Recognized in all three categories, Belen Jesuit has continued to make the high honor every year since. Belen Jesuit has also been the only Catholic High School in the State of Florida to be considered “Highly Selective” in its admissions policy.54
During the 2006-2007 academic year, Belen Jesuit parent Miguel B. Fernández offered to make a donation to the school for the establishment of the Magis Mentoring Program, a special services initiative meant to provide support for Belen Jesuit students that might be experiencing difficulties with either academics and/or self-discipline. The generous donation represented the most substantial of its kind in school history, and the Jesuit community was deeply appreciative of Mr. Fernández’s generosity. As a result, on September 25th, 2007, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ held a special ceremony that included the naming of the school’s original main building in honor of Miguel B. Fernández and his family. Attended by Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos Álvarez, several dignitaries, and members of the Belen Jesuit community, the naming ceremony also included words from Miguel B. Fernández, who explained how the program would offer alternative ways of learning to any Belen Jesuit student who exhibited difficulties with traditional methods. The program would include opportunities to obtain after school tutor-
ing, faculty mentoring, interactions with guest lecturers, and access to a customized summer program. Miguel B. Fernández, a graduate of the Jesuit Xavier High School in New York City, was accompanied at the event by his children, George Fernández, Alexander M. Fernández (‘00), Michael Fernández (‘13), and Michelle Fernández. At the ceremony, he explained the reasons behind the donation to the 250 guests that attended the event:
“I want to assist kids who learn in non-traditional ways such as seeing demonstrations, listening to special programming and, to a great degree, by following role models. As one of those students who needed extra attention, I was fortunate, and I am proud to be able to help make a difference in the lives of others.”55
Since its inception, the Magis Mentoring Program has served to coordinate the efforts of faculty members, parents, mentors, tutors, as well as academic and spiritual counselors to address the needs of those students who experience difficulties at Belen Jesuit. As was expected, this multi-faceted approach has contributed to the success of the program. Not only has the school’s attrition rate decreased, but Magis Mentoring Program participants, who may not have otherwise been able to graduate from Belen Jesuit, have been given the opportunity to achieve that important milestone.56 The Miguel B. Fernández donation was also an important milestone in moving forward with the plans to build a new administration building at the school. The plans for the new facility placed it adjacent to the school’s cafeteria and across the parking lot from the Villa Javier Jesuit Residence. The administration building would house the offices of the president, principal, director of admissions, registrar, director of technology, and the business office as well as the Cosculluela Dining Hall, named after Colegio de Belén alumnus and school benefactor, Eugenio Cosculluela (‘47).
The many advances and accolades enjoyed by the Belen Jesuit community also went hand in hand with it having to say goodbye to some of its most beloved Jesuits. Over the two following years, the Belen Jesuit community suffered the loss of three of its most beloved Jesuit priests. On February 5th, 2007, Spiritual Counselor Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59) passed away during a visit to Rome. On April 12th, Fr. José R. Tey, SJ, who had served as audio-visual coordinator and faculty advisor to the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) and the Belen Jesuit Observatory, also passed away. The following year, on February 9th, 2008, Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45) passed away at Mercy Hospital in Miami. At a school-wide funeral Mass for Fr. Sardiña, many expressed their sentiments of loss, as Belen Jesuit alumnus Antonio Castro (‘86) stated:
“He was a man of understated strength and an unwavering conviction for what is right, but with a gentle forgiveness of what was wrong. And he had an overriding faith from which he derived his strength. Although our hearts are heavy today, his faith is an example to us, and we are comforted by the assurance that he is at peace. Even in his final days and hours, his thoughts were with the well-being of his students at Belen. To those who came to visit him at Mercy Hospital, I noticed he never said goodbye, only I will see you again.”57
The loss of these Jesuits and additional concern over the health of Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ prompted the Antilles Province to request that Father General Alfonso Nicolás, SJ appoint a new president for Belen Jesuit.
For the 2008-2009 academic year, as he awaited the decision of Jesuit Father General Nicolás, Fr. García began his twenty-sixth
academic year at Belen Jesuit. The school’s growth had been unprecedented. Enrollment had more than doubled, increasing from 739 students in 1983 to 1,507 in 2008. The main building had been enlarged with a Vincam Wing and become the Miguel B. Fernández and Family Main Building. The school had also built the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center, the Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool the tennis courts, the De la Cruz Stadium, the baseball fields, the Raúl and Nidia Rodríguez Science Pavilion, and the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA). In addition to the structural growth, Belen Jesuit had developed academically, athletically, and technologically, acquired accreditation, and been rated as one of the Top Fifty Catholic High Schools in the United States. Hence, in December 2008, Fr. García went on a much needed sabbatical. His love for the school, however, and his gratitude toward those who had contributed so much along the way was evident during his remarks at the Delegation Mass and later at the blessing of the new administration building, when Fr. García stated:
“The success of the school has not been mine; it has been the work of everyone who cared for the school. Thank you for the past twenty-five years and for making me the happiest man in the world.” 58
Antonio Cabrera, José Concepción, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, City of Miami Mayor Manuel Díaz (‘73), Javier Riera (‘91), Valeria Bland Thomas, and Craig Y. Epps at the Agape Scholarships event at Ocean Bank on November 30th, 2006. Photograph from Alumni Magazine, Winter 2007. ). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) and Fr. Marcelino García, SJ at the Presidential Installation Mass for Fr. Suárez in January 2009. Photograph from the Alumni Magazine, Spring 2009.
Michelle Fernández, Alexander M. Fernández (‘00), Michael Fernández (‘13), Miguel B. Fernández, and George Fernández at the dedication ceremony of the Miguel B. Fernández and Family Main Building on September 25th, 2007. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Jesuit Administration Building.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
A new President
In January of 2009, Father General Alfonso Nicolás, SJ appointed Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) to serve as president of Belen Jesuit. By the time of his appointment, Fr. Suárez had already acquired extensive experience during his forty-seven years of service as a Jesuit educator and administrator. His experience included extensive studies at Fordham University, at the University of Miami, and at Loyola University in Chicago. He had also received a doctorate degree in mathematics from Northwestern University. His long history of service included teaching at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (1977-1985) and at the Instituto Politécnico Loyola (1979-1982). In Miami, he taught at Barry University (1987-2008), where he served as chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science for eleven years. Fr. Suárez had also served as socius to the provincial of the Antilles Province (1977-1979; 19831986), as rector of the House of Studies in the Dominican Republic (1979-1981), and as superior to the Miami Jesuits (1991-1997). About Fr. Suárez’s appointment, Father General Nicolás stated:
“Marcelino [Fr. Marcelino García, SJ] has been a great light for this school, and Fr. Suárez will be a new light.”59
True to this description, President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) began his tenure by reworking the school’s administrative structure. First, he appointed Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) to serve as principal, and Fr. Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ to serve as vice president for development and alumni relations. While José Roca (‘84) served as assistant principal for the high school and Beatriz Jiménez as assistant principal for the middle school, Fr. Suárez reinstated the position of dean of students, and appointed Thomas de Quesada (‘94) to serve in that capacity. Carol Ann Vila remained as director of technology, Brian Wentzel became director of admissions and personnel, and Carolina Calderín became the school’s chief administrative officer.
President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) and Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) continued school improvements. During the summer of 2009, Fr. Suárez approved the renovation of the second floor of the school’s Miguel B. Fernández and Family Main Building, which made use of the space occupied by the Guillermo F. Kohly Auditorium to create facilities for the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center, the College Counseling offices, and the Carlos M. Barañano Technology Center.
Named after Colegio de Belén alumnus Carlos M. Barañano (‘52), the Carlos M. Barañano Technology Center was designed by Director of Technology Carol Ann Vila to house the school’s campus-wide network that links all of the school’s buildings, offices, and classrooms. The design included a secure server room, open office space for the technology team, a work area for faculty and staff, a conference room, a set-up, staging, and maintenance area, and a technology library/ reading room. The center also houses a desktop publishing center, a web page design lab, a middle school resource center and a computer science lab. In addition, each classroom and computer lab within the center has a Smart Board® and a ceiling-mounted projector.
To create the design for the 3,000-square foot Communication Arts and Multimedia Center, faculty members Sujayla Collins and Johnny Calderín (‘92) conducted visits to several schools with similar facilities and worked with an architect. The area includes a multimedia studio, the Raúl and Nidia Rodríguez Control Room, two sound and two editing rooms, the Echoes newsroom, and several classrooms. Completed for the 2010-2011 academic year, the center serves as the school’s communication hub where faculty members and students filter all news and announcements from the administration, faculty, staff, and ath-
letics department to produce all print and online media publications, including the Vincam newspaper/magazine, the Echoes yearbook, the Alumni Magazine, and the Ateneo literary magazine. In addition, on the center’s own close circuit television station, WBLN, students produce and broadcast a daily news program to each classroom’s Smart Board®during homeroom time that features international, national, and local news, sports, and weather. About the establishment of the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center at the school, Belen Jesuit Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) stated:
“It is our mission at Belen to teach our students to communicate. We recognize that some students may struggle with writing and find their stronger voices in images, video, and audio. This new center will help motivate students by tapping into their different strengths and allow them to tell a story more richly and to communicate more effectively.”60
In addition to the improvements to the school, on May 20th, 2009, President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) formed a committee that included alumni Alejandro Maderal (‘62), Jorge A. Fernández Ceballos (‘61), Jorge Hernández-Toraño (‘75), Byron Miguel Fernández (‘55), Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), Antonio Abella (‘59), Jorge L. Barinaga (‘60), Mario Martínez-Malo (‘55), and Julio Pastoriza (‘65) which established the Belen Jesuit Wall of Martyrs. This wall serves to honor alumni from the Jesuit schools in Cuba and Miami who gave their lives for the protection of the life or health of others, and for all that encompasses the cause of human rights, including the fight against any tyranny or social injustice. Once a year, on the second floor of the school’s administration building, the committee hosts a ceremony to induct new martyrs into the wall, dur-
ing which their photographs are unveiled, and information about them is shared with those present. Since many of the martyrs honored perished as a result of their efforts to bring about a free, independent, and democratic Cuba, the ceremony is held either on or about May 20th, to also commemorate the establishment of the Cuban Republic in 1902.
Since 2009, thirty-five alumni from the Jesuit schools in Cuba and Miami have been inducted into the Wall of Martyrs including Serafín Sánchez Valdivia (Sancti Spíritus 1858), Ricardo Pocurull y Oña (1869), Carlos Augusto de la Torre y Madrigal (1870), Eladio González y Toledo (1870), Carlos Soler López (1874), Joaquín Lastres (1880), Ismael Cejas y Castro Palomino (1886), Eduardo Rosell y Malpica (1888), Gabriel Forcade Jorrin (1889), Ignacio Suárez Carreño (‘36), José Antonio Muiño Gómez (Sagua ‘36), Raúl Vianello y Alacán (‘45), José Luis Carballo (‘48), Jorge Fundora Fernández (‘48), Daniel Fernández Mon (‘50), Sergio Israel Echeverría Acebo (‘50), Rogelio González Corzo (‘51), Alfredo José Cervantes Lago (‘51), José A. Macau Cossío (‘54), Calixto Bergnes Brauet (‘54), Antonino Díaz Pou (‘54), Jorge Jones Castro (‘54), Carlos Rodríguez Santana (Electromecánica ‘54), Javier Calvo Formoso (‘55), Pedro Hoyos DuBouchet (‘55), Miguel Díaz Infante (Dolores ‘56), José Ignacio Martí Santacruz (Dolores ‘56), Julián Martínez Inclán (‘57), Julio Caballero González (‘57), Virgilio Campanería Ángel (‘57), Ramón Cubeñas Conde (‘58), Néstor Izquierdo Díaz (Electromecánica ‘59), Eugenio Batista Gastón, SJ (‘60), Roberto Anta Fernández (‘61), and Sergeant Manuel E. Mesa, Jr. (‘63). In addition, the Wall of Martyrs has also served to honor the fifty-four Jesuits and three Colegio de Belén employees who volunteered to participate in the yellow fever experiments that Carlos J. Finlay conducted at the school’s Quinta de la Asunción during the late nineteenth century.
Belen Jesuit President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) and school benefactor
Nidia Rodríguez cut the red ribbon to inaugurate the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center including the C201 Raúl and Nidia Rodríguez Control Room. Photograph from the Alumni Magazine, Winter 2010.
The
During the 2010-2011 academic year, preparations began at Belen Jesuit to celebrate the school’s Golden Jubilee, the fiftieth anniversary of the reestablishment of the school in South Florida. The Golden Jubilee year included many special events that began with a Golden Jubilee Mass on September 19th, 2011. To begin the celebration, nearly 300 students, faculty, staff, family members, and alumni gathered at the front gates of the school. Members of the class of 1962 and the current senior class were active participants in the celebration. Belen Jesuit President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) addressed those present, recalling the arrival of the Jesuits in South Florida and their first year at the Centro Hispano Católico at the Gesù School building in downtown Miami. At six o’clock in the morning, the Jesuit priests then opened the gates, and the Mass began in the newly renovated Garrido Family Plaza. Although the Mass had to be moved indoors to the cafeteria be-
cause of rain, the words of Fr. Suárez and the Belen Jesuit alumni who spoke at the event all had the same message: The Jesuits who arrived from Cuba in 1961 were truly heroes of faith whose determination in the face of loss and challenges allowed the school not only to survive, but to actually begin to thrive in its new environment.
On September 20th, students, faculty, staff, and alumni were surprised with a special assembly where legendary NBA basketball player and Coach Pat Riley addressed the student body. Coach Riley spoke about his personal experiences and how his family and faith nurtured and inspired him. He also gave a motivational presentation about leadership and giving back to the community.61 On October 7th, the school unveiled the Ecos de un Belén lejano painting by CubanAmerican artist Humberto Calzada, which had been commissioned
by Colegio de Belén alumnus Fernando García-Chacón (‘52) for the Golden Jubilee celebration. The mural depicted a reminiscent view of the Colegio de Belén in Havana and was placed in the lobby area of the administration building. The unveiling included the opening ceremonies of the Golden Jubilee year, during which the school presented awards to its faithful supporters and benefactors. The evening also included the grand opening of Mr. Calzada’s Selected Works Exhibit (1992-2010) at the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery. The following evening, the school launched the Inaugural Season of the Belen Jesuit Cultural Series, with a concert at the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater, featuring Cuban singer Lucrecia and the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band. During the Golden Jubilee year, the cultural series included another concert on March 1st, 2012, featuring Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, a performance by Flamenco Puro from Seville, Spain (March 3rd), and a presentation of the Celia the Queen documentary with another concert featuring Lucrecia and the Celia Cruz All-Star Band (April 28th).
In addition to these activities, Belen Jesuit carried out a complete renovation of the school’s Garrido Family central patio in preparation for the Golden Jubilee celebration. The central patio’s renovation took place thanks to the generous support of the school’s graduating class of 2011 and the Garrido Family, whose members included Colegio de Belén alumnus José A. Garrido (‘46), as well as Belen Jesuit alumni José A. Garrido, Jr. (‘72) and José Garrido (‘99). Although the courtyard had been dedicated in the past to the Garrido family, who throughout the years had been faithful supporters of the school and all its endeavors, it was rededicated on October 14th, 2011, as the Garrido Family Plaza. On that day, Archdiocese of Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski celebrated a special Mass to bless the newly renovated plaza at Belen Jesuit. About the Garrido family, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) stated:
“The Garridos have been very supportive of many of Belen Jesuit’s activities and projects. Their connection to the school now spans three generations. We have always been fortunate to count on their friendship and generosity.”64
The Golden Jubilee celebrations included the Belen Jesuit Gala at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa on November 5th, 2011, where 1,200 guests shared an evening of wonderful music that included the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band, the school’s Belen Jesuit Drum Line, and a special performance by Cuban-American singer and Latin Grammy Award winner Willy Chirino. For thirty years, the galas have been one of the school’s most successful events, and its first, in 1981, had also featured Chirino’s performance. Proceeds from the galas have also consistently contributed to the school's ability to award $1.9M yearly in scholarships to 25 percent of its students.65
“Do not forget the poor and give with a spirit of gratuity!”
Alfonso Nicolás, SJ was born in Villamuriel de Cerrato, Palencia, Spain on April 29th, 1936 and entered the Society of Jesus at Aranjuez in 1953. He studied at the Universidad de Alcalá in the outskirts of Madrid, where he received a degree in philosophy, and then relocated to Japan in 1960. In Tokyo, he studied Japanese and entered Jōchi Daigaku, the Jesuit Sophia University founded in that city in 1913. At Jōchi Daigaku, he studed theology and was ordained as a priest on March 17th, 1967. After his ordination, he went to Rome, where he studied Dogmatic Theology at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana (1968-1971) and earned a doctorate degree in theology. He then returned to Japan once again and taught theology at Jōchi Daigaku for the next three decades. During these years, he was also appointed to serve in the Philippines as the director of the East Asian Pastoral Institute (1978–1984). He also served in South Korea, helping the Jesuits in that country transition from American to indigenous leadership. He also served as rector of the Jesuit Novitiate in Tokyo (1991-1993), provincial of the Jesuits in Japan (1993-1999), and as moderator of the Jesuit Conference for Eastern Asia and Oceania (2004-2007). At the XXXV General Congregation of Jesuits in January of 2008, the 217 Jesuit delegates gathered and elected him as the thirtieth superior general of the Society of Jesus. Pope Benedict XVI gave his consent on January 19th. The day after, during his homily at the Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina in Rome, Father General Nicolás asked his fellow Jesuits not to forget the poor. He stated: “Yesterday, after the election, after the first shock, there came the moment of fraternal aid. All of you have greeted me very affectionately, offering your support and help. One of you whispered to me: ‘Do not forget the poor!’ Perhaps this is the most important greeting of all, just as Paul turns to the wealthier churches of his time requesting aid for the poor of Jerusalem. Don’t forget the poor: These are our ‘nations.’ These are the nations for whom salvation is still a dream, a wish. Perhaps it may be in their midst, but they don’t realize it.”62 Like his predecessors, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ and Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, he has spoken about the responsibilities that come along with a Jesuit education: “Jesuit education is not a guarantee of privilege, but a term which cannot be used truthfully unless it refers always and everywhere to persons of service, men and women ready to give of themselves in a spirit of gratuity.”63
The Golden Jubilee celebrations culminated on Alumni Day, organized by the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami on May 5th, 2012. The day began with an alumni torch relay that set out from the parking lot next to Gesù Catholic Church, the site where the Centro Hispano Católico Gesù School building once stood, and where the original reestablishment of the school took place in South Florida during the 1961-1962 academic year. Organized by classes, a set of runners from each of the fifty Belen Jesuit classes set
The Carlos M. Barañano Technology Center, named after Colegio de Belén alumnus Carlos M. Barañano (‘52). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Jesuit Father General Alfonso Nicolás, SJ
out on the relay course that extended over fourteen miles. Each class handed the torch to the next, as they first reached the site where the campus in Little Havana had once resided. Alumni then proceeded to run up Eighth Street from 7th-127th Avenue, in order to reach the site of today’s West Miami-Dade campus. Following the relay, field day activities took place which included a family-style barbecue lunch. A time capsule, designed by Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), was then buried on campus containing some of the school’s memorabilia. The day ended with a Mass celebrated for participants at the Garrido Family Plaza.
The Golden Jubilee celebration of Belen Jesuit’s fiftieth anniversary in South Florida received a favorable commendation from Father General Alfonso Nicolás, SJ, whose words encompassed the gist of the school’s historic accomplishments. In a congratulatory letter to the school, Father General Nicolás stated:
“As Belen Jesuit celebrates its Golden Jubilee, I wish to send my sincere congratulations to all who study and work at your
school. Ever since Belen opened its doors in Miami, at the invitation of Bishop Coleman F. Carroll, its history has been filled with great challenges and difficulties, but also with great moments of triumph. Throughout these years, Belen has tried to work incessantly to the greater glory of God, and proof of its success is the host of alumni who have excelled as upright citizens in their professions in the areas of business, medicine, law, science, the arts, the priesthood, and every possible walk of life. I pray that the students, family, and staff at Belen, as well as its friends and benefactors, may receive the abundance of God’s blessing as you rejoice for fifty years of service to the Church and the world, and prepare yourselves for the challenges of the next fifty years.”66
For the 2012-2013 academic year, Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) went to serve as the director of the Instituto Tecnológico San Ignacio de Loyola in the Dominican Republic, and Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) served in the roles of both president and principal at Belen Jesuit. That year, the school inagurated the new artificial turf Sánchez Field and Hernández Family Field, and experienced the implementation of the Apple iPad Program. The new iPads not only eliminated the need for students to carry huge backpacks filled with books, binders, and notebooks, but also allowed faculty, staff and students to experience new ways of integrating mobile learning into the curriculum. On March 13th, 2013, the College of Cardinals elected the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, as the Catholic Church’s Supreme Pontiff, and he took the name of Francis. Fr. Suárez watched Pope Francis’s installation in a classroom surrounded by students and faculty members. Local news crews soon arrived at the school to interview the Jesuits about the election of the first Jesuit, Latin American Pope in history. To celebrate Pope Francis’s installation, Fr. Suárez declared March 18th a holiday for all Belen Jesuit students and employees, and celebrated a school-wide Mass on March 19th, where he stated:
“Francis carries the reputation of being an austere man, but at the same time of a caring, courageous man, who is close to the people, and devoted to the Virgin Mary. His habit of riding the Metro and the buses in his native Buenos Aires, as a common citizen, is proverbial. He has been a staunch defender of priests who labor among the poor and has shown a strong defense of Christian marriage and Catholic values. The humility shown when he bowed to the crowd gathered at St. Peter’s Square on the night of his election, asking the people to give him their blessing before he gave the “Urbi et orbi” solemn benediction, may be just a symbol of the humility and willingness to serve that the world may expect of this new Pope. As a Jesuit, I am proud, and I feel confident that he will be a wonderful leader. We pray for our new Pope and for the Catholic Church as a whole.”
For the 2013-2014 academic year, Fr. Suarez appointed María Cristina Reyes-García as principal, Adabel Díaz-Rivera as director of curriculum and instruction, Lucila Espinosa as assistant principal for the high school, and Fr. Jorge L. Rojas, SJ as assistant principal for the middle school. Other appointments included Charles Cleveland as dean of discipline, Luis Dulzaides as dean of activities, and Thomas de Quesada (‘94) as director of development and alumni relations. Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski celebrated that academic year’s first school-wide Mass on September 11th, 2013, after which, he unveiled and blessed a new, seven-foot bronzed statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola located at the school’s main entrance. The statue had been donated by the Zaldívar family, whose son Miguel Zaldívar (‘14) was a student at the school. Also during that year, the administration kicked off the Taste of the Future Campaign, to raise funds for a new dining hall and kitchen. In addition, for the second year in a row, Fr. Jorge L. Rojas, SJ coordinated the construction of a large nativity scene that serves to remind the school’s community that the celebration of Jesus’s birth is the reason for the Christmas season.
During March of 2014, the school community celebrated the 160th anniversary of its inception by engaging in the annual Ignatian Week, dur-
ing which students, faculty, and the Belen Jesuit community gave thanks for the gifts of Ignatian spirituality and of Jesuit education. As the school commemorated the 160 years of its inception, the Jesuit administration’s message to the Belen community expressed its continued commitment to its basic values. Magis: to always do more for its students, families, and community in sharing the Gospel values, learning, and serving. Cura personalis: to care for the entire person. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam: to work as a community for the greater glory of God. The pledge, embodied in its motto of “Men for Others,” called to serve, and its Jesuit commitment, Docetes omnes gentes, to teach all peoples. Those principles will remain at the forefront of the school’s endeavors, and as such, its future will also remain well-grounded in Christ-centered works. Unquestionably, over 160 years of work, the courage of the Jesuits that reestablished the school in South Florida in 1961 cannot be underscored. Their resolve and faith remains as an inspiration for the entire Belen Jesuit community and compels it to continuously strive for academic excellence, spiritual growth, and the dissemination of the Christian faith. As the founder of the Jesuit order, St. Ignatius of Loyola, preached:
“Act as if everything depends on you; trust as if everything depends on God.”67
Archbishop of Miami Thomas Wenski blessed the Garrido Family Plaza on October 14th, 2011. From left ot right: José A. Garrido (‘46), Fr. Ernesto FernándezTravieso, SJ, Zady Cos de Garrido, Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Aurora Powell de Garrido, José A. Garrido, Jr. (‘72), and Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Cuban-American artist
Humberto Calzada, with Belen Jesuit President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) at the October 7th, 2011 unveiling of the artist’s mural, “Ecos de un Belén lejano.” Calzada created the mural for the lobby of the school’s administration building. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Section VII
BELEN JESUIT
Academics, Activities and Service
“Ever since Belen opened its doors in Miami, at the invitation of Bishop Coleman F. Carroll, its history has been filled with great challenges and dif fi culties, but also with great moments of triumph. Throughout these years, Belen has tried to work incessantly to the greater glory of God and proof of its success is the host of alumni who have excelled as upright citizens in their professions in the areas of business, medicine, law, science, the arts, the priesthood and every possible walk of life.”
Father General Alfonso Nicolás, SJ
English
In 1961, when the Jesuits from the Antilles Province arrived to reestablish Belen Jesuit in South Florida, they found themselves facing multiple challenges. Amongst them was Miami Bishop Coleman F. Carroll’s requirement that courses at Belen Jesuit had to be taught in English. The requirement posed a challenge for the Antilles Province Jesuits because while many of them could speak English, teaching it as a second language to native Spanish-speakers, who soon needed to be proficient in the English language was quite another matter. Hence, when the Jesuits requested assistance from the North
American Provinces for reestablishing their school in South Florida, they also made an urgent request for English teachers. Several Jesuit priests from the Province of New York taught English courses at Belen Jesuit during the 1960s, and these included Fr. Edward Dunn, SJ, Fr. Robert H. Coussineau, SJ, Fr. Thomas Robinson, SJ, and Fr. Garret J. Fitzgerald, SJ.
By the late 1960s, the lack of Jesuit personnel available to teach at the school caused Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) to consider hiring
lay faculty members to fill the positions that could not be filled by Jesuits. Several of these lay faculty members taught English, and amongst them was the first woman to ever teach at the Belen Jesuit, Barbara Behnke. Other lay faculty members who taught English at the school during the years that it was located at its campus in Little Havana include: John Gallagher, Howard McCune, María Pérez Paredes, Anne Poulo, Georgina Esquivel García, Valerie Giroux, Sigrid Bango, Charmaine Icaza, and Josefina Chirino. All taught as part of the English Department, and throughout the school’s history in the South Florida, four of them served in the role of English Department Chairperson. These were: Howard McCune (1971-1978), Sigrid Bango (1978-1991), Sylvia Hernández (1991-1997), Anthony Alexander (1997-2012), and María Alonso. The English Department offered courses in English, Grammar, Composition and Prose, Eng-
lish Literature, World Literature, and Journalism. Moreover, starting with the 1970-1971 academic year, the scope of the English courses taught at the school was enhanced by adding two courses in the Humanities. Fr. Alfredo Quevedo, SJ, who had arrived at the school in 1969 to serve as principal, taught Humanities courses as electives to junior and senior high school students, and for many years, English and Humanities functioned as one academic department. In the 1970s, the English/Humanities Department also began to teach Advanced Placement (AP) courses in English.
The first chair of the English/Humanities Department was Howard McCune, who taught both English and classes in the humanities during his years at Belen Jesuit. During the 1971-1972 academic year, Mr. McCune also established chapters of the National Honor Soci-
English Department Chair Howard McCune with the first chapter of the National Beta Club established during the 1971-1972 academic year. Photograph from Echoes, 1972.
English Department Chair
Howard McCune with the first chapters of the National Honor Society (NHS) and the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) established during the 1971-1972 academic year. Photograph from Echoes, 1972.
English Department
Chair Sigrid Bango with faculty member
Michelle Robida working on the Echoes yearbook.
Mrs. Bango served as chair of the department from 1978 to 1991.
Photograph from Echoes, 1982.
English Department
Chair Sylvia Hernández taught students about Voltaire’s satire novella Candide during the 19941995 academic year.
Mrs. Hernández served as chair of the department from 1991 to 1997.
Photograph from Echoes, 1995.
ety (NHS) and National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) at the school. Additionally, he also established a National Junior Beta Club (NJBC) chapter to complement the National Beta Club (NBC) chapter that had been established for high school students during the previous academic year. Mr. McCune served as the chair of the English/Humanities Department (1974-1978) and as advisor to NHS, NJHS, and both Beta clubs until he passed away on July 21st, 1978. His passing left a large void in his department as well as with his students, whose feelings about their teacher were stated in both the 1977 and 1978 Echoes:
“McCune’s staunch conservatism, beliefs in individuality, and freedom add to his unique personality. His influence at Belen is almost immeasurable… so is his good nature. He [Howard McCune] was a source of inspiration for all who had the honor of knowing him. He was about to begin his eighth year as professor and coordinator of the English-Humanities Department at Belen. Because of the knowledge and companionship he offered his students, he leaves behind a difficult void to fill.”2
In 1978, Sigrid Bango took over as chair of the English Department, a position in which she served until 1991. Mrs. Bango and her colleagues shared well-defined goals, which she described in the 1982 Echoes :
“Good literature is an imitation of life. Each time a student reads a work of literature, he makes a discovery of both ethics and aesthetics. Literature encompasses all fields –philosophy, sociology, and psychology. It is a continual process of renewal and discovery, and it provides the student with an opportunity for serious reflection. It also provides a student with reasons for writing. Writing, in turn, gives the student a much needed exercise in communication skills. To enable the student to read more comprehensively, to think more profoundly, to write more coherently, these are the goals of a good English Department. Once these goals are met, the Belen student becomes a more original thinker, a better communicator, and a more solid world citizen.”3
In addition to establishing the honor societies and Beta clubs at Belen Jesuit, the English/Humanities Department faculty also served as faculty advisors to extracurricular activities that underscored
the reading, writing, and communication skills that students were learning in the classroom. These included the Echoes yearbook, the Vincam newspaper, and the Forensics Club. Once the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, the Jesuit administration and English Department Chair Sigrid Bango determined that the production of the Vincam newspaper should be part of the Journalism I course. Subsequently, Vincam fluctuated between a course and an extracurricular activity until 1989, when its status as a Journalism course became permanent. As of the 1983-1984 academic year, production of the Echoes yearbook also became part of a Journalism course. Both Vincam and Echoes would remain under the English Department until 2010, when the new Communication Arts and Multimedia Center was established at Belen Jesuit.
In addition to the department chairs, Sigrid Bango, Sylvia Hernández, Anthony Alexander, and María Alonso, various faculty members have taught as part of the English Department at the school’s campus in West Miami-Dade. These include: Ana María Sánchez Menocal, Teresita Artecona, Roberto de los Santos (‘78), Lourdes Salas, Cristina Casero Ramírez, Stephen Holland, Aimee Busquet, Rafael Ross, Vicky Minchener, Anthony Pérez, Jennifer Iglesias, Sujayla Collins, Mercedes Sendros Iglesias, María Teresa de Aguiar, Carlos Maza, Marisol Sosa, Michelle Jordán, Jennifer Jacomino, Melissa Navarro, Paola Arancibia, María Morera, Kelly Garganta, Chris Reyes, and Johnny Calderín (‘92).
Music Appreciation Society faculty advisor Anthony Alexander plays with Nicholas Álvarez (‘10) and Steven San Miguel (‘09) and David Iglesias (‘09) perform at the Belen Jesuit Tómbola in 2007.
Photographs from Echoes, 2007 and 2008.
English Department Chair Anthony Alexander teaches Hamlet during AP British Literature class (2011-2012). Mr. Alexander served as head of the department from 1997 to 2012. Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
Sylvia Hernández began serving as chair of the English Department for the 1991-1992 academic year, a position in which she remained until 1997. Mrs. Hernández also assisted with the production of the Echoes yearbook for the 1995 edition and served as faculty advisor to Vincam (1989-1994).4 Belen Jesuit faculty member Anthony Alexander also served as the chair of the English Department (1997-2012). During his tenure, an English Honors curriculum was established for every grade as well as two Advanced Placement English courses: English Language and Composition and English Literature and Composition. Moreover, for the seventh grade, the literature and writing components of English were combined to allow for the same faculty member to teach all aspects to all students, which meet five to seven times a week for this purpose. Mr. Alexander also established links with the Social Studies Department to integrate learning across subjects.5 In 2001, he also established the Music Appreciation Society at the school with several students who enjoyed different types of music. Music Appreciation Society members perform at club meetings, during Field Day, and during Tómbola.6 During the 2008-2009 academic year, English faculty member Marisol Sosa established the creative writing Coffee House Club at Belen Jesuit. Participation in the Coffee House Club allows for student creative expression through writing.
At the end of the 2011-2012 academic year, María Alonso began serving as chair of the English Department as students also prepared to integrate the new Apple iPad Program, which henceforth would allow them to access English textbooks and novels from their iPads. Since the 2010-2011 academic year, Mrs. Alonso had been serving as moderator to the Operation Smile student club, an organization founded at Belen Jesuit by Carlos Fernández (‘13), that aimed to raise funds and awareness for Operation Smile, a worldwide charity that performs free cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries for children in need.
To raise funds for Operation Smile, students held a talent show on February 3rd, 2012, where students from Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, Southwest Senior High School, and Ronald Reagan High School also participated.7
Also in 2010, the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center was created with Sujayla Collins serving as the head of the center. The new center offered the following courses: Survey to Mass Media, Film and Television Production, Public Speaking, Broadcast Journalism, Yearbook Production, Newspaper Publishing, and Photography taught by faculty with expertise in the areas of communication such as Mrs. Collins, María Teresa de Aguiar, Johnny Calderín (‘92), Luis Dulzaides, and Leo Williams. To house the new center, the school used the space previously taken up by the Guillermo F. Kohly Auditorium,
whose use had become superfluous after the construction of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) facility. The area was designed with the specifications of faculty members Sujayla Collins and Johnny Calderín (‘92), who visited numerous schools and studios to obtain ideas for the center’s facilities, and then worked with an architect to develop building plans. The space was built over one summer.
Shortly after the establishment of the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center, Sujayla Collins began serving as faculty advisor to the Quill and Scroll National Honor Society that had been established at Belen Jesuit in 2004 by English faculty member and Echoes and Vincam advisor Cristina Casero Ramírez. As part of their activities, Quill and Scroll members tutored middle school students to help them improve their writing skills. They also provided children from the Children’s Home Society with school supplies such as paper, pens, and pencils, as well as carried out a toy drive for the same society during the holiday season.
In addition to offering courses and publishing Vincam, Echoes Ateneo and the Alumni magazine, the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center produces flyers, playbills, bulletins, and performance programs for the Humanities Department, as well as various graphics that are used in all the school branding. Since its inception, the department has served to inspire many students to pursue their interests in the communication arts and multimedia fields that will be available to them atthe college-level once they graduate from Belen Jesuit.
The Quill and Scroll Honor Society from left to right, first row: Fernando Machado (‘09), Benjamin Hubert (‘09), Michael Martínez (‘09), Daniel Iglesias (‘09), Andrés Gómez (‘10), Luis Barreto (‘09), Carlos Cancela (‘09), Max Echarte (‘10) and faculty advisor Sujayla Collins. Second Row: Alexander Jaramillo (‘09), Michael Roura (‘09), Pablo Plasencia (‘09), Patrick Ingelmo (‘09), Daniel Cepero (‘10), Ernest Duffoo (‘10), Rolando Vázquez (‘10), Thomas Eisaman (‘10) and Marcos García (‘09). Top Row: Alexander Fischer (‘10), Andrés Novoa (‘10), Michael Pascual (‘10), Alexander Sotto (‘10), Valentín Arenas (‘10), Gabriel Campo (‘10), Víctor Borbolla (‘09), Marcelo Agudo (‘09), and Steven San Miguel (‘09). Photograph from Echoes, 2009.
Faculty advisor Marisol Sosa with the creative writing Coffee House Club established during the 2008-2009 academic year. Sitting from left to right with Mrs. Sosa are David Fonseca (‘09), Enrique Comas (‘10), Raúl Cubiña (‘11), and Carlos Fernández (‘10). Top Row: Richard Greenberg (‘11), Michael Castillo (‘11), David Barrera (‘09), César Martínez (‘10), and Michael Trobani (‘11). Photograph from Echoes, 2009.
Communication Arts and Multimedia Center faculty
member Johnny Calderín (‘92) and the Broadcast Media Production class. The center was established during the 2009-2010 academic year with Sujayla Collins serving as its first chair. Photograph from Alumni, Summer 2010.
Mario Dávalos (‘65) served as Echoes Editor-in-Chief for three consecutive years (1963, 1964, and 1965).
Photograph from Echoes, 1963.
Echoes taken over by Georgina Esquivel García (1976-1978), and in which Science Department faculty member Chris Migliaccio also served (1978-1981). Echoes editions improved during the 1970s under the leadership of yearbook Editors José A. Garrido, Jr. (‘72), Antolín Cossío (‘73), Luis Hernández (‘74), and Jorge Pereira (‘76). Color pages first appeared in the 1975 edition, when the yearbook was under the leadership of Editor Oscar Rivera (‘75). Gradually, the yearbook also increased the amount of pages published, which reached over 300 by 1979. Yearbook dedications also continued during the 1970s and included Belen Jesuit faculty members Armando Rodríguez (1973) and María Pérez Paredes (1974). The yearbook was also dedicated in 1975 to Jesuits Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ (1976), Fr. Alberto García, SJ (1977), and Fr. Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) in 1981. The 1978 Echoes staff decided to dedicate that year’s yearbook to God. No dedication was made for the 1979 yearbook, but in 1980, the Echoes staff decided that the yearbook should be dedicated to Jesuit Brother Manuel Eireos, SJ who, after main years of faithful service performing maintenance and construction at the campus in Little Havana, had suddenly passed away in 1980.9
The production of a yearbook at Belen Jesuit began the first year that the school was reestablished at the Centro Hispano Católico (1961-1962), a commendable accomplishment given the institution’s uncertain situation and limited financial resources. Nevertheless, in 1962, students published a forty-eight page yearbook written completely in Spanish. Once the school moved to its campus in Little Havana, the yearbook went to a hard cover book format except for the 1964 yearbook, which for financial reasons, was once again forced to use a magazine-style soft cover. The early yearbooks simply had Belen printed on the cover and some of the editions also included an image of the school’s crest. In 1966, the word Memoir graced the yearbook’s cover, a word that had been used in Spanish (Memorias) at the Colegio de Belén to publish senior pictures and awards as part of a section that made up the Ecos de Belén yearbooks in Havana. During the 1966-1967 academic year, Belen Jesuit Rector, Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) decided that the yearbook should be renamed Echoes The name change was not only to reinstitute the traditional yearbook name used at the Colegio de Belén, but also to reestablish the mission of the Belen Jesuit Echoes yearbook in the United States, in accordance with what it had been in Havana. Echoes would therefore offer future alumni much more than a simple memoir. With the words printed in Spanish under the title “El Sentido,” or what makes sense, the 1967 Echoes stated:
“Belen has something that is difficult to put into words. Perhaps, [Belen] has its own spirit or just a way of being familiar? Call it what you may. The purpose of these pages is to attempt to capture some of that spirit in images as well as in words. When the years have gone by, and we sit -the Belen students of todayperhaps surrounded by our children, as we slowly contemplate the pages of this yearbook, all of our [the Echoes staff] aspirations will be fulfilled, if something of that enduring spirit that is Belen would open itself up to all of us as a familiar ECHO of our years at the school.
Given the school’s financial constraints as well as that of Cuban exile families, publishing the Belen Jesuit yearbooks during the 1960s and early 1970s was not an easy task. Even during these years, however, Jesuits priests and scholastics, serving as faculty advisors as well as enthusiastic and resourceful students serving in the role of yearbook editors and staff members, did manage to create laudable yearbooks. Several Jesuit priests served as yearbook advisors during the 1960s including: Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ (1963), Fr. Edward Dunn, SJ (1964), and Fr. Alberto García, SJ (1968). Moreover, several Jesuit scholastics also served as yearbook advisors during those years including: Luis Maderal, SJ, (1967), Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ (1969-1970) and Francisco Javier López, SJ (1971). The position of yearbook editor during those years was held by several enthusiastic and hard-working students, some of which served in the position multiple years. Amongst them, Mario Dávalos (‘65) served as yearbook editor for three consecutive years (1963, 1964, and 1965). Other editors included: Roberto Piñeyro (‘66), Evelio Tabío (‘67), Alberto Ley (‘68), René Walker (‘69), and Julio Campa (‘71). All of them produced the yearbook as seniors, except for Campa, who was Echoes editor in both 1970 and 1971.
Starting in 1965, the yearbook included a dedication page, and several Jesuits, religious leaders, and faculty members were chosen as recipients of the honor. In 1965, the yearbook was dedicated to Antilles Province Provincial Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39), and in 1966 to Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll for all of his support in reestablishing Belen Jesuit in South Florida. In 1967, students dedicated the yearbook to the first director of the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami, Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ, who that year was celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his entering the Jesuit order. In 1968, 1969, and 1972, the Echoes yearbook was dedicated to Belen Jesuit Rector, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19). It was also dedicated to its faculty advisor Jesuit scholastic Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ in 1970 and to Assistant Principal for Discipline Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) in 1971.
As the amount of lay faculty members at the school increased during the 1970s, some of them also served as faculty advisors to the Echoes yearbook. English faculty member María Pérez Paredes served as faculty advisor to the Echoes yearbook (1972-1976), a task that was
During the 1970s, students under the guidance of their faculty advisors became increasingly educated about the yearbook publishing process. Students followed the example of yearbooks published by other educational institutions, including those produced by universities. This approach not only changed the Echoes editions for the better, but brought about the establishment of new trends within the yearbook which have remained essential parts of its format ever since. The yearbook’s quality clearly increased during the 1976-1977 academic year, when Editor Fernando Zulueta (‘77), Associate Editor Juan Carlos Verdeja (‘78), Photography Editor Ignacio Zulueta (‘78), and Business Manager Octavio Verdeja (‘77) ingeniously designed their book after the University of Miami’s 1976 IBIS. The result was not only an exceptionally well-documented and wellphotographed yearbook, but one that included school events organized in chronological order, and which raised the standard for all subsequent Echoes yearbooks. The editorial staff also took the time to write extensive articles about the faculty, sporting events, student organizations, and the day to day inner workings of the school at its campus in Little Havana.10 The 1977 Echoes also established a new Senior Section, which has remained as an essential part of every Belen Jesuit yearbook since then. The section included a full page for each senior with their graduation portrait, a candid shot, and a quote
Faculty advisor Jesuit scholastic Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ with Echoes Editor-in-Chief René Walker (‘69) and other members of the yearbook staff.
Photograph from Echoes, 1969.
Echoes 1977 staff sitting from left to right: Associate Editor Juan Carlos Verdeja (‘78), Photography Editor Ignacio Zulueta (‘78), Financial Director Octavio Verdeja (‘77),
Assistant Financial Director José Garrigo (‘78) and Editor-in-Chief Fernando Zulueta (‘77). Photograph from Echoes, 1977.
Echoes
Photograph
of their choice. In order to minimize costs to students and families, and with exceptional dedication, Fernando Zulueta (‘77) took every senior candid photo during visits with students to local parks and beaches on weekends throughout the year. Besides the photographs and senior quotes, the senior pages also included comments about each graduate that were carefully collected from questionnaires distributed to the entire senior class. The results were “Dot-Dots” (a word coined by Mathematics Department Chair Carol Ann Vila), and included a series of phrases written by friends about each senior which were followed by three dots. The “Dots Dots” appeared in senior pages for over three decades.
After Belen Jesuit moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, the Echoes editorial staff and faculty advisors chose themes to produce the yearbooks. The 1982 Echoes chose the Phoenix as a theme to highlight the school’s arrival at its new campus. Under the leadership of Co-Editors Joe García (‘82) and Edward Iturralde (‘82) as well as Associate Editor Braulio Báez (‘82) and Senior Editor Eduardo Santamaría (‘82), the 1982 Echoes was published completely in black and white, with a senior section that included multiple candid photographs, and well-written articles which documented athletic accomplishments and extracurricular clubs and activities. In the 1983 Echoes Editors Julio Varela (‘83), Henry Puertas (‘83), and Federico Maciá (‘83) brought color back to the yearbook and the senior section began to include family and even infant pictures of the graduates. The 1983 Echoes cover stated: There is a Message: Echoes The 1983 edition was dedicated to Athletic Director David Hewett, who had announced that it would be his last year at Belen Jesuit.11
Production of the Echoes yearbook remained an extracurricular activity until the 1983-1984 academic year, when English Department Chair Sigrid Bango, who also served as yearbook advisor (19811986), obtained approval from the Jesuit administration to make the yearbook’s production a full-fledged journalism course.12 Known at first as Journalism II, and taught by Mrs. Bango, the yearbook course began with introductory lectures about book production and photo journalism, some of which were given by the representative from the Taylor Publishing Company, Ken Thornberry. Students also attended seminars and learned about lay-out, picture cropping, design, graphics, special effects, copy writing, and headlines. The first year of the Journalism course resulted in a 320-page, 1984 Echoes dedicated to Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ, who had passed away on Janu-
ary 20th, 1984. Under the leadership of Jorge López-García (‘84) and Thomas González-Diego (‘84), the 1984 Echoes used “Synchronicity” as its theme and included sixteen color pages. Belen Jesuit Principal Sergio Figueredo, SJ explained the yearbook’s theme by stating:
“Synchronicity among human beings can be a dream, a reality, a step in our psychological development, a family affair, an enriching goal, a positive outcome of a senior class, a pleasant feeling, a varied expression of common effort, an unavoidable condition for a professional work, an evident reflection of our social growth, an indispensable factor for community life… All of these demand a lot of concern for others… In a word, the basic components of Synchronicity are Concern for Others and Responsibility.”13
By the second year of teaching the yearbook as a course (1984-1985) as well as it remaining an extracurricular activity, Mrs. Bango was pleased with the students’ progress in understanding the yearbook publishing process. She was also pleased with how the leadership role of the editor in chief, Thomas Jelke (‘85), had also helped to improve the yearbook’s production process. Mrs. Bango stated:
“It’s more work than anyone can imagine, but we also have a lot of fun; with an editor-in-chief like Tom, I cannot complain. Every year, we learn a little more. We try to improve the quality of the book, and we also hope it is to your liking.”14
In 1986, the Echoes yearbook had a change in format size. With the “That was Then, This is Now” theme and under the leadership of CoEditors Pablo Hernández Villalón (‘86) and Augusto López (‘86), the yearbook went to a nine by twelve inch format, as the school celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of its reestablishment in South Florida. The production of the 1986 Echoes marked Mrs. Bango’s last year serving as yearbook faculty advisor. As such, the Echoes staff dedicated the 1986 yearbook to “Sig.”
In 1987, English/Humanities faculty member Marie Jean Miyar began her tenure as yearbook advisor (1987-1990) during her first year teaching at the school. The Echoes editions produced by Mrs. Miyar’s journalism course won several important awards. For the 1987 Echoes, Editor Rolando Gómez (‘87) chose the “Power of the Experience” theme, and for the first time, the yearbook included an index. Mrs. Miyar also began using the critiquing services of the
Echoes 1985 Editorin-Chief Thomas Jelke (‘85), faculty advisor Sigrid Bango, and Managing Editors
Rafael Prohías (‘85) and Emilio Marrero (‘85).
Photograph from Echoes, 1985.
1990 faculty advisor Marie Jean Miyar with Co-Editors
Charlie Calderín (‘90) and Pedro Freyre (‘90).
from Echoes, 1990.
Co-Editors Johnny Calderín (‘92) and Giorgio Ramírez (‘92) work on the Echoes 1992 layout.
Photograph from Echoes, 1992.
Faculty advisors Teresita Campos and Ignacio Font with the Echoes 1998 staff on the way to a yearbook convention in Central Florida.
Photograph from Echoes, 1998.
Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for Echoes yearbooks. The CSPA awarded the Echoes a First Class honor rating for its 1987 edition.15 The 1988 Echoes, with the “There’s No Limit” theme, was under the leadership of its Co-Editors Raúl Esparza (‘88) and Richard Lorenzo (‘88) and included innovative design, with color pages carefully planned, and informative articles that ranged from “Miami: the Rise of a City” to “The Pope’s Historic Visit.” The 1988 Echoes received a CSPA First Class honor rating and an All-Columbian distinction in concept and design.16 The 1989 Echoes, with the “Up Close” theme was under the leadership of Editor Juan Fanjul (‘89) and included full-length features about new faculty members. Thoughtful articles and photography enhanced the book, which received CSPA’s highest rating, “Medalist” including all-Columbia distinctions in writing, coverage, and photography. The 1990 Echoes, had a “Boys will be Boys” theme, and under the leadership of Co-Editors Charlie Calderín (‘90) and Pedro Freyre (‘90), became the first yearbook in school history to be produced and formatted on a computer.17
In 1990, Mathematics faculty member Brenda Naranjo Ross served as faculty advisor for the yearbook. The 1991 Echoes, under the leadership of Co-Editors Carlos Ferro (‘91) and César Molina (‘91), used a “Carpe Diem” theme (Latin for “Seize the Day”) and affirmed that students should take full advantage of the opportunities for growth
available at the school, while it also stressed working for others.18 The 1992 Echoes, under the guidance of faculty member Stephen Holland, who served as yearbook advisor (1992-1995), was produced under the leadership of Co-Editors Ernesto Morán (‘92), Giorgio Ramírez (‘92) and Johnny Calderín (‘92).19 For the 1993 Echoes, CoEditors Jorge Caso (‘93) and Carlos Canino (‘93) selected a “Double Exposure” theme and showed how Belen Jesuit’s Key Club members had helped those affected by Hurricane Andrew.20 The 1994 Echoes used a “No Boundaries” theme. Produced by Co-Editors Eduardo Alleyn (‘94) and Ernesto Cepero (‘94), the 367-page yearbook documented the school’s 140th anniversary (1854-1994) celebration.
Due to health reasons, journalism faculty member Steve Holland left Belen Jesuit during the 1994-1995 academic year. Hence, faculty members Sylvia Hernández, Cristina Casero Ramírez, and Ignacio Font advised Editor Omar Travieso (‘95) and the journalism course in producing the 1995 Echoes Using the “New Beginnings” theme, the yearbook expanded on Belen Jesuit’s rise to a new plateau of distinction.21 For the 1995-1996 academic year, Humanities/Art faculty member Ignacio Font began his tenure as yearbook faculty advisor (1996-1998), with the assistance of Mathematics faculty member Teresita Campos. In 1996, Echoes, under the leadership of Rafael Villoldo (‘97) and Michael Pérez (‘97), used the theme “Beyond” to emphasize how Belen Jesuit went beyond the time spent by students at the school.22 The 1997 Echoes, under the leadership of Co-Editors Michael Pérez (‘97) and Robert Zurita (‘97), exemplified life’s beginnings and endings with the segments on an unending rope on its cover. In the 1998 Echoes which used the “Traditions in the Making” theme, Editor Armando Castro (‘98) and photographers Jorge
Saladrigas (‘99), Michael Martínez (‘98), David Hernández (‘98), and Leo Bellón (‘98) chose excellent images to exhibit how new traditions were being created at the school.23
In 1999, English faculty member Cristina Casero Ramírez began teaching the journalism course and serving as faculty advisor to the Echoes yearbook, a position in which she remained until 2005. The 1999 Echoes, under the leadership of Editor Geoffrey Valdés (‘99) and Photo Editor Jorge Saladrigas (‘99) chose the theme “All Eyes on Us,” and for the first time, the seniors’ graduation photographs and their quotes appeared in a separate section. The new millennium 2000 Echoes earned second place honors from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) under the leadership of Editor Nicholas Torres (‘00) and Production Manager Christopher Cleveland (‘00), who chose the themes of “Pride, Courage, Faith, and Victory.” Also in 2000, some of the senior pages appeared in color for the first time, and a four-page color center spread featured coverage of Athletics, the Ring Ceremony, and Tómbola. The following year, the 2001 Echoes under the leadership of Co-Editors Alberto Manrara (‘01), Francisco Larrieu (‘01), and Manuel Larrieu (‘01), new computers in the journalism course allowed students to begin using Adobe PageMaker and Adobe Photoshop to produce the yearbook. The result was a 400-page yearbook with sixty-four pages in full color, which earned second place honors from the NSPA.24 The 2002 Echoes, under the leadership of Editor Christopher Fleites (‘02), used the theme “Moving Up” and highlighted the physical plant improvements at the school. Graphic Designer Daniel Bustamante (‘02) designed the cover, the division pages, end sheets, and organization sections.25 In 2003, with a “Where’s Waldo?” theme, Echoes was under the leadership of Editor Santiago Tefel (‘03), Graphic Artist Robert Lloveras (‘03), David Caballero (‘03) and Luis González (‘03). At 428-pages, the longest of any
yearbook in school history, the 2003 Echoes celebrated 1,000 students being enrolled at Belen Jesuit, and asked readers to search for Waldo, the Wolverine mascot. The 2004 Echoes, under the leadership of CoEditors Javier Cruz (‘04) and Ernesto Pérez (‘04), designed its cover with a series of zeros and ones to the computer code that appeared in the popular science-fiction Matrix film trilogy.26 The 2005 Echoes, with the sub-title Old School, was produced under the leadership of Nicolás Echevarría (‘05).
In 2005, English faculty member Sujayla Collins began teaching the journalism/yearbook course, a position in which she has remained ever since. Under Mrs. Collins’s guidance, the yearbook changed in design format, and the curriculum was also updated to better prepare the students for the yearbook production process. The production process now includes focused themes, an improved overall design, and as of 2007, a yearbook produced in full-color. The 2006 Echoes Co-Editors Alexander León (‘06) and Daniel Caridad (‘06) selected “Music to the Ears” as the yearbook’s theme to commemorate the premier of the first Belen Jesuit Jazz Band, and of the kind of music that survives generation after generation. Under the leadership of Co-Editors Nicholas Díaz (‘07) and Matthew Cabrera (‘08), the yearbook course produced the first all-color yearbook in school history in 2007, and was dedicated in loving memory to beloved Jesuit Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59), Science faculty member Francisco Pichardo, and Reneil Segarra, who worked in the Belen Jesuit maintenance department. All three of them had passed away during the 2006-2007 academic year. Also, Co-Editors Díaz and Cabrera decided on “Better” as the 2007 Echoes theme and the Belen Jesuit “B” appeared throughout the book in many different colors. The explanation for using “Better” as a theme had to do with the Jesuit term “magis” meaning more, and defined the Belen Jesuit student striving to be better students, better sons, better brothers, and better men.”27
Faculty advisor Cristina Casero Ramírez with the Echoes 2000 Staff that included Production Manager Christopher Cleveland (‘00) and Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Torres (‘00). The 2000 Echoes earned second place honors from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). Photograph from Echoes, 2000.
2007 Staff from left to right: Byron Soler (‘08), Juan Carlos DíazPadrón (‘08), Nelson Alemany (‘08), Nicholas Mouriz (‘08), Giancarlo Arrazola (‘08), Matthew Cabrera (‘08), Joshua Llano (‘08), Nicholas Díaz (‘07), Víctor Saizarbitoria (‘08), Nicholas Herrera (‘08), and Christopher Cruz (‘08).
The 2008 Echoes, under the leadership of Matthew Cabrera (‘08) and Carlos Cancela (‘09), chose the theme “We Are,” which inspired the yearbook staff to conduct interviews and write human interest stories for the yearbook. While faculty member and advisor Sujayla Collins went on maternity leave during the academic year, Víctor Arrieta (‘95), the Assistant to the Athletic Director, who also serves as the school’s official photographer, took over the yearbook course.28 That year, the yearbook was dedicated in loving memory to beloved Jesuit Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), Track and Field Coach Arthur Foster, and faculty member Ariel Fernández, all of whom had passed away during the 2007-2008 academic year. The 2008 Echoes earned First Class honors from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and a Bronze Medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). Editor Cancela returned the following year and, with the assistance of Co-editor David Barrera (‘09), chose “Random Moments” as the theme of the 2009 Echoes, which earned a Second Class rating from the NSPA and a Gold Medal from the CSPA. The reason for their theme was stated as follows:
“Although the word random appears in just about every page in this yearbook, there is actually nothing random about it. As men of faith, we are taught that the universe and all its elements are the product of Our Creator… We understand that we have been bestowed a great gift from God, because for one brief period of time, we have all walked together in the halls of this great institution. We all made an impact on
each other’s lives, and we have all learned something from one another. We are all proof of those small miracles that take place every day. We are all proof that there is a God and we are all part of his plan. Frankly speaking, there is nothing “random” in that.”29
In 2010, the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center was created within its own facility. The center included a full workshop/ classroom dedicated to the production of the Echoes yearbook. The center’s curriculum required for students to first take a Survey of Mass Media course to learn the basic components of print, broadcast, and digital media before participating in higher-level yearbook, newspaper, or media production classes. The following year, and only after obtaining a faculty advisor recommendation students could take the Yearbook Production I course, a hands-on production workshop where they serve in assigned editorial positions, and are responsible for the overall production of a particular section of the yearbook. After these two courses, and again only with faculty recommendation, students could enroll in the Yearbook Production II course, where they formulate a school-related theme and create the cover, main designs, layouts, folio tabs and page designs of the yearbook. In that class, students also kept up with the school’s current events, managed the budget, and made all ethical decisions pertaining to the yearbook. They also attended journalism workshops throughout the year.
Th e new established curriculum and guidelines served to continue to raise the level of quality for the yearbook. The 2010 Echoes un-
der the leadership of Editor Valentín Arenas (‘10), used “Inked” as its theme to express that they were hoping to capture the valuable and cherished images to leave a permanent mark or legacy on the ever-changing canvas that is Belen Jesuit. The 2010 Echoes earned a Second Class rating from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and a Gold Medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). For the 2011 Echoes , Co-editors Michael Castillo (‘11) and Gregory Jalil (‘11) chose “Th e Human Network” theme to express how throughout the years spent at Belen Jesuit, students forge connections to an incredible living community that fosters a physical, intellectual and spiritual web of friendship, support and brotherhood. The 2012 Echoes, encased in a commemorative box, celebrated the fift ieth anniversary or Golden Jubilee of the school’s reestablishment in South Florida. Under the leadership of Co-Editors Julio Ayala (‘12) and Dominick Hidalgo (‘12), the yearbook staff searched through fift y years’ worth of yearbooks to scan photographs that they featured in sepia to contrast the color pages that documented the events of 2012. Th e 2012 Echoes had “Th en and Now” as its theme, and used the ampersand to symbolize the undying connection between the past and the present at Belen Jesuit. The 2012 Echoes earned a First Class rating with one Special Mark of Distinction from the NSPA and a Silver Medal from the CSPA. In closing, the yearbook staff stated:
“Much like the handful of Jesuits who came to this country and built this school from scratch, we encountered our share of difficulties in creating a book that included fift y years of history… All the insets were carefully chosen to include members of our community who have made a tremendous impact in our lives since the day we entered this institution.
We hope with this book that all of you will be able to relive some amazing moments in the history of the school, and witness some of the newer trends that will inevitably make up the future.”30
The full-color, 425-page Echoes of the present day are a far cry from the small forty-eight page booklet from 1962. The history of how the yearbooks have developed at the school includes many years of work by Jesuits, lay faculty members, and students. Each of them has left an ECHO of their time at Belen Jesuit within the pages of their respective editions. Each one has also contributed in their own unique way to elevate yearbook production. Based on this tradition, the Echoes of the future should therefore continue to improve with every edition.
Echoes
Photograph from Echoes, 2008.
Echoes Editors-in-Chief Matthew Cabrera (‘08) and Carlos Cancela (‘09) make changes to yearbook proofs. Cancela served as Editor in-Chief of both the 2008 and 2009 Echoes editions. Photograph from Echoes, 2008.
The workshop classroom dedicated to the production of the Echoes yearbook within the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center. Photograph from Echoes, 2011.
Vincam staff Manuel Utset (‘80), Francisco
Vincam
When Belen Jesuit was first reestablished at the Centro Hispano Católico for the 1961-1962 academic year, one of the first extracurricular activities that started at the school had to do with producing a school publication. Since the cost of a full-blown school newspaper was out of the question given the school’s uncertain status and limited resources, students wrote stories and produced a newsletter-style publication that they printed on a mimeograph machine. One of the early Vincam faculty advisors was Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), who moderated the newsletter style publication during the 1962-1963 academic year. Once the school moved to its campus in Little Havana, Vincam’s format changed to magazine-style, and it continued to be published as such until 1979. Also moderated by English/Humanities Department faculty Sigrid Bango and Valerie Giroux, Vincam changed to a full school newspaper style of publishing during
the 1979-1980 academic year. Vincam delivered stories in five main sections: features, sports, school news, literary, and entertainment. Each section had its own assistant editor. Some of the students who participated in Vincam as an extracurricular activity also benefited from the experience they gained in Ms. Giroux’s journalism course, although not all contributors were required to take the course to participate as part of the magazine/newspaper editorial staff. From time to time, Ms. Giroux also had local journalists visit the school and lecture in her course to provide students with first-hand experience about the profession.
Once the school reached its campus in West Miami-Dade, the Journalism I course began to produce Vincam. During the 1983-1984 academic year faculty advisor Lourdes Moller Gómez helped to raise
Photograph
the quality of the paper by insisting on journalistic standards and practices for the newspaper’s production. Each issue featured its own news, sports, editorial, and entertainment sections under the careful eye of Editor-in-Chief Juan Ros (‘85); however, the production of Vincam went back to a club or extracurricular activity under the guidance of faculty advisor Jorge Martínez, during the 1986-1987 academic year. Students worked hard that year to publish the newspaper under the leadership of Editor Juan Carlos Martínez (‘87) and News Editor Juan Castro (‘87).31 The newspaper’s status as an extracurricular club resulted in few newspapers being printed during the 1987-1988 academic year.32 Thus, for the next academic year, Vincam returned as a full-fledged newspaper format under the guidance of faculty advisor Sylvia Hernández. Henceforth, the newspaper functioned both as a course (Journalism I) and an extracurricular activity. The return of the newspaper was extraordinarily successful under the leadership of Editor Julián Sevillano (‘90), who spent many hours mastering computer newspaper publishing and production. Vincam’s sports editor also enhanced the quality of the Sports section as well as managed all aspects of the publication including writing, photography, and selling advertising. The students’ hard work paid off when Vincam received first place at the annual Florida Scholastic Press Association Convention in 1990.33
During the 1991-1992 academic year, Vincam continued to make strides as it established its reputation among South Florida schools and won several awards. The newspaper produced eight issues during this year -the most in its history- and included articles about
Vincam editions from the 1983-1984 academic year, with faculty advisor Lourdes Moller Gómez and Editor in Chief Juan Ros (‘85).
Photographs from Echoes, 1984.
Vincam staff members, from left to right, top row: Jorge Escala (‘92), Salvador Escalón (‘92), Paul Briz (‘92), Michel Grandchamp (‘92), and Carlos Incera (‘92).
Middle Row: Roberto Lecusay (‘93), Ignacio Segurola (‘93), Manuel Vega (‘93), Gabriel Morales (‘93), and faculty advisor Sylvia Hernández. Sitting: René Morales (‘93), Agustín Arrieta (‘92), Otto Ortega (‘92), Adrián Sainz (‘93).
Photograph from Echoes, 1992.
Villaronga (‘80), Jorge Zulueta (‘81), Reinaldo Ramos (‘81), Manuel Fernández (‘81), Benigno Granda (‘81), Faculty advisor Valerie Giroux, Roberto Reboso (‘81), and Editor Herman Lademann (‘80).
from Echoes, 1980.
Cristina Casero Ramírez with the Vincam staff including: Michael Pérez (‘00), Sebastián del Castillo (‘00), Andrés Carullo (‘00), Luis Martínez (‘00), Alfred Elías (‘00), Paul Dimount (‘00), CoEditor in Chief Andrés Corral (‘00), Andrés Duarte (‘01), Robert García (‘01), David Alonso (‘00), Eugene Ramírez (‘01), Alexander Rodríguez (‘01), William Wood (‘01), Arturo Armand (‘00), and José Aguayo (‘00). Photograph from Echoes, 2000.
relevant topics such as AIDS and substance abuse. The newspaper’s photography editor, Lisandro Pérez (‘93), also began using the dark room that had been established at the school by former Belen Jesuit Principal Antonio Abella (‘59) to develop the photographs needed for publication.34 The following year (1992-1993), Pérez served as Vincam editor, and received a Miami Herald Silver Knight honorable mention for Journalism.35
For the 1994-1995 academic year, Cristina Casero Ramírez taught the Journalism course and served as faculty advisor for Vincam. With her assistance, and by also letting the students take the initiative to complete their stories and layout, the journalism course produced several newspapers throughout the year.36 In 1995, English faculty member Aimee Busquet took over teaching the journalism course, which produced Vincam She taught the course and remained as the newspaper’s faculty advisor until 1998. During the 1995-1996 academic year, the newspaper’s editor was Robert Guerra (‘96). The following year (1996-1997), Ms. Busquet was impressed by the seniors’ leadership skills including those of Vincam Editor Alexis Mantecón (‘97), which yielded the production of eight Vincam editions that year.37
During the 1998-1999 academic year, English faculty member Cristina Casero Ramírez taught and served as faculty advisor to Vincam. Students visited the Miami Herald that year, as well as and WPLGChannel 10 and Radio Station Power 96 to learn more about broadcasting and news reporting. The editorial board, led by Robert Riley
(‘99), published a special “back to school” issue, and for the first time an “April’s Fool” edition. Also this year, the newspaper went to a fullcolor, front-page format for the first time.38 Mrs. Casero’s teaching and guidance began to propel the journalism course to next level the following year (1999-2000), when Vincam published eleven issues under the leadership of Editor Andrés Corral (‘00) who also had some of his articles published in the Miami Herald Neighbors Section.39 For the 2000-2001 academic year, Vincam and Echoes journalism students traveled to New York City to attend a journalism conference for high school students.40 For the 2001-2002 academic year, Eric Esteban (‘02) served as Vincam editor, along with twentyfour junior and senior collaborators publishing more editions than in prior years and incorporating a “Roundtable Section” within the newspaper. Other sub-editors included Rubén Moreno (‘02) for news, Bernard Pino (‘02) for opinions, Luis Pérez (‘02) for entertainment and José Torres (‘02) for sports.41
For the 2002-2003 academic year, faculty member Aimee Busquet took over teaching the Vincam journalism course which included Editor Daniel Enríquez (‘03), and tackled varied topics such as the SAT and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.42 Ms. Busquet remained as Vincam faculty advisor until 2006.
During the 2006-2007 academic year, Sujayla Collins took over as the faculty member of the journalism course that produced Vincam, a position in which she remained until 2011. Under Mrs. Collins’s guidance, Vincam went through a redesign, in a concerted effort to
make the newspaper more like USA Today. Under the leadership of Editor Julio Menache (‘07), the newspaper also added color to the front and end pages. Students wrote several stories covering local and international events, as well as on relevant topics such as steroid use, school accolades such as the Athletics state championships, and the Social Studies Department’s visit to the USS Gridley, which was being commissioned at the Port of Miami. Conor McCarthy (‘07) served as sports editor, William Gómez (‘08) as co-editor in chief, and Michael Garrote (‘08) as copy editor.43
During the 2007-2008 academic year, Vincam was separated into two journalism courses. Journalism I-Newspaper Production was designed as a workshop course to provide students with practical knowledge and hands-on experience in the area of journalistic writing, editing, layout and design, production techniques, photography, word processing, and desktop publishing, as well as the business and advertising practices involved in producing a student newspaper. In the Journalism II-Newspaper Production course, students were given responsibility for overseeing the production of the entire newspaper. They were required to keep up with all local and national news, cover school events, assign stories, write stories, edit the staff writers' copy, check sources for accuracy, design layouts, and prepare pictures and captions for final proof. Also dur-
Vincam faculty advisor
Vincam staff members, from left to right, bottom row: Bernardo Pimentel (‘03), Luis Llamas (‘03), Eugenio Hernández (‘03), Daniel Enríquez (‘03), George González (‘03), Felipe Ojeda (‘03), and faculty advisor Aimee Busquet. Middle Row: Juan O’Naghten (‘03), Alexander Esteban (‘03), Enrique Quevedo (‘03), Alejandro Cura (‘03), Matthew Maranges (‘04), David Romero (‘04), and Christopher Gueits (‘04). Third Row: David Carnright (‘03), Loren Rodríguez (‘03), Andrés Manrara (‘04), Ricardo García (‘04), Javier Correoso (‘04), Juna Michelen (‘04), Michael Cross (‘04), Jason López (‘04), Fourth Row: Daniel Fernández (‘04), Steven Pessoa (‘04), Iván Echenique (‘04), and Gregory Hernández (‘04). Photograph from Echoes, 2003.
Vincam Editor and Miami Herald Silver Knight Journalism honorable mention recipient Lisandro Pérez (‘93) stands with English faculty member, Lourdes Salas, after the Silver Knights Awards ceremony in 1993. Photograph from Echoes, 1993.
Julio Menache (‘07), Richard Massa (‘08), Guillermo Fernández (‘08), Conor McCarthy (‘07), Michael Garrote (‘08), Agustín de Goytisolo (‘07), and Javier Vijil (‘07).
ing this year, Vincam started their year with faculty advisor Sujayla Collins, but when Mrs. Collins had to take time for maternity leave, Michelle González taught the Vincam Journalism courses. Despite the transition, the Vincam staff managed to publish eight issues. The following year (2008-2009), students concentrated on covering the political stories involved in the US Presidential election (2008) with the layout and standards customized by the editorial board. For the first time in its history, Vincam also released one issue per month while the school was in session.44
The 2009-2010 academic year included a substantial increase in Vincam’s staff With seventeen editors and twenty additional staff members, the editors were returning contributors with experience, and the newcomers were also enthusiastic about contributing; therefore, Vincam expanded its format to sixteen pages. The newspaper’s stories tackled difficult issues such as divorce, immigration, and the homeless, as editors aimed at remaining relevant to the community and focused on topics that could benefit and improve the school and the members of the Belen Jesuit community.45
For the 2011-2012 academic year, María Teresa de Aguiar took over as faculty member and advisor of the Journalism-Newspaper Production course where Vincam is produced. For this Golden Jubilee celebration year, Vincam took a giant leap forward into the digital age by launching its first fully digital edition online, accessible through a link available on the Belen Jesuit webpage. Issues of the online digital edition were published in September, October, and November of 2011, as well as January-May of 2012. The issues were published on the website the second week of every month. Faculty advisor María Teresa de Aguiar stated:
“The student editors worked very hard, and we are very proud of the outcome. We hope to bring you exciting news and information with every coming issue.”46
The Vincam digital editions allowed for more color and better graphics, as students concentrated on switching to more of a magazine-style publication. The best part of the change, however, was not necessarily how much better the publication looked on-line or how the quality of everything having to do with Vincam had changed since it had been redesigned in 2006. The best part of what had happened to Vincam
was best exemplified by Editor Jesse Lorenzo (‘12), who wrote a farewell editorial in the May 2012 edition in which he stated:
“Mrs. Collins spoke enthusiastically of the school newspaper and the opportunities that arise from it. From my first days of working on the newspaper, during my sophomore year, as a lowly staff writer, to now senior year as the editor of the editorials section, Mrs. Collins’s lessons of hard work, self-reliance, and journalistic integrity have stuck to me… Vincam is like a job; there is always constant change and adjustment… and the biggest change came this year, when Mrs. Collins passed the reigns to Mrs. De Aguiar. With the change in leadership, came the change in direction. The Vincam was now going to be online, and its design was going to have more in common with a magazine than a newspaper. I admit that at first I wasn’t too crazy about the new direction; none of us were, but over time, it grew on me, and I can only see it getting better in the future as the possibilities expand.”47
Vincam production staff, from left to right: Richard Bandrich (‘07),
Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
Vincam Senior Editor Rolando Vázquez (‘10) separates newspapers in preparation for their distribution during homeroom. Photograph from Echoes, 2010.
Vincam went to a fully digital format for the 2011-2012 academic year under the guidance of faculty advisor María Teresa de Aguiar and chief editors Joseph Isenberg (‘13) and Néstor Montoya (‘13). The magazine, along with archives of past digital editions, can be accessed through the school’s website.
The first Forensics Club (1973-1974). From left to right: Secretary Charles Vázquez (‘74), President Ricardo Ibarria (‘75), faculty advisor Sigrid Bango, Vice President Rubén Marrero (‘75) and Treasurer Gastón Comas (‘75). Photograph from Echoes, 1974.
Forensics
Activities that cultivated the oratory skills of students had been established at the Colegio de Belén in Havana since 1931, when Fr. José Rubinos Ramos, SJ founded the Academia Literaria Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda.48 In order to further the school’s oratory tradition, in 1945, Fr. Rubinos and Rector, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) held a Parliamentary Debate which featured presentations by several members of the school’s senior class, including Jorge Sardiña (‘45), José Ignacio Rasco (‘45), and Fidel Castro (‘45).49 During the first academic year that the school resided at its campus in Little Havana (1962-1963), Jesuit scholastic Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) established an Oratory Literary Academy at the school which staged oratory events and presentations. Fr. Cartaya’s ideal was to follow in the long-standing oratory tradition that had been established by Fr. Rubinos at the school in Havana, and the oratory group functioned at the Little Havana campus during the 1960s and early 1970s.
In 1973, English Department faculty member Sigrid Bango founded the Belen Jesuit Forensics Club. Mrs. Bango functioned as the club’s first advisor, followed by Anne Poulo (1974-1979) and Georgina Esquivel García (1979-1981). The first Belen Jesuit Forensics Club included President Ricardo Ibarria (‘75), Vice President Rubén Marrero (‘75), Secretary Charles Vázquez (‘74), and Treasurer Gastón Comas
(‘75).50 The activity allowed Belen Jesuit students the ability to improve their oratory skills in declamation events that in some cases involved dramatic interpretations of literature, plays, and poems. Students also competed in individual or two-person team debate events such as the Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum debates. During their first year, the team accumulated twenty-three individual trophies, with one of its members placing seventh in the state and five qualifying for the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) Tournament in New Orleans. During the 1970s, Belen Jesuit Forensics routinely won the South Florida Sweepstakes Trophy, awarded by the NCFL to the school that accumulated the most points throughout the local tournament season. In 1977, Armando Vázquez won the school’s first National Champion title in Forensics at the NCFL Tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for his dramatic interpretation of an excerpt from the Peter Shaffer play, Equus 51 In 1979, Damián Pardo (‘81) also won the National Champion title in Declamation at the NCFL National Tournament in Milwaukee with his delivery of an excerpt from the Ralph Zimmerman Essay Mingled Blood. 52 The Forensics Club’s humble, yet impressive, beginnings at the school’s campus in Little Havana laid the building blocks for a distinguished, lasting segment of the school’s extracurricular activities once the school moved the campus in West Miami-Dade.
Once Belen Jesuit moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, the Forensics Club regrouped during the 1982-1983 academic year with definitive goals that were implemented by faculty advisor Ricardo Ibarria (‘75), who had been the club’s first president and returned to teach at the school. The Forensics Club aimed at improving a student’s ability to communicate with confidence, clarity, and effectiveness. The club’s activities and tournaments also allowed for students to participate in scholastic competition as a way to actualize their potential in public speaking, and acquire skills that would be important tools in any career that the student chose to pursue in the future.53 During that first year, Jesuit faculty members Ana Sánchez and Lourdes Togores advised the team whose president, Peter Quirós (‘86), was a four time winner, placing second at the state competition and qualifying for the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) Tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio.54
The Forensics Club had an extraordinary academic year (1987-1988) under the guidance of Roberto de los Santos (‘78), who served as faculty advisor to the club (1987-1992). During this year, Forensics Club
members produced Jean Claude van Italie’s The Serpent to perform as an entry in group interpretation. The Serpent is about the fall of man and its consequences. Masterfully performed by Michael Donnell (‘88), Enrique Quintero (‘88), and Daniel Mirones (‘88), the group interpretation piece won first place at the Florida Forensics League (FFL) District and State competitions. Within the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL), the Belen Jesuit Forensics Club placed as National Finalists in Declamation and Duo-Interpretation, traveling to the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) Tournament in New Orleans. At the NCFL Tournament, Clarence Darrow’s A Plea for Mercy, performed by José Jiménez (‘91), made the top twenty-five in the nation; however, the most extraordinary performance at the NCFL Tournament remained a duo-interpretation by Raúl Esparza (‘88) and Michael Donnell (‘88) of an excerpt from the Peter Shaffer play Amadeus, which won Belen Jesuit its first NCFL Champion title in Duo-Interpretation, and the third national title in the history of the Forensics Club.55 The following year (1988-1989), Belen Jesuit Forensics Club members, José Jiménez (‘91), and Alfonso Ysada (‘91) won FFL District and State titles, and went on to compete in the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) Tournament.56 Ysada and Jiménez competed once again the following academic year (1989-1990) with a duo interpretation performance of Madam Butterfly Alex Mirones (‘91) and Alex Lehmann (‘91) competed in duo interpretation with Rhinoceros Both teams placed at the state competition and went on to compete at the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) Tournament in Chicago, Illinois. The team also presented Sweeney Todd at the school auditorium to the entire Belen Jesuit community.57
During the 1990-1991 academic year, several team members qualified to enter the NCFL Tournament in New York City, which took place over the Memorial Day weekend in 1991. At NCFL, Alex Mirones (‘91) and Alex Lehmann (‘91) competed in duo interpretation and placed seventh and the duo of Eric García-Tuñón (‘92) and José Jiménez (‘91) placed third in the nation.58 The Belen Jesuit Forensics dramatic interpretation tradition continued during the 1991-1992 academic year, during which the interpretation group of Paul Loebeck (‘92), Eduardo Masferrer (‘92), Eric García-Tuñón (‘92), Raúl Herrera (‘92), Juan López (‘92), and Alfredo Oliva (‘92) performed Jean Claude van Italie’s The Serpent. The group performed the interpretation twice for the school in order to raise funds to attend their NCFL state competition, where they obtained first place. Loebeck and Herrera also teamed up for a duo interpretation of The Produc-
Forensics (1978-1979). Top row from left to right: Eusebio García (‘81), Pedro Álvarez (‘79), Joseph Civantos (‘81), Damián Pardo (‘81), Oscar Kramer (‘79), Javier Salman (‘81), Santiago Hernández (‘79), Argeo Hernández (‘79), Francisco Oliva (‘79), Miguel Fernández (‘82) and Michael Warren (‘81).
Kneeling: Luis Delgado (‘79), Gonzalo Sánchez (‘79), S. Sánchez, Joseph Pubillones (‘81), Francisco Iglesias (‘81), J. Bergouignan (‘81) and faculty advisor Anne Poulo. Photograph from Echoes, 1974.
Faculty advisor Leo Williams with Forensics team at Blue Key Tournament. From left to right: Robert Hernández (‘05), Enrique Quevedo (‘03), Daniel Mendoza (‘05), Leo Williams, Michael Valdés (‘04), Henry García (‘04), Alejandro Rodríguez (‘05), Daniel Hernández (‘03), and Mario Ariza (‘05).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
ers Masferrer and Christopher Hammon (‘92) for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and García-Tuñón performed an individual piece by Barbara Fields, Playing with Fire All qualified for the NCFL National Tournament.59
For the 1993-1994 academic year, Leo Williams began serving as faculty advisor to the Forensics Club, and twenty-seven members competed during that year under the leadership of President Juan Estévez (‘94).60 Belen Jesuit students continued to participate in Forensics local, state, and national tournaments with impressive contributions from Roberto García-Tuñón (‘97), Eduardo Carreño (‘97), and Alexander Torra (‘97) during the 1995-1996 academic year.61 The Forensics Club continued competitions throughout the end of the 1990s, with participation from several students including Jonathan Alfonso (‘99), Felice Gorordo (‘01) and Gabriel Gutiérrez (‘01), who in the 1998-1999 academic year, respectively accomplished semi-finalist spots at the Pinecrest Crestian Class Invitational Tournament.62 During the 1999-2000 academic year, Francisco García (‘00), qualified for the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) Tournament in Rochester, New York.63 For the 2001-2002 academic year, Leo Williams continued to travel with students to forensics tournaments at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, at Blue Key in Gainesville, Florida, and others that took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
For the 2004-2005 academic year, Luis Dulzaides took over as faculty advisor to the Forensics Club, a position in which he has remained since. Under Mr. Dulzaides’s guidance, the Forensics Club concentrated the efforts of those students who participated on either the speech side or the debate side. Those students participating in the speech side competed in events ranging from Extemporaneous Speaking to Humorous Interpretation of Literature. The debate side offered students events such as Student Congress and Public Forum Debate. The Forensics Club continued to compete almost every weekend during its season and traveled throughout the State of Florida. Students also traveled to tournaments held outside the state about ten times per year.
During the first year that Luis Dulzaides began serving as faulty advisor to the team (2004-2005), Mario Ariza (‘05) was recognized at the national level, an honor that had eluded the school for quite some-
time. Ariza won the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) Championship in Congressional Debate (2005). Also that year, at the Florida Forensics League (FLL) Tournament, the two-man team of Carlos Jordán (‘07) and Matthew Jordán (‘08) won the state championship in Duo Interpretation of Literature (2005). Matthew Jordán (‘08) also won the individual state championship for Humorous Interpretation of Literature (2005). The following year, Matthew Jordán (‘08) won the Humorous Interpretation of Literature state championship (2006) once again. During the 2006-2007 academic year, Belen Jesuit Forensics hosted the National Forensics League (NFL) Congress qualifier at school, where two students won and qualified for the NFL National Tournament. In March, the school also hosted the NFL individual events and two additional students qualified for NFL Nationals. At the State of Florida Tournament in Blue Key, Matthew Jordán (‘08) earned second place in the Humorous Interpretation Category. Thomas Brown (‘08), Neil Vázquez (‘08), Richard Smit (‘08), and Benjamin Tyler (‘10) received honorable mentions
at the State Tournament. That year students traveled to the Harvard University National Forensics Tournament once again as well as to the Glenbrook Invitational in Chicago, IL.64 During the 2007-2008 academic year, Belen Jesuit Forensics members made an impressive showing at the State of Florida Tournament, where Nicholas Ley (‘09) and Neil Vázquez (‘08) won first place in Duo Interpretation, while Thomas Brown (‘08) and Richard Smit (‘08) earned third place in the same category. Daniel Barrera (‘08) also placed third in Congress, and Benjamin Tyler (‘10) placed tenth in the Exempt competition.
At the National Forensics League Tournaments, Tyler also won first place the Congressional Debate Presiding Officer Award in 2009 and 2010, the Congressional Leadership Bowl award in 2010 and John C. Stennis Congressional Debate Senate National Champion Award in 2010. Two years later, in 2012, his brother, Steven Tyler (‘13) also won the Congressional Debate Presiding Officer Award.
Historically, the Belen Jesuit Forensics Club has provided students with a team-oriented setting and an opportunity to improve their research, argumentation, and public speaking skills, while competing against students from all over the country. Its state, as well as national level recognition, has also allowed it to establish itself as one of the top teams in the state of Florida and is well respected on the national stage. Moreover, the Forensics Club continues to provide a great opportunity for students to develop their leadership skills and compete at the highest level, as well as meet students with diverse backgrounds from all over the country.
Forensics team members from left to right: Robert Hernández (‘05), Michael Valdés (‘04), Alejandro Rodríguez (‘05), Daniel Hernández (‘03), Daniel Mendoza (‘05), Mario Ariza (‘05), and Henry García (‘04) at the Harvard University National Forensics Tournament in February 2003. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
At the Forensics League Tournament in Niceville, Florida, Daniel Barrera (‘08), Thomas Brown (‘08), Richard Smit (‘08), Benjamin Tyler (‘10), Nicholas Ley (‘09) and Neil Vázquez (‘08) with their trophies. Ley and Vázquez won the state championship for Duo Interpretation in 2008. Photograph from Echoes, 2008.
Forensics (2009-2010) with faculty advisor Luis Dulzaides. The team roster included: Antonio Acosta (‘11), Joseph Barbosa (‘11), Matthew Bill (‘12), Daniel Leonard (‘10), Andrés Gaviria (‘10), Paul Martin (‘11), Eric Mussa (‘11), Alberto Paradela (‘11), Marco Peraza (‘10), Alberto Pérez, Alexander Piña (‘11), Ricardo Pita (‘11), Richard Pizarro (‘10), Vilcram Sairam, Joseph Santos (‘10), Benjamín Sardiñas (‘11), Andrés Smith (‘13), and Benjamin Tyler (‘10). Photograph from Echoes, 2010. Benjamin Tyler (‘10), won the John C. Stennis Congressional Senate Debate National Champion Award at the National Forensics League (NFL) Tournament in 2010. Photograph from Echoes, 2010.
Colegio de Belén production “El Jardín de los Crisantemos” in (1939) at the Teatro Auditorium in Havana.
Humanities
Courses in the humanities and activities in the performing arts, which had been a long- standing tradition at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, took some time to be reestablished at Belen Jesuit in South Florida. Throughout history, the Jesuit religious order had notable achievements in the dramatic arts, painting, sculpture, and music. The Jesuits also incorporated musical and theatrical performances into the activities at their schools because they were convinced of the performance’s power to educate. At the Colegio de Belén in Havana, student production of plays and musical concerts was an essential component of the curriculum. The earliest documented performance by Colegio de Belén students took place at the Compostela Campus in 1863. The performance was part of an academic awards ceremony that included a musical repertoire performed by a twentyseven student chorus and a three-act play, Le Martyre de Saint Agapit (The Martyrdom of Saint Agapitus), written in the sixteenth century by Fr. Charles Porée, SJ (1675-1741). Many other performances took place while the school was at the educational complex in Marianao, including the 1939 ambitious production of El Jardín de los
Crisantemos The cast of the production included three very young students who, dressed in the full oriental regalia of their characters, performed their parts at the Havana Teatro Auditorium. All three would become Jesuits: Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), Fr. Juan M. DortaDuque, SJ (‘40), and Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39). Many years later, each of these Jesuit fathers contributed, with their decisive presence, to the development of Belen Jesuit in Miami, serving respectively as spiritual counselor, alumni director, and Provincial of the Vice Province of the Antilles.
Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45) appears as a student on the second row from the bottom, in the far right. Also in the photograph are Fr. Juan M. DortaDuque, SJ (‘40) and Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives. The administration ponders the fate of Pepito Pastelito(Ted García (‘81)) as part of the Homecoming Senior Skit. Photograph from Echoes, 1981.
When the school was reestablished in South Florida, limited resources and scarcity of Jesuit personnel to teach the humanities caused courses to be deferred until 1970. Moreover, a comprehensive program for the study of the humanities that included theater and musical performances would not develop at Belen Jesuit until several years after the school had moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade. Courses in the humanities at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana were first offered for the 1970-1971 academic year by Fr. Alfredo Quevedo, SJ, who had arrived at Belen Jesuit in 1969 to serve as the school’s principal. Fr. Quevedo established Humanities I and II, and both courses were offered as electives to junior and senior high school students. After Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ formalized the academic departments in 1972, English and humanities functioned as one academic department. In addition to Fr. Quevedo, English Department Chair Howard McCune (1972-1978), as well as Belen Jesuit faculty members Georgina Esquivel García (1975-1981) and Sigrid Bango (1978-1981), taught humanities at the school’s campus in Little Havana. The courses included the study of the major trends in art, music, and philosophy from prehistoric times through the twentieth century.
Since resources were still limited and music instruction was not offered at the school, Humanities faculty members found it difficult to stage theatrical or musical productions. Nevertheless, during the 1976-1977 academic year, Georgina Esquivel García instructed senior students on how to write, rehearse, and present a play, which was to be performed during Homecoming Week. The audience, which consisted of Belen Jesuit students, was later expanded to include student family members. Attendance also had to be organized, since the modest auditorium at the school’s campus in Little Havana only had
the capacity to fit 140 folding chairs. The Homecoming play in 1976 included a “Belen Spirit” played by Denis Walsh (‘77). The play’s storyline dealt with a Belen Jesuit alumnus who had lost touch with his school. The play also included an avid characterization of Belen Jesuit Science Department Chair Francisco Pichardo, performed by George Arcay (‘77). The play was such a success, that in subsequent years, students began preparing for their performances as soon as school started. The Homecoming play eventually developed into the Belen Jesuit senior skit and remained under the supervision of Mrs. García while the school was in Little Havana. The skits’ well-orchestrated comedy routines included varying plotlines, where seniors portraying Belen Jesuit faculty imitated their teachers, a motif that has been central to all succeeding senior skits. Innovative story lines also included a Cuban exile theme and involved typical Cuban characters. For example, in 1981, the senior skit had a plot-line involving Pepito, a well-known popular character that makes many appearances in Cuban jokes. In this germane skit, Pepito Pastelito (Pepito Cuban Pastry), played by Ted García (‘81), was a Mariel refugee who attempted to succeed as a Belen Jesuit student and Wolverine quarterback. During the skit, Pepito had conversations with a persistent Virgen de Caripowell, played by Jorge Powell (‘81), who pointed out the disadvantages within his new environment. Other plot lines dealt with the Wolverine Mascot Waldo’s search for adventure and his desire to observe his surroundings. Waldo seemed to always be missing or lost, and this inspired plotlines that included Waldo traveling across the Florida Straits to visit Cuba. The senior skit tradition has endured for over thirty-five years at the school, and in later years, the proceeds from the show have been used as senior donations to charitable organizations or school projects either in South Florida or the Dominican Republic.
Once the school moved to its campus in West Miami-Dade, English Department Chair Sigrid Bango and faculty member Barbara Von Greyerz Smith taught courses in the humanities. After 1987, a new English faculty member, Marie Jean Miyar took over the responsibility of teaching humanities, and during her tenure at the school, (1987-2000) also helped to define the goals for an independent Humanities Department. One of the department’s main goals was to use the arts as a venue for instruction and discovery, while promoting an understanding of how a variety of cultures and value systems develop and historically express themselves through the arts. In order to complement the goals established for the humanities curriculum, Mrs. Bango initiated the first formal theatrical productions that took
place at Belen Jesuit. Although the first phase of construction at the new campus in West Miami-Dade did not include an auditorium, the Jesuit administration included a large lecture hall with a small stage that later became the Guillermo F. Kohly Auditorium. Mrs. Bango used the auditorium during the late 1980s and early 1990s to direct and present the plays: Black Elk Speaks and the first musical ever performed in Belen, an ambitious production of Amadeus.
For the 1988-1989 academic year, Principal Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ reworked some of the school’s curriculum requirements. Amongst several changes, Fr. Izquierdo made humanities a required course during eleventh grade and Philosophy/Logic was also required during senior year. Fr. Oscar Méndez, SJ taught Philosophy/Logic until 1995, and the course was then taken over by Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63). Fr. Izquierdo also established the Advanced Placement Art History Course at the school. The Philosophy/Logic course, which had been offered as an elective up to this point, introduced students to the major trends in philosophical thought from Plato and Aristotle to the present. The AP Art History course would allow students to examine the major forms of artistic expression of various cultures over time, learn to analyze works of art within their historical context, and articulate what they experienced in a meaningful way.
Faculty member Sigrid Bango and Enrique Quintero (‘88) as mother and son in a play production of “It’s a Wonderful Life” at the Kohly Auditorium in December 1987. Photograph from Echoes 1988.
During this time, Assistant Principal for Studies, Leopoldo Núñez, became the Humanities Department’s chairperson. In 1992, Leo Williams joined the English Department’s faculty, and with his arrival, the Humanities Department’s theater performance program began to truly flourish. At the school's auditorium, Mr. Williams directed plays such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Bald Soprano The Importance of Being Ernest and Mystery at Twicknym Vicarage. These theatrical productions were an even greater accomplishment if you considered that the auditorium’s small stage was hardly the venue to host such ambitious performances.
In 1994, Ignacio Font joined the Humanities Department faculty, to teach art and music history to middle school students. Since the Humanities Department did not have a dedicated facility at the time, Mr. Font traveled with a small cart filled with his materials from class to class. After Marie Jean Miyar left Belen Jesuit, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) took over as chair of the Humanities Department. Mr. Leopoldo Núñez would also serve as the department’s chair (2004-2012). During this time, Sergio González joined the Humanities Department faculty to teach music history and in 2005, Roger Lund also joined the faculty to teach Philosophy, a position in which he has remained until the present day. During Fr. Álvarez’s years teaching philosophy, he and Belen Jesuit Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ decided to begin holding a symposium, in memory of Colegio de Belén alumnus Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49). At the symposium, students delivered presentations about the major theological and philosophical thinkers of the twentieth century and addressed some of the key issues that had been raised throughout the year in their philosophy course. The first such symposium, held on December 4th, 1998, started with a presentation about the life of Colegio de Belén alumnus Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49), and discussed the difference between the politi-
cal philosophers behind Communism and those behind Liberalism and Democracy. With the purpose of celebrating the theological and philosophical thinkers of the twentieth century, during the 19992000 academic year, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) organized another Roberto C. Goizueta Symposium, where philosophy students Arturo Armand (‘00), José Andión (‘00), Francisco Pico (‘00), José Romero (‘00), Alejandro Rivera (‘00), Paul Michael (‘00), Nicholas Patiño (‘00), Jorge Conforme (‘00), Luis Martínez (‘00), and Ignacio Portuondo (‘00) made presentations about the works of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, St. Ignatius of Loyola, Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, René Descartes, Fr. Felix Varela, and Jacques Maritain.4 Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta attended the seminar in honor of her late husband and was pleased with the results. In a note to Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ she stated:
“The images of Roberto, as well as the words from the student who spoke about his life truly moved me. The senior’s commitment was truly commendable, and I can only imagine the research and work that preceded the event. They [the students] speak about topics that are not easy, yet they did so with the clarity and focus of their Christian education. They are exceptional young men, and I am sure that if they apply their intelligence and put forth the hard work necessary, the education they have received at Belen will allow each of them to excel in whatever career they choose. I also want to thank everyone for the way you all continue to honor Roberto’s memory.”5
The Roberto C. Goizueta Symposium continued throughout the years to include topics such as One God Three Faiths, One World held in 2007, with presentations from Iliff ’s School of Theology Director Alberto Hernández (‘81), Abrahamic Initiative at St. John’s Cathedral Director Imam Ibrahim Kazarooni and College of the Holy Cross Judaic Studies Professor Alan J. Avery-Peck, focusing on the relationship between Christians, Jews, and Muslims, in an effort to discuss how a better understanding of these faiths can bring about peaceful solutions to present-day conflicts.
During the late 1990s, Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ had continued to follow some of the academic curriculum recommendations that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) had made as part of the school’s plan to attain its ac-
creditation. One of the SACS recommendations suggested that the school should enhance its program in the fields of art, drama, and music. Fr. García, therefore, determined that if the school was going to develop a comprehensive program for the study of arts, it would also need to include an adequate venue in which to hold theatrical and musical performances. As a result, Fr. García began to speak to some of the school’s supporters and benefactors about the project. At this time, Juan J. Roca and his wife Ophelia Roca, as well as Belen Jesuit alumnus Carlos Saladrigas (‘67) and his wife Olga M. Saladrigas, whose sons Luis Saladrigas (‘93) and Jorge Saladrigas (‘99) had been students at the school, generously offered Fr. García support for the construction of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA). By the spring of 2003, construction was almost complete for the ICA’s 675-seat, state-of-the-art theater, the art gallery, the stagecraft workshop, the art studio, the orchestra rehearsal hall with five individual practice rooms, and the four classrooms that would be used to teach art history, drama, music, and philosophy. It was at that time that Executive Assistant Principal for Studies Leopoldo Núñez suggested that he be given the opportunity to direct and manage the ICA. Father García agreed, but wanted Mr. Núñez to both direct the ICA and remain as Executive Assistant Principal for Studies for the 2003-2004 academic year. Mr. Núñez agreed and served in both positions throughout the center’s first year of operations, which also marked the 150th anniversary celebration of the school.
During the summer of 2003, the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) was in the final stages of construction. At this time, Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ held a series of meetings to discuss the center’s mission and future plans. One of the main issues discussed was how the classic plays, gallery exhibits, and concerts presented at the ICA would be produced and/or selected. During the meetings, Fr. García explained his vision for the ICA once more. He wanted the ICA to be a facility where Belen Jesuit students would study the performing arts, and then present high-quality theatrical and musical presentations to complement that instruction. Fr. García, however, also envisioned the ICA as a venue for local, national, and international artists and musicians to present high-quality performances that would also be worthy of South Florida community patronage. Hence, both the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater and the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery were made available to the community at large for non-school presentations, but always under
the stipulation that only quality artistic performances and exhibits would be presented at ICA. Two Belen Jesuit theatrical productions would be presented during each academic year; one in fall, and the other during the spring semester. Eventually, presentations included a drama performance in the fall, and after 2006, a musical play during the spring. The Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery would offer two six-week curatorial exhibits: one in the fall and another one in the spring. The year would close with an exhibit showcasing the artistic production of Belen Jesuit students. For the gallery in particular, an eight-member artistic board, co-chaired by ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez and former faculty member Marie Jean Miyar, would review proposals from curators and decide the exhibits to be showcased.
It was during one of these Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) meetings that Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ also voiced his hope that Belen Jesuit would eventually have its own music band. Given that a music program had never been formally implemented at the school, and that the resources necessary for such an endeavor would be substantial, the idea seemed to still be far off in the future; however, as Mr. Núñez recalled about the meeting:
“I believe that our response to the possibility of a Belen Jesuit Band addressed the costs entailed in carrying out this undertaking, as opposed to other projects which were already in progress. But as always, Fr. García’s forward thinking was spot-on. The question would come up again, much sooner than anyone expected, and lead to the creation of a music program, which flourished with much success at the ICA under the direction of Maestro Marlene Urbay.”6
Midsummer Night’s Dream play where Carlos Carillo (‘95), in horse costume, performs a scene with Melissa Peón. Leo Williams directed the play at the Kohly Auditorium in the fall of 1994. Photograph from Echoes, 1995.
The program
of
Ignatian Center for the Arts
The dedication of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) took place on October 2nd, 2003, when Archdiocese of Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora carried out the official blessing before a large crowd that included Juan J. Roca, Ophelia Roca, Belen Jesuit alumnus Carlos Saladrigas (‘67), Olga M. Saladrigas, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, and members of the Belen Jesuit and South Florida community. The ICA opened its doors for its first Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater performance on October 11th, with a Florida Chamber Orchestra Gala Concert under the direction of Maestro Marlene Urbay. This event coincided with the first exhibition in the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery, Spatial Identity, which was curated by Marie Jean Miyar. True to its theme, it presented works by artists who had undertaken the concept of space or embodied the use of areas in their artworks. The artists who exhibited at the inaugural exhibition were Gustavo Costa, María Brito, Humberto Calzada, Rogelio López Marín, Lydia Rubio and George Sánchez-Calderón. A month later, on November 13th, a production of Arthur Miller’s unforgettable drama, Death of a Salesman, starring Leo Williams and directed by English Department faculty member Richard Signore, opened at the Roca Theater. The cast included two Belen Jesuit faculty members: Ignacio Font, playing “Uncle Ben,” and Gustav Pérez, playing “Biff.” The role of “Happy” was played by Alejandro Rodríguez (‘05). The decision to include the two faculty members in the cast was made as part of an overall faculty effort to lead and inspire by example. Teachers hoped that students would be inspired by their performances and chosoe to participate in both the study of the arts and producing theatrical performances. Thus, since the ICA’s inception, faculty members have been encouraged to audition for plays where older character roles were present, and many have successfully delivered brilliant performances at the theater.
In February of 2004, in combination with the events scheduled to celebrate the 150th anniversary of school’s founding in Havana, Venezuelan-Argentine singer and songwriter Ricardo Montaner performed at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater on February 12th. The concert opened the Tómbola festival for the 150th anniversary celebration. Also as part of the celebrations, the school presented in English, the French farce, A Flea in her Ear from March 25th-27th, 2004. Events continued in May, when the theater shined during the last theatrical production of its opening year, Fuenteovejuna Produced in association with the Miami Hispanic Theater Guild, the Félix Lope de Vega (1562-1635) Spanish classic was directed by Rolando Moreno and produced by Marcos Casanova. The huge cast involved nine professional actors from the South Florida community, eighteen Belen Jesuit students, and four faculty members: Alicia Fariñas, Anne Fenton, Beatriz Jiménez, Adriana Suárez Delgado, and María Inés Leáñez. Also in the spring of 2004, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery presented the American Dream Exhibit which was curated by artist Pedro Vizcaino. The exhibit dealt with visual impressions of the United States created by artists from other countries who at one point in their lives had taken up residence in the United States. The exhibition included works by Julio Antonio, Carlos Betancourt, Sylvia Gai, Carlos García, Sergio García, Carlos Luna, Ferrán Martín, Federico Uribe and Vizcaino himself.
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) magnificent opening year not only received wonderful accolades throughout the community, but also made it obvious that the center demanded the full-time attention of an administrative director. Thus, during the summer of 2004, Leopoldo Núñez stepped down from his administrative post to direct the ICA full-time. Mr. Núñez would not only serve as ICA director, but also as the chair of the Humanities Department until 2013. Eventually, for the academic year 2013-2014, María Inés Leáñez would be appointed to serve as the chair of the Humanities Department, while Leopoldo Núñez, continued to direct the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA). After 2003, in his position at director and department chair Mr. Núñez would oversee the creation and development of the center’s curriculum, drama and music programs, while overseeing the presentation of numerous plays, concerts, and performances at the ICA.
The success of the Florida Chamber Orchestra Gala Concert, that inaugurated the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) in October of 2003, led to the orchestra’s decision during the summer of 2004, to
make the ICA its new home. This permanent honor confirmed the ICA’s original mission, which hoped to offer a venue for high quality performances by both Belen Jesuit students and for local artists and musicians. Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ was not only pleased with all that had been achieved during ICA’s first year, but was also quite enthusiastic about the orchestra’s decision to make the ICA its new home. Hence, Fr. García broached the subject of the school band once again. This time, he not only proposed the formation of the band, but he also outlined its opening performance by suggesting that it would be appropriate for a Belen Jesuit Band to open and to close the Florida Chamber Orchestra Concert that was being planned for the spring semester of 2004-2005 the academic year. The message was clear, but it was a challenging mission. As Mr. Núñez recalled:
“It was difficult to develop a strategy for carrying out this project. There were many unknown variables such as the purchase of instruments, and searching for teachers with the experience and knowledge to carry out such an endeavor. Moreover, at the time, there were no musicians at the school beyond those proficient at the guitar and percussion instruments that performed during a school-wide Mass. But undoubtedly, Fr. García had already started praying for our school band, and if there is one thing I had learned after thirty years of working with the Jesuits, one must never underestimate the power of their prayers.”7
While Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez met with Maestro Marlene Urbay during the fall semester of 2004 about developing a music instruction program that would include a Belen Jesuit band, the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater opened its
season for the 2004-2005 academic year in October with Tom Stoppard's well-known surrealist play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Directed by English faculty member Richard Signore, the play featured faculty member Leo Williams in the role of the “The Player” and two very promising Belen Jesuit students in the leads: Alejandro Rodríguez (‘05) playing “Guildenstern” and Carlos Rodríguez (‘05) playing “Rosencrantz.” For this play, the experience acquired during the ICA’s opening year proved immensely useful. The Stagecraft class, taught by Mr. Signore, created the sets. Every day, young and ambitious Belen Jesuit actors were becoming more and more attracted to participating in the theater program at the school. Also during the fall semester of 2004, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery was honored with an exhibition of the works of Cuban Master, Rafael Soriano, Mystical Canvas. The exhibition was a definite reflection of the style of the artist and turned out to be one of the most visited exhibitions in the gallery. The artist presented a gift to some of the people visiting the inauguration on October 8th: a signed copy of the book, Rafael Soriano the Poetics of Light written by Belen Jesuit alumnus Ricardo Pau-Llosa (‘71). The exhibition was curated by Jesús Rosado.
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the inaugural exhibit at the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery, Spatial Identity. October-December of 2003. Image from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Singer Ricardo Montaner at a concert in the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater on February 12th, 2004. The concert kicked off the Tómbola festival for the school’s 150th anniversary celebration. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives. The cast of Fuenteovejuna, top left to right: Gretel Trujillo, Karen García, and María Inés Leáñez.
Bottom left to right: Adriana Suárez Delgado, Alicia Fariñas, Anne Fenton, and Beatriz Jiménez. March of 2004. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Saladrigas Gallery’s Fall 2004 Mystical Canvas Exhibit program featured Rafael Soriano’s painting, Entidad del siglo XV, 1990, oil on canvas, 60 by 50 in. Image from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The stage set for The Time of Your Life was created entirely by the Belen Jesuit Stagecraft class in November of 2004. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
In November 2004, the Hispanic-American Lyric Theater and the Ballet Theater of Miami presented an evening of Opera, directed by George Mattox and choreographed by Tony Catanzaro. It was a momentous occasion for the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA). The performance helped to show that Belen Jesuit, via the ICA’s Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater, was already welcoming groups that reflected the cultural magnitude of the South Florida community at large. Also in November, auditions were held for the spring production of a great American classic, The Time of Your Life written by William Saroyan. Under the direction of Leo Williams, the play ran during the spring semester and had one of the most sophisticated and realistic sets ever constructed for a production at the Roca Theater. Once again, Richard Signore’s Stagecraft class showed excellent design and creativity in their sets, thanks to the help rendered by Belen Jesuit art faculty member and actor, Ignacio Font. For The Time of Your Life Alejandro Rodríguez (‘05) was cast in the starring role of “Joe,” along with Alejandro Sosa (‘05), who played “Willie,” and a very creative Daniel Mendoza (‘05), who showed his acting ability in the role of “Nick.” To everyone’s delight, Belen Jesuit faculty member Ignacio Font, returned to the stage to play the role of “The Drunkard”. A month after the presentation of The Time of Your Life, Alejandro Rodríguez (‘05) traveled to audition for admission to the Juilliard School Theater Program. Two months later, a jubilant Rodríguez ran down the ICA's halls shouting that he had been accepted to the prestigious New York City private conservatory.
In January of 2005, during the time that The Time of Your Life was in production, ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez and Maestro Marlene Urbay decided to move forward with creating a Belen Jesuit Band. Mr. Núñez proceeded by making a general call to students who may be interested in joining a school band. The call was clear in specifying that musical talent was a plus, but not a necessity, since the purpose of the program would be to work toward musical mastery. At the preliminary meeting, some thirty boys answered the call. Out of the thirty aspirants, two had experience as pianists, one had studied some French horn, another had experience in percussion, and the last was studying the saxophone. The rest wanted to play the trumpet, saxophone, and trombone, but there was a serious problem: none of the latter had any idea how to play any of those musical instruments. The following week, the Belen Jesuit musical candidates, met with the eight masters chosen by Maestro Marlene Urbay. The group was divided into potential areas of musical interest, and the individual students were given some exercises of rhythm and hearing to determine who had at least a basis from which to begin their training. About this time, Mr. Núñez recalled:
“It was truly amazing. In only three days, not only was there a commitment by the future musicians of the band, but Maestro Urbay had also communicated to the student’s parents how they were going to work, when the classes and rehearsals would take place, and the instruments had been rented! Moreover, since the project had begun in the middle of the semester, Fr. García insisted that the families of those participating should not incur any cost, and the school assumed all the expenses for the band. Music classes began on Tuesday, February 15th, and students actually gave up their lunch periods to practice. I tell you, there is no way to describe the panic that we felt on those first days when we listened to those young neophytes trying to conjure the sounds of a trumpet or a saxophone. There is also no way to explain the optimism displayed by the masters who insisted that they had discovered talented musicians! Soon, what had been aphonic began to acquire articulation, and the music teachers were convinced that what was happening at ICA was truly wonderful. Soon, we began to believe, and like I had done many times in thirty years, I thought: Only at Belen do miracles like this happen…”8
As the music classes continued in preparation for the spring semester concert, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery presented the exhibition Existir en el Tiempo in February of 2005, which featured the imaginative work of artist Carlos Estévez. The program described the creativity of the artist and the content of this unique exhibition:
“Like silky spider webs, the compositions of Carlos Estévez bind the viewer to a world of dangerous beauty, in which dainty baroque figures inhabit a surreal dimension.”9
On May 12th, 2005, the Florida Chamber Orchestra spring semester concert, directed by Maestro Marlene Urbay, featured the first of the Belen Jesuit Bands in the program, the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band. The Jazz Band opened the performance, which resulted in large part from the hard work and dedication of both Belen Jesuit students and Maestro Urbay, who has also served as the director of the bands program at the school ever since. The concert featured Belen Jesuit Humanities faculty member Sergio González at the piano. His rendering of Hubert de Blanck’s Variations on the Cuban National Anthem which closed the performance, was in one word: unforgettable. The Jazz Band did not perform a long rendition. How could it, after only three months of study, training, and testing? But it was extraordinary. The evening began with a classic Glenn Miller piece,
and from there, to the ever popular Corazón Partío. A Cuban danzón was preceded by another popular piece of American Rock. The older members of the audience perhaps recalled some moments of their youth with the performance of that piece we remember as the Cumbanchero. According to ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez:
“The concert was very well received by the parents of young musicians, as well as by students and teachers. And thus, the night ended amid rhythms, chants, laughs and a special pride in what had been done in just three months with talent, perseverance, conviction and an undisputed presence of the Jesuit Ignatian prayer magic.”10
Also in 2005, Miami Hispanic Theater Guild had returned to the Roca stage to present, in Spanish, Georges Bernanos's Diálogos de Carmelitas a profound tragedy set during the French Revolution. Again, Belen Jesuit students and faculty members joined to create the large cast that was needed. This complex production was directed by Verónica Rivas, who also played the role of “Mother Clotilde,” the prioress of the Carmelite nuns in the convent. In May, the Hispanic-American Lyric Theater, together with the Ballet Theater of Miami, returned to the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater for another evening of opera and ballet. It was by far, the most extensive and varied season in the nine year history of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA), and it closed on June 5th, with a Sunday afternoon of Ballet Concerto, performed by the first Cuban ballet school/com-
The Belen Jesuit Band, with Maestro Marlene Urbay, during the 2007 Christmas Pageant. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez and his assistant Clara Kline created a three-dimensional model of a “reducción,” a seventeenth century Jesuit mission in Paraguay, for the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery showcase: Las Reducciones. Spring 2006. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
pany. The Ballet Concerto had been established in Miami in 1964, during the early years of the Cuban exile experience. It was directed by three notable Cubans: Sonia Díaz Blanco, Martha del Pino, and Eduardo Recalt, all veteran dancers and teachers from the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company in Cuba during the 1950s.
February, the Belen Jesuit Humanities Department decided to create a multimedia dramatic production featuring events from the lives of the three saints. The plot and dialogue of Crossroads of Faith was conceived by Belen Jesuit faculty member Rafael Rondón, and ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez produced the musical score from wellknown works in the classical music repertoire. The dramatic piece, directed by Leo Williams, consisted of seventeen scenes of dialog which culminated in an apotheosis with St. Ignatius of Loyola welcoming St. Francis Xavier and the Blessed Pierre Favre unto heaven underneath the shining light of the Triumph of the Name of Jesus. Every scene had a musical background to suit the plot. All male actors were Belen Jesuit students. Faculty member Ignacio Font designed the set, a modern conception of platforms placed in multi-layers, where lighting was a key in creating environments and moods. The dramatic production, presented in two evening performances and one matinee, depended heavily on light effects which were also created by Mr. Font. The original theatrical project was a milestone. Never before had a single academic department at the school been able to produce a theatrical project of such complexity.
Nicholas Ley (‘09) and Belen Jesuit Faculty member Leopoldo Núñez performed in The Fantasticks, the first musical featured at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater., Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater performances for the 2005-2006 academic year opened in early October with a concert by the Florida Chamber Orchestra, featuring pianist and Belen Jesuit keyboard teacher José Novas. The concert featured the music of Cuban Masters Ernesto Lecuona and Gonzalo Roig. In late October, the school presented four performances of an apropos play for the month of Halloween, Dracula, based on the novel by Bram Stoker. The production, directed by Richard Signore, was a great success. November 18th was also a special evening at the theater, when Juan Pedro Somoza presented the one man show of his creation, Cervantes y Don Quijote en América. The dramatic presentation, using music and songs from Man of La Mancha, brought the “house” down. Most of the audience had never witnessed such a complex, multi-faceted performance in the format of a one-man-show.
The spring semester of the 2005-2006 academic year opened with a joint venture from the Hispanic-American Lyric Theater and Ballet Concerto. The Sunday matinee performance, The World of Operetta, featured works by Strauss, Lehar, Romberg, Delibes and Offenbach. During the spring of 2006, the Society of Jesus was celebrating, worldwide, the feasts of three great saints of the religious order: St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier and the Blessed Pierre Favre. Hence, in
In March of 2006, the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) celebrated its third consecutive year of collaboration with the Miami Hispanic Theater Guild, rendering six performances of another Spanish clas-
sic: Jacinto Benavente’s Los intereses creados Once again, Rolando Moreno directed the original production, which also included costumes that Mr. Moreno designed. The ICA season closed in April of 2006 with the Florida Chamber Orchestra presenting a single performance of A Children’s Concert which featured two teenagers in solo pieces: cellist Ana Litvinenko in a Boccherini concerto and guitarist Jorge Gómez in a Vivaldi concerto. In addition, Maestro Marlene Urbay chose a performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, featuring the narration of ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez. Also during the spring of 2006, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery featured a very complex showcase of the seventeenth century Jesuit missions in Paraguay: Las Reducciones. Belen Jesuit faculty member Gerardo García took up the challenge, and quite literary created an elaborate new space within the gallery. ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez worked for four months, with the help of his assistant, Clara Kline, to create a three-dimensional model of a “reducción.”
Original art works and furniture pieces from the Reducciones were loaned to the school, which included a working fountain that was placed at the center of the gallery, creating the ambiance of a New World, Old-Spanish hacienda courtyard.
During the summer of 2006, Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ posed an important question to Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) Director Leopoldo Núñez: “How far away are we from presenting a Broadway show at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater?” With this directive in mind, the department got to work on preparing the first ICA musical, choosing to present the longest running show in the history of American musical theater, The Fantasticks, during the fall semester of the 2006-2007 academic year.
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater performances for the 2006-2007 academic year opened with the return of the Hispanic-American Lyric Theater in a Sunday afternoon of Zarzuela, featuring music from La Tabernera del Puerto Los Gavilanes La Gran Via La Chulapona and Luisa Fernanda In November, Belen Jesuit faculty member Richard Signore directed six performances of The Fantasticks. It was a humble beginning. The traditional set for the musical was sparse, so the ambience for the play presented few challenges for the stagecraft course, which had already developed sophisticated sets for prior productions. The musical accompaniment was performed at the piano by Sergio González, the school’s music appreciation teacher. Belen Jesuit faculty member Leo Williams played the role of “El Gallo,” Roberto Smith (‘08) performed the role of “Matt,” with Chelsea Durán and Ana Villafañe (Lourdes ’07), sharing the role of “Luisa.” Two other Belen Jesuit faculty members played minor roles: Alexis Zequeira (‘90) played “Belomy,” and Mr. Núñez was spectacular as “Henry.” The response of the school -and the Miami-Dade community at large- to this new innovation of musical theater at Belen Jesuit was very positive. At ICA, the atmosphere bubbled with ideas, as it became clear that the center was ready for bigger and better things.
At the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery, artist Emilio Falero (‘66) exhibited a retrospective of his art work during the fall of 2006. The exhibit, Emilio Falero: A Retrospective 1963-Present, was curated by Linnette M. Bosch and demonstrated not only the Falero’s refined artistry, but also how he used his imagination to search for meaning in his work. In this exhibition, Falero allowed the viewer to thoroughly submerge himself into the artist’s private vision of art, life, and the evolution of his creative impulses.
The Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery exhibit “Emilio Falero: A Retrospective 1963-Present” program cover. Image from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery exhibit “Ileana Ferrer Govantes: A Retrospective: Images of Yesterday and Today” program cover. Image from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
In March of 2008, Nicholas Ley (‘09) and Belen Jesuit faculty member Alexis Zequeira (‘90) performed in the play, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
By the start of the fall semester of the 2006-2007 academic year, thirty Belen Jesuit students had already enrolled in the music program, and the Belen Jesuit Bands were divided into the Band I and the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band classes. Maestro Marlene Urbay also scheduled two annual concerts for the bands: one during the fall semester at Christmas, and the other in the spring. The Belen Jesuit bands began to play at several school events such as football and basketball games, Tómbola, school-wide Masses, pep rallies, and award ceremonies. On December 4th, the stage of the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Th eater was graced with the Belen Christmas Pageant, during which the Belen Jesuit bands also performed. The pageant had been carried out at the Guillermo F. Kohly Auditorium under the direction of faculty members from the Modern Languages Department. Henceforth, the pageant became a joint production organized by the Modern Languages and ICA faculty. Th is joint eff ort also established an annual tradition at Belen Jesuit during which faculty, students, and families celebrate how the birth of Jesus is truly the reason for the season. That semester, bands also began participating in the Disney Competition, where they were awarded an “Excellent” classification.
Th e spring semester began in January 2007 with a Sunday Aft ernoon at the Ballet Th e highlight of this production was a re-staging of Eduardo Recalt’s ballet La Casa de Bernarda Alba based on the famous drama written by Federico García Lorca (1898-1936).
In February, the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater expanded its repertoire by holding three weekly conferences on moral theology, provided by guest speaker Fr. Eduardo López Azpitarte, SJ. At the time, the distinguished Fr. Azpitarte held the Bioethics Chair in the Facultad de Teología at the Universidad de Granada. In March, the powerful drama, The Boys Next Door, by Tom Griffin, graced the stage of the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater with five performances. Once again, humanities faculty member Leo Williams directed, and on this special occasion, he also designed the set. Belen Jesuit faculty member Ignacio Font also served as the play’s technical director. Francisco Guía (‘07) designed the promotion poster, and Nicholas Erkelens (‘07), Andrés Novoa (‘10), Andrew Schmidt (‘10), Michael Menéndez (‘07), and Nicholas Ley (‘09) carried this very difficult drama dealing with the lives of a group of mentally challenged adults. During the spring semester of 2007, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery was honored with the exhibition, Ileana Ferrer Govantes: A Retrospective, Images of Yesterday and Today. Showcasing the works of artist Ileana Ferrer Govantes, the exhibition was filled with the spirit of the island of Cuba, and opened on February 24th, a particularly important day in Cuban history: the Grito de Baire call to arms given in 1895 that started the Cuban War of Independence. The catalog included a special introduction by Orlando Rossardi and stated:
“To see Martí in the paintings of Ileana Ferrer Govantes is to feel the dimension of his soul; in fact, of both souls: that of the painter and that of the subject.”11
In April of 2007, Maestros Marlene Urbay and her father, José R. Urbay conducted the Florida Chamber Orchestra in a Sunday afternoon performance of song: Gala of Tenors. Towards the end of the month, Belen Jesuit presented the inaugural Middle School Showcase directed by faculty members Eliana Parenti and Leo Williams. The three evening performances consisted of a series of monologues and the one-act comedy Frankenstein by John Olbert. This comedy featured Daniel Jaramillo (‘12), Eric Couto (‘13) and Luis Rodríguez (‘12). The set was completely designed by Frank Oliva (‘11), as was the lighting, costumes, and the complex make-up required for the play. The Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater season concluded in May with an evening with the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band, featuring music by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Tito Puente, and Dámaso Pérez Prado. The band closed with a medley of the anthems from the four branches of the US Armed Forces.
The Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater was graced on July 17th, 2007 with a piano recital by the great Cuban pianist Zenaida Mafugás (1922-2012). The Cuban piano virtuoso dedicated the first half of the concert to the nocturnes, mazurkas and waltzes of Romantic composer, Frederick Chopin. After the intermission, the Roca stage embraced the flavor and rhythms of the pianist’s beloved homeland. Featuring the music of Lecuona, Cervantes, Simons and creative touches of a very jazzy Baroque Bach, the pianist demonstrated her mastery of the keyboard joined with an unequal dimension of feeling, character, and interpretation.
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater performances for the 2007-2008 academic year opened in October with the world premiere of Rosalinda, and original opera-ballet with music by George Mattox and José R. Urbay, and lyrics/libretto by Patsy Paul and George Mattox. Yanis Pikieris directed the choreography. The work was produced by the Hispanic-American Lyric Theater, and the Florida Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro José R. Urbay, performed the musical score. In November, the Humanities Department presented three performances of Carlo Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters a farcical comedy placed in the Venice of the eighteenth century, directed by Leo Williams. Nicholas Ley (‘09) played the lead role of “Truffaldino” along with Amanda Pérez (Lourdes ‘11) in the role of “Clarice,” and Andrés Novoa (‘10) playing “Pantalone”. Once again, the costumes were designed by Frank Oliva (‘11), with the assistance of seamstress Elsa Moreno. The period style make-up was conceived and executed by Belen Jesuit faculty member Eliana Parenti.
The spring semester opened in February of 2008 with Pianist Rey Casas performing an evening concert of popular music. In March, the second Belen Jesuit musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, premiered at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater. The Stephen Sondheim musical comedy was directed by Francisco Padura, a working actor and drama faculty member, who had joined the Belen Jesuit faculty during the summer of 2007. Mr. Padura directed an ambitious production accompanied by an orchestra, which became a permanent element in all future musicals. The complex sets were designed by faculty member Ignacio Font, and the lighting was designed and engineered by Frank Oliva (‘11). Nicholas Ley (‘09) played the lead role of “Pseudolus.” At this point, the musicals’ reception within the school and throughout the community made it clear that the theatre program at Belen Jesuit was on its way towards reaching maturity. As ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez recalled:
“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum showed us what was possible, and the next step was to prepare for greater challenges. A few weeks after closing night, Mr. Padura already posed the question, “Why not do Godspell next year?”12
In May, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy presented the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie using the original score and screenplay by Richard Morris. It featured Suki López (Lourdes ‘08) in the role of “Millie Dillmont” and Jonathan Rojas (‘10) playing “Jimmy Smith.” On the Sunday afternoon of June 8th, the Florida Chamber Orchestra returned to the Roca stage in Nosotros a concert dedicated to Cuban romantic music and boleros. Maestro Marlene Urbay brought Chanteuse Angelina Fragoso from Spain to join the orchestra in this performance.
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) opened its season for the 2008-2009 academic year on September 21st, 2008, with a co-production from the Historic Florida Inc. and the Asociación de Educadores Cubano-Americanos (NACAE), which presented noted Singer/Song Writer Yolanda del Castillo Cobelo in a performance named Inspiraciones. Spectators reported taking a journey in time through the songs she had composed. On October 10th, Musicos al Rescate, a group of Hispanic Catholic musicians and singers, presented a concert to raise funds for the Missionaries of Charity sisters to help the victims of the hurricane that had passed through Cuba and Haiti. This was the sixth such presentation of the group, whose
Memebrs of the Belen Jesuit Band who performed at the 2010 Belen Jesuit Gala under the direction of Maestro Marlene Urbay. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery exhibit: “ Tony López and Ángel Martín: Observar y crear.” The program cover featured López’s sculpture, “ Padre Cartaya”and Martín’s painting, “ Señora María Elena Cros de Asavaid.” November 2009. Image from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
sole aim was to help those in need in Hispanic America whenever and wherever there is a national emergency. The concert featured the likes of Armando Terrón, Cristy Arias, Carmita Riera’s Coral Cubana Grupo Creation, Grupo Mystika, and Iván Díaz, among others. On October 18th, Belen Jesuit, together with the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami, presented a jazz concert to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Archdiocese of Miami. The concert was a huge success and was honored with the attendance of many South Florida ecclesiastical authorities. The performance featured the Otto Avalos Quintet, Negroni’s Jazz Trio, and the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band. The unforgettable evening included the music from George Gershwin, John Coltrane, Christine Correa, Jerome Kern, Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington, and Erroll Garner, as well as original compositions by both Otto Avalos and José Negroni.
On November 5th, 2008, the Humanities Department presented the first of five performances of Molière’s classic play Tartuffe Director Leo Williams requested a surrealist set, and Frank Oliva (‘11) lived up to his already established reputation at the ICA with a design reminiscent of the furniture in a scene from Alice in the Wonderland. The exacting make-up for this seventeenth century period piece was designed and executed by faculty member Eliana Parenti. Andrés
Gaviria (‘10) played the lead role of “Tartuffe,” Andrés Novoa (‘10) played the role of “Orgon,” and Nicholas Ley (‘09) received lauds playing “Dorian,” while Megan Rico (Lourdes ‘11) shined in the role of “Madame Pernelle,” as did Andrea Erkelens (Carrollton ’09) as “Elmire” and Amanda Pérez (Lourdes ‘11) as “Mariane.” On November 23rd, the Florida Chamber Orchestra presented an afternoon performance with the quaint name of Back to Bach. This unique and didactic concert featured guest artist Rodolfo Cutiño, a singer with a melodic Bass voice.
Also at the start of the 2008-2009 academic year, it was worthy to note that in just a few short years, the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) music program had grown from a single seventeen-student band to one which encompassed 117 musicians who made up Band I, the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band, the Concert Band, the Belen Jesuit Drum Line, and the Small Ensembles groups. In addition to playing at school events such as Mother and Son Day, Father and Son Day, Grandparents Day, and the inaugurations of the school’s administration building and Communication Arts and Multimedia Center, the Belen Jesuit Bands also participated in fundraising efforts for Voices for the Children, playing at Merrick Park and at the Tropical Park Music Festival. The Belen Jesuit Jazz Band also performed on a WPBS television show, at the Cuba Nostalgia Exhibition, and at the Bass Museum. The bands also participated in the Disney Competition, where they were once again awarded the classification of Excellent. Moreover, in December of 2008, 110 young Belen Jesuit musicians from across the band groups also performed at the traditional Belen Christmas Pageant.
The spring semester of 2009 opened with another augmentation to the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater repertoire with Belen Jesuit alumnus Daniel Mendoza (‘05) premiering the award-winning film he made about the crisis in Darfur, Africa: Familiar Voices: A Reaction to the Crisis in Darfur In February, the Florida Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Marlene Urbay, delivered another magnificent concert. On February 6th, 2009, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery opened the exhibit, The Art of Being in Exile which presented the works of artist Julio Antonio. The curatorial responsibility for this exhibition fell on two Belen Jesuit alumni noted for their knowledge of Hispanic American art as well as for their collections: Ricardo Pau-Llosa (‘71) and Arturo Mosquera (‘71). The exhibition reflected the pain, endurance, presence of repression in a police state, and the dreams, hopes, in fact, the life of an artist who is forced to leave his homeland to embrace the freedom of a new life,
while being haunted by the experiences in his past and the ongoing suffering of his people.
In March of 2009, the much-awaited production of Godspell was in preparation, and Belen Jesuit faculty member Francisco Padura’s idea to produce and direct the musical at the ICA’s Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater brought the school something quite unexpected. For the first time, local schools, particularly young women from Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, flocked to audition for the female roles. It was evident that word about Belen Jesuit doing quality musical theater had spread. Nicholas Ley (‘09) earned lauds playing “Jesus.” In fact, Godspell delivered its magic. Since it has the peculiarity that everyone in the cast has a moment in which to really shine in marvelous songs, the production, which had gathered an outstanding cast of actor/singers, truly excelled and the Humanities Department was in awe of its success. Even after such a wonderful show, however, the ICA and Humanities Department staff was unaware that the talent that had been attracted to Godspell was going to bring something even more wonderful in the future. This time, it was Director Leopoldo Núñez who decided where ICA musical theater needed to go next:
“A week had not passed after the last performance of Godspell when I first suggested to Mr. Padura to be very daring the following spring and prepare to produce and direct West Side Story. Indeed, while some thought that I had a bad case of the “crazies,” the idea grabbed hold of the Humanities Department. I was betting that the talent, who had performed in Godspell, would return and audition for West Side Story, and I was not wrong!”13
Godspell was followed on May 2nd, 2009 with the end-of-year concert of the Belen Jesuit Bands. The performances of these young musicians who participated in the music program clearly showed that all of them had made the playing of a musical instrument a dedicated priority that went hand in hand with their academic studies. The season closed on May 9th with two benefit concerts held for the Prince of Peace Catholic Church and Parish. The two ballet performances proved the true nature of the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater: a facility where all facets of the performing arts can be presented by students and the community at large.
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater performances for the 2009-2010 academic year began on September 26th, 2009, with the return of the Hispanic-American Lyric Theater and an evening of Opera and Zarzuela. In October, acclaimed actor/director and Belen Jesuit faculty member Leo Williams enthralled spectators with the performance of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest which Mr. Williams produced and directed. Javier del Riesgo (‘10) played “McMurphy,” and English faculty member Paola Arencibia joined the cast as “Nurse Ratched.” Seldom had audiences been able to see such young actors submerge themselves so thoroughly in their roles as insane men confined to a state mental hospital. Daniel Leonard (‘10) shined in the role of “Harding,” as did Joseph Barbosa (‘11) as “Martine” and Max Rich (‘10) as “Chief Bromden.” Belen Jesuit faculty member Johnny Calderín (‘92) designed the creative poster. Once again, Frank Oliva (‘11) designed the set and the lighting. The show marked the ICA debut of Angie Pardo (Lourdes ‘11) and Amanda Pérez (Lourdes ‘11), two young actresses who delivered exceptional performances on the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater stage during their high school years.
Belen Jesuit Drum Line performed at the Golden Jubilee Gala on November 5th, 2011. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Jonathan Rojas (‘10), Joseph Barbosa (‘11), Javier del Riesgo (‘10), and Richard Pizarro (‘10) in “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater in November of 2009. Photograph from Echoes, 2010.
Joseph Barbosa (‘11) and Sydney Patrick (Coral Reef ‘10) in the balcony scene from “West Side Story” at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater in March of 2010. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
On November 13th, 2009, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery opened the exhibit Observar y Crear, which showcased the work of noted Cuban sculptor Tony López and well-known Cuban portrait painter Ángel Martí. They presented their works, which included a monumental sculpture of Cuban patriot, José Martí. Art critic Armando Álvarez Bravo wrote the notes for the catalog of the exhibition, pointing out the absolute sensitivity and expertise of the artists in their respective mediums. The exhibition ran for one month and matched the success of the 2004 showing of the paintings of Rafael Soriano. On November 15th, the Florida Chamber Orchestra returned to the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater stage in a Sunday afternoon performance, where they delighted the audience by executing parts of the Broadway musical, The Phantom of the Opera. A startling surprise came when, after playing music, members disguised in white masks and black capes came out and distributed red roses to the ladies in the audience. It was yet another spectaclar sucess for the ICA and its hard working students.14 Also during the fall of 2009, all 150 members of the Belen Jesuit Bands prepared to present a multi-faceted Belen Christmas Pageant on December 5th. The bands participated in the Disney Competition for
the third time and obtained a Golden Award for the first time. During that academic year, the bands also began to perform at the Belen Jesuit Gala on a regular basis. Also during the fall, rehearsals for the spring 2010 performance of the Broadway classic, West Side Story were well on their way. Director Francisco Padura, aided by his technical director, Belen Jesuit social studies faculty member Luis Dulzaides, had held auditions in October of 2009 for that all-time great Broadway musical. Leads in West Side Story were earned by three young actors who had also been in Godspell. The three Belen Jesuit musical theater veterans were: Joseph Barbosa (‘11), who performed the role of “Tony” and actresses Marilyn Caserta (Lourdes ‘13) and Sydney Patrick (Coral Reef ‘10), who shared the role of “María.” Belen Jesuit faculty member Leo Williams was cast in the role of “Lt. Schrank,” and ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez was set to play “Doc.” Amanda Reyes (Lourdes ‘11), who had also performed in Godspell showed incredible dramatic range in playing “Anita,” as did Amanda López (Lourdes ‘11) playing “Rosalia” and James López (‘10), who played the role of “Riff.” It would be unfair not to mention the outstanding characterization by Andrés Gaviria (‘10) playing “Bernardo,” and Angie Pardo (Lourdes ‘11), who performed very unique Anybodys. As Mr. Núñez recalled:
“The cast spent November and December with choreographer Barbara Flaten working solely on the dance numbers. January and February (2010) were all about learning lines and blocking (moving and positioning the actors on stage to facilitate the performance)… Our trusted Frank Oliva (‘11)
constructed movable sets with complex designs and intricate lighting sequences… Dancing… Singing… Fight scenes! In fact, there were evenings in which just about everyone thought that the production was just way too much. But fly it did, and wonderfully so!”15
Experienced theater-goers commented on the excellence of the production and the expertise of the orchestra playing the score. Several shows were delivered to sold-out audiences. In fact, the duo of Marilyn Caserta (Lourdes ‘13) with Joseph Barbosa (‘11) during the unforgettable balcony scene singing Tonight is still being talked about. Clearly, the musical theater program at Belen Jesuit was firmly established in the South Florida community. Moreover, the school could count not only on the development of its own young actors for performances, but also on the talent that was available from other schools, whose students were also willing to participate in the program.
On April 25th, after returning from the Easter vacations, the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater witnessed a standing room only oneday concert by the Cuban crooner Meme Solís. In May, the drama students from the middle school presented four performances of a one-act play, Admissions Of particular interest was how the very young actors were able to understand and interpret their roles so effectively. Once again, on May 27th, the Belen Jesuit Bands offered an end-of-year concert featuring the music and rhythms of many nations to a sold-out performance.
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) opened its season for the 20102011 academic year with director Leo Williams’s choice to return to both representational theater and an outstanding film for his fall semester production. A Few Good Men presented a new and exciting challenge, and the young actor’s from Belen Jesuit rose to the occasion. Both Luis Rodríguez (‘12), who played “Kafee,” and Amanda Pérez (Lourdes ‘11), who played “Jo,” gave the audience mature, original interpretations of their roles. Pedro Fernández (‘12) submerged himself in the role of “Jessep,” the arrogant, impetuous, know-it-all commander, and Gonzalo Trigueros (‘11) impressed the audience with his intensely dramatic portrayal of “Markinson.” At the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery, Cuban artist Edín Gutiérrez, noted for the “mysteries” in the painting of his doorways, opened his exhibition on November 18th, 2011. The exhibition, Convergencia, presented the viewer with themes that are often repeated in the art of the Cuban exile: yearning, memories, solitude, and hilarity with a touch of irony (el choteo cubano), spirituality, and above all, the all-expressive, obvious at times, subtle at others, presence of the lost island.
The Music program for the 2010-2011 academic year included several accolades. The Belen Jesuit Jazz Band won the Golden Award and the Best in Class classification at the Disney Competition. Anthony Rueda (‘13) also took first place as the best saxophone soloist at the competition. At this point, the Belen Jesuit bands had reached 160 studentmusicians, and for the first time, at a concert on November 21st, 2011, the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band began playing side by side with the Florida Chamber Orchestra. The talented young musicians presented a twohour program of music of the season at the traditional Belen Christmas Pageant, as well as popular melodies from around the world.
The spring semester for 2011 started with a concert at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater on February 5th that quite literally made history. “The Antiques,” a very popular 1970s Miami band reunited its musicians and offered a night of musical excellence filled with nostalgia.
On March 5th, José Luis Borrego presented Concierto Musical de Aficionados In April, the much anticipated eight-day run of the musical Into the Woods which had been in production since the fall semester, finally started. Since October 2010, the first steps had been taken to bring about a fabulous rendition of this very difficult Stephen Sondheim musical. In the musical production, the singing parts are particularly difficult because of syncopated rhythms and atypical musical phrasing. Two outstanding actors-singers returned for a third year in a row to play the lead roles: Joseph Barbosa (‘11), who played the “Bak-
Joseph Barbosa (‘11) and Ignatian Center Director Leopoldo Núñez in a scene from West Side Story at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater in March of 2010. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Amanda Reyes (Lourdes ‘11), Raven Gabrielle (New World School of the Arts ‘11), and Joseph Barbosa (‘11) in a scene from Into the Woods performed at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater in March of 2011. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Gabriel Pertierra (‘12) and Rafael Cariello (‘15) in a scene from The Lord of the Flies performed at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater in November of 2011. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
er” and Amanda Reyes (Lourdes ‘11), who portrayed the “Baker’s Wife.” Angie Pardo (Lourdes ‘11) also returned to play “Little Red Riding Hood.” It was the unbelievable performance of Raven Gabrielle (New World School of the Arts ‘11) in the role of the “Witch,” however, that left an imprint in the theatrical tradition of the school. Moreover, Jonathan Amaro-Barrón (‘14) rendered an interpretation of the elder “Mysterious Man” that was a most welcomed surprise to everyone who saw him on stage. The musical was once again wonderfully received at the school and by the community. The following month, on May 6th and 7th, an Easter Play related to the Emaus events in the New Testament was presented at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater. The dramatic production was written and directed by Belen Jesuit parent Christian Cozier. The Igantian Center for the Arts (ICA) Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater’s eighth season concluded on May 23rd, with a film, written, produced and directed by Belen Jesuit alumnus Andrés Rovira (‘07). At the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery, during the 2011 spring semester, faculty member Ignacio Font organized the first art exhibition in the gallery to which all the high schools in the Archdiocese of Miami were invited. The Archdiocesan Superintendent of Schools gave his full support to the project, and in March, the gallery was regaled with an extensive exhibition in which the art work of students from seven schools was shown to a grateful public. In addition to Belen Jesuit, the Catholic schools that participated included Immaculata La Salle High School, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy High School, St. Brendan High School, Cardinal Gibbons High School, and Monsignor Edward Pace High School.
Belen Jesuit launched its Golden Jubilee, the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the school’s reestablishment in South Florida as the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) began its ninth season. The season opened with an event from the first Belen Jesuit Cultural Series (2011-2012), featuring a concert by noted singer and songwriter Cristy Arias, on October 2nd, 2011, followed on the 8th by wellknown Cuban Chanteuse, Lucrecia, who opened the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee by presenting a beautiful concert of international song, placing emphasis on traditional Cuban music. The accompaniment was shared by the Florida Chamber Orchestra and the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band, directed by Maestro Marlene Urbay. The fall semester then continued with eight performances in November of one of the most artistically successful dramatic productions in school history, Lord of the Flies A noted novel by author William Golding, and adapted as a play by British actor Nigel Williams, this Leo Williams production at Belen Jesuit was adjudicated by the Florida Thespian Society and -for the first time in Belen Jesuit history- was chosen to be performed at the Florida Thespian Society State Convention in Tampa during the spring of 2012. One word described the talent in this production: revelations! Gabriel Pertierra (‘12), in
the lead role of “Ralph,” was unbelievable, given that he had not performed theater since middle school. Rafael Cariello (‘15), in the role of “Piggy,” was extremely talented in his rendition, and Jeremy Martínez (‘12), playing “Simon,” showed incredible emotional bravado. Anthony Padura (‘15), as “Roger,” gave a performance filled with a world of dramatic nuances. Moreover, Jaime López (‘16), in the other lead role of “Jack,” provided limitless intensity and character energy. Daniel Coulombe (‘17), as “Perceval,” was also simply outstanding. Here was truly a representation of the entire school, featuring both middle and high school actors, making theatrical history. The concept of a modern, somewhat abstract set suited the piece perfectly. The poster, designed by Manuel Rojas-Romero (‘16), was creative, unique, and reflected perfectly the tragic theme of the plot.
During the 2011 fall semester, the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery was graced with the Humberto Calzada Selected Works (1992-2010) Exhibit. The exhibit’s curator, Elizabeth Cerejido, described the artistic path of Cuban-American Artist Humberto Calzada by stating: “the exilic condition has been the unwavering leitmotif in the trajectory of a thirty-five year career, through which he has explored the issue from a range of pictorial and conceptual strategies.” ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez added:
“In every painting of Humberto Calzada, there is the presence of the “arcos de medio punto.” Those geometric, stained glass semicircular patterns set above doorways typify Cuban colonial architecture, as well as Calzada’s ever-present love and yearning for his homeland.”16
On November 20th, the Florida Chamber Orchestra presented a concert featuring the music, arias and duos from the well-known Spanish Zarzuela, Luisa Fernanda Already a tradition, on December 6th, the Belen Jesuit Bands performed at the Belen Christmas Pageant, where more than four hundred and fifty people gathered to enjoy the holiday celebration.
The Golden Jubilee celebrations continued during the spring semester, with a one-man concert by acclaimed guitarist, Rafael Padrón on January 29th, 2012. This event was sponsored by the Triana family in memory of Lorenzo Triana, Sr. The concert featured works by Barrios, Brouwer, Fariñas, Mertz, and Tarrega. On February 23rd, visiting pianist Benjamin Grosvenor offered a concert, the second from the Belen Jesuit Cultural Series (2011-2012), where he displayed his unbelievable technique and mastery of the keyboard. On March 3rd, 2012, Flamenco Puro from Seville, Spain delivered an impressive performance of Spanish music and dance in the third installment from the cultural series. In late March, the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater opened for eight performances of The Sound of Music The show had been chosen by ICA Director Leopoldo Núñez,
Student art exhibits on display at the Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery during the spring semester of 2012. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Director Francisco Padura and Technical Director Luis Dulzaides as the landmark event of the Golden Jubilee fiftieth anniversary celebration. It was chosen as an increasingly ambitious project in the development of musical theater renditions. Auditions took many days, and there were moments of concern. After all, The Sound of Music cast needs more than forty performers, and having quite a few voices that harmonize well with others is an essential dimension to the musical’s potential success. Into the Woods performers Jonathan Amaro-Barrón (‘14), who earned the role of “Captain Von Trapp,” and Lourdes Artiz (Lourdes ‘13), who was selected to play “María Rainer,” returned to the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater stage. The incredible success of The Sound of Music was truly the result of the efforts of young performers from all over the Miami-Dade community. Among the many performers were: Miami resident Mari Dosil, who played “Mother Abbess,” St. Brendan’s Elementary School six-year old Talía Núñez, who played a joyful “Gretl,” Conchita Espinosa Academy fifth grader Cristina García, who played “Marta,” Southwood Middle School eighth grade student Noelia Ramírez, who played “Luisa,” and Florida International University Freshman Karina Padura, who played a sweet and kind “Liesel.” Performances by Belen Jesuit students included the hilarious Alejandro Senior (‘13), playing the role of “Max Detweiller,” and the multi-layered characterization of “Rolf Gruber,” played by Francisco González (‘13). Everything that could possibly be hoped for was achieved. Nevertheless, it was the meaningful rapport be-
tween Lourdes Artiz (Lourdes ‘13) and Jonathan Amaro-Barrón (‘14), as well as their beautiful singing performances, that ultimately carried the show. The hard work and dedication of Mr. Padura and Mr. Dulzaides was noteworthy, and it was evident after five years that the tradition for musical theater at Belen Jesuit had been firmly established.
Lucrecia returned to the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater on April 28th. Preceded by the Celia the Queen documentary, Lucrecia performed with the all-star Celia Cruz Band, which was joined by the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band, and directed by Maestro Marlene Urbay. The year of the Golden Jubilee came to an end with the annual concert of the Belen Jesuit Bands held on May 24th. During the course of the evening, which featured music from Cuba, Brazil, American Jazz, American Swing, Broadway Musicals, Mexico, and France, awards were presented to the best student musicians. The night also served to announce that the Jazz Band CD would be released in the fall of 2012.
The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) began its tenth season during the 2012-2013 academic year. Leo Williams directed the comedy, Career Angel, as the fall drama production which related the story of “Brother Seraphim,” played by the hilarious Alejandro Senior (‘13), who received a visit from an “angel” played by Jaime López (‘16). The play had great comedic timing and excellent performances from Senior,
López, Jonathan Amaro-Barrón (‘14), and Matthew Pastor (‘14). During the spring semester, the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) received an unprecedented honor. On April 25th, 2013, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R, FL) presented a plaque to ICA Director Leopoldo Nuñez, “in recognition of his lifelong support to the development of the arts at Belen Jesuit.” The congresswoman also presented plaques to Maestros Marlene Urbay and her father, José R. Urbay, who is also a brass instruments faculty member at the school. The plaques for the Urbays were in recognition of their contributions to the development of arts and music in the South Florida area. The presentation took place in one of the lecture halls at the Rayburn House Office Building, in Washington, DC, where the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band performed as their family members, as well as congressmen and congressional staff members took part in a beautiful evening buffet at an event that was filled with their music. Then, following in the already established tradition of impressive spring musical productions, Francisco Padura directed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The musical had the energy and intricacy of a modern opera, and included wonderful performances and impressive singing, particularly from Francisco González (‘13), who played the lead role of “Joseph,” Darcy Hernández (New World ‘13), who played the “Narrator,” as well as from Alejandro Senior (‘13).
For its eleventh season (2013-2014), the ICA fall semester drama production, That Championship Season related the story of an underdog high school basketball team that beats the odds to win a championship. The highly-charged, emotional production had difficult themes, and provided an opportunity for Director Leo Williams to present a formidable play with the assistance of actors, Jonathan Amaro-Barrón (‘14), Daniel Ramírez (‘14), Matthew Pastor (‘14), Nicolás Pérez (‘14), and José Pelegri (‘15). Amaro-Barrón, who played the team’s coach, showed the depth that his performances have acquired during his acting career at Belen Jesuit. For the 2013-2014 spring musical, Director Francisco Padura brought a familiar story that has been told in both film and theater to life with Beauty and the Beast. Isa Signoret played the role of “Belle,” supported by Juan Campuzano (‘14), Daniel
Ramírez (‘14), and Anthony Padura (‘15). The production impressed with its joy, singing, beautifully crafted sets, and even special effects.
The successful history of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) has now surpassed a decade in length. When discussing the enormous success of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA), Director Leopoldo Núñez stated:
“Audiences should always keep in mind words that Shakespeare wrote for his mischievous character, Puck, to deliver at the conclusion of A Midsummer Night’s Dream ‘If we shadows have offended, think but this, And all is mended…That you have but slumbered here…While these visions did appear.’ Success has been followed by success, and that has not been a coincidence. Yes, there could not be a success without the talent to make it happen, but it was also a matter of attitude. There are four aspects from the philosophy of Saint Ignatius of Loyola that are the four pillars upon which Belen Jesuit rests; one of them is the Ignatian Magis: Never be satisfied, strive to reach further, to achieve more, to take the extra step, to strengthen your faith… Well, that was and is our thinking in the Humanities Department; the time to rest, relax and be satisfied is never quite so at the ICA… Thank God!”17
The Olga M. and Carlos Saladrigas Gallery Humberto Calzada Selected Works: 1992-2010 Exhibit on display during the fall semester of 2011. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Jonathan Amaro-Barrón (‘14), Lourdes Artiz (Lourdes ‘13), the children, and nuns in scenes from The Sound of Music persented at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater in March of 2012. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Cuban singer Lucrecia, the Belen Jesuit Jazz Band, and Florida Chamber Orchestra conducted by Maestro Marlene Urbay perform at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theateron on October 8 th, 2011, as part of the Belen Jesuit Cultural Series. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Mathematics Department Chair Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68) with students at the campus in Little Havana. Photograph from Echoes, 1977.
Mathematics, Computer Science/Technology
Mathematics at Belen Jesuit was an integral part of the curriculum since the school opened its doors at the Centro Hispano Católico in September of 1961. During the 1960s, several Jesuit priests and scholastics taught mathematics courses at the school. Among these were: Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) and Fr. Ricardo Moreyra, SJ, as well as Jesuit scholastics Alberto García, SJ, Francisco Javier López, SJ, and Carlos García-Carreras, SJ. Lay faculty member Henry Díaz also taught mathematics at the school (1967-1971). When Belen Jesuit President Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ formalized the academic department structure in 1972, Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68) served as the first chair of the Mathematics Department (1974-1977). In 1977, Carol Ann Vila, strated her tenure as mathematics chair, a positon in which she remained until 2001. At Belen Jesuit in Little Havana, students took classes in algebra, geometry, algebra II/trigonometry, and pre-calculus. For Mrs. Vila, who started teaching at the school in 1975, mathematics had its own kind of beauty beyond the mechanics of the discipline. In the 1982 Echoes, she stated:
“There is an obvious renewal of interest in mathematics today due to society’s preoccupation with computer literacy. But, I would like to see a renewed attitude towards mathematics in
the sense that I want my students to become aware that mathematics has its own kind of beauty and appeal to any person who is willing to look. Some very beautiful and elegant results in mathematics are no more than that- they have virtually no practical application. But is it not enough to be beautiful and elegant? A great mathematician of the twentieth century, G.H. Hardy, said: A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.”1
Carol Ann Vila’s experience at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana is an example of the positive, cultural interaction, which the school facilitated for its students by integrating not only lay teachers into their faculty but also those who had been born in the United States. She was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she had studied with the Religious of the Assumption. Mrs. Vila came to Miami as a young teacher to work with the Order of the Assumption sisters at Assumption Academy on Brickell Avenue. While teaching at the school, the sisters asked her to also consider teaching at Belen Jesuit part-time to help the Jesuits enhance their mathematics faculty. Mrs. Vila agreed and traveled to Little Havana several times a week to teach mathematics to Belen Jesuit students.; however, in 1975, Assumption Academy closed, and Mrs. Vila then transferred to teach mathematics as well as science at Belen Jesuit full-time. The comprehensive involvement of the CubanAmerican families at the school impressed Mrs. Vila:
“I was taken aback by how the parents worked and contributed to the school. I was also impressed in how involved they were with the education of their sons. If at any time, I found that a student was having challenges and I would contact the parents, they were always ready to listen and do what was necessary to help. If the issue with a student happened to be behavior-related, I remember a father’s assurance, ‘Do not worry Mrs. Vila, tomorrow you will see a different student in your class.’ Sure enough, the next day, I found that the student had developed a new attitude, and their behavior issues were under control. The parent’s participation in school events has also impressed me as well as their support for the school’s development. It has also been quite rewarding, throughout the years, to receive visits from former students, which happen squite often. I tell you, we
are at a special place here, and we have been blessed with special students and families.”2
The Mathematics Department’s faculty members carried out extensive work during the years that the school resided at its campus in Little Havana. The department’s programs grew and its course offerings were expanded once the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade. At the new campus, during the 1982-1983 academic year, Belen Jesuit held its first Math Fair. The event included scores of projects based on various aspects of mathematics and computer science. Students also had the opportunity to explore many interesting subjects such as math anxiety, origami, and tangrams. According to Chair Carol Ann Vila, the students showed their interest, creativity, and love of mathematics in preparing their projects for the fair.3 John Bradley (‘83), Jorge Vasseur (‘86), Alberto Gross (‘86), and Enrique Quintero (‘88) earned first place awards at the Math Fair (1982-1983). The following year (1983-1984), the sophomore projects were highly
commendable. Given their experience from the previous year, the sophomore projects included “creative construction” and one about Charles Babbage. Javier Rodríguez (‘85), Gian Zumpano (‘86), Andrés de Armas (‘86), Alberto Gross (‘86), and Miguel Berástegui (‘87) earned first place awards at the Math Fair (1983-1984).
Since Belen Jesuit’s arrival at its new campus in West Miami-Dade, the Jesuit administration had been making an effort to acquire computers for the school. The process did not take long, and as early as the third academic year at the new campus (1983-1984), the school opened a computer lab. The following year (1984-1985), the Mathematics Department also introduced computer courses into the regular class schedule. Students soon started to learn about the newest technology, and Mathematics Department Chair Carol Ann Vila was pleased to see students acquiring computer skills. About the new classes, she stated:
“It is quite remarkable! Kids who had never taken a computer class before are now designing complex computer programs.”4
As part of continuing to foster student interest in computers, Carol Ann Vila also chose to serve as faculty advisor to the Computer Club at the school. During the 1985-1986 academic year, the Computer Club, under the leadership of Juan Barinaga (‘86), met to discuss contemporary advances in the computer field of study, as well as sponsored trips to a Computer EXPO, and they toured the IBM Center in Coral Gables.5 The success of the original computer science curriculum and the desire to take computer and technology learning at the school to the next level also prompted Mrs. Vila to consider establishing new and advanced courses for high school students. She soon suggested to the administration that the department should offer computer courses
Mathematics Department Chair Carol Vila, with Math Fair (1982-1983) First Place Winners John Bradley (‘83), Jorge Vasseur (‘86), Alberto Gross (‘86), and Enrique Quintero (‘88). Photograph from Echoes, 1983. The original Belen Jesuit Computer Lab established during the 1983-1984 academic year. Photograph from Echoes, 1984.
in programming languages such as BASIC and PASCAL. Both languages were soon offered as electives to junior and senior students, taught by both Mrs. Vila and mathematics faculty member Miriam CamboMartínez.6 During the 1987-1988 academic year, in addition to teaching the two programming languages, an advanced placement computer science course was also made available to seniors.7
the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS), which competed in mathematics, engineering, and technology-related knowledge events such as the Nova Convention at Nova University, where students Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97), Carlos Artime (‘97), Alexis Mantecón (‘97), Ahmed Riesgo (‘97), Marco Ciocca (‘97), Albert Parlade (‘97), and Arturo Balandra (‘97) received the first place team award.10
For the 1996-1997 academic year, Mathematics Department Chair
Carol Ann Vila also became director of technology at Belen Jesuit. That year, the school implemented the use of Texas Instruments graphic calculators into the advanced mathematics curriculum for the tenth through twelfth grade. With the approval of Belen Jesuit President/ Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, Mrs. Vila developed a technology plan for Belen Jesuit that included a clear-cut vision of how technology was to help the overall mission of educating young men at the school:
pects of daily living, from the perspective of striving for intellectual competence and openness to growth, it is essential that Belen Jesuit’s students and faculty have access to, and utilize technology seamlessly in their educational endeavors. Preparation for higher learning and leadership for the future demand a facility and skill with multimedia technologies. Jesuit apostolates have a long tradition of keeping abreast of, and utilizing as much as possible, the cultural and technological developments of each era and society in which they are situated. It is fundamental to the Jesuit character and vision that teaching and learning at Belen Jesuit incorporate multimedia and cutting edge educational technologies.”11
“As a Jesuit school, Belen strives to form young men who are intellectually competent, open to growth, loving, religious and committed to doing justice. The school aims at both academic excellence and the growth of the whole person in its task of preparing young men for university and subsequent leadership in the community. In a world which increasingly communicates through multimedia, and in which technology usage is influencing all as- Computer Club President Juan Barinaga (‘86) works on a new Apple computer as part of the clubs activities.
Photograph from Echoes, 1986.
Varsity Math Club members who competed in the Algrebra II team
Alan García (‘92), Felipe Agüel (‘92), Jorge Serrat (‘92), and Raúl Planas (‘92) with Faculty advisor Carol Ann Vila. Not pictured Federico Mas (‘92).
Photograph from Echoes, 1991.
In addition to faculty members Carol Ann Vila and Miriam Cambo-Martínez, over the years that the school has been at its new campus in West Miami-Dade, several other faculty members served in the Mathematics and/or Computer Science Department including José Roca (‘84), María Hewett, Humberto Adán (‘77), Teresita Campos, Brenda Naranjo Ross, Mario Remis, Edward Garland, Soraya Herrán, María Fiorenza, Adriana Suárez Delgado, Juan Flores (‘70), Olga Ramón, Ulises Orduñez, Gisela Vichot, José del Dago, Miguel Couto, Eugene Cruz, Diana Fernández, Julio Forte, Charles Curry, Germán Delgado (‘90), Gehovanny Pérez, Ana Suárez, Michael Crudele (‘73), and Dolores Toledo. The highly-qualified faculty worked to raise students’ knowledge and understanding of mathematics as well as their college entrance SAT scores. The results were increasingly better year after year.8
During the 1988-1989 academic year, under the guidance of Carol Ann Vila, students began to participate in a Math Club, which competed in several local tournaments. Composed of teams competing in Algebra I and Algebra II, the Math Club applied for national charter (1990-1991) at the Coral Gables State Invitational Tournament, and Federico Mas (‘92) won first place for Algebra II. While representing the Algebra I team, David Jiménez (‘94) won second place representing at several regional tournaments. The Math Club also took on a service component and offered tutoring to Belen Jesuit students who were struggling in math. The Math Club was also advised by Belen Jesuit faculty member Mario Remis.9 With some of the students that participated in the Math Club, Carol Ann Vila also established
The following year (1997-1998), Carol Ann Vila began implementing a plan to augment the use of technology in the classrooms at Belen Jesuit. For this purpose, classrooms were equipped with an individual computer, a seventy-inch Smart Board® and access to the Internet. For the Mathematics Department, the interactive Smart Board® and additional technology facilitated their ability to teach. It also allowed them to employ programs such as Microsoft Excel for teaching statistics and to use the internet to enhance their lessons. Also that year (1998-1999), Mathematics Department Chair Carol Ann Vila and faculty member Adriana Suárez Delgado established a chapter of the math honor society, Mu Alpha Theta at the school. Students in Mu Alpha Theta would have 3.5+ cumulative grade point average (GPA), and had to be enrolled in an honors level mathematics class. Students also started to represent the school at various math competitions across the state.12
For the 2000-2001 academic year, José Roca (‘84) took over as the chair of the Mathematics Department. During his tenure as department chair (2000-2009), and for the 2013-2014 academic year, Mr. Roca and other mathematics faculty members attended local, state, and national conferences to keep up with the latest teaching and learning techniques available in mathematics. Mr. Roca and Director of Technology Carol Ann Vila, who was still teaching the department’s advanced placement courses, developed two honors courses for senior students: Honors Math Analysis and Honors Statistics.13 Mrs. Vila was also responsible for the computer science education curriculum and its faculty members.
For the 2002-2003 academic year, computer science/technology became its own department with Carol Ann Vila serving as both the department’s chair and as the director of technology for the school. The rest of the department included three Belen Jesuit alumni who had
joined the faculty at the school: Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97), Augusto Venegas (‘85), and Germán Delgado (‘90) as well as María Gandarillas. Classes included learning basic computer skills, including the Microsoft Office Suite programs, for two semesters during the middle school years. In high school, courses in Web Page Design, Honors Computer Science and Advanced Placement Computer Science were also offered to students. For the 2013-2014 academic year, the computer science faculty joined the Mathematics Department faclty under one academic department.
During the summer of 2009, the space occupied by the Guillermo F. Kohly Auditorium on the second floor of the school’s Miguel B.
Alexis Mantecón (‘97), Arturo Balandra (‘97), Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97), Ahmed Riesgo (‘97), Carlos Artime (‘97), Marco Ciocca (‘97), Albert Parlade (‘97), faculty advisor Carol Ann Vila and her daughter Elizabeth Vila. Photograph from Echoes, 1996.
Math JETS junior varsity team members
Webpage design faculty member Germán Delgado (‘90), with his class as they navigate through the new school website released during the 20092010 academic year.
Photograph from Echoes, 2010.
Mathematics Department Chair José Roca (‘84) teaching students. Photograph from Echoes, 2004.
Fernández and Family Main Building went through a major renovation and was reworked to house the Carlos M. Barañano Technology Center, the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center, and the College Counseling offices. The technology center, named after Colegio de Belén alumnus Carlos M. Barañano (‘52), was designed by Director of Technology Carol Ann Vila after visiting the technology facilities of other South Florida schools. The center houses the school’s campus-wide network that links the administration building, the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library, the computer labs, the counseling center, the science pavilion, the faculty and staff offices, faculty room, Roberto Goizueta Athletic Center, and all campus classrooms. The center has a secure server room, open office space for the technology team, a work area for faculty and staff a conference room, a set-up, staging, and maintenance area, and technology library/reading room. The center also houses the Desktop Publishing Center, the Web Page Design Lab, the Middle School Resource Center and the Computer Science Lab. In addition, each classroom and computer lab within the Carlos M. Barañano Technology Center have a ceiling mounted projector and a Smart Board®.
During the 2009-2010 academic year, after almost two years of project planning and work, Belen Jesuit launched a new school website with not only a better look than what it originally had, but also with many interactive features which helped every academic department, as well as athletics, communicate with parents and students more efficiently. Parents and students had access to homework assignments, which faculty members posted, athletic schedules, club meetings times, lunch menus, and an increased amount of information about programs, activities, and events at the school. The website had a consistent webpage for each department with contact information for all administrators, faculty and staff members, as well as coaches. Some of
the departments also used the website to display historical information about activities such as clubs, programs and accolades. Students could also access the card catalog at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library and carry out research using the library’s databases. The website also allowed for departments and administrators to establish blogs or news feeds which they could update as often as they wanted. Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) established a blog on the main Academics section, which he updated with inspirational stories recounting his years at Belen Jesuit and some of the school news and announcements. About the website Carol Ann Vila stated:
“The website really captures the essence of how we function here at our school, the photos also being the real strength of our web page.”14
For the 2009-2010 academic year, Miguel Couto took over as Chair of the Mathematics Department. He served as chair of the department until 2013, when José Roca (‘84) returned to serve as chair of the department once again. The department’s faculty members have adopted a well-defined mission:
“Keenly aware of their responsibility to prepare students for a world immersed in and dependent on technology, the members of the Mathematics Department strive to develop in each student a strong foundation in computational, analytical, and reasoning skills. The department acknowledges the changing complexion of mathematics education, specifically a greater focus on the useful and relevant applications of mathematics and a lesser emphasis on purely computational skills. Motivated by these considerations, a great effort is made by the department to foster and promote an integrated and interdisciplinary curriculum. The members of the department recognize the ever-increasing role of computers and hand held-graphing calculators/computers in facilitating the mathematics education of today’s students.”15
In carrying out their missions, the faculty and staff of both the mathematics and the computer science and technology departments at the school continue to use the Carlos M. Barañano Technology Center to foster student interest in the study of both of these well-developed disciplines at the school. The establishment of the Mu Alpha Theta Honor Society and the Robotics Clubs also offer avenues for students to pursue their interest and apply the knowledge learned in their mathematics and computer science courses, while participating in competitive activities that earn them individual as well as school recognition.
During the 2009-2010 academic year, the Belen Jesuit administration decided to survey parents and ask if they would be interested in Belen Jesuit implementing an Apple iPad Program with the goal of buying some or all student textbooks and supplementary reading materials from the iBook Store. The rationale behind the survey was the administration’s belief that students needed to continue to utilize educationally appropriate technology to enhance their thought and problem‐solving skills. The Apple iPad Program would allow for them to continuously use multiple resources to access, evaluate, process, and communicate information. Moreover, faculty members would also be able to integrate information technologies into every aspect of school life, and model the appropriate use of technology so that students could continue to see it as a useful learning tool. Lastly, the Apple iPad Program would virtually eliminate most of the textbook weight load that students carried in what for some ended up being multiple backpacks. The favorable response from students, parents, faculty, and staff then led the Technology Department to develop a plan for implementing a One‐to‐One Program at Belen Jesuit using the Apple iPad device. The changes included converting the school‐wide platform to Apple Macintosh. The conversion would also require outfitting every classroom, school resource center, computer lab, the Communication Arts and Multimedia Center, and the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library with new Apple devices, as well as providing every faculty member with an iPad. Moreover, implementing the Apple iPad Program meant also putting into effect a comprehensive One‐to‐One Staff Development Program to help faculty, staff and students both during the transition, as well as going forward in using the new platform to best emphasize learning. The Apple iPad Program was implemented after the celebration of the school’s Golden Jubilee, during the 2012-2013 academic year. The Belen Jesuit administration and the Technology Department look forward to new ways that the entire Belen Jesuit community will be improved by this innovative step in teaching and learning.
Mathematics
Department Chair
Miguel Couto teaches inverse functions to his students. Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
Anthony Monzón (‘12) and George Mulet (‘12) work on the new Apple Mac editing suites to edit footage for their fi lm class. Photograph from Echoes, 2012.
Mu Alpha Theta members Rafael Romero (‘07), Daniel Urgelles (‘07), Marcello Delgado (‘07), and Julio Egusquiza (‘06) won fi rst place at the Felix Varela Regional Competition on February 8 th, 2003, for the fi rst time in the team’s history. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Mu Alpha Theta
During the 1998-1999 academic year, Mathematics Department Chair Carol Ann Vila and faculty member Adriana Suárez Delgado established a chapter of the Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Honor Society at the school. Mrs. Suárez Delgado and faculty member Gisell Rodríguez served as faculty advisors to the honor society and accompanied students at local, regional, and national competitions. The Mu Alpha Theta Honor Society recognized students who had excelled in mathematics, who had a 3.5+ cumulative grade point average (GPA), and who enrolled in honors-level mathematics courses. Students who met the requirements were offered membership into the honor society. As part of the society community service requirements, Mu Alpha Theta members mentored students who were struggling in mathematics and represented the school at local, regional, and national Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics competitions. Club members competed in six categories: Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, and Statistics.
During the 2001-2002 academic year, Adriana Suárez Delgado took the Mu Alpha Theta team to compete at the spring of 2002 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Regional Math Competition. The Algebra I team, composed of Frank Manes (‘05), Azael Ortega (‘05), Javier Peral (‘05), and Andrew Guasch (‘05), placed third.16 At the Flanagan High School Regional Competition, the pre-calculus team competed against thirty-seven schools and won fifth place. Also during the fall, at the Lincoln Park Invitational, Daniel Baquerizo (‘03) placed fourth out of 158 participants in the individual pre-calculus competition.17 The following year (2002-2003), the team traveled to Naples, where on January 11th, 2003, Julio Egusquiza (‘06) competed against members from thirty-five schools, and placed tenth at the Naples High School Mu Alpha Theta Tournament.18 Then, on February 8th, 2003, at the Felix Varela Regional Competition, and for the first time in the team’s history, the Belen Jesuit Mu Alpha Theta Algebra I team composed of Julio Egusquiza (‘06), Marcello Delgado (‘07), Rafael Romero (‘07), and Daniel Urgelles (‘07) competed against representatives from nine other schools, and won the first place team trophy at the competition. Romero also excelled by walking away with a first place individual trophy amongst thirty students who competed. Egusquiza, as well as Romero, also earned individual trophies when they placed eighth and eleventh respectively. Moreover, the geometry team made up by Andrew Guasch (‘05), Frank Manes (‘05), Miguel Mármol (‘05), and Javier Peral (‘05), competed against representatives from fifteen schools and placed third in the competition. Guasch also walked away with an individual trophy when he placed sixth in the competition amongst seventy-two students. About the Felix Varela Regional Tournament faculty advisor Adriana Suárez Delgado recalled:
“We were elated that day! It is impossible to explain how much work and study goes into one of these competitions. There are many kids, all competing and taking tests for hours, and then you wait for the tabulations. Many times they had placed within the top ten, but we had never attained the first place position. On that day, the work put forth by Julio Egusquiza (‘06), Marcello Delgado (‘07), Rafael Romero (‘07), and
Daniel Urgelles (‘07) was spectacular, and we celebrated because it was a worthy accomplishment! I had no idea, however, what these four wonderful competitors had in store for me the following year.”19
Also during that year, Daniel Baquerizo (‘03) won a contest where he and a sponsor received free registration and air fare to the Mu Alpha Theta National Competition held in Starkville, Mississippi for the summer of 2003. At the conference, Baquerizo competed for five days by taking tests whose scores were being compared to other gifted math students from across the United States. At the national competition, Baquerizo placed seventh in the Equations and Inequalities category, seventh in Functions, ninth in Geometry, fourteenth in Trigonometry, and thirteenth in the scavenger hunt.20
The following academic year (2003-2004), the Algebra I team that had won first place at the Felix Varela Regional Tournament in 2003, also won first place at the same regional tournament, but this time the team also accomplished their first place win in the Geometry category. To attain their first place win as a team, the geometry group composed of Julio Egusquiza (‘06), Marcello Delgado (‘07), Rafael Romero (‘07), and Daniel Urgelles (‘07), competed against forty-three schools and received individual trophies for first, seventh, and eighth place out of ninety-eight students. Moreover, the 2004 Algebra I team, consisting of Nicolás de la Fuente (‘07), Oscar Londoño (‘08), and Andrés Simauchi (‘08) finished fourth overall and received trophies for fifth, eighth and twelfth place. Also at the Felix Varela Regional Tournament in 2004, the Algebra II team composed of David Sotto (‘06), Anthony Vega (‘06), Christopher Melley (‘06) and Andrew Valdés (‘06) placed fifth overall and Sotto and Vega earned trophies from amongst 192 students who competed. The Belen Jesuit Mu Alpha Theta chapter received a fifth place trophy for their overall work at the Felix Varela Regional Tournament (2004). On January 10th, 2004, at the Mu Alpha Theta Regional Competition at Naples High School, the geometry team composed of Romero, Egusquiza, and Urgelles also won first place, receiving individual trophies for first, fifth, and eighth place respectively. The Algebra I Team composed of José Arredondo (‘07), Oscar Londoño (‘08), Andrés Simauchi (‘08), and Alexander Egusquiza (‘08) won fourth place. Arredondo also received the ninth place individual trophy. Lastly, Peter Pidermann (‘06) placed fifteenth in the Algebra II category and won an individual trophy.
For the 2006-2007 academic year, mathematics faculty members Miguel Couto and José Del Dago joined Mu Alpha Theta faculty advisor Adriana Suárez Delgado as moderators of the National Honor Society and competitive team. That year, at the Regional Competition in Naples, Florida, the Algebra I team composed of Adam Incera (‘12), Pablo Velásquez (‘12), Jonás Egusquiza (‘12) and Jeremy Martínez (‘12) earned the second place trophy. Incera also won first place in Algebra I for the entire competition. In February of 2008, at the Miami Sunset High School Regional Competition, Luis Navarro (‘09) competed in pre-calculus, and earned the fifth place trophy for the entire competition. Mrs. Suárez Delgado served as Mu Alpha Theta faculty advisor until 2010. Mr. Del Dago and Mr. Couto continued to advise the club until 2011, as the team continued to excel, enjoyed problem solving, and participated in the excitement of competition. Since 2012, the organization has continued to represent Belen Jesuit at various math competitions across the state under the guidance of faculty advisors Eugene Cruz and Gisela Vichot.
Faculty advisors Miguel Couto, Adriana Suárez Delgado, and José del Dago with the Mu Alpha Theta banner; members Tulio ÁlvarezBurgos (‘08), Juan Cárdenas (‘09), Andrés Simauchi (‘08), and Oscar Londoño (‘08) at the National Competition in 2008, in Tampa, Florida. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Robotics Club members,
first row, left to right: Daniel Tejeda (‘16), Edward Concepción (‘11), Christian Palomo (‘11), Robert LópezMolina (‘11). Second row: Jorge Vélez (‘11), Alexander Alepuz (‘16), Robert Espinosa (‘16), John Hermida (‘16), Rafael Cariello (‘15), and Rafael Mármol (‘16). Third row: Daniel Portuondo (‘16), Ryan Torres (‘16), Michael Gonclaves (‘17), Adrián Alepuz (‘14), and Gilbert Serein (‘11). Fourth Row: Ricardo Rodríguez (‘12), Nicolás Novoa (‘12), César Sánchez (‘12), José Silva (‘13), Christopher Silva (‘11), Ernesto Scerpella (‘11), and Jorge Orbay (‘13). Photograph from Echoes, 2011.
Robotics
The Robotics Club was established at Belen Jesuit in 2000 by faculty member Luis del Río, as a joint effort with another such team at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. In 2002, computer science faculty member Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97) also began to serve as faculty advisor to Robotics. The goal of the club was to have students learn and practice the fundamentals of engineering. At first, the club participated exclusively in the FIRST Robotics’ (USFirst.org) FRC competition, but later expanded to participate in numerous robotics organizations, as members designed and implemented robotic solutions to everchanging game rule sets. For the 2003-2004 academic year, faculty members Mr. del Río and Mr. Santa Cruz guided Robotics members in their work withthe Our Lady of Lourdes Academy Robotics team. Together, the teams assembled the “Nu Beginning” robot machine that competed at Cordis. Science faculty member Carlos Bravo (‘86) also served as the club’s assistant director, while Mr.
Santa Cruz served as its programming advisor. For the 2004-2005 academic year, under the guidance of Mr. Santa Cruz and computer science faculty member María Gandarillas, the team built a robot whose main objective was to scoop balls into a bin and dump them into a receptacle. The robot was built in eight weeks and competed at the Robotics Florida Regional Competition on March 10th-12th, 2005 at the University of Florida Arena. The Wolverine robot placed eleventh out fifty-two robots that participated in the competition.21
The 2006-2007 Robotics team competed in March of 2007 at the Robotics Florida Regional Competition held at the University of Florida. The team also competed at the National Competition held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. Under the guidance of faculty advisor Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97), the “Wolcats” team built a robot that used a telescoping arm to pick up and raise inner tubes, known as rig-
gers, one-hundred feet in the air and place them on a tower located in the center of a field. The robot, known as “Gatorchomp,” was able to travel five feet per second in low gear and eleven feet per second in high gear. With the “Gatorchomp,” the “Wolcats” team made it to the semi-final round at the Florida Regional Competition.22 For the 2007-2008 academic year, Mr. Santa Cruz helped the club expand to create two teams that competed in the FIRST’s FTC competition. The Robotics teams also participated in the BotsIQ and Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competitions. That year, students also attended the BotsIQ World Championship in San Francisco, California. Later, the club members also focused their efforts on competing in the VEX World Championship. Belen Jesuit has both high school and a middle school team that has already attended one regional championship competition (the Disney All-Stars Championship), where they advanced to the quarter-finals before succumbing to the fierce competition. The team developed a fifteen pound Battlebot to represent Belen Jesuit with state-of-the-art materials and techniques.23
One of the robots, built by the 2008-2009 Robotics team, attempted to simulate a low gravity environment such as that on the moon, by
using low friction surfaces on both the wheels and the field surface. During the competition, a human player would throw “moon rocks” into the robot’s basket, and the robot would also pick up the moon rocks off the field floor to score points against opposing robots. The team ranked seventh at the Florida Regional Competition.24
During the 2010-2011 academic year, the Robotics Club organized a world qualifying competition at Belen Jesuit, the first of its kind held in South Florida. Faculty members Julián de Zulueta and Freddy Elorza also joined the Robotics Club as faculty advisors to help Mr. Santa Cruz with the team. That year, the Robotics Club expanded once again to include a freshman team. Members also qualified to participate in a VEX World Championship Tournament where they competed against teams from China and other countries.25
During the 2011-2012 academic year, two of the Belen Jesuit Robotics teams earned excellence awards for their robots which qualified them to compete at the VEX World Championship event. At this international competitive event, students had the opportunity to compete against world-class robots and learned what it takes to compete at a more advanced level. The Robotics teams at the school continue to work hard in the new engineering room allocated to them at the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA) facility, where they build robots and meet twice a week to prepare for competitions.
Faculty advisor Julián de Zulueta and club members during a competition at Belen Jesuit in 2010. Photograph from Echoes, 2011.
Brandon Villena (‘12) practices with a robot built for competition. Photograph from Echoes, 2012.
1980.
MODERN LANGUAGES
Since the first year that Belen Jesuit was reestablished at the Centro Hispano Católico (1961-1962), the school offered courses in Modern Languages, particularly in Spanish, which at the time was the native language of most of its students. The Belen Jesuit administration also subscribed to its students being more than just fullybilingual, and proposed as part of its mission that its students would be completely bicultural. The idea was that although students would acclimate and become fully acculturated into their new surroundings in the United States, they would also preserve a high regard for their native language as well as for their Hispanic cultural heritage. During the 1960s, Fr. Francisco Barbeito, SJ and Fr. Luis M. Oraá, SJ taught Spanish and Spanish Literature at the school; however, courses were also offered in other languages such as Latin, which Principal Fr. Jesús M. Nuevo, SJ and Jesuit scholastics Alfredo Cuadrado, SJ and Román Espadas, SJ taught until 1968. Several Jesuits also taught
courses in French during the 1960s , including Rector, Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ, Fr. Otto Martínez, SJ, and Fr. José Luis Lanz, SJ (‘48).
In the 1970s, after additional lay faculty members began to teach at the school, several of them taught in the Modern Languages Department including: Jimmy Pérez, Aurelio Baldor, Berta Álvarez, María Pérez Paredes, Alfonso Pesant, and Beatriz Jiménez.
Jimmy Pérez, who began teaching Spanish at the school in 1971, served as the first chair of the Modern Languages Department (1974-1978). Mr. Pérez taught Spanish at the school and, since 1979, has also served as one of its disciplinarians.1 In 1978, Aurelio Baldor started his tenure as chair of the Modern Languages Department, a position in which he remained until 1990. During the years that the school was at its campus in Little Havana, the Modern Languages Department continued to teach Spanish I and II, French I and II, as well as Spanish Culture and Spanish Literature. Mr. Baldor also established a well-defined mission for the study of languages at the school. He communicated that mission in the Echoes yearbook, when he stated:
“Communication is an essential objective of any language instruction. However, at Belen, we understand that communication in a language must go hand in hand with a study of its culture. We aim at developing in our students the ability to communicate in more than one language and know the culture, history, and ideals of the country’s language also. In our multicultural society, this is a challenge all of us must face. Knowing the culture of others, as well as our own, will bring a better understanding of all groups. Hopefully, by all of us working together, we will aim for a better and more harmonious way of life, based on trust, respect, and knowledge of each other.”
In line with the department’s mission, the study of languages other than English at the school not only aimed to improve the students’ communication skills in a particular language, but also dedicated part of their efforts to teach the culture and history behind the language. When the school was at its campus in Little Havana, the department
incorporated culture and history through school activities and events such as Cuban Culture Week (1976-1977), which the department carried out as a combined effort with the Social Studies Department’s Centro de Estudios de Latino América y del Caribe (CELAC).3 In an effort to expose students to the rich and heterogeneous cultures of Spanish-speaking countries, during the 1979-1980 academic year, the Modern Languages Department launched what was to become an ongoing event at Belen Jesuit. First called the Spanish Fair, the event included a Spanish spelling bee and a literary contest, for which students submitted poetry and short stories. Spanish Fair projects also included posters and models with Spanish themes. The following year, the event’s name was changed to the Languages Fair. Years later, it would become the Modern Languages Fair.
Once the school reached its new campus in West Miami-Dade, the Modern Languages Department, whose bilingual and bicultural mission had played a large role in the school’s Intercultural Center Campaign to build the new campus, continued to work toward encouraging student interest in bilingual and bicultural activities. To this end, the department continued to carry out the Modern Languages Fair, which was expanded to include a verb contest, a poster contest, a slogan contest, and a reading competition, as well as the established literary-creative writing contest, which included poetry, short-stories, and essays. Students submitted their projects to the
Dade County Fair & Exposition competition, where they received awards. Historically, the Belen Jesuit Modern Languages projects that competed at the fair earned some of highest commendations awarded to area’s schools that participate in the event.4 Modern Language students have also submitted entries to the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition Spanish Creative Writing Contest, with entries by Belen Jesuit students reaching over 780 in 2011. Moreover, students have also competed in the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition Middle School Performing Arts Tournament, earning accolades that included several special awards with perfect scores.
Since 1983, the Modern Languages Fair also began to offer the event as an Open House for parents and families. Over the years, the fair has been held to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month, and has grown in scope as well as in the amount of visitors, becoming a celebration of language and cultures. Held at the school’s central patio, the fair includes dramatic performances that feature skits in Spanish and French, as well as the sounds of music and the tasting of foods from both Spanish and French-speaking countries.
In addition to holding the Modern Languages Fair, faculty member Beatriz Jiménez also helped students found a Spanish Club, which she later reworked into the ALPHA Club. ALPHA's initials stand for Art, Literature, Photography, Humanities, and Acting.
Faculty members Jimmy Pérez, Aurelio Baldor, and María Elena Cartaya discuss students projects at the first Belen Jesuit Spanish Fair (19791980). Photograph from Echoes,
The first members of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica at Belen Jesuit included President Rolando Fernández (‘85), Roberto Pupo (‘85), Albert Marrero (85), Carlos Muñiz (‘85), Francisco García (‘85), Antonio Castro (‘86) Peter Quirós (‘86), and Joseph Zumpano (‘87) with faculty advisor Aurelio Baldor. Photograph from Echoes, 1985.
Modern Languages Department Faculty
María Elena Cartaya, Marta Vidal, and Gisela León traveled to Europe with students during the summer of 2006. Among many places, the group visited the Cathedral at Notre Dame. Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
Modern Languages Department Faculty
María Elena Cartaya with students dressed for the Modern Languages Fair during the 20012002 academic year.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
For the 1984-1985 academic year, Modern Languages Department Chair Aurelio Baldor established the Fr. José Rubinos, SJ Chapter of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (Spanish Honor Society) at the school. The Sociedad offered membership to students who maintained a 3.0 average or higher in Spanish courses and who not only showed interest in the study of the Spanish language, but who also were interested in providing service to others. Th roughout the years, under the guidance of faculty advisors Aurelio Baldor, Rafael Ledesma, Lourdes Arteaga, Beatriz Jiménez, Juan Vázquez, and Annette Antón, the Sociedad’s members carried out Christmas toy drives for the children of migrant workers in Homestead, helped to tutor students that were struggling with Spanish after school,8 and helped to raise enough funds to take care of disadvantaged children in the Dominican Republic. 9 The Sociedad also raised funds to purchase the fl ags of all Latin American countries which were displayed during Hispanic Heritage Week’s “Día de la Raza” and the Modern Languages Fair. Each year, the Sociedad also awarded the Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ Literary Award to a Modern Languages Fair essay worthy of recognition.10
Throughout the years that Belen Jesuit has been at its campus in West Miami-Dade, many faculty members have taught Modern Languages at the school including: Aurelio Baldor, Beatriz Jiménez, María Maura Aspuru, Lourdes Arteaga, Lourdes Togores, Dora Haibi, Rafael Ledesma, Mirna Jiménez, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), Fr. Francisco Lemus, SJ (‘49), Marta Vidal, Gisela León, María Isabel Alonso, Alicia Fariñas, Juan Vázquez, María Cristina Reyes-García, Annette Antón, Susan López, Adabel Díaz-Rivera, Margarita Guerrero, Leandra Novoa, María Sánchez-Gallardo, and Marlissa Sánchez. After Aurelio Baldor’s departure in 1990, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) served as Chair of the Modern Languages Department until 1995. At that time, the department required students to take Spanish from sixth through tenth grade. During the last two years of high school, students had the option of taking Spanish or French as elective courses.
During 1992, members from the Colegio de Belén’s class of 1942, who were celebrating their fiftieth alumni reunion, committed to
support Belen Jesuit and its Modern Languages Chair Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) in establishing a language lab at the school. The language lab offered a dedicated classroom where students could use auditory devices to practice the study of languages. By May 19th, 1993, the Modern Languages Lab was in full operation, and Fr. Cartaya carried out the official blessing, which Gonzalo Lage (‘42), Pablo Carreño (‘42), José Hernández (‘42), and Fernando Jiménez (‘42), attended. Alumni and their wives tried the new equipment at the thirty workstations/cubicles that had been installed in the language lab.11 Also during 1992, Fr. Cartaya collaborated with faculty members Rafael Ledesma, Sylvia Hernández, and Cristina Castro to form a committee that published twenty-three short stories, thirtyseven poems in both Spanish and English, and five illustrations to convey the 500th anniversary of the Discovery of America, which also included history about the colonization of the Americas, as well as Jesuit work in Paraguay and Florida.12
For the 1995-1996 academic year, Assistant Principal for Development Beatriz Jiménez also began serving as Chair of the Modern Languages Department, a position in which she remained until 2009. During the 1996-1997 academic year, Mrs. Jiménez organized a Spanish State Team to participate in the Florida State Spanish Conference competition, where students competed against one-hundred schools in twelve different categories. Mrs. Jiménez served as advisor to the team until 2006, when it came under the guidance of faculty advisor Juan Vázquez. In 2009, the Spanish State Team came under the guidance of María Cristina Reyes-García and Annette Antón. Through-
out its history, Belen Jesuit students participating in the Spanish State Team have attained the state championship eight out of ten times.
Beatriz Jiménez’s work throughout the school continued to place great emphasis on the school’s bicultural environment. In February of 2000, the school’s bicultural environment was praised by Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ when he visited the school:
“You are privileged because you share elements from two cultures: Hispanic and North American. Hence, you have the responsibility to synthesize the two strongest cultures of this continent and extend bridges for communication between both of them. Do not underestimate the elements of either culture, and do not allow either to be ignored, or much less never have one confront the other. I do not doubt that you will be faithful to your roots in constructing your own cultural identity within the context of that in which you have been called to live. Belen is in this sense an interesting platform for a bicultural encounter. While it transmits North American culture, it also does not renounce its Hispanic identity, evident in the library’s Cuban Collection, in its insistence on preserving the Spanish language, and in maintaining the tra-
Belen
members Julián Esain (‘15), Roberto Antón (‘12), Henry Sosa (‘12), René Negrón (‘12), Javier Guerrero (‘15), Miguel Angarita (‘15), Lorenzo Guio (‘14), Salvador Juncadella (‘12), Andrés Manzanares (‘13), Sergio Leos (‘13), Adrián Montoto (‘13), Alfredo Ramírez (‘13), Ignacio Pérez (‘15), Gabriel Pertierra (‘12), Diego Annell (‘13), and John Pendas (‘13) with faculty advisor Annette Antón and Department Chair María Cristina Reyes-García. Photograph from Echoes, 2012.
Modern Languages Fair at the Garrido Family Plaza in 2012. Photograph from the
Jesuit Archives. Spanish State Team
The cover of the
Ateneo Literary Magazine drawn by hand; Beatriz Jiménez works with Spanish Club members on an upcoming performance. Photographs from Echoes, 1985.
ditions born out of its Colegio de Belén in Havana, as is also its interest in meteorology and astronomy. For the Society of Jesus, intercultural dialogue is an essential dimension of its mission, for it is in the diversity in human cultural experiences that we want to make the Gospel real through the liberating presence of Christ.”13
The words of the Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ inspired the Modern Languages Department in its mission as well as in its bicultural activities. During the 2000-2001 academic year, the tenth grade Spanish class and Beatriz Jiménez prepared the Noche Hispana, where an all-out showcase of Latin American culture filled the Belen Jesuit Central Patio.14 For the summer of 2001, the Spanish Department began planning summer educational excursions, during which Belen Jesuit students traveled to Latin American destinations on odd-numbered years and to Spain on even-numbered years. Faculty
members Alicia Fariñas and Ileana Armengol traveled with students to Costa Rica in 2001. The following summer (2002), students traveled to Salmanca, Spain with faculty members Marta Vidal, Gisela León, and Lourdes Togores.15 In 2003, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40), Alicia Fariñas, and Beatriz Jiménez traveled with students to Argentina. During the summer of 2005, the Spanish Department visited the Galapagos Islands accompanied by Mrs. Jiménez, Mrs. Fariñas, and Sister María Cartaya. Students also traveled with Mrs. Fariñas and Mrs. Jiménez to Peru during the summer of 2007. During the 2007-2008 academic year, the Department of Modern Languages Spanish Club also organized a trip to Spain and France.16
After 2005, under the guidance of Dora Haibi, Belen Jesuit students also started to submit entries to the Hispanic Heritage Essay Contest sponsored by the Hispanic Heritage Council, where
all private and public high schools and middle schools in MiamiDade County are invited to participate. In 2005, Javier Fernández (‘10) was awarded first place in the county for his essays, while essay submitted by high school participants Julio González (‘07), Santiago Rubio (‘08), and Víctor Saizarbitoria (‘08) respectively earned first, second, and third place.
During the 2007-2008 academic year, the Department of Modern Languages began offering Portuguese to high school students that wanted to learn the language. Faculty member María Isabel Alonso, who had also taught Spanish and French at the school since 2001, started teaching Portuguese to students, some of who were of Brazilian descent. According to Assistant Principal and Modern Languages Chair Beatriz Jiménez, Portuguese classes were chosen by the Modern Languages Department because:
“Brazil is a very important and rising country in South America, whose economy and culture affect us in multiple ways.”17
In 2009, María Cristina Reyes-García began her tenure as Chair of the Modern Languages Department (2009-2012) since Beatriz Jiménez had been serving as the assistant principal for the middle school and was henceforth going to reamin in that position full-time. Since 2002, Dr. Reyes-García had been promoting student participation in events related to modern languages. Among these were activities carried out by the eighth’s grade Spanish Speech and Writing class such as the Cervantes Essay Writing Contest sponsored by Nova University Fischler School of Education and Human Services. Belen Jesuit students Fernando Machado (‘09), Bryan Almeida (‘11), and René Negrón (‘12) all received recognition at the Cervantes Essay Writing Contest event in 2005, 2006, and 2007 respectively, with Almeida achieving second place overall in 2006. Since 2010, Dr. ReyesGarcía’s Spanish Speech and Writing class participated in a Cuba Nostalgia Herencia Cultural contest entitled: How I see Cuba where they have submitted drawings accompanied by poems or essays explaining their concept for their artwork. Dr. Reyes-García also expanded the Modern Languages Department curriculum to include French III and Portuguese III.
Art, Literature, Photography, Humanities, and Acting ALPHA) Club President Raúl Esparza (‘88) with Víctor Fresco (‘88) and Erick Ortiz (‘88) in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the first Modern Languages Christmas Play. December 1987. Photograph from Echoes, 1988.
Art, Literature, Photography, Humanities, and Acting (ALPHA) Club members Javier Fernández (‘91) Héctor Buigas (‘91) and José Gutiérrez (‘91) in “El hombre que se convirtió en perro.” Photograph from Echoes, 1990.
Members of the Art, Literature, Photography, Humanities, and Acting (ALPHA) Club work on building their own origami projects with faculty advisor Dora Haibi. Photograph from Echoes, 2011.
ALPHA, Spanish Club and Ateneo
Throughout the years, modern languages faculty members fostered extracurricular activities to promote student interest in Modern Languages and service to others. The first extracurricular activity of this kind was the Belen Jesuit Spanish Club, which was established during the 1980-1981 academic year, with Beatriz Jiménez as its faculty advisor. The concept for the Spanish Club would later be reorganized into the ALPHA Club (1986), although in the late 1990s, another Spanish Club, the Bishop San Pedro Club named after Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41), the Auxiliary Bishop of Galveston and Brownsville, Texas, would also begin carrying out activities at the school. When the school moved to its new campus in West MiamiDade (1981-1982), the Spanish Club began publishing the yearly literary magazine of student-produced works, Ateneo The Spanish word Ateneo refers to a sanctuary dedicated to Athena, goddess of arts and sciences, a literary or scientific corporation, or a locale where literary or scientific corporations meet and reside. The Span-
ish Club enjoyed visits to Spanish theatrical performances and movies. Students also visited museums and historical landmarks having to do with Spanish heritage. During the 1982-1983 academic year, the Spanish Club traveled to Mexico and visited the famous pyramids of Chichen Itza and Uxmal in Yucatan.18 After 1986, the ALPHA Club also participated in the dramatic performances presented at the Modern Languages Fair.
During the 1983-1984 academic year, under the leadership of Spanish Club President Elio Leal-Sierra (‘85) and Vice President Edelberto Farres (‘85), the members of the Spanish Club took a more Modern Languages approach to their activities and began to attend films in French as well as in Spanish. They visited the new Cultural Center in Downtown Miami as well as the Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture. The Club also presented the “Noche de Teatro,” a night of plays in Spanish performed at Belen Jesuit and also at the Dade County Fair & Exposition.19 During the 1984-1985 academic year, students presented the play Las Bicicletas at the “Noche de Teatro” and at the Fair. They were delighted when the play’s author, Antonio Martínez Ballesteros, came to watch their performance.20
Two years later, during the 1986-1987 academic year, students continued to pursue their interest in performance-related activities, and faculty advisor Beatriz Jiménez decided to rework the concept of the Spanish Club into the ALPHA Club. Members of the ALPHA Club, whose initials stand for Art, Literature, Photography, Humanities, and Acting, visited museums, plays, art shows, art fairs, art galleries, and literary presentations. They also organized a Christmas play and the Spring Theater Nights. During its first two years, ALPHA was under the leadership of President Raúl Esparza (‘88) and Vice President Enrique Artalejo (‘88). The ALPHA Christmas play became a tradition at the school, and the event was later renamed the Belen Christmas Pageant. ALPHA members also staged performances to compete at the Dade County Fair & Exposition, where they earned several important prizes.21 The following year (19871988), ALPHA incorporated a photography component with the assistance of Colegio de Belén alumnus and former principal Antonio Abella (‘59). ALPHA also produced two plays, a theater-in-the-
round production of Antonio Gala’s Verdes Campos del Eden, and a production of It’s a Wonderful Life based on the legendary movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. With Mrs. Jiménez and faculty member Rafael Ledesma directing, It’s a Wonderful Life had a cast of over one-hundred actors who included faculty members, parents and students. ALPHA Club President Raúl Esparza (‘88) played George Bailey and Jeanette Nearing (Lourdes ‘87), played his wife Mary. Both lead actors delivered wonderful performances as did faculty member Sigrid Bango, who played the role of George Bailey’s mother.22 Raúl Esparza (‘88) was the first Belen Jesuit student to obtain a Miami Herald Silver Knight Award and earned an audition at the National Endowment for the Arts Foundation. The following year, he made his professional debut at the premiere of Luis Santeiro’s Mixed Blessings at the Coconut Grove Playhouse. He later obtained a BFA in Drama from the New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts and went on to forge a Broadway career in musicals and plays. Esparza’s performances have yielded several Tony nominations.23
During the 1988-1989 academic year, the ALPHA Club put more emphasis on the development of each branch. Several ALPHA members from the acting branch, Gabriel Jiménez (‘91), Gustavo López (‘91), and Juan Taboas (‘89), were able to perform as part of the cast of a professional production of Swan Lake directed by Mikhail Baryshnikov. In order to develop photography further, Antonio Abella (‘59) helped ALPHA Photography members establish their own dark room at the school. Carolina Calderín, whose son Johnny Calderín (‘92) was an ALPHA Club member, donated musical equipment for faculty member Roberto de los Santos (‘78) to put together a small band that would perform at school events. Although the experiment was short-lived, the band performed at the Belen Jesuit Homecoming football game (1988-1989). ALPHA performances left a surplus at the end of the year, which faculty advisor Beatriz Jiménez donated to the Bread Fund, an organization that provided food for the needy on weekends.24 In addition to the Christmas play and other plays that were performed in Spanish, during the 19891990 academic year, the ALPHA Club prepared performances for the Key Club sponsored BASTA Week, meant to raise awareness among students about alcohol and drug abuse.25 For the following academic year (1990-1991), ALPHA presented the play Companions to honor the 450th anniversary of the Society of Jesus.26
During the 1991-1992 academic year, the spring play Marat/Sade depicted the assassination of French revolutionary Jean Paul Marat, played by Eric García-Tuñón (‘92). Marat’s assassination was plotted and directed by the Marquis de Sade, which was played by Paul Lobeck (‘92). Faculty member Roberto de los Santos (‘78) directed the play.27 Club members also attended Puccini’s Manon Lescot and Blue in the Night. 28 For Valentine’s Day in 1993, the Speech and Dra-
Cover of the 2004 Ateneo Literary Magazine that earned a Silver Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Annual competition for the Literary Arts. Image from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
ma class as well as members of ALPHA, joined in performing their version of A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters, a chronicle of a life-long romance through correspondence, in which Francisco Fernández (‘93) played the writer of the love letters to his sweetheart, Andy Lad. The performance also included a version of Joaquín Álvarez Quintero’s Mañana del Sol Performed in Spanish, the play was about an elderly couple who meet in a park and reminisce about past loves. Ignacio García (‘93) played the elderly gentleman.29 During the 1994-1995 academic year, the ALPHA Club rented the entire Carousel Theater and presented Rodolfo Santana’s play Mirando al Tendido
During the 1996-1997 academic year, ALPHA members attended over twenty plays and carried out over seventy-five different activities under the guidance of Assistant Principal for Development Beatriz Jiménez and faculty member Dora Haibi, as well as under the leadership of President Omar Miranda (‘97). ALPHA collaborated with the International Thespian Society at Belen Jesuit to present under the direction of humanities faculty member Leo
Williams, a play about miscommunication in society. The Interview included performances from Eduardo Carreño (‘97), Alexander Torra (‘97), and Thomas Llama (‘97).30 ALPHA members also began to sponsor an annual talent show at the school’s new auditorium on the second floor of the main building. The Belen Jesuit auditorium later became the Guillermo F. Kohly Auditorium.31
In later years, other faculty members such as guidance counselor Dan Montesi and mathematics faculty member Juan Flores (‘70) also served as faculty advisors to the photography side of ALPHA, which went on field trips to the Everglades to shoot photographs.32
The photography side of ALPHA continued to use the dark room to develop back and white photographs, with the help of both Mr. Montesi and faculty member Rolando Sucena. The arts side, under Ms. Haibi, participated in the Monkey Art Contest at the IMAX Theater and won a day full of fun at Sunset Place.33
ALPHA’s literature students, who since the 1999-2000 academic year had been under the guidance of English faculty member Ana María Sánchez Menocal, also worked to revamp the yearly literary magazine Ateneo. The literary magazine published student essays, arts works, and poems.34 Ateneo’s 2000 edition had a color cover and used green print throughout. It was a modest reworking of the publication, but one that proved to yield impressive results over time.
The literary magazine’s first editor-in-chief after it was reworked was Rolando Vicaría (‘03), who directed the publication with the help of Mrs. Menocal (2000-2002). The 2001 and 2002 editions printed in black and white. In 2002, the edition reached forty-five pages, and included page numbers, and a table of contents for the first time.
Students also sold ads to defray the publishing costs. The following year, Vicaría also organized a Halloween writing contest, and members of the ALPHA art branch attended a cinematography workshop at Disney World, where they participated in the making of a film from start to finish.35 Several editors joined forces to produce the 2003 Ateneo edition, which was published in full-color for the first time. Editors included Daniel Urgelles (‘07), Marcos Félix Pérez (‘07) Carlos Jordán (‘07) Víctor Mármol (‘07), Rafael Romero (‘07), and Nicolás Jiménez (‘05), who was in charge of photography. The successful 2003 edition printed 1,200 copies for distribution and was produced using the latest versions of Adobe PageMaker and Photoshop. The bilingual literary magazine had the theme of Transitions, and paired students’ artworks and photographs with the poems and
essays produced by other students. In 2004, the same team of editors, which also included Rafael Yaniz (‘07), worked at the high school level and produced the 2004 Ateneo edition. At this point, Marcos Félix Pérez (‘07) also took a lead role and was responsible for the literary magazine’s graphic design. Under the continued guidance of Mrs. Menocal and Assistant Principal Beatriz Jiménez, the 2004 Ateneo had the theme Angels of Vision and presented an artistic vision of the Belen Jesuit community identity including Jesuit principles of serving others and seeking God. Coinciding with the school’s 150th anniversary celebration during the 2003-2004 academic year, the bilingual literary magazine also reflected on the school’s history and past experiences. The formula, design, and quality of the publication earned high praise and the 2004 Ateneo received an unprecedented honor for Belen Jesuit: a Silver Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Annual Competition for the Literary Arts. The following year (2004-2005), the same group of editors, joined by Juan Flores (‘06) and Armando Amin (‘07) produced the literary magazine’s twenty-fifth edition with the theme Double Essence, which featured half of the magazine printed in one direction and the other upside down. Contributors included writings and photography by students from sixth to twelfth grade and artwork from students from tenth through twelfth grade. In 2006, Ateneo came under the guidance of English faculty member Carlos Maza. The 2008 Ateneo edition also received high praise from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Annual Competition for the Literary Arts for the theme Mise-en-scéne. The publication included four film genres: Romance, Foreign, Drama, and Family. The cover mimicked a Compact Disc, so as to look like a DVD. Inside pages were built in a panoramic style, as a widescreen movie format. All student participants worked on photographs, writing, colors, design, and layout to produce the final product.36
Modern languages faculty members continued to foster extracurricular activities that promoted student interest in modern languages and service to others. Since the late 1990s, the Bishop San Pedro Spanish Club was founded at Belen Jesuit. Named after Auxiliary Bishop of Galveston and Brownsville, Texas, Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41), who served as a faculty member at the school, the club’s primary purpose is to promote the Spanish language, while also providing service to the community. Under the guidance of faculty advisor Dora Haibi, club members attend various cultural activities and pro-
vide service to different charities. For their service activity, Bishop San Pedro Spanish Club members work with the Respect for Life Organization to identify two infants whose family will need essential items such as furniture, clothes, and diapers for a new infant. During the month of January, club members send out letters requesting monetary donations as well as baby products. The students spend the whole month collecting items and donations that they use to assemble the José Martí Canastilla, an ensemble of baby items named after the renowned Cuban poet and writer. The Canastilla is then taken to two families whose babies are born on or near José Martí's birthday (January 28th). Belen Jesuit students then visit the family’s homes to assemble and/or deliver all the furniture, strollers, high chairs, walkers, and clothing, and where they also spend time with the babies. Club members also help set up the Modern Languages Fair, the Belen Jesuit Invitational Competition, and the Kiwanis Christmas gift wrapping. They also tutor students who need help with Spanish. The Bishop San Pedro Club also sponsored the José Martí high school essay writing contest, which Neil Vázquez (‘08) won in 2007. For the
of
French
with faculty advisor Rafael Ledesma. First row: Alejandro Brito (‘89), Maurice Perkins (‘89), Alex Hernández (‘90), Alberto Álvarez (‘89). Second row: Alessandro Tonarelli (‘90), Julián Sevillano (‘90), Manuel Coroalles (‘90), José Muñoz (‘90), José Sánchez (‘89), César Hernández-Cantón (‘90). Third row: Roberto Espín (‘89), Julio Viyella (‘89), Carlos García (‘90), Jorge Hernández (‘90), Jorge González (‘89). Photograph from Echoes, 1989.
Manuel Antón (‘09) and Roberto Antón (‘12) gather the goods for the Bishop San Pedro Club Canastilla José Martí project in 2008. Photograph from Echoes, 2008.
Members
the
Club,
Fr. Marcelino García, SJ with the International Brothers Club during an after-school meeting in 2007. Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
2007-2008 academic year, modern languages faculty member Annette Antón served as faculty advisor for the Bishop San Pedro Spanish Club, and its members also incorporated reading to the elderly at a nursing home into their community service hours.
In 2002, the Belen Christmas Pageant, which continued every year since it was first conceived in 1987 by Beatriz Jiménez and Raúl Esparza (‘88), came under the direction of María Cristina ReyesGarcía and was still held at the Guillermo F. Kohly Auditorium. After the inauguration of the Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA), the Belen Christmas Pageant has become a huge production at the Ophelia and Juan J. Roca Theater and has been met with incredible success. The high attendance caused Dr. Reyes-García to schedule several performances, with a special matinee performance offered for parochial schools. Proceeds from the Belen Christmas Pageant are donated to different charities. As a result, students have been able to support autism, cancer victims, community members in need, abused children at Jackson, and Corpus Christi with their performances. In recent years, the Belen Christmas Pageant’s success and growth prompted Dr. Reyes-García to collaborate with the Humanities Department to produce the pageant. While the
Modern Languages Department handles the religious aspects of the show, narration, and some of the acting direction, the Humanities Department contributes the work of its musicians, actors, and stagecraft students. The Belen Jesuit Bands, under the direction of Maestro Marlene Urbay, also have a prominent role in the performances. After attending one of the Belen Christmas Pageants, Florida International University (FIU) Cuban Research Institute (CRI) Associate Director Uva de Aragón stated:
“The most important thing about their presentation at Belen Jesuit was its message about the real meaning of Christmas. In between humorous comments, lights, and beautiful melodies, it reminded us about the true value of love, charity, faith, and the miracle of the birth of the baby Jesus. It was a true gift for the spirit.”37
For the 2013-2014 academic year, María Cristina Reyes-García went to serve in the role of Belen Jesuit principal and Annette Antón took over as chair of the Modern Languages Department.
Foreign Language and International Brothers Clubs
Within the Modern Languages Department, the French, Portuguese, and Italian clubs have been dedicated to the study of and practice of the language, as well as to raising student awareness about the French, Portuguese, and Italian culture. The first modern languages club, other than Spanish, was the French Club. Established two years after he school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, during the 1983-1984 academic year, the French Club was organized under the guidance of faculty advisor Elena Rosas Guyón. That year, club members sang French carols at the 1983 Christmas Assembly and served eggnog and French pastries to those who attended. The club also attended a French play, Le Médecin Malgré Lui, and participated in the Belen Jesuit Language Fair with a booth.38 In 1988, Rafael Ledesma began teaching at the school. Since his arrival, Mr. Ledesma has taught classes in Spanish and French, while also serving in the school’s guidance department (1988-present). For the 19881989 academic year, Mr. Ledesma also served as faculty advisor to the French Club, which participated in the Le Congrès de la Culture Française en Floride Casse-Tête and several other competitions at the Convention. José Muñoz (‘90), Julián Sevillano (‘90), Maurice
Perkins (‘89), and Alberto Álvarez (‘89) all received recognition at the Le Congrès de la Culture Française en Floride.39 The following year (1989-1990), under the leadership of Julián Sevillano (‘90) who served as the club’s president, the French Club concentrated on fundraising to purchase French comprehension tapes to improve their use of the language.40
After the new millennium, the French Club was reorganized under the guidance of faculty advisor Rafael Ledesma and the leadership of Carlos Trujillo (‘01). The following year (2001-2002), modern languages faculty member María Isabel Alonso began teaching French at the school, and also began serving as the French Club faculty advisor. Mrs. Alonso helped students formulate the club’s mission, which sought to educate its members and the Belen Jesuit community about French culture. Since then, Belen Jesuit French Club members have carried out activities that include visiting French restaurants for club members to enjoy French food and attending French films and lectures. During the Easter vacation break in 2005, Mrs. Alonso and French Club members also traveled to France where, among several attractions, they visited the Château de Versailles, which is located in the Île-de-France region near Paris.41 At the annual Belen Jesuit Modern Languages Fair, the French Club organizes a French booth featuring the Crepe Maker restaurant as well as other French food.
During the 2005-2006 academic year, Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and faculty member Alicia Fariñas began serving as advisors to the International Brothers Club. At club meetings, Fr. García shared his knowledge of Latin with club members and Mrs. Fariñas discussed the culture behind the romance languages. During the 2007-2008 academic year, the Modern Languages Department began offering sophomores, juniors, and seniors the opportunity to study Portuguese. Faculty member María Isabel Alonso taught Portuguese at the school and helped students organize the Portuguese Club, which like the French Club, sought to educate its members and the Belen Jesuit community about Portuguese and Brazilian culture. During the following academic year (2008-2009), Mrs. Alonso also helped organize the Italian Club. The following year, social studies faculty member Ramón Nicosia began serving as faculty advisor to the Italian Club. Portuguese and Italian Club members also visited Portuguese and Italian restaurants as well as film screenings in each of these languages.
The French Club (2008-2009), under the guidance of faculty advisor María Isabel Alonso, sponsored the Crepe Maker booth at the Modern Languages Fair where attendees enjoyed a taste of French-style crepes. Photographs from Echoes, 2009.
Science faculty member Antonio Abella (‘59) with the members of the Future Scientists of America in 1967. Photograph from Echoes, 1967.
SCIENCES
The history of teaching the sciences at Belen Jesuit began the first year that the school was reestablished at Centro Hispano Católico, when several Jesuits from the Province of New York came to teach at the school. During the 1960s, science courses were taught by Fr. Robert Couisineau, SJ, Jesuit scholastic Amado Sandoval, SJ, and by lay faculty members Antonio Abella (‘59) and Gabino Díaz (‘56). Mr. Abella taught science courses that included biology and chemistry (19631972) in addition to also serving as principal (1969-1972). Mr. Díaz also taught science courses to students in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades (1967-1973). After Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ arrived at the school in 1972 and established formal academic departments, he contracted science faculty member Francisco Pichardo, who began teaching at the school in 1973. Mr. Pichardo went on to have a long and stellar career at Belen Jesuit (1973-2007), during which he also served as the chair of the Science Department (1973-1997). During the years that the school resided at the campus in Little Havana, the science and mathematics departments worked together, and some of the mathematics faculty also taught science courses. Such was the case with faculty members Carol Ann Vila who taught Algebra II and Biology, Edward Donahue, who taught Mathematics, Algebra I, and Physics, and Francisco Ruiz (‘73), who taught Mathematics and Physical Science. In addition to the faculty members who taught in both departments, during the 1970s, the Science Department at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana also in-
cluded faculty members Manuel Labra, Henry Díaz, Chris Migliaccio, María Elena Tavel-Freyre, and Rafael Fernández.
In 1968, science faculty member Gabino Díaz (‘56) and Belen Jesuit Principal Antonio Abella (‘59) held the first Science Fair at the school, which included over 120 projects that covered a wide-range of scientific topics.1 Since then, the Science Fair continued to be a yearly event that takes place during the Spring Semester. The fairs are meant to put theory to work by having the students create projects that apply the scientific method. Students also have had the option to build a bridge for the Science Fair. At the end of each fair, projects worthy of recognition received awards and honorable mentions. Over the years, many students have received recognition for their impressive bridges. While the school was at its campus in Little Havana, these included: Alfredo Consuegra (‘84), Rodolfo Eguilior (‘83), and Balbino Vázquez (‘82), who set a new school record for building a bridge that weighed an impressive 105 pounds. Starting in 1978, faculty members chose the top Belen Jesuit Science Fair projects to compete at the Dade County Fair & Exposition. Winners earning awards for excellent and superior projects at the fair included: Claudio Rodríguez (‘80), Eusebio García (‘81), Guillermo Carranza (‘82), Juan Sánchez (‘83), Alberto Fernández (‘84), Edward Hillman (‘84), Jorge Corrales (‘84), and José Rodríguez (‘84). Hillman won special area awards from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the Florida Marine Aquarium Society, and earned the Miami Herald first runner-up award for the upper junior division. After the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, the Science Fair included wonderful projects for which students also received recognition. Among the students whoreceived special recognition for the Science Fair projects from the Dade County Fair & Exposition were Rolando Branly (‘84), Benigno Digon (‘86), Gian Zumpano (‘86), Aurelio Salas (‘87), Eduardo Gross (‘88), Richard Santamaría (‘88), Irving Padrón (‘88), Michael Gómez (‘88), and Ariel Vega (‘92).2 In 1989, the building of bridges was reincorporated as an activity at the Science Fair, and Manuel Vázquez (‘91) won first place for his sixty-pound bridge.3
Since the mid-1960s, the Belen Jesuit Science Department has also promoted participation in clubs which further students’ interest in science, and some of its faculty has served as advisors to these clubs. The history of science-related clubs at Belen Jesuit began during the
1965-1966 academic year, with science faculty member Antonio Abella (‘59), who guided students in establishing the Future Scientists of America Club. The club gained immediate popularity at the school, as twenty students participated during the following year (1966-1967). Along with Mr. Abella, science faculty member Gabino Díaz (‘56) also served as an advisor to the club (1968-1970).
Soon after his arrival at the Belen Jesuit campus in Little Havana, Science Department Chair Francisco Pichardo established the department’s mission, which aimed to provide students with the opportunity to learn both the theoretical basis and the practical applications of science. This was also the aim of the department in offering courses in earth, space, life, and physical science during the middle school years, and providing opportunities for more concentrated learning in the areas of biology, chemistry, and physics during the students’ high school years. Students also engaged in hands-on laboratory applications and demonstrations. To his students, Mr. Pichardo related the goals for his department as follows:
“Given the rate at which our knowledge is advancing, it is very important for the students to understand the aspect of the dynamic, searching, and inquiring nature of science. People have developed an increasing need for answers – and for more power to shape and control these answers. Today, extensive research in all scientific areas is having far reaching effects on all our lives. Many of the latest discoveries have had a great impact on our understanding of life. Life is constantly renewing itself. Species come and go, but life remains. We have the
duty to respect, defend, and protect all living forms. Let us hope that man is wise enough to live in harmony with nature, sensible enough to understand and appreciate its beauty, and industrious enough to constantly renew his efforts and resources thus ensuring his own survival.”4
Science Department Chair Francisco Pichardo also supported the establishment of the science-related extracurricular activities. Science-related clubs such as the Physics Club, the Rocketry Club, and the Oceanography Club enjoyed student participation at the school during the years that it was at its campus in Little Havana. During the 1970-1971 academic year, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) had also helped to guide students who were interested in establishing an Astronomy Club at the school. In order to continue to foster sciencerelated extracurricular activities, Fr. Cartaya also helped students develop the concept of the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES), which was established during the 1979-1980 academic year. Basically conceived as an umbrella organization under which science-related clubs could be coordinated, BASES also offered students a sense of purpose when it came to the study of science. The organization met with much success at the school over the years and many science-related extracurricular activities were coordinated under its umbrella.5
After the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, Francisco Pichardo continued serving as chair of the Science Department until 1997, during which time the department continued to hold its annual Science Fair and the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) continued its activities. The BASES activities eventually culminated in the reestablishment of an observatory at the school in 1991. Science Department faculty members, since the school has been at its campus in West Miami-Dade, have also included: Pedro Hernández, Mercedes García, Miriam Hernández, Rolando Sucena, Anne Fenton,
Science Department Chair Francisco Pichardo teaches Human Anatomy in 1987. Photograph from Echoes, 1987.
Students build bridges in 1981 for the Science Fair at the campus in Little Havana. Photograph from Echoes, 1981.
Science Department Chair
Pedro Hernández conducts an experiment in 1998 during Biology class.
Photograph from Echoes, 1998.
Science Department
faculty member José Padilla demonstrates “Spooktacular” Halloween themed experiments to the sixth graders during homeroom every October 31st.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
José Padilla, Carlos Bravo (‘86), Shyara Lara, Lucila Espinosa, Andrés Jiménez (‘87), Ignacio Scull, Sean Meyer, Mario Martínez, Miguel Couto, Gehovanny Pérez, Raquel García, Valeria Flores, Lidice Lascano and Milagros Zequeira.
In 1997, Pedro Hernández started his tenure as chair of the Science Department and began to oversee the renovation of the science, physics, and biology labs.6 Soon thereafter, Mr. Hernández met with Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ about expanding the physical space and amount of laboratories needed for science classes. Mr. Hernández proposed transforming the “F” Section of the main building into the center for the study of science; however, Fr. García was much more visionary in his plans for the sciences at Belen Jesuit and proposed that what the school really needed was its own science building. The building would need to include a lobby area where science exhibits could be displayed and a common room where faculty could meet and have access to computers. Each classrooms would need a Smart Board® and brand new scientific equipment. The science building would also include laboratories for both biological and physical sciences, and demonstration classrooms for the middle school.7
To design the science building, Science Department Chair Pedro Hernández and Architect Adolfo Albaisa visited at least twenty schools. Dr. Hernández also attended the American Association for the Advancement of Science Convention to participate in a workshop about building a state-of-the-art science building. Mr. Albaisa and Dr. Hernández were impressed by the science building at the Pine Crest School in Ft. Lauderdale which they toured with Pine Crest Advanced Placement (AP) biology faculty member Barbara Gross. After the tour, Mr. Albaisa and Dr. Hernández decided that the best approach to designing the Belen Jesuit science building was to use a classroom/lab model as the basic component of the facility. Includ-
ed in the design were five large science classroom/labs for the high school as well as three additional classrooms and one lab for middle school students. The laboratories were designed for biology, chemistry, physics, and for each of the Earth and Space science classes. In the labs, Mr. Albaisa and Dr. Hernández implemented the concepts they learned from attending seminars and visiting other schools. For example, the physics and chemistry lab tables were designed to be taller than the biology tables because those sciences do not require that students sit down to look though a microscope. Special arrangements were also made to include gas for a gas burner in the chemistry laboratory. All science labs were equipped with prep-rooms, where experiments could be prepared away from the students to ensure safety as the primary objective in the design of the labs.
Construction plans for the science building were developed toward the end of the millennium, and an official ground-breaking ceremony took place in 2000. The building was completed for the 20012002 academic year, when students started to enjoy the benefits of the new state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, and technology. Soon thereafter, as part of the celebrations held to commemorate the school’s 150th anniversary (1854-2004) during the 2003-2004 academic year, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ named the new science science building the Raúl and Nidia Rodríguez Science Pavilion, after the parents of Belen Jesuit alumnus Raúl Rodríguez (‘97). The science building dedication was an effort by Fr. García to recognize how the Rodríguez family and their Rayni Foundation had generously provided support for all of the school's endeavors throughout the years.
For the 2009-2010 academic year, Lucila Espinosa took over as chair of the Science Department. Dr. Espinosa had been teaching science at Belen Jesuit since 2004, where she had also established a chapter of the Science National Honor Society (SNHS) in 2006. The SNHS is the school's honor society for the best and most active students in the areas of science. Students inducted into SNHS must be enrolled in an honors or AP science class, and maintain a minimum GPA of 3.5 in order to be in this society. SNHS students are involved in numerous activities such as park clean-ups, and they strive to advance the study of science within the school and throughout the South Florida community. The SNHS hosted its first SNHS/Alumni mixer on the evening of November 8th, 2011 in the Cosculluela Dining Hall. Approximately one hundred members from the SNHS and the Future Doctors of America attended this event. Dr. Espinosa and SNHS President Adam Incera (‘12) guided the dialogue as alumni Jorge Blanco (‘81), Raúl Gallo (‘75), John Medina (‘77), Carlos Penín (‘73), Francisco Paredes (‘93), and Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami Director Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) discussed various topics with Belen Jesuit science students including architecture, medicine, engineering, and research, as they shared insights into their professions.
Lucila Espinosa continued to serve as chair of the Science Department until 2013. For the 2013-2014 academic year, Dr. Espinosa went to serve as assistant principal for the highs school and Pedro Hernández served as the department’s chair once again. The Belen Jesuit Science Department continues to have a well-defined mission which states:
“Although we are keenly aware of the importance of knowing science facts, we are more interested in mastering science concepts than isolated facts. Concept formation takes priority. At the same time, we realize that science is a tool to understand how God works in nature, and not a weapon against religion, nature or mankind. As science teachers in a Catholic Jesuit school, we believe that God has a place in science as the Creator of all things. Thus, throughout the science curriculum, we teach our students to respect and care for the creation and to participate in science; instilling in them a sense of responsibility toward our planet and mankind - always keeping in mind our core values: Cura Personalis Magis Ad Majorem dei Gloriam. We recognize that the only way to learn science is by means of the active participation of the student in a suitable, intellectual atmosphere. Our main objective is to provide such an atmosphere. We believe that science laboratories should be primarily designed to provide a meaningful experience to the students, clarifying basic scientific phenomena, introducing them to the basic methodology of science, and offering the
possibility of developing creative insights through an openended approach. It is with great enthusiasm and a deep sense of fulfillment that we promote science as a subject, a process, and a method to our students, preparing them for the future and ensuring their welfare.”8
In carrying out its mission, the Science Department continues to use the Raúl and Nidia Rodríguez Science Pavilion as its main facility, as well as the Belen Jesuit Observatory in all of its capacity, to make science both an exciting and well-developed discipline at the school.
Science Department Chair
Lucila Espinosa with students and with the Science National Honor Society members (20112012). Photograph from Echoes, 2012.
BASES and other Scientific Clubs
Gustavo García-Montes (‘84), Rolando Branly (‘84), and Jorge Corrales (‘84) members of BASES and the Astronomy Club, examine the first telescope acquired by the club in 1982. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
BASES members work to paint the original dome at the campus in West Miami-Dade. From the dome, the Astronomy Club members used their telescopes to observe the heavens. Photograph from Echoes, 1985.
During the 1979-1980 academic year, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) took several members of the Belen Jesuit Astronomy Club to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) John F. Kennedy Space Center. After the trip, a group of students, including Astronomy Club President Rolando Branly (‘84), Gustavo García-Montes (‘84), Jorge Corrales (‘84), and Francisco Ponce de León (‘82) founded the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) at Belen Jesuit, an organization that meant to offer students not only variety, but also a sense of purpose when it came to the study of science. Fr. Cartaya served as the first BASES faculty advisor and remained in the position for several years. Fr. José R. Tey, SJ also served as faculty advisor to BASES when Fr. Cartaya had to leave the school on another assignment. Both Jesuits also worked together through the BASES umbrella organization during the 1980s and 1990s to help coordinate the activities of students who participated in several of the extracurricular clubs within BASES. During the first year that BASES operated at the school’s campus in Little Havana, Claudio Rodríguez (‘80) served as its chief director. Originally, BASES started out with four divisions: Astronomy, led by Robert Orta (‘81), Weather, led by Humberto Casariego (‘80), Oceanography, led by Daniel López (‘82), and Rocketry.
At first, students participating in the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) concentrated on fundraising to acquire equipment with which to observe and develop their particular scientific interests. With their hard work, as well as the resourcefulness exhibited by Fr.
Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), students were able to raise enough private donations to purchase a solar-radio telescope for astronomy, a computerized weather station computer, a teletype to link to the National Weather Service, and two TRS-80 computers (the first of their kind at Belen Jesuit) available to students interested in computer programming. The weather station computer allowed students to monitor and record daily high and low temperatures, which they broadcast during the school’s morning announcements.9
During the 1980-1981 academic year, three additional clubs came under BASES: the Amateur Radio Club, headed by Francisco Gómez-Terrón (‘81), the Computer Club, headed by Jorge Martínez (‘82), and the Geology Club, headed by Julio González (‘82). That year, seven Amateur Radio Club senior students obtained novice amateur licenses from the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Licensed students communicated through ham radio with other ham operators worldwide. The names of these clubs would fluctuate throughout the years and some would merge together to form one club. For example, the Weather Club later became the Meteorology Club, and the Amateur Radio Club merged with the Electronics Club, becoming the Radio and Electronics Club.
Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) helped to lay the groundwork for continued student participation and interest in the study of earth, space and the sciences at Belen Jesuit once the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade. The first year that the school resided at the new campus (1981-1982), BASES members began to lay the groundwork for the future by obtaining an inspection of the school’s roof to determine if it was safe to build a dome, out of which they planned to install the Astronomy Club’s solar-radio telescope. BASES students also mounted an effort to purchase an Apple II computer. In the 1982 Echoes BASES members stated their apprehension for the future of their umbrella organization as well as their clubs, given that Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) was being reassigned to fill an important post at the Colegio de Loyola in the Dominican Republic.10 BASES members overcame their anxiety over losing their faculty advisor the following year, when Fr. José R. Tey, SJ began to advise their organization. First,
during the 1982-1983 academic year, Fr. Tey helped the BASES team to reestablish the club’s meteorological and radio stations. Fr. Tey also helped students publish a scientific newsletter.11 The following year (1983-1984), in the midst of celebrating the fifth anniversary of BASES, Fr. Tey and the organization’s members, then under the leadership of President Jorge Corrales (‘84) and Vice President Alejandro Roig (‘84), were pleased to inaugurate their new dome, which also came with a brand new telescope. The weather, electronics, life science, and microbiology sections of BASES also continued to grow as well as the ever popular Computer Club, whose members were delighted at the new computer lab that had been established at the school (1983-1984).12
In 1985, Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) began holding an award ceremony through the Belen Institute of Scientific Research (BISR), which recognized BASES members who pursued independent scientific research. BASES members also worked at local hospitals and research centers, conducting experiments with streptozocin and electrophoresis. During this time, Fr. José R. Tey, SJ continued to serve as the faculty advisor to BASES with the help of science faculty members: Pedro Hernández, who advised both the Microbiology Club and the Marine Science Club, Antonio Abella (‘85), who helped Fr. Tey advise the Astronomy Club, Math Department Chair Carol Ann Vila, who moderated the Computer Club, and William Wagener, who served as faculty advisor to the Weather Club that later changed its name to the Meteorology Club. Fr. Tey extended his BASES guidance to also advise the Radio and Electronics Club. BASES Clubs became increasingly popular at the school, and by 1986, 40 percent of the Belen Jesuit student body participated in at least one or more of the organiza-
tion’s seven clubs.13 By the following academic year (1986-1987), BASES had eight clubs under its umbrella: Microbiology and Life Sciences, Computer, Astronomy, Meteorology, Radio and Electronics, and Marine Science.14
At the end of November of 1987, twenty-seven Belen Jesuit students from the Earth and Science class taught by faculty member William Wagener, as well as several BASES members, took a geological excursion to Iceland, where they visited hot springs, geysers, and volcanoes. In addition to staying in the Icelandic capital city of Reykjavik, students also visited the fishing village of Akranes. Students were also accompanied on the trip by Fr. William Kidwell, SJ and several Belen Jesuit parents.15 During the 1988-1989 academic year, the BASES Marine Biology Club had the staff of Diver’s Paradise teach them the basic techniques of diving and take them on various expeditions and night dives in the Florida Keys. Mr. Wagener, who continued to advise the Meteorology Club, also taught students how to develop a daily weather report which they transmitted over morning announcements. In addition to using the telescope out of their dome, the Astronomy Club, which that year functioned under the guidance of Executive Assistant Principal Leopoldo Núñez, also began visiting the Planetarium to use their telescope and attend their presentations.16
For the 1989-1990 academic year, student involvement in the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) also played a role in the establishment of the Belen Jesuit Observatory. The organization, which continued to serve as the best outlet for many students to pursue their scientific interests, teamed up with Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), who requested and received support and assistance from the class of 1972.17 For the 1990-1991 academic year, BASES continued under the faithful guidance of Fr. José R. Tey, SJ and Fr. Cartaya, and under the leadership of President Lorenzo de Toro (‘91), all of which continued to encourage students to transcend their everyday lectures about science by experiencing their scientific interests hands-on.18 For the 1991-1992 academic year, BASES was under the leadership of President Fernando Rivas (‘92). In addition to BASES, Fr. Cartaya also advised the Astronomy and the Radio and Electronics Club. Fr. Cartaya also held Wednesday night meetings with the Astronomy Club at the newly-established Belen Je-
Gabriel Enríquez (‘07) and Daniel Arbucias (‘07) observe solar flares through BASES equipment acquired for that purpose. Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
suit Observatory, where students observed heavenly bodies and inter-stellar phenomena. Faculty member William Wagener continued to advise the Meteorology Club, whose members continued to take daily weather, humidity, and wind speed readings to produce their weather reports. The Meteorology Club also began recording the migrating patterns of certain birds. Also that year, Theology Department faculty member Pablo Taquechel began serving as faculty advisor to the Marine Biology Club, which continued its trips to the Florida Keys to observe marine life and collected specimens which were kept in aquariums in the school’s Marine Biology Lab.19
The Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space ( BASES) reinvigorated during the 1998-1999 academic year with eight divisions operating under its umbrella, under the leadership of President Pedro Álvarez (‘99), and faculty advisors Fr. José R. Tey, SJ, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), and Science Department Chair Pedro Hernández. At the high school level, BASES helped to facilitate the activities of six divisions: astronomy, meteorology, environmental, microbiology, physics, and computer science. At the middle school level, the organization also had astronomy and science divisions. The highlight of that year included an experiment launched by NASA on the space shuttle Discovery and visits to observatories in Arizona. 22 For the 1999-2000 academic year, BASES members began to look forward to the new Science Pavilion, which would begin construction the following year. The Astronomy Lab/Observatory was also re-equipped with computers, and better radars and satellites. 23 During the 2000-2001 academic year, BASES also supervised a Computer Science Club, organized under the leadership of President Alejandro GarcíaTuñón (‘01) and other students with a special interest in computers.
24 For the 2001-2002 academic year, BASES also incorporated into its umbrella of scientific clubs at the school the Future Physicians of America Club. BASES continued to work with its other divisions including astronomy, computer science, environmental, meteorology, marine biology, ham radio, and life science, under the guidance of Science Department Chair Pedro Hernández and faculty member Carlos Bravo (‘86). BASES benefited that year from the inauguration of the new Science Pavilion. As BASES President Iván González (‘02) stated:
“With the addition of the new Science Pavilion, club members were able to expand their knowledge and conduct experiments, and research in a state-of-the-art facility.”25
During the 1994-1995 academic year, under the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) umbrella, the leadership of Eduardo Placer (‘95), and the guidance of faculty advisor Miriam Hernández, the Environmental Club was founded at the school. The Environmental Club conducted beach clean-ups and began an aluminum recycling program. The club also held an Environmental Awareness Week at the school to inform students through posters and class presentations about environmental issues. The following year (1995-1996), under the guidance of Lourdes Echegoyean, Environmental Club members continued their recycling campaign by creating recycling bins for aluminum cans. Club members also created a small area inside the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library, known as the Environmental Library, where literature about the environment as well as videos and slides were made available for student use.20 During the 1996-1997 academic year, the club moved its reading materials to the Science Lab and participated in Baynanza ‘97, Miami-Dade County’s Department of Environmental Resource Management’s (DERM) bay clean-up initiative. Club members also attended the Youth Environment Summit (YES), where members discussed solutions to various environmental issues. During Environmental Awareness Week, the Club brought a speaker from the Museum of Science to speak to Belen Jesuit students about the environment. 21
For the 2003-2004 academic year, the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) held an end-of-the-year club banquet where dedicated members were recognized for their efforts.26 A few years later, for the 2006-2007 academic year, BASES purchased new equipment that allowed club members to study solar flares in the daytime. Gabriel Henríquez (‘07), Daniel Arbucias (‘07), and René Gómez (‘09) used the new equipment to observe the solar flares, while others worked with Meteorologist Pedro Añón, who began working at the Belen Jesuit Observatory. Mr. Añón also served as an advisor to BASES. He also took the time to teach club members how to keep up with the weather patterns and develop daily weather forecasts for both the school and local radio stations broadcasts.27
During the 2003-2004 academic year, science faculty member Shyara Lara took over as faculty advisor for the Future Physicians of America Club. The club later changed their name to the Future Doctors of America. Club members participated in lectures by physicians and they also visited local hospitals to listen to presentations about what it would be like to work in the medical field. The club also implemented a service component, and members began to visit Camillus House twice per semester to help feed the homeless. During the 2006-2007 academic year, club members attended a lecture at Mercy Hospital and participated in a CPR class.28 The following academic year (2007-2008) the Future Doctors of America Club attended lectures at Mercy Hospital, Baptist Hospital, and South Miami Hospital. For the first time, club members were asked to stand by and offer first aid to students during field day, in case students needed first aid or CPR from overexertion at Field Day events.29
The Radio and Electronics Club was revitalized as the Ham Radio Club during the 2009-2010 academic year, under the guidance of faculty advisor Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) and Meteorologist Pedro Añón as well as under the leadership of President Nicholas Álvarez (‘10) and Vice President Jonathan Godoy (‘11). Ham radio members acquired licenses that are required to establish communication using the radios. During that year, seven members obtained their ham radio licenses. With the purposes of making friends, ham radio amateurs contacted other ham radio amateurs throughout the world, and once contact was made, ham radio members sent cards through the mail to those they contacted. During their transmissions, they were allowed to discuss many topics, except politics, the sale of products, or moral issues. In 2011, science faculty member Andrés Jiménez (‘87) also helped students establish the Biomedical Engineering Club at the school, under the leadership of President Cornelis Rowaan (‘13) and Kevin Rodríguez (‘13).
Although Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) no longer works as a coordinating umbrella organization over all science-related clubs, these clubs continue to thrive at the school, working within the mission of the Science Department to foster student interest in science and their participation in sciencerelated activities at the school.
Faculty member Rafael Fernández teaches a group of Life Science Club members about the microscope. Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
The Future Doctors of America Chapter (20082009), with faculty advisor Shyara Lara. Photograph from Echoes, 2009.
The Belen Jesuit Observatory
The work of the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES), under the guidance of Belen Jesuit priests, Fr. José R. Tey, SJ and Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), coordinated the activities of scientific clubs in such disciplines as astronomy, computer science, environmental, meteorology, marine biology, ham radio, and life science, and provided part the impetus for the establishment of an official observatory at Belen Jesuit. BASES had been established by Fr. Cartaya in 1979, and throughout the years had laid the groundwork for continued student participation and interest in the study of earth, space and the sciences. Moreover, once the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade students who were celebrating the fifth anniversary of BASES during the 1983-1984 academic year had been instrumental in the construction and inauguration of a dome on the school’s roof. They installed a brand new telescope through which the Astronomy Club conducted regular observations. In 1989, given the high participation of students in the science-related clubs under the umbrella of BASES, Fr. José R. Tey, SJ and Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) decided to explore the possibil-
ity of reestablishing an observatory at the school’s campus in West Miami-Dade. According to Fr. Cartaya:
“We were blessed to have had a prestigious history at the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén in Havana since 1857. Prominent Jesuit scientists such as Fr. Benito Viñes Matorell and Fr. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza, SJ worked at the observatory in Havana and received much recognition for their work.
We were also blessed to have student interest in our school; therefore, I decided to explore whether some of our alumni would be willing to support an observatory project. As usual, I did not have to search long. The entire class of 1972 accepted the call, and their efforts allowed us to reinstate the Belen Observatory as it stands today.”30
Fr. José R. Tey, SJ and Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) discussed the possibility of reestablishing an observatory at the school’s campus in West Miami-Dade with Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino Gar-
cía, SJ, the school’s Board of Directors, and alumnus José A. Garrido, Jr. (‘72), who spearheaded an initiative with members of his graduating class to cooperate with the project. Architects Rafael Bouza (‘72) and Guillermo Prado (‘72) designed and developed construction plans for the facility through their companies Design and Construction Associates and GPA Construction and members of the class of 1972, including Vicente Cossío (‘72) and Ramón Collado (‘72), provided financial support for the project. The observatory would be constructed as a third floor addition to the Vincam Wing on the west-side of the campus. On June 6th, 1989, as the plans for the observatory’s construction were on the way, the school received a visit from Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, who praised the work that the school had done to continue the Jesuit scientific tradition of having observatories available to students in secondary schools.31
By 1990, the observatory had been completed. At its new quarters, the facility acquired new equipment, including a sixteen-inch remote control telescope donated by the Southern Cross Society. The telescope also had a modern digital camera with charged coupled device (CCD) sensors that could take color photographs of distant galaxies between two and five o’clock in the morning. The photographs of celestial objects could then be selected from a computer. In 1993, the Belen Jesuit Observatory celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of the death of Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ (July 23rd, 1893), the Jesuit scientist who served at the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén (1869-1893), where he established hurricane forecasting as a practice, and was credited with publishing the first hurricane advisory in the history of meteorology.32 For the celebration, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) organized two events held on January 20th and 21st, in 1993. At the first event, a Meteorology Symposium, Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), who at the time was the chair of the Department of Mathematics at Barry University, moderated presentations by the National Hurricane Center's specialist Lexión Ávila, Univision Network Meteorologist John Morales, and Meteorologist and Researcher José Fernández Partagás. The symposium presentations included Mr. Avila’s exhibit of various photographs of Hurricane Andrew (August 24th, 1992) taken by meteorological satellites. A video presentation by Mr. Morales took symposium guests through the effects caused by Hurricane Andrew to the devastated areas of Florida City and Homestead. Lastly, Mr. Fernández Partagás presented the lecture: How would Fr. Viñes have seen Hurricane Andrew. On the second day of the event (January 21st), Fr. Cartaya held an astronomy symposium, at which Vatican Observatory Professor Fr. Manuel Carreira, SJ lectured on the Big Bang Theory. Prior to the event, Fr. Carreira visited several classrooms where he also lectured on the Big Bang Theory throughout the day. More than one-hundred guests attended
both symposiums, including the Auxiliary Bishop of Santo Domingo Fr. Francisco José Arnáiz Zarandona, SJ, Antilles Province Provincial Benito Blanco, SJ, physicists, meteorologists, and astronomers. The National Hurricane Center personnel who accompanied Mr. Avila were impressed by the data that the Belen Jesuit Observatory had been gathering since its inauguration.33 As another way to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of Fr. Viñes’ death, renowned sculptor Tony López created an effigy of Fr. Viñes and of the Ciclonoscopio de las Antillas instrument that Jesuit scientist created to assist him with hurricane forecasting. Mr. López made the high-relief effigy from metal pieces collected from the ruins left behind by Hurricane Andrew. By 1995, the Belen Jesuit Observatory had already used its digital CCD camera to photograph planets, comets, galaxies, nebulas, and stars. One of its prized photographs was one of the Orion Nebula. Exhibited on the observatory’s walls were cataloged moon crater photographs explaining how thirty-five of the moon’s craters had been named after
Fr. Pedro Cartaya, S. J. (‘54), with students at the Belen Jesuit Observatory. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), NASA Astronaut John Phillips, and Astronomy Club President Pedro Álvarez (‘99), at the launch of NASA Space Shuttle Mission STS 91 that carried the Belen Jesuit experiment on June 2nd, 1999.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), at the March 8th, 2008 march, carried out to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén in Havana.
Photograph from Echoes, 2008.
Joshua Muñoz (‘12) uses technology to analyze and gather data from Hurricane Wilma at the Belen Jesuit Observatory Weather Center.
Photograph from Echoes, 2011.
Jesuit scientists. Moreover, the Observatory not only collected meteorological data daily from weather satellites and radar that it received through its computers, but it also broadcasted a meteorological bulletin over Spanish-speaking radio.34 In 1998, the Belen Jesuit Observatory collaborated with Broward Community College and Brevard Community College, and developed an experimental project that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched into space aboard the space shuttle Discovery on June 2nd, 1998. The experiment included thirty-four samples of naked DNA and twenty vials of various seed species. The experiment would travel in a small, self-contained payload with a GAS (Get Away Special Canister) and scientists would check for mutations and the effect of cosmic radiation on the samples after these returned from space. In preparation for the launch, ten members of the Astronomy Club, including BASES President Pedro Álvarez (‘99), faculty advisors Fr. José R. Tey, SJ and Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), and Belen Jesuit Science Department Chair Pedro Hernández visited the Kennedy Space Center, where Broward Community College Professor and Belen Jesuit alumnus Rolando Branly (‘84) offered a scientific symposium. Belen Jesuit students, as well as others from several universities and colleges, participated in the symposium and were able to witness the Discovery launch.35
In 1999, Belen Jesuit alumnus Rolando Branly (‘84) took Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) on a research trip to the Mount Wilson Observatory, near Pasedena California, where both spent an entire night reviewing the records and pictures taken by the 100-inch telescope. The great experience included the news that both would be staying in the same
quarters used by Albert Einstein and Edwin Hubble, where Fr. Cartaya was able to celebrate Mass. That year, Fr. Cartaya also traveled with students to three other observatories: the University of Arizona Steward Observatory, a joint venture with the Vatican Observatory whose director at the time was Fr. George Coyne, SJ, the Kitt Peak Observatory, located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the ArizonaSonoran Desert, and the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona. At the Steward Observatory, students learned how the observatory gathers data from three different observing locations in southern Arizona: Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO), Mount Lemmon Observatory, and Catalina Station on Mount Bigelow. It also operates telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), and at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins. The Steward Observatory also gathers data from the twin Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in northern Chile. At the Kitt Peak Observatory, students saw the largest, most diverse gathering of astronomical instruments in the world with twenty-four optical and two radio telescopes. At Kitt Peak, students also saw the McMathPierce Solar Telescope, the largest solar telescope in the world that also has the largest unobstructed reflector in the world. During the tour, students learned that the Kitt Peak facility also hosted the first telescope used to search for near-Earth asteroids and calculated the probability of an impact with planet Earth. At the Lowell Observatory, which was built in 1894 and remains one of the oldest observatories in the United States, students learned about the major discoveries that took place at the Lowell, including the discovery of the dwarf planet, Pluto, by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, the recessional velocities of galaxies that led ultimately to the realization that our universe is expanding, and the co-discovery of the rings of Uranus (1977). On the Mars Hill campus of the Lowell, students were also able to see the thirteen-inch Pluto Discovery Telescope.36
During the 2007-2008 academic year, to commemorate the original founding of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén in 1858, Fr. Pe-
dro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) organized several field trips and an important march. That year, students from the Astronomy and Meteorology Club, which operated under the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) umbrella, visited the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral and the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), also known as the Arecibo Observatory, near the city of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Operated by Cornell University, the observatory is home to the world’s largest, single-aperture radio telescope, which measures 1,000 feet, and to the Ángel Ramos Foundation Visitor Center, which features interactive exhibits and displays about the operations of the radio telescope, astronomy, and atmospheric science. On March 8th, 2008, to commemorate the original founding of the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) organized a march from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, to the Belen Jesuit Observatory at the West Miami-Dade campus. About 150 students, parents, and school faculty and staff participated in the march which also honored the memory of Hurricane forecaster Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ. At this time, Fr. Cartaya explained to Miami Herald reporter Yudy Piñeiro that the observatory was part of the school’s Science Department and served as an after-school gathering place for the Astronomy, Meteorology, and Ham Radio Clubs. By this time, students at the Belen Jesuit Observatory used nine telescopes and transmitted out of a ham amateur radio studio. A permanent meteorologist, Pedro Añón, made daily weather forecasts on Spanish radio stations Radio Mambí, Radio Caracol, and the Catholic, Spanish radio station Radio Paz. Fr. Cartaya stated:
“The Jesuit dedication to science and serving the community leads our thrust to find God in all things, not solely in ecclesiastical disciplines like theology, but also in secular disciplines such as science and technology. We are celebrating 150 years of serving the world with our teaching and research. It’s a historic day.”37
During the 2008-2009 academic year, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the invention of the telescope, the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon (July 20th, 1969), and the tenth anniversary of the Belen Jesuit Observatory being reestablished in South Florida, the Astronomy and Meteorology Club students took a five-day trip to Arizona to learn about the effects of space and the atmosphere on Earth. Club members visited the 50,000 year-old, 4,000 foot in diameter meteor crater in Flagstaff, Arizona. The crater, also known as the Barringer Crater in honor of Daniel Barringer, who was first to suggest that it was produced by meteorite impact and whose descendants still own the land, is also proclaimed by scientists as the best preserved meteor crater on Earth. Club members also visited Grand Canyon National Park, the Kitt Peak National Observato-
ries outside Tucson, and the St. Xavier Bac on the Tohano O’odman Nation, founded by Jesuit Fr. Eusebio Kino, SJ in 1699.38
On October 4th, 2011, the Belen Jesuit Observatory announced that Belen Jesuit alumnus Rolando Branly (‘84) had been part of the study about the supernova explosion of Galaxy 4225, which had led to the discovery that the universe is expanding, as well as a Nobel Prize for Saul Perlmutter (Berkeley, California), Brian P. Schmidt (Australia), and Adam G. Riess (Johns Hopkins, Baltimore).39 During the summer of 2012, the school had an elevator built that allowed access to the observatory from the first floor without the need for climbing stairs. This meant that all the criteria was finally in place for the observatory to be formally registered. Once the formal registration was in place in August of 2012, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) dedicated the observatory to the class of 1972. During the ceremony, the class donated a Dobsonian telescope in memory of Judge Roberto Piñeiro (‘72), their classmate who had passed away in 2010.
On February 22nd, 2013, Fr. Cartaya held an event to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the observatory, during which speakers discussed how over the years, it had become an integral part of the Belen Jesuit Science Department. The observatory had provided a way for those students who were interested in astronomy and meteorology to develop their knowledge further. In addition, the observatory’s influence and that of the Belen Academy for the Study of Earth and Space (BASES) on students had inspired many alumni to engage in science-related careers. Those alumni had also returned from time to time to share their experiences and accomplishments with Belen Jesuit students. The observatory had also provided ongoing meteorological services to the community. The event was more than a celebration, for it also provided an assurance that the work of the observatory would continue to benefit the school as well as the South Florida community at large.
Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) at the Belen Jesuit Observatory, 2012.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Social Studies
Prior to the formalization of academic departments that took place when Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ arrived at Belen Jesuit in 1972, several Jesuits taught social studies at the school’s campus in Little Havana. Amongst them, Fr. Thomas Robinson, SJ taught US History (19631968) and Fr. José R. Tey, SJ taught World History. In addition, several Jesuit scholastics also taught social studies courses and these included Eduardo Barrios, SJ (‘60), Manuel Maza, SJ (‘62), Román Espadas, SJ, and Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ. In the 1970s, the Jesuit administration started to hire additional lay faculty to serve at the school, and some of these taught Social Studies, including Patrick Collins, Armando Rodríguez, Berta Álvarez, José Lamas, Antolín Cossío (‘73), Roberto Hernández, David Hewett, and Pedro Bermúdez. Social Studies faculty taught courses in United States history, American government, world history, world geography, Latin American history, sociology, economics, current events, and global issues. After 1980, the Social Studies Department also offered a class in psychology.
In June of 1971, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) hired faculty member Patrick Collins to teach United States history and American government at the school, and his decision would prove to be a lasting one. After just one week at Belen Jesuit, Fr. Baldor appointed Mr. Collins as the chair of the Social Studies Department. Since then, Mr. Collins embarked on a journey which now spans for over four decades at the school and which has included the teaching and mentoring of thousands of students.
When Patrick Collins first arrived at the Belen Jesuit campus in Little
Havana, he had just graduated from Spring Hill College. Prior to his interview with Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and Principal Antonio Abella (‘59), he was skeptical as to whether he would be offered a position at the school:
“Although I had grown up in Miami and had attended Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School, I never realized there was a small Jesuit school on Eighth Street. During my last semester at Spring Hill, however, I ran into a Belen Jesuit alumnus who insisted that I should interview with the Jesuits in Miami. When I returned home, I decided to look into it; however, as I waited for my interview with Fr. Baldor, SJ, all I could hear spoken around the Belen office was Spanish… Well, at that moment, I was sure I would never be offered the position since I did not speak Spanish. Imagine my surprise when Fr. Baldor said that I was exactly the faculty member that he was looking for: a native English speaker who could teach US history and American government. The position Fr. Baldor offered me provided me with a great opportunity to fulfill both my professional and ministry goals. The way I saw it, Belen would give me an opportunity to convey the concept of freedom, democracy and American history to the sons of Cuban exiles who had been forced to leave their country because their government had done away with those very principles and ideals. It was an extraordinary opportunity! And just like that, I began my forty-plus year adventure at Belen Jesuit…”1
Overall, the primary philosophy of the Social Studies Department, as developed by Social Studies Chair Patrick Collins, looked to provide a greater understanding and appreciation of local, state, national and world events to students by not only expanding their knowledge from the confines of their community to a broader view of mankind, but also by hoping to foster in them individual respect for all people in the hope that each of them would in turn be able to make fulfilling contributions as Christian citizens who were part of those communities. Thus, while in Little Havana and later at the school’s campus in West Miami-Dade, students in Patrick Collins’s classes were encouraged to learn about the events that shaped their adopted country and the world at large. In turn, their teacher’s use of current
events to explain the development of United States history and the inner-workings of American government fascinated them. Echoes Yearbooks raved about Mr. Collins’s use of British/American journalist Alistair Cooke (1908-2004), popular TV host Phil Donahue, and Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s breaking the Watergate scandal (1972) to entice lively discussion about the workings of government and politics.2 In 1975, Mr. Collins also moved to involve Belen Jesuit students in Close Up, a program through which teachers traveled with students to Washington, DC to learn about the inner-workings of the US government.3
Much in the same way that Patrick Collins established student participation in Close Up to enhance the study of American government, social studies faculty member Armando Rodríguez established the Latin American History Club, which later became the Centro de Estudios de Latino América y del Caribe (CELAC), to foster student interest in the Latin American region. CELAC emphasized the school’s multi-cultural and bilingual educational mission by host-
ing lectures, symposiums, and activities that could expand student interest in Latin America and the Caribbean, with special emphasis given to the study of Cuba. Student Council, which had originally been established at the school during the 1964-1965 academic year by Jesuit scholastics, also came under Mr. Collins’s guidance in 1972. The following academic year (1973-1974), Mr. Rodríguez took over as the Student Council faculty advisor, a position he held until 2009.
During the years that Belen Jesuit was at its campus in Little Havana, the Social Studies Department also looked to give its students a sense of civic duty by promoting participation in political campaigns. Chair Patrick Collins recalled that it was students Fernando Arán (‘75) and Jorge Hernández-Toraño (‘75) who first volunteered to participate in one of the political campaigns of US Congressman Dante Fascell (1917-1998).5 It was also in response to student enthusiasm that in the mid-1970s, Congressman Fascell, Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré, and representatives from the Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan campaigns visited the school. In addition to serving in political campaigns, Mr. Collins also wanted to acquaint students with the government’s judicial branch. For this purpose, during the 1980-1981 academic year, students participated in the Dade County School Board Court Observer program, during which they attended weekly lectures at the Dade County Courthouse and received a first-
Patrick Collins, Chair of the Social Studies Department at Belen Jesuit since 1971, shows a doctored newspaper relating to the Watergate Scandal. Photograph from Echoes, 1975.
Patrick Collins and Belen Jesuit students at the Dade County School Board Court Observer Program in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court Criminal Division. Photograph from Echoes, 1981.
Social Studies faculty member David Hewett reviews students’ projects at the Social Studies Fair in 1977. Photograph from Echoes, 1977.
hand look at the workings of the criminal justice system. The department also held the Social Studies Fair (1976-1980), during which students presented projects that ranged from creative figures depicting national leaders to replicas of buildings such as the Colegio de Belén in Havana.
Since the school moved to its new campus, many faculty members have taught in the Social Studies Department including Chair Patrick Collins, Armando Rodríguez, Roberto Hernández, David Hewett, Sister Celia Morell, RSH, Brian Wentzel, Leonardo Ramos, Phillip Dembowski, Martha Prado, Eugene Zoller, Jorge Martínez, Mercedes Alonso Pérez, Charles Cleveland, Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, Eduardo Delgado (‘91), Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Luis Dulzaides, Alexis Zequeira (‘90), Ann Kenna, Fr. Christian Sáenz, SJ (‘95), Timothy VanScoy, John Gustavsen, Andrés Jiménez (‘87), Ramón Nicosia, Juan Vázquez, Dan Montesi, Heriberto Cabada, Octavio Ramos, Charles Curry, María Moreno, and Wendy Phillips.
At the new campus, the social studies program remained innovative, as it continued to give students a greater understanding and appreciation of national and world events, while also promoting extracurricular activities that fostered interest in social studies as well as continued civic participation in their community. As a result, during the 1980s, social studies students logged thousands of volunteer hours while working in federal, state, county, and local elections which included the high-pressured political election between incumbent Congressman Dante Fascell and WPLG-10 Anchorman Glenn Rinker,6 as well as the presidential election campaign between Ronald Reagan and US Vice President Walter Mondale.
Chair Patrick Collins also encouraged students to participate in competitive activities such as the Dade County Public Schools Social Studies Knowledge Bowl, where in its first appearance (1984-1985), Belen Jesuit placed fourth given the efforts of Xavier de Souza Briggs (‘85), Luis Clemens (‘85), Juan Ros (‘85), Alberto Xiques (‘86), and Pablo Hernández Villalón (‘86). The following year (1986-1987), articles in both the Miami Herald and Archdiocese of Miami’s The Voice enthusiastically recognized Belen Jesuit attaining first place in the Social Studies Knowledge Bowl. Exceptional performances from a six-member team, hand-picked by Mr. Collins, included Kevin Taracido (‘87), Alex González (‘87), Rolando Díaz (‘87), Raúl Incera (‘87), Álvaro Fernández (‘88), and Xavier Martínez (‘88). All
of them answered questions ranging from American history to psychology. Belen Jesuit students continued to participate in social studies competitions throughout the years including the statewide Citizen Bee in 1992, where Marcos Cornillot (‘93) won the State competition.10 In 1993, the Citizens Bee participants won the regional championship, and social studies students competing in the Dade County Citrus Bowl reached third place in the county.11 During the 1996-1997 academic year, Belen Jesuit hosted its first Knowledge Bowl Tournament in the new Belen Jesuit auditorium on the second floor of the main building.12 The school continued to host the Knowledge Bowl (1997-1998).13
The Social Studies Department also continued to bring informative speakers and political candidates to Belen Jesuit. For example, for the City of Miami mayoral elections held in November of 1985, incumbent Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré and his challengers, Marvin Dunn, and Colegio de Belén alumni Xavier Suárez (‘67) and Raúl Masvidal (‘59), gave speeches at Belen Jesuit and answered questions for students.14 During the 1992-1993 academic year, after being elected to
the State of Florida House of Representatives, Carlos Manrique (‘78) visited the school to speak to Patrick Collins’s American Government class about the legislative process within the state system.15 During the 2006-2007 academic year, US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R, FL) visited Belen Jesuit and lectured students about her experiences as a member of the US House of Representatives.
In order to continue to provide Belen Jesuit students with another avenue for gaining knowledge about civics and the judicial system, during the 1986-1987 academic year, social studies faculty member Eugene Zoller helped students establish a Civics Club at the school. The club sponsored speakers such as Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno, and club members visited the Dade County Detention Center and the court house.16 Club members also established a bulletin board at the school where they posted news articles about important civic issues and current events.17 Throughout the years, the club continued its visits to the court house, posted important news articles on school bulletin boards, and worked as an important vehicle for eighth graders to develop their leadership and civic service skills.18 During the
City of Miami Mayoral Candidates including Marvin Dunn, incumbent Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré, and Colegio de Belén alumni Raúl Masvidal (‘59) and Xavier Suárez (‘67), speak to Belen Jesuit students about the upcoming election. Photograph from Echoes, 1986.
The 1987 Dade County Knowledge Bowl Champions Xavier Martínez (‘88), Raúl Incera (‘87), Rolando Díaz (‘87), Kevin Taracido (‘87), Alex González (‘87), and Social Studies
Chair Patrick Collins.
Photograph from Echoes, 1987.
1989-1990 academic year, the Civics Club, under Mr. Zoller’s guidance, became the Builder’s Club, a representation of the Key Club in middle school.19 After the new millennium, Mr. Zoller reorganized the Civics Club into the Public Affairs Club, which continued to post current event stories on the Belen Jesuit bulletin boards.20
ternational Club throughout the years have included: Eduardo Costa (‘94), John Salas (‘94), Andrés Vidal (‘94), Omar Ríaz (‘95) and Jorge Pupo (‘95), José Aguayo (‘00), Daniel Adán (‘01), Roberto Colón (‘04), and Víctor Pérez-Abreu (‘13).
In 1994, social studies faculty member Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, supported by students from the Belen Jesuit the Centro de Estudios de Latino América y del Caribe (CELAC), organized a one-day summit event at the school to parallel the Summit of the Americas that was being held in the City of Miami. During the day, Belen Jesuit students Alan Díaz (‘95), Eduardo Placer (‘95), Jorge Pupo (‘95), and Carlos Carillo (‘95) started the event by describing the political and economic impact of the international assembly. During the evening, five consulate representatives, including the Consulate General of Suriname Ben A. Doorson, attended an event that began with a procession of flags, followed by a keynote address from Dade County Manager Joaquín Aviñó, Sr., whose sons Joaquín Aviñó ('94) and Javier Aviñó ('96) were students at the school. County Manager Aviñó praised Belen Jesuit’s initiative to foster bicultural and bilingual learning as well as their willingness to highligh important international events from the Americas, given that Miami had come to be recognized as the “Capital of the Americas.” Each homeroom attempted to capture a bit of every country’s cultural variety by developing expositions that were displayed in the school’s central patio and included foods and artifacts from the respective Western Hemisphere countries. The evening also included beauty pageant winners, who modeled traditional dresses from the countries they represented, and an array of folkloric dancers, who performed traditional dances from Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Panama.21 The following year, CELAC also invited Brothers to the Rescue Leader José Basulto to speak at their yearly symposium about Cuba.
Basulto discussed recent Cuban events and the challenges facing the Brothers to the Rescue organization.22 During the 1996-1997 academic year, Cuban-American journalist Roberto Rodríguez-Tejera, social studies faculty member Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, and Miami Dade Community College (MDCC) Professor Juan Clark presented a panel discussion about political change in Cuba.23
In 1993, social studies faculty member Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat helped students establish the Model United Nations (MUN) club at Belen Jesuit. The following year, the department also created the Overseas Study Program (OSP) to broaden the cultural, political, spiritual, and personal perspective of students by having them accompany faculty members on trips to distant lands during the summers. Through exploration, experience and reflection, OSP participants would gain a global perspective and gain insight about foreign languages and cultures that would be instrumental in their formation as Christian global citizens.24 Over the years, the OSP has worked mostly under the guidance of faculty member Charles Cleveland, although several Belen Jesuit faculty members and administrators have also participated in the program, including: Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59), Fr. Francisco Permuy, SJ (‘85), Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), Fr. Michael Chesney, SJ, Patrick Collins, Miriam Hernández, Brian Wentzel, Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Juan Flores (‘70), Alexis Zequeira (‘90), Eugene Zoller, Carol Ann Vila, Adriana Suárez Delgado, Ann Kenna, and Francisco Padura.
Throughout the years, the Belen Jesuit Social Studies Department has persevered in its specific mission that includes:
Amnesty International Club members Eduardo Carreño (‘97), Stephen Fariñas (‘98), Humberto Guida (‘97), Patrick Hidalgo (‘97) and Patrick Collins writing letters
In 1992, under the guidance of Social Studies Chair Patrick Collins, Ernesto Erdmann (‘93) established a chapter of Amnesty International (AI) at the school. The AI chapter helped to expand student knowledge about global events and their understanding of human rights. Also, in accordance with Amnesty International’s mission of using peaceful means to stop injustices around the world, the AI chapter members met once a month to write letters to world leaders in response to Amnesty International Urgent Action Appeals, protesting violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Members of the Amnesty In-
“A special commitment to the distinctive paradigm of Jesuit pedagogy: Experience, Reflection, and Action. Furthermore, with every course and activity, the department advocates multiple opportunities for students to learn the vista of social studies from knowing the facts, to practicing the principles of democracy, to learning the historical lessons of the past, to serving as Ignatian “Men for Others.”25
As activities sponsored and guided from within the department, Close Up, Student Council, the Overseas Study Program (OSP), Amnesty International, and the Model United Nations (MUN) Club have also been integral components of this mission.
against human rights abuses. Photograph from Echoes, 1997.
Civics Club members post articles on their bulletin board with the help of Social Studies faculty advisor Eugene Zoller. Photograph from Echoes, 1988.
Alan Díaz (‘95), Eduardo Placer (‘95), Jorge Pupo (‘95), Carlos Carillo (‘95) and other students at the Belen Jesuit Summit of the Americas event in 1994. Photograph from Echoes, 1995.
President Ronald Reagan spoke to a special seminar for Close Up students, where Roberto Pupo (‘85) was given the opportunity to ask President Reagan a question. Photograph courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library.
Close Up
After Patrick Collins arrived at Belen Jesuit in 1971, the enthusiasm exhibited by his Cuban-American students for learning about United States history, its government, and the democratic process inspired him to take his students on a trip to Washington, DC as a way to give them a more hands-on look at the inner workings of the US government. In the process of recruiting participants, however, he discovered that most of his students had limited resources and would not be able to afford flying to the nation’s capital. Mr. Collins overcame this difficulty by arranging to make the trip on a Greyhound bus. He still vividly recalls this first official social studies trip experience:
“When we arrived at the Greyhound bus terminal, I found that each student had brought four to six family members to see them off Not only had they brought parents and siblings, but also grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Some of the grandmothers had tears in their eyes, and I was overwhelmed with this show of emotion. I thought about how caring these Cuban families were, and what a blessing it was that I had found this wonderful position -where I could teach these young men about the freedoms and rights that had been obliterated by the communist government in their country and were now available to them in the United States. I was soon surrounded by many family members with questions. I joked with them and
assured them that we were just going to Washington, DC. I also had to promise that I would bring back their boys back safe and sound. The trip was an incredible experience for these Cuban-American students. Soon thereafter, I came across a program called Close Up and decided that Belen Jesuit needed to participate so that it could provide a hands-on approach to my students about the inner workings of the US government.
The school has been participating in Close Up ever since.”26
Patrick Collins first involved Belen Jesuit students in Close Up during the 1975-1976 academic year. Mr. Collins believed in the program’s philosophy of giving students the opportunity to experience a “close-up” view of democracy and government, using the nation’s capital as a living classroom. 27 While at Close Up, students attended conferences and heard from members of Congress and other public servants about issues and experiences. Moreover, the program allowed many of those interested in pursuing careers in public service to assess their choice. Lastly, the museums, memorials, universities, cathedrals, and performances available in the Washington, DC area also enriched the historical and cultural aspect of the program.
Miguel Ares (‘77) was the first and only student from Belen Jesuit to participate in Close Up during the 1975-1976 academic year, during which Patrick Collins and Ares attended a conference where United Nations Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), Senator Edward Kennedy (1932-2009), Senator Frank Church (19241984), and Ambassador George F. Kennan (1904-2005) were the featured speakers. They also visited the legendary Ford’s Theater, where US President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) had been assassinated in 1865, and where they watched the theatrical performance, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God 28 In subsequent years, students attended several music and theater performances at Ford’s Theater, as well as at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at the Arena Stage.
Student participation in Close Up grew to reach thirty-five students by 1980. Some of the students’ memorable experiences during this time included Fausto Martín (‘80) listening to the newly-released
Watergate tapes at the National Archives and Records Administration. Moreover, on January 20th, 1981, Belen Jesuit Close Up students attended the inauguration of US President Ronald Reagan and met the six American Embassy aides who had escaped from the American Embassy in Iran, and who were staying at the Sheraton National Hotel at the same time as the members of Close Up.29 Since Close Up coordinates its program to coincide with the presidential inauguration ceremonies every four years, it has afforded the Belen Jesuit students with opportunities to be present at all of these historic events since 1975. The Close Up experience in 1981 prompted Belen Jesuit alumnus Joe García (‘82) (D, FL), the first Belen Jesuit alumnus to serve in the US House of Representatives, to say that:
“Close Up was an incredible learning experience. Attending the Reagan inauguration in 1981, we developed a tremendous sense of patriotism and understanding for the greatness of our country. We also realized, first hand, when meeting other students, that we were prepared and well-educated about our own government and how it functions. Through Close Up, Pat Collins has afforded generations of students a unique and invaluable opportunity.”30
Most of the Belen Jesuit students who participate in Close Up each year pay a fee for their attendance; however, the organization does award one fellowship per school for students who would not otherwise be able to afford attendance. Such was the case in 1980, when Alberto Hernández (‘81) received the Alan J. Ellender Fellowship to attend Close Up. Hernández returned to teach at Belen Jesuit (19831984), and went on to teach at the Iliff School of Theology, where he currently serves as Interim President. On August 28th, 2006, while giving a guest lecture at the school, Dr. Hernández acknowledged the value of Close Up by stating that participating in Close Up was one of the most formative and influential educational experiences of his life.31 In addition to funding individual student fellowships, in both 1984 and 1985, Close Up fellowship funds sponsored an opportunity for Belen Jesuit students to develop their journalism skills, as Xavier de Souza Briggs (‘85), Luis Clemens (‘85), and Juan Ros (‘85) created and published the newsletter, C.U. Comments The newsletter included an assortment of articles written by students, teachers, and administrators about Close Up. The program also sponsored and produced three civic seminars from Belen Jesuit (March 9th, 1984), which were broadcast on C-SPAN, with Close Up President Stephen Janger serving as moderator.
From the time that Belen Jesuit students began participating in Close Up, they have had the opportunity to meet members of Congress from Florida, including Dante Fascell (D, FL), who met with
Belen Jesuit Close Up participants, with US Congressman Claude Pepper (D, FL) in 1980.
Photograph from Echoes, 1980.
Belen Jesuit Close Up participants, with US Senator Robert Graham (D, FL), on the steps of the US Capitol in 1988. Photograph from Echoes, 1988.
Belen Jesuit Close Up participants, and Patrick Collins, with US Congressman Dante Fascell (D, FL), on the US Capitol steps in 1990. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
the school’s delegation every year they visited through Close Up, until he retired from the US Congress in 1993. In 1982, Congressman Fascell awarded Patrick Collins the prestigious Lyndon B. Johnson Congressional Summer Internship in Washington, DC. Congressman Fascell also included the school in local educational conferences. In 1991, students participated in the Dade County High School Foreign Affairs Program, Should the United States Help Gorbachev?32 In 1992, students witnessed the US Congressional debate on whether the United States should provide foreign aid to the newly established Russian Federation.33 In 1995, Belen Jesuit transferred from the Close Up Washington-Williamsburg Program to the International Program in order for students to interact with Russian peers and share their experiences.
During the 1980s, Belen Jesuit Close Up students met with several members of Congress from Florida including senators Paula Hawkins (R, FL) and Robert Graham (D, FL), as well as representatives William Lehman (D, FL) and Larry Smith (D, FL). In 1983, students visited alumnus Carlos McDonald ('75), who at the time was serving as a congressional aide to Congressman Smith. But perhaps the most unique experience for a Close Up participant during the 1980s occurred when President Ronald Reagan agreed to speak at a special seminar for Close Up students at the White House on
December 2nd, 1983. The experience left student Roberto Pupo (‘85) with memories which he has treasured the rest of his life. As Mr. Collins recalled:
“I do remember that when the White House informed Close Up that President Ronald Reagan would speak to a limited number of its students, Close Up decided that one student from each school in Washington, DC that week would be allowed to attend. As you can imagine, all of the Belen students wanted to go to the event; therefore, I decided that a drawing would be the only “fair” way of selecting a student. Roberto Pupo (‘85) won the lotto that day, as his name was drawn from a hat! Almost every time that I have seen Robert over the years since then, the topic of him getting to see and talk to President Reagan comes up with the same enthusiasm as the day when he met the President.”34
During the seminar, President Ronald Reagan allowed Roberto Pupo (‘85) to ask him a question, and the Belen Jesuit student asked: “Mr. President, if the situation in Central America worsens and becomes a threat to American security, will you consider sending American troops into Central America?” President Reagan replied:
“Well, it would have to be very evident that it was a direct threat to the United States. The truth of the matter is -- dating back to some days when the big colossus of the North, the United States, did lean on and practice what was called gunboat diplomacy -- our own friends and neighbors down there don't want us to send that kind of military help. They don't want our troops down there, and we respect them for that. President Magana of El Salvador has said: “Yes, we need some help; we need weapons, ammunition; we need training.” And we're providing that for them. But he said, “We will provide the manpower. We don't want yours.” So, yours was a kind of a hypothetical question, and mine is a hypothetical answer. It would have to be something that we saw as actually a threat to our security and our safety, and then we would be defending ourselves, not someone else.”35
During the 1990s, Belen Jesuit student participation in Close Up grew to reach forty-nine participants (1997). Also during the 1990s, students met with other US Congress members from Florida includ-
ing Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R, FL) and Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R, FL), who throughout the years, met with students, provided tours of the US Capitol, and arranged for special group photographs on the Capitol steps and Rotunda. In 2002, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen escorted Belen Jesuit students into the House Chamber to watch her vote on a campaign finance reform bill. Several Belen Jesuit alumni, who were Close Up participants, have served on Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen’s staff including Ariel Fernández (‘99), Edward Acevedo (‘01), and Guillermo Vallejo (‘03). Acevedo currently serves as a professional staff member for the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, which Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has chaired since 2011.36
Over the years, Belen Jesuit students participating in Close Up have also visited the US Supreme Court several times, and on occasion, they witnessed oral arguments as they were being delivered before the court. In 1993, the Rasco family coordinated a special visit for the Belen Jesuit Close Up delegation to the Supreme Court, during which students were able to meet with Associate Justice William J. Brennan (1906-1997).37 Also in 1993, Belen Jesuit Close Up students were in Washington, DC, scheduled to attend the Inauguration of President William J. Clinton. Unexpectedly, during a visit to the ice skating rink across the street from of the National Archives and Records Administration, Renzo Zaldívar (‘94) found himself meeting Chelsea Clinton, who allowed the Belen Jesuit student to take a photograph with her that was later featured in the 1993 Echoes yearbook. About the encounter, Zaldívar stated:
“She seemed not to be too happy about her father’s new job, but she was nice to talk to, despite all the problems she was facing.” 38
The new millennium marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Close Up program; however, as a result of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks, participation in Close Up decreased to eighteen students in 2002. The following year, continued concerns over heightened security and the positioning of anti-missile launchers around the District of Columbia continued to limit student participation in the program. Students who did attend Close Up after the new millennium were able to witness top government officials testifying before Congressional Committees on Capitol Hill, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In addition to attending the Congressional Committee hearings, since
During the 110th US Congress Representatives Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R, FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R, FL), and Mario Díaz-Balart (R, FL) welcomed Belen Jesuit Close Up participants at the Statuary Hall in the US Capitol, 2008. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Renzo Zaldívar (‘94) met First Daughter Chelsea Clinton (age 12) on the National Mall, prior to the presidential inauguration of President William J. Clinton in January 1993. Photograph courtesy of Renzo Zaldivar (‘94).
US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R, FL) with Belen Jesuit Close Up participants on Capitol Hill Day, 2011.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Alumni at 2011 Close Up seminar. From left to right: Rolando Díaz (‘87), Alexander Sanjenis (‘99), Benjamin Tyler (‘10), Lt. Col. Armando Fiterre (‘86), José Arredondo (‘07), Patrick Collins, Manuel Hidalgo (‘87), Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), Alejandro Burgos (‘98), Frank Mora (‘82), Javier Correoso (‘04), Luis Palacio (‘59), and Patrick Hidalgo (‘97).
Also present but not pictured: Edward Acevedo (‘01), Guillermo Vallejo (‘03), and Andrew Alonso (‘06). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
2000, Belen Jesuit students participating in Close Up have continued to meet with members of Congress from Florida including Senator Mel Martínez (R, FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R, FL), Lincoln DíazBalart (R, FL), Mario Díaz-Balart (R, FL) and David Rivera (R, FL). Students have also been able to meet with several Belen Jesuit alumni working for Congress including Alex Burgos (‘98), who served as a communications director for Senator Marco Rubio (R, FL), Javier Correoso (‘04), who served as chief of staff for Congressman Rivera, Patricio González (‘05), who served as a congressional staffer for Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), and Andrew Alonso (‘06), who served as a hearing coordinator for the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Throughout the years, besides experiencing a “close-up” view of democracy at work in the United States government, students visited many of the area’s monuments, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In 2011, the usual stop at the memorial included a ceremony of particular significance. Accompanied by Belen Jesuit President Fr.
Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) and Patrick Collins, students held a wreath ceremony in memory of fallen alumnus Sgt. Manuel E. Mesa, Jr. (‘63) (1945-1967), whose name not only appears at the memorial on Panel 18E, Row 101, but who has also been inducted into the Belen Jesuit Wall of Martyrs for his service and bravery while serving in the war that posthumously earned him a Silver Star.39 At the ceremony, students Luis Restrepo (‘12) and Javier Ortiz (‘11) presented the wreath, and Daniel Fuenmayor (‘12) read the Silver Star Citation. During the invocation prayer, Fr. Suárez explained Mesa’s sacrifice, the reasons for honoring his memory, and said a prayer for Mesa and all veterans whose names appear at the memorial. Belen Jesuit students returned in 2012 to lay another wreath for Sgt. Mesa, and future Close Up trips are slated to include this wreath-laying ceremony.
Over the years, in addition to the area’s memorials, students have also visited universities, churches, and chapels. While at Georgetown University, students usually admire the original Colegio de Belén seal from 1854 displayed in Gaston Hall. In 2008, Fr. Francisco Permuy, SJ (‘85) also celebrated Mass for students at the university’s Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart.40 Students have also visited the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul (Washington National Cathedral) and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where in 2008, they held a prayer for Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45) who had passed away on February 9th of that year.
Several of the Belen Jesuit students who participated in Close Up while they were at the school have gone on to obtain university degrees in the social sciences. Some have developed careers in academia as well as government service, and others have been appointed by US
presidents to various prestigious posts. Several of these alumni have also participated in events for Belen Jesuit students attending Close Up. In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed César Conde (‘91) as a White House Fellow (2002-2003). Conde delivered the Keynote Address at Close Up (2003). Felice Gorordo (‘01) was also appointed as a White House Fellow (2011-2012) by President Barack Obama. Gorordo gave a presentation to Belen Jesuit Close Up participants on Capitol Hill in 2012.
Former Close Up participants who have become university professors include Carlos Díaz-Rosillo (‘91), professor in the Department of Government and resident dean at Harvard College, Xavier de Souza Briggs (‘85), tenured associate professor of sociology and urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Frank Mora (‘82), professor of national security strategy and Latin American studies at the National War College. President William J. Clinton also appointed De Souza Briggs as a senior policy official at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and President Barack Obama named him associate director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In 2010, De Souza Briggs met with Belen Jesuit Close Up students at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his 2008 book, Democracy as Problem Solving (2008), he acknowledged Patrick Collins as an inspiration for the topics of study he pursued. President Obama also appointed Frank Mora (‘82) as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere. In 2011, Mora participated in a panel for Belen Jesuit Close Up students at the Rayburn House Office Building, along with Lt. Colonel Armando Fiterre (‘86), who at the time was the commander of the 316th Operations Group support squadron at Andrews Air Force Base. Patrick Hidalgo (‘97), who was a senior advisor at the Department of State Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs, also served on the panel. President Clinton also appointed Pedro Permuy (‘82) as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Inter-American affairs until 2001, when he became national security advisor for the chairman of the US House of Representatives Democratic Caucus, Bob Menéndez (D, NJ).
Several Belen Jesuit alumni have also chosen careers in politics within the state of Florida. Close Up participant, Marcelo Llorente (‘94), serves as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, where Belen Jesuit alums Carlos Manrique (‘78) Gastón Cantens (‘79), and Miguel
Díaz de la Portilla (‘81) have also served. In local politics, Xavier Suárez (‘67) and Manuel Díaz (‘73) have both served as mayors of the city of Miami. In addition, several Belen Jesuit alumni who attended Close Up have chosen careers in education, and some have returned to serve as faculty/staff members at Belen Jesuit. These include: Alberto Hernández (‘81), Augusto Venegas (‘85), Víctor Arrieta (‘95), Alexis Zequeira (‘90), Ricardo Raimundez (‘90), and Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97).
Since Belen Jesuit began its partnership with Close Up in 1975, over 1,300 Belen Jesuit students have participated with their teachers in this influential civic education program. It is evident that during four decades, the program’s founder at Belen Jesuit, Patrick Collins, has not only continually inspired his students about the wonders of government, history, and politics within the democratic system of the United States, but has also encouraged them to become contributing members of the democratic process whose inner workings they vividly experienced during Close Up.
Javier Ortiz (‘11), Luis Restrepo (‘12), Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), and the 2011 Belen Jesuit Close Up participants held a wreath ceremony for Sgt. Manuel E. Mesa, Jr. (‘63) at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on February 15th 2011.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Council round
meeting in 1966.
from Echoes, 1966.
Student Council
Student Council was established at Belen Jesuit as a Youth Council during the 1964-1965 academic year, and the following seniors listed their participation in the council under their graduation pictures in the 1965 yearbook: Raúl Bezos (‘65), Mario Dávalos (‘65), Ignacio Ferrer (‘65), Carlos García (‘65), Luis González (‘65), René Loyola (‘65), Francisco Pérez (‘65), and Roberto Rodríguez (‘65). The organization worked the first year as a collaborative effort to organize school activities. In the 1966 yearbook, a round table of Student Council members appears during one of their meetings.41 It is not, however, until the 1968 Echoes yearbook that those involved in Student Council began to appear in the yearbook, regularly accompanied by their faculty advisors. During the years that the school resided at its campus in Little Havana, Student Council faculty advisors included several Jesuit scholastics. Among these were: César Incera, SJ, Manuel Maza, SJ, and Carlos García-Carreras, SJ (1971-1972). Fr. Otto Martínez, SJ (‘49) also advised Student Council. During the 1972-1973 academic year, Social Studies Chair Patrick Collins served as faculty advisor to the Student Council, and the following year, social studies faculty member Armando Rodríguez, began his tenure as advisor to the group, a tenure which lasted over thirty-five years (1973-2009).
At the school, Student Council involved an important student commitment to the school’s campus life. Designed as a vehicle to promote leadership and support to the school’s mission and its day-today events and activities, the organization’s main priorities involved planning and funding major school events, providing hospitality for
school functions, donating financial and physical resources to various school-wide projects, and providing leadership examples for the entire school community. Student Council elections were held at the end of each academic year, and its structure included elected positions for president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and representatives from each home room. During the years that the school was at its campus in Little Havana, Belen Jesuit Student Council presidents included: Jorge Leal (‘66), Felipe López (‘67), Jacinto Pérez (‘68), Jorge Ardura (‘69), Javier Lasaga (‘70), Charles Torres (‘72), Manuel Díaz (‘73), Carlos Fernández (‘74), Fernando Arán (‘75), Crescencio Ruiz (‘76), George Duarte (‘77), Juan Carlos Albearías (‘78), Francisco Civantos (‘79), Carlos Batlle (‘80), and Jorge Blanco (‘81). Student Council vice presidents also included Ramiro García (‘67), Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68), Gerardo Simms (‘69), Eduardo Dieppa (‘70), Pedro Mencía (‘72), Alfonso Forment (‘73), Anthony Crudele (‘74), Max Belin (‘75), George Pereira (‘76), Luis Fernández (‘77), Javier Pérez-Abreu (‘78), Antonio Tarafa (‘79), Enrique Mendía (‘80), and Sergio González (‘81).
Since the late 1960s, Student Council members have expanded the organization’s role by joining the state-wide Florida Association of Student Councils (FASC). Student Council representatives from Belen Jesuit, however, had been unable to secure any executive positions at the state level during these early years, given stiff competition from other larger and more established schools. At the 1977 FASC Convention in Orlando, President Juan Carlos Albearías (‘78) and Vice President Javier Pérez-Abreu (‘78) carried out an extensive campaign, and for the first time, the school was elected to serve as FASC Vice President (1977-1978). Then, in an another hard-fought campaign at the 1979 FASC Convention, President Carlos Batlle (‘80), Vice President Enrique Mendía (‘80), Secretary Javier Arellano (‘80), Treasurer Francisco de la Cámara (‘80), and Parliamentarian Vicente García (‘80) used posters, artwork, hand-outs, and impassioned speeches to defeat established executive board member, Brandon High School, for the position of FASC President. It was a great victory for Belen Jesuit, and as a result, Batlle, Mendía, Arellano, De la Cámara, and Rodríguez were able to discuss student issues with other Florida high school students, while visiting FASC districts throughout the state. The students also discussed issues with Florida legislators and with Governor Robert Graham.42
On September 14th, 1981, Student Council President Héctor Formoso-Murias (‘82) proudly read the Pledge of Allegiance, as Belen Jesuit President Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), cut the blue ribbon that had been tied across the school’s main building staircase to signify that the students were then able to begin classes at the school’s new campus in West-Miami Dade. At this campus, the Student Council continued to sponsor student dances and activities such as Homecoming Week, proms, athletic events, and Tómbola. They also worked with the Pep Club to raise student attendance to pep rallies. During the 1980s, the Student Council presidents who served at the new campus in West Miami-Dade included: Héctor Formoso-Murias (‘82), Julio Valera (‘83), Alberto Fernández (‘84), Raúl Cardona (‘85), Antonio Castro (‘86), Eduardo García (‘87), Juan Delgado (‘88), and Edward Bello (‘89). In their supportive roles, Edward Iturralde (‘82), Federico Maciá (‘83), Alberto Arazoza (‘84), Calixto García-Valdez (‘85), Michael Verdeja (‘86), Manuel Hidalgo (‘87), Carlos Hernández (‘88), and Armando Hernández (‘89) served as vice presidents.
Also during the 1983-1984 academic year, and for the first time in school history, Belen Jesuit Student Council Coordination Secretary Robert Toricella (‘84) was honored to be elected as the 1984 Florida Association of Student Councils (FASC) Convention’s Parliamentarian. The Belen Jesuit Student Council also served as FASC vice president during the 1984-1985 academic year.43 During the 1986-1987 academic year, under the leadership of Eduardo García (‘87) and Manuel Hidalgo (‘87), Student Council established the Homeroom Big Brother Program at the school. The program aimed at helping new students, particularly the sixth graders, to become acclimated into student life at the school by explaining school events, their significance and purpose. The program also explained and encouraged new students to become involved in their school, as well as participate in the Alumni Day and Tómbola raffle ticket sales campaigns, whose proceeds supported scholarship funds.
The Belen Jesuit Student Council also served in the role of Florida Association of Student Councils (FASC) vice president during the 1987-1988 academic year, which also meant publishing the FASC newsletter, The Florida Sun, which was distributed to every high school in the State of Florida six times during the academic year.44
For its excellent work that year, the student organization won the “Council of the Year” Award for the first time at the FASC Convention that year. At the 1988-1989 FASC Convention, the hard work of incoming Student Council President Alexis Zequeira (‘90) and Vice President Alex Cardona (‘90) resulted in Belen Jesuit being elected to serve as president of FASC for the 1989-1990 academic year. To celebrate the accomplishment, on May 6th, 1989, faculty advisor Armando Rodríguez organized an event where he invited many of the former Belen Jesuit Student Council presidents which he had advised (1973-1988). Former presidents who attended the event included Manuel Díaz (‘73), Carlos Fernández (‘74), Fernando Arán (‘75), Crescencio Ruiz (‘76), Carlos Batlle (‘80), Jorge Blanco (‘81), Julio Valera (‘83), and Eduardo García (‘87).45 The annual dinner became a tradition, and several former Student Council presidents returned yearly to speak to the graduating leaders as well as the incoming administration with words of inspiration and wisdom. During the 1990s, Belen Jesuit Student Council presidents also included: Roberto Jiménez (‘90), Daniel Baldor (‘91), Ricardo Souto (‘92), Lorenzo Rodríguez (‘93), Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Héctor García (‘95), Roberto Souto (‘96), Daniel Domínguez (‘97), Carlos Cúrbelo (‘98), and José Fernández (‘99). In their supportive roles, Carlos Martínez (‘90), Eduardo Lombard (‘91), Agustín Arrieta (‘92),
The Belen Jesuit Student Council (1979-1980) served as FASC President for the first time. From left to right: José Arellano (‘78), Carlos Batlle (‘80), Enrique Mendía (‘80), Armando Rodríguez, Vicente García (‘80), and Francisco de la Cámara (‘80). Photograph from Echoes, 1980.
The Belen Jesuit Student Council (1989-1990) served as FASC President and received much recognition at the 1990 FASC Convention. From left to right: Aldo Cardona (‘90), Daniel Baldor (‘91), Alex Cardona (‘90), Armando Rodríguez, and Alexis Zequeira (‘90). Photograph from Echoes, 1990.
Student
table
Photograph
Alejandro Muelle (‘93), Alfonso Durán (‘94), Erik Muelle (‘95), Gabriel Dieppa (‘96), Patrick Hidalgo (‘97), Nicolás Calzada (‘98), and Gerald Wood (‘99) served as vice presidents of Student Council.
The Student Council experience at Belen Jesuit during the 1990s was of great value to some of those who served as president, including Alexis Zequeira (‘90) and Thomas de Quesada (‘94). Both returned to serve as Belen Jesuit faculty members. In carrying out his other roles at the school, which have included Dean of Students, faculty advisor to the Student Council, and Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Mr. De Quesada stated:
“I had many exceptional teachers and dynamic academic experiences at Belen Jesuit, but I learned some of the most valuable lessons about life and leadership as a result of my commitment to serving the school community as Student Council president.”46
Belen Jesuit was elected to the FASC vice president position twice during the 1990s: for the academic years 1992-1993 and 1997-1998. Student Council continued to expand its role into new activities such as the sixth grade Lock-In, first conceived by President Roberto Jiménez (‘90). The Lock-In included the sixth graders’ senior “Big Brothers.” During the night, the sixth graders participated in a number of activities including skits, movies, and mini-Olympics.
After the new millennium, the Belen Jesuit Student Council continued to expand its role at the school, under the leadership of the following Student Council presidents: Andrew Vargas (‘00), Daniel Masvidal (‘01), Eduardo Macías (‘02), René Carballo (‘03), Michael Wood (‘04), Robert Hernández (‘05), Daniel Halon (‘06), Daniel Urgelles (‘07), Matthew Jordán (‘08), Eric Donado (‘09), Benjamin Tyler (‘10), Ricardo Pita (‘11), Oliver Hyne (‘12), Steven Tyler (‘13), and José Smith (‘14). In their supportive roles, Nicholas Patiño (‘00), Jonathan Leyva (‘01), Daniel Martínez (‘02), Xavier Navarro (‘03), Louis Jane (‘04), Andrés Bilbao (‘05), Jordán Sánchez (‘06), Carlos Jordán (‘07), Anthony Armas (‘08), Michael Martínez (‘09), Andrés Novoa (‘10), Alexander Piña (‘11), Joshua Muñoz (‘12), Javier Martínez (‘13), and Javier González (‘14) served as vice presidents.
During the 2000-2001 academic year, the Belen Jesuit Student Council served as president of the Florida Association of Student Councils (FASC) once more. The following year, with a mission that concentrated on school spirit, staff relations, and community service, the council’s fundraising efforts through dances and car washes were able to purchase a new costume for the Waldo Wolverine Mascot and fund a breakfast for the school’s faculty and staff on Halloween. Yet, during the 2001-2002 academic year, Student Council truly excelled in providing service to others. The organization earned the FASC Gold Medallion designation for helping to coordinate a canned food drive that delivered 725 pounds of canned food to the Daily Bread Food Bank. That year, students also purchased medicine and vitamins for an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. The project “Belen in Bethlehem” also took its coordinator, Emilio Saiz (‘02), and four others, to the Dominican Republic orphanage to deliver the medicine. Saiz stated:
“The projects were fun, and everyone enjoyed doing them. But the most rewarding part of it was the reactions and the smiles that we received at the orphanage, when those girls finally saw the people who cared about them.”47
During the 2003-2004 academic year, President Michael Wood (‘04) and Vice President Louis Jane (‘04) led volunteers to assist during the 150th anniversary celebration. The council also served as the FASC Parliamentarian (2003-2004). For the 2004-2005 academic year, spirit filled the Homecoming Week Pep Rally, and Student Council brought in the Miami Heat Dancers and Extreme Team for a show that was only upstaged by a sumo wrestling match involving Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) and faculty member and former Student Council President Alexis Zequeira (‘90) dressed in sumo wrestling costumes. Community service requirements for all Student Council members were also established during the 2006-2007 academic year.
During the 2005-2006 academic year, faculty member Thomas de Quesada (‘94) joined Assistant Principal for Activities Armando Rodríguez as the organization’s advisor. That year, Student Council generated increased attendance to athletic events by holding tailgate barbecues prior to football games and sponsoring fan buses
for students, parents, and alumni to attend “away” games. Council members also developed a complete line of Wolverine merchandise, including flags and t-shirts. Also during this year, the school served in the role of Florida Association of Student Councils (FASC) vice president once more. The organization served as FASC President (2008-2009) for the fifth time in its history.
After 2009, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) and Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) included Student Council leaders in a prominent role in the school. Elected school leaders were encouraged to act as role models for all Belen Jesuit students within the school and throughout the community. Presidents were thus more involved in all aspects of school functions, making introductions and speaking at special school events and gatherings. The new guidelines have worked to increase student interest in the organization, which by the 2010-2011 academic year, had 18 student members in its executive committee and 238 regular members. From those who participated in Student Council, have emerged alumni who have gone on to serve in elected government positions and carried out careers in which the leadership skills they learned at Belen Jesuit have been put to use. One past members of this distinguished group, former Student Council President Michael Wood (‘04) serves in the Society of Jesus, as a member of the Antilles Province.
Student Council President Thomas de Quesada (‘94) speaks to the Belen Jesuit community in 1994. Photograph from Echoes, 1994.
Student Council Vice President Louis Jane (‘04), Armando Rodríguez, and President Michael Wood (‘04) during the Belen Jesuit 150th anniversary celebration year. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Student Council members (2006-2007) including faculty advisors Armando Rodríguez and Thomas de Quesada (‘94) as well as President Daniel Urgelles (‘07) and Vice President Carlos Jordán (‘07). Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
MUN members at the National High School
MUN Conference in New York City, 1997. From left to right: Humberto Guida (‘97), Michael Aguilo (‘97), Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, Jonathan Torrens (‘98), Patrick Hidalgo (‘97), Michael Piñeiro (‘98), Daniel López (‘98), Daniel Domínguez (‘97), Juan Carlos Rasco (‘99), Robert Riley (‘99), and Richard Rasco (‘99). Photograph from Echoes, 1997.
Model United Nations
The Model United Nations (MUN) Club at Belen Jesuit began in 1993 under the guidance of social studies faculty member Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, who advised the club (1993-1998). MUN offers students the opportunity to learn about the workings of the United Nations (UN) by conducting simulations that mirror the meeting structures used by the UN. During simulations at local, regional, and national MUN conferences, participants prepare and present position papers that they prepare ahead of time, which they use to deliberate, debate, and develop peaceful solutions or resolutions to world conflicts. Member assignments range from taking on the role of a specific UN country delegate, to representing a country as a delegate within an international agency such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Through their participation in MUN, members develop skills in debate, compromise, conflict resolution, and negotiation. Students also enhance their knowledge of world diplomacy, current issues, and cur-
rent events. MUN conference officials provide recognition to MUN delegations for individual as well as team participants.
During the first academic year (1993-1994) that the MUN club functioned at Belen Jesuit, student members attended the Florida International University (FIU) Model United Nations Conference. Although the club did not attain recognition at this first conference, they observed and learned procedural rules and debate tactics. The knowledge allowed them to prepare for the following year’s conference (1994-1995), where they received their first Outstanding Delegation Team Award. Moreover, Daniel Domínguez (‘97), Jonathan Torrens (‘98), Carlos Cúrbelo (‘98), Michael Piñeiro (‘98), Nicolás Calzada (‘98), and Robert Riley (‘99) also received individual awards. The club also attended the FIU MUN Conference for the 1995-1996 academic year, which involved over fifty schools and more than 300 delegates. At the conference, Belen Jesuit MUN
members earned sixth place overall and placed second at the UN Security Council simulation. Given the success of the team locally, faculty member Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat determined that the club was ready to attend a conference out of town. Hence, that same year, the club attended the Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where they received an Outstanding Delegation Award. Moreover, Domínguez, Torrens, Curbelo, and Piñeiro, as well as Humberto Guida (‘97) and Daniel López (‘98) also received individual awards.48
The following academic year (1996-1997), Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat and Patrick Collins traveled with the club to New York City to attend the National High School MUN Conference. Club members were able to attend the opening ceremonies at the UN General Assembly, where they shared seats and heard from ambassadors about the workings of the UN. Students participated in daily simulations, attended seminars given by foreign dignitaries, and heard a speech by one of the UN Undersecretary Generals.49
In 1998, social studies faculty member Thomas de Quesada (‘94) started serving as advisor to the Belen Jesuit MUN. During Mr. De Quesada’s first year as faculty advisor, student members attended the FIU Conference once again. The following academic year (1999-2000), the club traveled to Providence, Rhode Island to attend the Brown University MUN Conference, at which Gabriel Pumariega (‘02) and Giovanni Fernández-Kincade (‘02) earned individual awards. Also that year, the club traveled to Baltimore, Maryland to attend the Johns Hopkins University MUN Conference, where they received an Outstanding Delegation Award. Moreover, Fernández-Kincade and Pumariega, as well as George González (‘03), Jonathan Cárdenas (‘02), and Rodrigo Suárez (‘03) also received individual awards. MUN members also attended the FIU Conference in 2000 and 2001, where they received a Distinguished and an Outstanding Delegation Award. The club also earned another Outstanding Delegation Award at the Florida High Schools MUN Conference in Orlando (2000-2001).
By the 2001-2002 academic year, faculty advisor Thomas de Quesada (‘94) increased the club’s participation in out of town conferences. That year, the club traveled to Durham, North Carolina to attend the Duke University MUN Conference, where Daniel Rodríguez (‘03), George González (‘03), and Daniel Masvidal (‘03) won individual
awards. The club also traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to attend the Ivy League MUN Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, where Rodríguez and González, as well as Luigi Juárez (‘03) and Rafael Yaniz (‘07) received individual awards. For their third out of town conference, the club traveled to Orlando, where they earned an Honorable Delegation Award at the Florida High Schools MUN Conference. The following academic year (2002-2003), the club traveled to Washington, DC to attend the North American Invitational MUN Conference at Georgetown University, where Federico Moreno (‘03) and José Villamil received individual awards. For the 2003-2004 academic year, the club attended two conferences, one at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where Villamil and Yaniz, as well as Daniel Hanlon (‘06), Carlos Condarco-Quesada (‘05), Rafael Romero (‘07), Michael García (‘08), Marcello Delgado (‘07), and Julio Jiménez (‘06) received individual awards. Club members also attended the South Florida MUN Conference at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, where Yaniz, as well as Matthew Fernández (‘10), received individual awards. The following academic year (2004-2005), the club traveled to New York City to attend the National High School MUN Conference. For the 2005-2006 academic year, the club trav-
Faculty advisor Thomas de Quesada (‘94), with MUN members from left to right: Nicholas Gimbel (‘02), Jonathan Cárdenas (‘02), Giovanni Fernández-Kincade (‘02), Gabriel Pumariega (‘02), Manuel Diéguez (‘00), Thomas Jardon (‘02), and Eduardo Bertrand (‘02) at the 19992000 Brown University MUN Conference, where Pumariega and Fernández-Kincade earned individual awards. Photograph from Echoes, 2000.
MUN members visited the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, while attending the 2004-2005 National High School Model United Nations Conference, with faculty members Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Patrick Collins, and Carol Ann Vila.
eled to Chicago, Illinois to attend the University of Chicago MUN Conference, where Yaniz, as well as Alexander Correoso (‘06) and James Darmody (‘07), received individual awards.
In 2007, social studies faculty member Ann Kenna started her tenure as faculty advisor to the Belen Jesuit Model United Nations Club, a position in which she served until 2012. During the 2007-2008 academic year, Ms. Kenna traveled with students to the Boston Invitational MUN Conference at both Boston University (BU) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Luis Del Cueto (‘13) received an Outstanding Delegate Award. The following academic year (2008-2009), the club’s membership increased, and MUN members attended three conferences. The first was held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where Benjamín Sardiñas (‘11) received an Outstanding Delegate Award. That year, the team also traveled to Chicago, Illinois to attend the University of Chicago MUN Conference, where David Álvarez (‘09) and Sanchit Bhattacharjee (‘14) received individual awards. The club also participated in the FIU Conference (2008-2009), where an unprecedented six Belen Jesuit MUN members received individual awards. Distinguished Delegation Awards went to the teams of Benjamín Sardiñas (‘11) and Luis del Cueto (‘13), as well as to Andrés Rivas (‘12) and Matthew Fernández (‘10). Moreover, Daniel Álvarez (‘11) received an honorable mention and Jonathan Godoy (‘11) a Best Position Paper Award.
During the 2009-2010 academic year, MUN members participated in four conferences. First, the club traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, to attend the Washington University MUN Symposium, where a Best Delegate Award went to Eduardo Neret (‘14), and awards for Outstanding Delegate went to Daniel Álvarez (‘11) and Jonathan Godoy (‘11). Moreover, Andrés Rivas (‘12) and James Brandt Roen (‘12) also received honorable mentions. For their second conference, the club traveled to New York City to attend the Columbia University MUN Conference and Exposition, where Belen Jesuit MUN members earned eight individual awards. A Best Delegate Award went to James Brandt Roen (‘12), while Daniel Álvarez (‘11), Matthew Fernández (‘10) and Benjamín Sardiñas (‘11) received Outstanding Delegate awards. Moreover, Andrés Rivas (‘12), Eduardo Neret (‘14), Jonathan Godoy (‘11), and Michael Fuentes (‘12) received honorable mentions. That year, the MUN club members also attended the FIU Conference, where the Belen Jesuit delegation won the Best Large Delegation Award, and members received sixteen individual awards.
A Distinguished Delegate Award went to Benjamín Sardiñas (‘11), as well as to four of the two-man teams consisting of: Michael Fuentes (‘12) and Andrés Rivas (‘12), José Rubio (‘16) and Daniel Cairo (‘14), Luis del Cueto (‘13) and Luis Blanco (‘13), and Matías Stanham (‘12) and Alain Acha (‘13). Moreover, Daniel Álvarez (‘11), George Cortina (‘12), and Andrés Busse (‘13) received honorable mentions. Best Position Paper Awards also went to Andrés Rivas (‘12), Daniel Cairo (‘14), Javier Martínez (‘13), and Dominic Chinigo (‘13). Lastly, for their fourth and last conference that year, the club traveled to Lansing, Michigan to attend the Michigan State University MUN Conference where Benjamín Sardiñas (‘11) received the Best Delegate Award. Honorable mentions also went to Michael Argyris (‘11) and Michael Fuentes (‘12).
Having proven that they could successfully handle four academic conferences in one year, the club attended another four conferences during the 2010-2011 academic year. The first was the yearly FIU Conference, where the team garnered sixteen awards. The team of Luis del Cueto (‘13) and Michael Díaz-Silveira (‘14) received the Best Delegation Award. Another team, made up by Enrique Mercado (‘15) and Daniel Romero (‘17), received an Outstanding Delegation Award. In addition, Michael Argyris (‘11), Carlos Torres De Navarra (‘15), Eduardo Neret (‘14), and Michael Sayman (‘14) re-
ceived honorable mentions for their delegation teams. Best Position Paper Awards were also presented to Neret, Ernesto Barral (‘15), Oscar Berlanga (‘17), and Eduardo Abascal (‘15). Moreover, Michael Cairo (‘16), Nicolás Muñoz (‘17), Jonathan Godoy (‘11) and Daniel José (‘13) all received certificates for their participation. For their second conference, the club attended the University of Florida (UF) MUN Conference, where Outstanding Delegate Awards went to Tomás Cacicedo (‘12) and George Cortina (‘12). Andrés Rivas (‘12) also received a Distinguished Delegate Award, and Peter Jackson (‘13) a Best Position Paper Award. For their third conference that year, the club traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia to attend the College of William and Mary MUN Conference. The club concentrated
Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
At the Washington University 2010 MUN Symposium, James Brandt Roen (‘12), Andrés Rivas (‘12), Daniel Álvarez (‘11), Jonathan Godoy (‘11), and Eduardo Neret (‘14).
At the Columbia University 2010 MUN Conference, James Brandt Roen (‘12), Daniel Álvarez (‘11), Benjamín Sardiñas (‘11), and Matthew Fernández (‘10). The group at the UN with faculty advisor Ann Kenna. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
its efforts on representing the interests of the Nation of Brunei in various simulations. Their strategy worked well and earned them six awards. Outstanding Delegate Awards went to Tomás Cacicedo (‘12) and Jonathan Godoy (‘11), while Andrés Rivas (‘12), Michael Ruiz (‘14), James Brandt Roen (‘12), and Daniel Pérez (‘12) all received honorable mentions. Also that year, the club returned to the Vanderbilt University MUN Conference, where they received a Best Small Delegation Award. In addition, Dominic Chinigo (‘13) received an Outstanding Delegate Award, Cortina received an hon-
orable mention, and Best Position Paper Awards went to Sebastián Muñoz (‘14) and Eduardo Vélez (‘13).
On September 8th, 2011, as a way to commemorate Belen Jesuit’s Golden Jubilee, six students from the MUN club presented a new American flag to Belen Jesuit Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), to replace the flag that had been flown outside the main entrance of the school for many years. Belen Jesuit MUN Secretary General George Cortina (‘12) stated:
“The Model United Nations delegation is proud to present the school community with a new flag in commemoration of our fiftieth anniversary here in Miami. The flag symbolizes our pride for our school and this great nation.”50
Conferences for the Golden Jubilee academic year (2011-2012) included the club traveling to the Vanderbilt University MUN Conference, where the delegation earned eight awards. Alexander Vidal (‘15) received the Best Delegate Award. Michael Sayman (‘14) and Daniel Romero (‘17) received Outstanding Delegate Awards. Moreover, Adrián Torrebiarte (‘17), Michael Ruiz (‘14), Andrés Hidalgo (‘15), and Thurman Hall (‘13) received honorable mentions, and Michael Cairo (‘16) received a Best Position Paper Award. For their second conference, the club traveled to the University of Central Florida MUN Conference, where Michael Fuentes (‘12) received the Best Delegate Award. Distinguished Delegate Awards went to Tomás Cacicedo (‘12) and Andrés Rivas (‘12). Also, George Cortina (‘12) and Eduardo Neret (‘14) received honorable mentions. The club also traveled to New York City to attend the Columbia University MUN Conference and Exposition, where Outstanding Delegate Awards went to Fuentes and James Brandt Roen (‘12). Sayman, Neret, and Cacicedo, as well as Samuel Wallace‐Perdomo (‘12) and Nicolás Briscoe (‘13) received honorable mentions. For their fourth conference that year, Ms. Kenna and social studies faculty member Ramón Nicosia traveled with MUN members to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida MUN Conference, where Thurman Hall (‘13), Antonio Permuy (‘14), and Peter Kiliddjian (‘14) received honorable mentions. For their fifth conference, the club attended the FIU Conference, where the club members received an unprecedented thirtythree awards. Best Delegation Awards went to John Ukenye (‘14) and Renato Scerpella (‘16). Outstanding Delegation Awards went to Michael Cairo (‘16), Kevin Lemos (‘16), Ricardo Azze (‘14), and Eduardo Abascal (‘15). Moreover, José Sirven (‘14) and Jorge Figueras (‘14), Marcos Llobell (‘14) and Adolfo Rodríguez (‘14), and Adrián Torrebiarte (‘17) and Jon Lemos (‘18) received honorable mentions. Also at the FIU Conference, George Cortina (‘12), Dominic Chinigo (‘13), and Eduardo Neret (‘14) all received Best Delegate Awards. Outstanding Delegate Awards were also presented to Nicolás Briscoe (‘13), Daniel Romero (‘17), and Nicolás Pérez (‘14). Honorable mentions were awarded to Thurman Hall (‘13), Andrés Pérez (‘14),
Sebastián Muñoz (‘14), Robert Waechter (‘15), and Felipe Andrés Pardo (‘18). Best Position Paper Awards were also presented to Cortina, Neret, and Muñoz, as well as to Javier Martínez (‘13), Nicolás Pérez (‘14), Antonio Permuy (‘14), Gabriel Núñez (‘14), Nicolás Tamborrel (‘16), Adrián Hernández (‘16), Justin Hernández (‘16), and Federico Tamborrel (‘17).
The Belen Jesuit Model United Nations Club, which started with a handful of members in 1993, has grown to include over fifty-five members, all of whom participated during the Golden Jubilee academic year (2011-2012). MUN members have also increased the amount of conferences in which they participate on any given academic year, and the recognition that they receive for their efforts at these conferences has also reached record levels. During the Golden Jubilee celebration year (2011-2012), the club was also ranked in the top one-hundred for all of North America, and it was recognized, along with seven other schools (public and private), in the State of Florida.
Delegate George Cortina (‘12), and Samuel Wallace-Perdomo (‘12). Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
At the Michigan State University 2009-2010 MUN Conference, from left to right: Best Delegate Benjamín Sardiñas (‘11), and Honorable Delegates Michael Argyris (‘11) and Michael Fuentes (‘12). The MUN Team at Michigan State University with faculty advisor Ann Kenna. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
University of Central Florida 2011-2012 MUN Conference, from left to right: Distinguished Delegates Andrés Rivas (‘12) and Tomás Cacicedo (‘12), Best Delegate Michael Fuentes (‘12), Honorable
The first Overseas Study Program (1994) participants with faculty advisors Charles Cleveland and Miriam Hernández in 1994. Photograph from Echoes, 1994.
Overseas Study Program
The Social Studies Department created the Overseas Study Program (OSP) in 1994 to broaden the cultural, political, spiritual, and personal perspective of students. As part of the program, Belen Jesuit faculty members have taken students on trips outside the United States, and using the educational tenets of Ignatian education -which emphasize exploration, experience and reflection- OSP participants have learned important insights about world history, foreign languages and cultures. Students have also been able to experience first-hand what they have already learned in history, geography, and art history classes. Since the inception of OSP, student experiences have served as an instrumental part of their educational and Christian formation at Belen Jesuit.51
For the first trip in 1994, seventeen Belen Jesuit students traveled with Charles Cleveland and Miriam Hernández to Europe and were acquainted with the German, Italian, Swiss, and Austrian cultures and languages. In Germany, students visited quiet towns filled with medieval houses, beautiful castles, and quaint churches. In cities like Munich, Rothenberg, and Heidelberg, they saw cathedrals and the development of technology and architecture. Students also came face-to-face with the history of the Holocaust when they visited Konzentrationslager Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp built during World War II. In Italy, they visited Venice, where they saw Renaissance architecture, and they also visited the Basilica Cat-
tedrale Patriarcale di San Marco, commonly known as Saint Mark’s Basilica. Students also remembered their English classes and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet when they visited Verona and saw the Capulet home and the famous balcony. They also visited Lucerne, Switzerland and Innsbruck, Austria.52
During the following two summers (1995 and 1996), thirty-three additional Belen Jesuit students traveled with Charles Cleveland and Brian Wentzel to London, Canterbury, Paris, Pisa, Assisi, Florence, and Rome. Besides visiting the famous landmarks in London, students saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and learned how its appearance at the 1889 World’s Fair had caused such wonder that it had been dubbed the engineering marvel of its time. Students also saw some of the classical works of art that they had heard about in their humanities classes, such as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which was on display at the Musée du Louvre. In Italy, students visited the leaning Tower of Pisa and learned about the stabilization efforts that were being undertaken to correct its tilt. In Florence, they visited the Basilica of Santa María del Fiore, and then they traveled to the town of Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan religious order. Finally, in Rome, students visited to the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, and the Pantheon, and were able to see for themselves the ruins of the Roman Empire. They also visited Vatican City and the Jesuit mother church, the Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina, the final resting place of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
In 1997, eleven students traveled with Charles Cleveland to Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Innsbruck, Vaduz, Lucerne, and Heidelberg. In Vienna and Salzburg, students learned about the great Austrian composers Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), and Johann Strauss II (1825-1899), who composed some of the world’s most wellknown pieces of classical music. In 1998, thirty-six students traveled with Charles Cleveland, Patrick Collins, and Eugene Zoller to Moscow and St. Petersburg to visit the new Russian Federation. The visit to Russia allowed students to assess some of the changes that had occurred since the end of the Soviet Union. In 1999, using a similar itinerary that Charles Cleveland had used in 1995 and 1996, the largest Belen Jesuit OSP delega-
tion up to that point, which included forty-five students, traveled with Charles Cleveland, Patrick Collins, and Thomas de Quesada (‘94) to London, Canterbury, Rouen, Normandy, Paris, Pisa, Florence, and Rome.
In 2000, faculty members Charles Cleveland and Thomas de Quesada (‘94) traveled with twenty students to Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Innsbruck, Vaduz, Lucerne, and Heidelberg. In 2001, Mr. De Quesada, Patrick Collins, Brian Wentzel, and Fr. Francisco Permuy, SJ (‘85) traveled with forty-four students to Rome, Florence, Pompeii, Capri, Sorrento, Delphi, and Athens. In 2002, in the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks, the OSP organized a national itinerary, and Mr. De Quesada and Patrick Collins traveled with twenty students to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. The national OSP concentrated on the history of the United States, as students walked the Freedom Trail and heard about the most important characters of the American Revolution while visiting in Boston.
In 2003, during Easter break, twenty-six students traveled with Charles Cleveland, Thomas de Quesada (‘94), and Patrick Collins to the Hawaiian Islands of Honolulu and Maui. Highlights of this trip included a visit to Waikiki Beach, where they saw a Polynesian ceremony. Students also saw the statute of King Kamehameha I (17581819) at the State Capitol. The OSP group also visited the historical sites related to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II, including the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the “Puowaina” in Hawaiian, which when translated, means the “Hill of Sacrifice.” Students also visited the Arizona War Memorial and the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor. To give thanks for their OSP experience, students attended Easter Sunday Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Honolulu.53
In 2004, forty-seven OSP students traveled with Charles Cleveland, Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Patrick Collins, Belen Jesuit President/ Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and Spiritual Counselor Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59) to the countries of Spain and Italy. In Ma-
Overseas Study Program participants (2005) traveled to China. Students gathered at the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Shanghai. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Overseas Study Program participants (2006) traveled to Russia. Students gathered at Red Square in Moscow, at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in St. Petersburg, with the Russian military cadets in Moscow, and in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
drid, students visited the Iglesia San Jeronimo and the Palacio Real. Students also visited the Museo del Prado, where they saw excellent paintings by Spanish masters Francisco Goya (1746-1828) and Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), as well as the Escorial and the Valle de los Caidos burial grounds, where most of the Spanish royalty is buried. In Zaragosa, they visited the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Pilar, and in Barcelona, the Basílica Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. The group then crossed into France where they visited the Palais des Papes Avignon, which served as the Holy See during the 14th century. The OSP group then traveled to Italy, where they visited Pisa, Florence, and Rome, and students visited the Roman landmarks, Vatican City, and the Jesuit mother Church, Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina, where Fr. García and Fr. Hernández celebrated a farewell Mass for the group.54
The 2005 OSP group included forty-five students, who traveled for twenty-seven hours with Charles Cleveland, Patrick Collins, Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Juan Flores (‘70), and Alexis Zequeira (‘90) to reach China to learn about Eastern culture. Students visited Beijing’s For-
bidden Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Great Hall of the People, and the Tomb of Mao Tse-tung. Students also visited the Great Wall of China. The group then set out to Xi'an, where they visited the Terracotta Warriors, a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Students then traveled to Shanghai and Hong Kong, where eastern meets western culture. In Shanghai, students were also able to visit the Chinese Gardens, as well as St. Peter’s Catholic Church, where they gave thanks for their OSP trip and experiences.55
Forty-three OSP students traveled with Charles Cleveland, Patrick Collins, Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), Juan Flores (‘70), and Alexis Zequeira (‘90) in 2006 to England, Russia, and Denmark. In London, students visited St. Paul’s Church, the Millennium Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and William Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. In St. Petersburg, students visited the Kunstkamera, whose Kunstkammer Building hosts the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Students also visited the Gosudarstvenny Ermitazh (State Hermitage Museum), Khram Spasa na Krovi (the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood), and Peterhof Palace. The group also saw Isaakievskiy Sobor (St. Isaac's Cathedral) and went to the Petropavlovskaya Krepost (Peter and Paul Fortress), the city's original citadel, inside of which lies the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, where almost all the Russian emperors and empresses, from Peter the Great to Nicholas II, are buried. In Moscow, students visited Red Square, with its picturesque St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Kremlin Armory and Bell, Lenin’s Tomb, and the Monastery of the New Maiden Cemetery, where they saw the Tomb of Nikita Khrushchev. In Copenhagen, students visited Tivoli Gardens, Amalienborg Palace, and the New Haven area.
The 2007 OSP educational adventure included eighty-two participants, a record number in the program’s history. The group traveled to France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, accompanied by Charles Cleveland, Patrick Collins, Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Juan Flores (‘70), Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), Carol Ann Vila, and Alexis Zequeira (‘90). This large group of students visited some of the most revered churches in Europe, including the Basilica Sancti Petri at the Vatican, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Frauenkirche in Munich, and many more.56 In Paris, students visited the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) at Les Invalides, the Musée du Louvre, and the Château de Versailles. In Berne, Switzerland, students visited the Albert Einstein House and the Barengraben Bear Pit. In Lucerne,
Switzerland, Fr. García Tuñón celebrated Mass for the group at Jesuitenkirche St. Franz Xaver (St. Francis Xavier Jesuit Church). While traveling to Munich, the group visited Neuschwanstein Castle, Ludwig II’s Castle, and the Holocaust Konzentrationslager Dachau. In Florence, they stopped at the Basilica di Santa María de Fiore, where they climbed the cathedral’s dome and saw the Gates of Paradise doors to the Battistero di San Giovanni. The group stopped in Assisi on their way to Rome, where they ended their trip with a visit to the Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina, the Jesuit mother church, where Fr. García Tuñón celebrated Mass for the OSP group.
In 2009, thirty-two students traveled with Charles Cleveland and Patrick Collins on a cruise to the heart of the ancient civilization of Greece, whose language was so instrumental in the spread of the gospel. The group visited Athens, Istanbul, Mykonos, Patmos, Kusadasi, Ephesus, Rhodes, Lindos, Agios Nicolaos, Santorini, and Delphi. In Athens, students saw ancient Greek ruins, such as the Parthenon, and visited Greek Parliament. In Istanbul, Turkey, the group visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, commonly known as the Blue Mosque, where the tomb of its founder, Ahmed I is located. The students then continued their tour of the Greek Isles, where on the island of Mykonos students, saw the famous windmills. In Ephesus, they visited the House of the Virgin Mary, the ruins of the Ephesus Library, and its theater.
In 2008, forty-six students traveled with Charles Cleveland, Patrick Collins, Thomas de Quesada (‘94), Juan Flores (‘70), Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), Adriana Suárez Delgado, and Alexis Zequeira (‘90), again turning their destination towards learning about Eastern and Asian cultures. The OSP group traveled to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, and Kyoto. Students visited the Sensoji Temple, the oldest Buddhist temple (645 BC) in Tokyo which they entered through Kaminari-mon (the gate of thunder). Students also rode a bullet train to Hiroshima, where they visited the Peace Memorial Park and Museum, the Itsukushima Shrine, and the hypocenter of atomic bomb blast. In Osaka, students visited the Umeda Sky Building Observatory. Students also traveled to Kyoto, where they visited the Kinkakuji Temple and the Fushimi Inari Taishya Shrine, where merchants worship the God of rice for wealth.
Overseas Study Program participants (2007) traveled to Rome. Students gathered in front of the St. Ignatius statue inside St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Piazza San Pietro in Vatican City, and during a Mass on Father’s Day celebrated by Fr. Guillermo García Tuñón, SJ (‘87) at the Jesuit mother church, Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Overseas Study Program participants (2010) traveled to Vienna, Austria and Berlin, Germany. Students gathered in front of the Johann Strauss II statue at the Stadtpark in Vienna, at the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), and at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
In 2010, forty-one students traveled with Charles Cleveland, Patrick Collins, Fr. Michael Chesney, SJ, and Ann Kenna to Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Austria. In Berlin, students visited the historic Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing point at the Berlin Wall during the Cold War years. Students also visited the Reichstag, the meeting place of the German Parliament and its Dome, constructed to symbolize German reunification. Students also visited the infamous Wannsee Villa, where the plan for the extermination of the Jews was first drafted by Nazis during a conference in 1942. In Prague, students visited the Old Town, including its Astronomical Clock, as well as the Infant Jesus of Prague at the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Malá Strana. In Kraków, Poland, students visited the 14th century Gothic Wawel Castle and the Jesuit Church of St. Peter and Paul. In Poland, students also visited the Auschwitz- Birkenau concentration camp and the Wieliczka Salt Mine. In Budapest, Hungary, students visited Heroes Square, St. Stephen's Basilica, and the Baths of Budapest. Students also visited the Schloss Esterházy, a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, as well as the Vienna Opera House St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Wien
Schonbrunn Palace, and the Viennese City Park, where in front of the Johann Strauss II Monument, they took their group picture.
In 2011, forty-five students traveled with Charles Cleveland, Patrick Collins, and Ann Kenna to England, France, Denmark, and Holland. In London, students visited landmarks including Big Ben, the British Parliament, the British Museum, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the exterior of Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London Bridge, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and Oxford University. In Paris, students also visited its famous landmarks, churches, and museums. In Belgium, students visited the Butte du Lion Monument at Waterloo, a large conical artificial hill with a lion’s monument that commemorates the location where William II of the Netherlands was knocked from his horse during the Battle of Waterloo. In Brussels, students visited the headquarters of the European Union (EU), the City Hall, and World War II Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupré. In Holland, students admired the windmills, visited the International Court of Justice at The Hague, and the House of Ann Frank Museum in Amsterdam.
For the Golden Jubilee celebration of the re-establishment of Belen Jesuit in South Florida, forty-two students traveled to Spain and Italy, in a spiritual as well as a cultural journey with Patrick Collins, Charles Cleveland, Ann Kenna, Francisco Padura, and Fr. Christian Sáenz, SJ (‘95), who provided expert commentary about the path of St. Ignatius from his birth country of Spain to his final resting place in the Jesuit mother church in Rome, the Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina. While in Madrid, the OSP program took students to the Museo del Prado to admire the artworks of classic Spanish and European artists. Students then traveled to Barcelona, where they visited the Parque Guell and the Basílica Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. Students then traveled to the Santuario Cueva de San Ignacio (Manresa), where St. Ignatius of Loyola spent time in spiritual seclusion and wrote the Spiritual Exercises Students also visited the Basilica Santa María de Manresa and its crypt. Then, they traveled to the Monasterio de Santa María de Montserrat, the Benedictine Abbey where St. Ignatius left his military vestments in 1522. Fr. Sáenz celebrated Mass for the group at the Abbey. Students then boarded a ferry to Italy, where they visited the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial, the Basilica di Santa María del Fiore, and the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Dante Alighieri at Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence. Students then traveled to Sienna, where they visited the Cattedrale Metropolitana di Santa María Assunta and the Piazza del Campo. Students also traveled to Rome, where they visited some of the city’s most renowned cathedrals, such as the Arcibasilica Papale di San Giovanni in Laterano. The cathedral serves as the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who also happens to be his Holiness the Pope. Finally, students visited the Jesuit mother church, where Fr. Sáenz gave them an overview of the history of the Society of Jesus and celebrated a farewell Mass of thanksgiving for the OSP group and their experience.
From June 11th-20th, 2013, Social Studies Chair Patrick Collins, Humanities Department Chair María Inés Leáñez, and faculty member Francisco Padura, along with forty-three students, alumni, and family members, celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Overseas Study Program (OSP) by traveling to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Principality of Liechtenstein. During its twenty years of operation at Belen Jesuit, over 700 students, twelve faculty members, and six Jesuits had shared memorable experiences while participating in the program, which had also impacted them in a profound way. During the 2013-2014 academic year, the program established
plans for participants to travel to China and visit Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai over the summer of 2014.
The Overseas Study Program (OSP) continues to be one of the Social Studies Department’s most important educational tools. Used by the faculty to enhance student understanding of the spiritual and the temporal history of mankind, the OSP also helps bring to life the geography and art history that students learn while at the school. It also offers students a great opportunity to bond with their peers, teachers, Jesuits, and the families who, throughout the years, have accompanied the groups on their OSP adventure.
Overseas Study Program participants (2012) followed the path of St. Ignatius from Spain to Italy. Students gathered in front of the Basílica Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, at the Santa Cova at Manresa, and in front of the Palacio Real de Madrid.
Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Jesuit students serving as part of the Program for Social Action established at the school by Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63). Photographs from Echoes, 1979 and 1980.
Theology
Theology/Religion was part of the curriculum at Belen Jesuit since it was first reestablished at the Centro Hispano Católico in downtown Miami. During the 1960s, Jesuit priests taught the basic tenets of the Christian faith, and given the Jesuit commitment to dealing with social issues, also included the study of social encyclicals such as the Mater et Magistra 1 Several Jesuits taught theology/religion at the school during the 1960s, and they included Fr. Vicente Rodríguez, SJ (‘48), Fr. José R. Tey, SJ (1966-1970), and Jesuit scholastics Alberto García, SJ, Manuel Maza, SJ (‘62), and Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ. During the early 1960s, students participated in the Marian Con-
gregation, through which they developed a catechism program (an apostleship of prayer), conducted a census of Catholic families in the area, and coordinated the school’s extracurricular activities. In 1968, with the arrival of Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, SJ, students also started to participate in retreats based on St. Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises, as their counterparts had at the Colegio de Belén in Havana.2
Until the mid-1970s, the curriculum for theology/religion courses was based on teaching the Old and New Testaments and included liturgical components at the end of each section. Courses did not use textbooks, and only upperclassmen received grades for their courses, which included discussions about articles published by High Time Catholic Magazine for teens. In 1974, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) came to serve at the school and enhanced the theology/religion program, which was also influenced at this time by the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Fr. Álvarez and other Jesuits, such as Fr. José Esquivel, SJ (‘60), Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41), Fr. Eduardo Barrios, SJ (‘60), and Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), expanded the theology curriculum to include church history, ethics, faith, marriage, and social doctrine.3 In addition to these changes, the call made by Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ for Jesuit educational institutions to form “Men for Others” who would sow justice in the world by assisting the poor, oppressed, and disadvantaged, inspired Fr. Álvarez, in 1977, to establish a specific program for social action at the school. The program required each student to carry out fifteen hours of community service per academic year at institutions such as area hospitals or centers that served the sick, needy, or elderly. Felipe Arroyo, SJ voiced the significance of the program’s establishment at the school in the 1978 Echoes yearbook:
“Your success as Christian men will be judged by how well you discharge responsibility… we have had many successes this year… but one area that I am particularly proud of is the advancement we have made in our social programs. These programs help to teach us all the immediacy of the problems we must face, and help to train us to become active Christian citizens. May our lives be an example for others - an example they feel motivated to follow.”4
In 1974, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) also started a Christian Youth Group that visited area schools and facilities for the disabled, such as the Sunrise School in the Redlands. Students also visited nursing homes, and carried out collections and volunteer work to help the Brazilian and Cuban refugees. During the 1980-1981 academic year, the Youth Group combined efforts with a similar group at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Miami, to organize an appeal against an initiative that sought to abolish religious services on television. That same year, students also held a medicine and canned food drive effort to assist refugees of the Cuban Mariel Boat Lift who had been forced into an encampment under the downtown Miami expressways. Also during the mid-1970s, Fr. Álvarez worked to expand the program of social action to an international level by offering to take students on missionary trips to the Dominican Republic. The Belen Youth Missions, as the program later came to be known, would take students into impoverished rural communities, where they would work on construction projects to improve the lives of the area's residents.5
When Belen Jesuit moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, the theology curriculum became more structured. After the establishment of the sixth grade during the 1984-1985 academic year, Belen Jesuit offered courses on the Old and New Testaments, Catholic faith, the Mass, the sacraments, the history of the Catholic Church, christian morality, spirituality, faith, social justice, marriage, and family life. Also during the 1980s, theology/religion courses increased from two to three times a week and community service accounted for 10 percent of the students’ grade. Moreover, the school continued to offer sacramental preparation programs to those students who wanted to make their First Communion and/or Confirmation. At the high school level, retreats continued to be available. Middle school students also began to participate in one-day retreats or “Days of Reflection,” as the high school students participated in encounters and overnight retreats. Belen Jesuit also offered St. Ignatius of Loyola Spiritual Exercises retreats to faculty, staff, parish youth groups, and alumni.
Throughout the years, several Jesuit priests served as faculty members in the Theology Department at the West Miami-Dade campus, some of whom also served as spiritual counselors to Belen Jesuit students. Among these were: Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, SJ, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), Fr. Oscar Méndez, SJ, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41), Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59), Fr. William Kidwell, SJ, Fr. José R. Tey, SJ, Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), Fr. Francisco
An Exemplary Jesuit Bishop
Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ was born on March 9th, 1926 in Havana, Cuba. He attended the Colegio de Belén, from where he graduated in 1941. On December 7th, 1941, he entered the Society of Jesus at the Noviciado de los Padres Jesuitas, Cienfuegos, Cuba. He studied Languages at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain and Philosophy at the Pontificia Universidad de Comillas. He studied Theology at the Leopold Franzens Universität in Innsbruck, Austria, and at the Colegio San Roberto Belarmino in the City of Baguio in the Philippines, where he was also ordained a priest on March 18th, 1957. At Pontificio Istituto Biblico in Rome, at the Karl-Franzens-Universität in Graz Austria, and at the Chabanell Hall in the Philippines, he also studied scripture and perfected his languages, becoming fluent in several, and having knowledge of some such as Cantonese and Mandarin.
In 1964, he volunteered to do missionary work in Vietnam, where he remained teaching and celebrating Mass for the troops until 1975. He then returned to South Florida, where he carried out pastoral work at St. Raymond Catholic Church, and was dedicated to assisting Vietnamese refugees. He also taught at Belen Jesuit (1977-1978), after which he returned to the Pacific to continue teaching and missionary work. In 1981, he returned to Belen Jesuit, where he taught until April 13th, 1986, when he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as the first Hispanic Auxiliary Bishop of Galveston-Houston, Texas (1986-1991). His ordination as bishop took place on July 29th, 1986. Fr. San Pedro was also appointed and served as Bishop of Brownsville, Texas (1991-1994). He died in Miami, Florida, on July 17th, 1994.
Permuy, SJ (‘85), and Fr. Michael Chesney, SJ. In addition to the Jesuit priests, Br. Michael Wood, SJ (‘04) and Br. Peter Gadalla, SJ, as well as several other faculty members have also taught theology at the school’s campus in West Miami-Dade. These included: Josefina Chirino, Sister Celia Morell, RSH, Gerardo García, Eduardo Blanco, Pablo Taquechel, Guillermo Fernández-Toledo, Angie Fernández, Deacon Robert O’Malley, Javier Argamasilla (‘92), Ariel Fernández, Gerardo Pórtela (‘70), Carmen Villafañe, Sylvia Dávalos, Karen Ortiz, Patricia Bustamante, Javier Castillo, Kathleen Mackle, Francisco Vázquez, Robert Artiz, Lawrence Goodall, and Raquel García.
Bishop Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41) Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Faculty members Candy Morera and Josefina Chirino, with the Music Ministers during a school-wide Mass.
Photograph from Echoes, 1998.
Peer Minister Juan Taboas (‘89) talks to seniors at the 1989 Senior Encounter, which he and Peer Minister Luis García-Chacón (‘89) organized. Photograph from Echoes, 1989.
The local and international social service programs that Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) started at the Belen Jesuit campus in Little Havana also continued at the West Miami-Dade campus.6 In 1984, the school responded to a plea from Miami Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy and sponsored “Hunger Day” during which students and faculty voluntarily fasted and donated their lunch money to help the poorest diocese in Haiti, Port-de-Paix. Also since the 1980s, Josefina Chirino served as faculty advisor to the Music Ministers. Working with other faculty members over the years, including Roberto de los Santos (‘78) and Teresita Artecona, and students Manuel García-Tuñón (‘88), Charlie Calderín (‘90), and Anthony Roca (‘91), the Music Ministers continued to provide the gift of music during school masses. Originally, the musicians, which included Dr. Chirino on her guitar and Mr. De los Santos on keyboard, selected, practiced, and then performed traditional as well as contemporary songs during Mass.7 Presently, Belen Jesuit music faculty member Karen Ortiz, accompanied by a fully-organized chorus and music band, provides the music during the masses.
Starting in the 1984-1985 academic year, the department established Christian leadership courses designed to give students more opportunities to participate in Christian-faith related activities. The program changed its name to Peer Ministry, and courses were first offered to students in eleventh and twelfth grade, but later became accessible to freshmen and sophomores as well.8 Taught by faculty member Josefina Chirino, the courses aimed to foster the emergence of Christian leaders interested in ministering in the areas associated with the spiritual life of the school. They also allowed students the ability to prepare retreats, religious encounters, school-wide activi-
ties, and community outreach aimed at developing one’s faith. About the program, Dr. Chirino stated:
“I have always felt privileged to have been part of the program, since I taught the first two courses in 1984. It has become a great source of hope… The idea for the Peer Ministry courses was to gather a group of students who wanted to do more for Christ because they felt a call from God. It also prepared them to do more for others.”9
Peer Ministry student leaders conducted Encounters Toward Christ (ETC), a modification of the well-known encounter conducted in the Dominican Retreat House in Miami. Belen Jesuit students also carried out a Lenten program with students from other schools, such as Immaculata La Salle High School, Monsignor Edward Pace, and Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School, known as Road to Resurrection.10 Students who participated in Peer Ministry as well as in ETC and Road to Resurrection, learned from the spiritual experience rather than lecture and study. As Josefina Chirino stated:
“Young people are more likely to listen to their peers than to adults. If retreats are conducted by the students themselves, then they will probably have more impact, and raise student interest in going to these retreats as well.”11
During the 1988-1989 academic year, under the guidance of Josefina Chirino, the Peer Ministry students prepared a special retreat for the seniors, in which 96 percent of the class of 1989 participated. Since 1989, the Senior Encounter has been an integral experience for every senior class, providing many with the opportunity to share a spiritual experience with the members of their graduating class. That year, Peer Ministry also helped to organize a Senior Parent Encounter which allowed seniors to share their faith with their parents.12 Peer Ministry also chose to expand the Senior Encounter, which had been originally carried out over two nights, to three nights in order to reflect the growing need for students to make a spiritual connection during their last year of high school. After the new millennium, Peer Ministry replaced the eleventh grade overnight retreat with Kairos, a youth encounter experience that other Jesuit high schools had been using throughout the United States, and which had proven to be more popular with students.13 Throughout the years, the Peer Ministry program has continued to plan retreats and work together to do more to help their peers reflect on their lives and develop their faith.
During the 1986-1987 academic year, Fr. William Kidwell, SJ, who was a member of the New Orleans Province, and had been associated with Christian Life Communities (CLC), began a CLC Chapter at Belen Jesuit. CLC activities focused on Respect for Life issues, such
as abortion and euthanasia. In its first year, students held Respect for Life Week to raise teen awareness about the sanctity of life. During the week, students featured speakers from the Archdiocese of Miami's Respect for Life Organization. The week ended with several Belen Jesuit students traveling to Washington, DC to participate in the National March for Life.14 Students also attended that national march with other local Catholic high schools the following academic year (1987-1988).15 On September 11th, 1987, Fr. Kidwell, CLC students, and several members of the Belen Jesuit community attended the Mass given by Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) at Tamiami Park, and sat in the Catholic Youth Pod area. Upon his arrival in Miami, Pope John Paul II stated:
“I come as a pilgrim, a pilgrim in the cause of justice and peace and human solidarity, striving to build up the one human family.” 16
After Fr. William Kidwell, SJ returned to the New Orleans Province, the CLC Right to Life activities waned until the 1994-1995 academic year, when under the guidance of faculty member María Luisa Ortega, Frankie Ruiz (‘96) founded the Right to Life Club at Belen Jesuit. The club collaborated with Our Lady of Lourdes Academy’s Right to Life Club to hold special fundraising events such as the race Run for Life, a cross country meet for K-8 parochi-
Belen Jesuit students attended Pope John Paul II’s Mass at Tamiami Park with Fr. William Kidwell, SJ on September 11th, 1987. Photograph from Echoes, 1988.
Right to Life Club members, accompanied by Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) were greeted on January 22nd, 2007 at the Right to Life March in Washington, DC by Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Estévez. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
al schools. The club donated the proceeds to the Coral Way Respect for Life Organization's offices. Belen Jesuit students also joined members from Our Lady of Lourdes Academy’s Right to Life Club at the local Respect Life Walk and at a Life Chain demonstration on South Dixie Highway.17 During the 2000-2001 academic year, Deacon Robert O’Malley served as faculty advisor. In 1996, Deacon O’Malley also established the Altar Servers Club for students who wanted to participate in the celebration of Mass at the school.18 Throughout the years, students continued to attend local Right to Life events and the National March for Life in Washington, DC. Other Jesuit priests, such as Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) and Fr. Francisco Permuy, SJ (‘85), as well as faculty member Sylvia Dávalos also traveled with students to the national march. 19
In 1995, the Theology Department raised the community service requirement to twenty hours per year, or ten hours per semester.21 After the new millennium, the community service program updated its requirements to have high school students carry out a minimum of twenty-five hours of service per academic year, fifteen of which had to be in direct service to others. Ten hours could be dedicated to indirect service such as fundraising through a non-profit organization, reading at Mass, altar serving, or working through the Belen Jesuit Key Club to serve during school activities. The department also implemented a community service requirement of fifteen hours per academic year for middle school students.
In 2001, Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ called for the reestablishment of the Christian Life Communities (CLC) with a new format that addressed the development of the participants’ faith. CLC is a worldwide network of Marian Congregations, associations of men, women, and young adults who want to know Christ better in order to follow him more closely. Hence, CLC became a community of students and faculty members who held weekly meetings and discussed faith-related activities and experiences. Once a month, faculty leaders met to discuss their CLC groups and evaluate the progress they were making with students.22 Groups discussed topics for reflection during their weekly meetings and projects to help those in need. Since their inception, CLC communities held activities after school and met in the evenings; however, CLC participation waned, given student logistical and transportation issues. During the 2003-2004 academic year, Fr. García then decided to extend the homeroom period on Tues- Altar Servers Eduardo Ragolta (‘11), and Antonio Malouf (‘11) as part of the Altar Servers Club. Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
During the 1990s, the school revised its theology curriculum to incorporate more age appropriate books and offer a full year of Catholic Social Justice and Catechism of the Catholic Church. Then, in the new millennium, following the suggestions of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) that the Catechism of the Church is a reference book and not a textbook, the course was replaced by Encountering Jesus in the New Testament. The Theology Department also incorporated electives into the curriculum, offering students the opportunity to take courses such as Christian State in the Modern World, Honors Social Doctrine, Honors Liturgy, and Vatican II. The department also worked closely with the social studies and Humanities Departments on a variety of interdisciplinary activities.20
days to allow for CLC students and faculty members to meet during school hours. The new measure allowed for increased participation in CLC.23 Fr. García, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), Sister María Cartaya, Deacon Robert O’Malley, and lay faculty and staff members Josefina Chirino, Rafael Ledesma, Javier Castillo, Andrés Jiménez (‘87), Ana María Sánchez Menocal, Patricia Bustamante, Angie Fernández, Kathleen Mackle, Susana Corzo, María Cristina Reyes-García, Teresa Gutiérrez, Ana Mora, and Carolina Calderín participated in CLC. Among its many activities, CLC took part in both the Thanksgiving and Christmas food drive at the school. Members also attended the World Union of Jesuits Conference, held at the Casa Manresa Retreat House.24 By the 2009-2010 academic year, thirteen students who had started to participate in CLC during sixth grade were graduating as part of the class of 2010 and reported having grown spiritually thanks to their CLC experience. At Belen Jesuit, all students are invited to participate in CLC, and along with their faculty adult guide, they continue to meet weekly during a special extended homeroom on Tuesdays in order to share life, faith, and mission.25
For the 2009-2010 academic year, Belen Jesuit created a Campus Ministry Department under the direction of Josefina Chirino that focused solely on ministry and service. Peer Ministry, which had traditionally focused on retreats and service as a course within the Theology Department, was brought under the Campus Ministry Department. At this time, Deacon Robert O’Malley was appointed chair of the Theology Department. As a result of the changes, Peer Ministry students were able to meet more frequently in order to plan retreats more efficiently.26 In 2010, Campus Ministry created a service retreat named after Jesuit Saint Alberto Hurtado (1901-1952), a Chilean Jesuit priest, lawyer, social worker, writer, and founder of the Hogar de Cristo, an organization that helped children in need of food and shelter. The Hurtado Experience was specifically tailored for high school freshmen. Their retreat day starts with prayer. Students then set out to facilities that serve the poor, disabled, sick and elderly. Everyone returns to school for lunch, and in line with the Ignatian Paradigm, reflect and discuss what they experienced. Students also make proposals on what they think they can do to alleviate the plight of those they visited. The day ends with the celebration of the Eucharist.27 The Hurtado Experience is but the latest of the myriad of service-oriented activities at Belen Jesuit spanning over
many years. Campus Ministry also created the Xavier Experience, an independent service opportunity for juniors. They can carry out their service during a school day, and they can choose to serve in one of several organizations that care for the disabled or the elderly. The availability of the many venues of service, retreats, and days of reflection at Belen Jesuit allows students to choose their individual calling for service. The theology and campus ministry departments teach the mission of the Society of Jesus, the service of the faith and promotion of justice, which point directly at the questions that St. Ignatius poses in the Spiritual Exercises: What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What will I do for Christ? The theology and campus ministry departments, with the various activities under their umbrella, are thus structured to form students into mature, responsible Christian men who will become “Men for Others,” with the desire to be like Jesus Christ and follow Him (Rom 8, 29). Both departments aim to accompany Belen Jesuit students in the process of enhancing their generosity and awakening their compassion, so that in the midst of the activity of their lives, they may be able to “trace the footprints of God everywhere,” and thus fulfill their commitment to Jesus Christ through service to others. As programs and activities guide students from within the theology and campus ministry departments, the Belen Youth Missions, the Key Club, Spiritual Counseling, and Vocations are also integral components of this mission and process.28
Christian Life Communities Group meets with theology faculty member Angie Fernández and starts meeting with prayer.
Photograph from Echoes, 2010.
1989,
Belen Youth Missions
The origins of the Belen Youth Missions program dates back to the arrival of Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) at Belen Jesuit in 1974. At the time, the young Jesuit priest, who had graduated from Belen Jesuit only eleven years earlier, had heard the call made by Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ, asking Jesuit educational institutions throughout the world to form “Men for Others” who would go forth from Jesuit institutions, possessing a firm resolve to be agents of change in so-
ciety.29 To fulfill this mission, Fr. Álvarez envisioned a permanent increase of student involvement in community service, not only locally, but also at an international level. A plausible channel for his vision was to take students on missionary trips to the impoverished rural communities of the Dominican Republic, one of the primary service areas entrusted by the Jesuit order to the Antilles Province.
Hence, during the mid-1970s, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) took Andrés Quintero (‘78), Alfred Armas (‘78), and Jorge Álvarez (‘78) on a missionary trip to the Cutupu Village in the Dominican Republic. The purpose of the trip was to have students live with a poor rural Dominican family and assist them with whatever the family felt was necessary; however, Fr. Álvarez soon realized that the experience was not turning out as he expected. Instead of having students help them with repairs or day-to-day tasks, the Dominican rural residents went out of their way to attend to the students, at times even pampering them with the little resources that they had available. Thus, Fr. Álvarez reworked the structure for the missions program. His first goal was that the trips would include an evangelistic component, but he also wanted the students to work on building projects as a group to prevent Dominicans from viewing them as guests in their homes. The tasks would have to be accomplished within a two-three week period, and whatever they were hoping to build (a school house, an aqueduct, a road, or a bridge), would also leave a permanent positive physical impact on the lives of the rural poor. Additionally, the students would also visibly appreciate their work.30
In order to structure the program under new parameters, in late 1980, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) established contact with the Centro de Formación y Acción Social y Agraria (CEFASA), a non-profit Jesuit social service organization for agrarian education, founded in 1968 by members of the Antilles Province in the Dominican Republic. During the 1980-1981 academic year, working through CEFASA with Jesuit Brother Gregorio Lanza, SJ, Fr. Álvarez coordinated another Belen Jesuit student missionary trip to the Dominican Republic. As one of his first steps, Fr. Álvarez recruited Belen Jesuit students, who agreed to conduct car washes, dances, and movie presentations to raise the funds to purchase materials for the trip. On
this first mission trip, twelve Belen Jesuit seniors participated. They were led by Fr. Álvarez, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), and Belen Jesuit faculty member Sister Celia Morell, RSH. The trip to the rural village of Janey began on June 12th, 1981. During seventeen days, Belen Jesuit students helped build a home for the town’s elderly. Years later, other students returned to Janey and helped to bring about an unprecedented event in the town’s history, when they ran lines to provide electricity to its residents.
Student experiences during the Belen Youth Missions trips to the Dominican Republic have been as defining as they have been memorable, and Fr. Álvarez discovered that students were willing to share with their peers how the missionary trips had brought profound meaning to their lives. Soon, the list of students requesting to participate in the program began to get longer and longer. As Fr. Álvarez stated:
“I always have many applications from young men who want to participate. These students sacrifice fifteen days out of their summer vacation and pay for their own airline ticket. Keep in mind that the housing facilities in these rural areas are quite difficult, and we are forced to use sleeping bags on hard floors. We have yet to encounter electricity in any of the places that we have visited, and we have had to bathe in the river on numerous occasions. However, the students always tell me that the trips are of great value, and we should return. I believe they learn many things on these trips. One student told me it was like experiencing a two-week spiritual retreat because it gave him a new understanding of how God helps those who need it most.”31
The following summer, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) took the students participating in the program to the town of La Cejita. In some cases, communities such as La Cejita had many needs, and hence, the Belen Youth Missions returned to continue to serve them in building vital components of their town’s infrastructure over several summers. In 1982, Belen Jesuit students dug several miles of ditches to help install plumbing lines for building a full-functioning aqueduct in La Cejita. Another group of students finished the La Cejita aqueduct during the summer of 1983, and for the first time in their history, the entire La Cejita community was able to enjoy running
water in each of their homes. Since most of the small communities that Belen Jesuit students have visited in the Dominican countryside throughout the years do not have running water, Belen Jesuit students have also built aqueducts in the villages of Los Naranjos, Rincón Largo, Jamunuco, and Loma de los Ríos. During the summer of 1984, students returned to La Cejita and built a school house, which a subsequent group expanded with an additional classroom and latrines the following year. On this trip, Fr. Álvarez was accompanied by faculty member Josefina Chirino and teenagers from the Sts. Peter and Paul Youth Group. In 1987, students also built a school house in El Aguacate, a village whose population totaled 198. They also built seven latrines and repaired a road that went through the town. In the 1987 Echoes the “Mission of Hope” yearbook page stated:
“It is the feeling of unity built on hard work, and the sense of having accomplished something truly meaningful that makes the Santo Domingo trip so special and desirable. Every year, there is a waiting list for students who wish to join Fr. Álvarez on his mission of hope and brotherhood.”32
Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) and Jorge Planas (‘87) sit with Guillermo García-Tuñón (‘87), as Manuel Mejido (‘90) (standing) displays the Belen Youth Missions “uniform”: work gloves, bandana, hat, and boots. The photograph was taken on the 1989 trip to Rincón Largo, where García-Tuñón announced that he would be entering the Jesuit order. Photograph from Echoes, 1990.
Belen Youth Missions trip to Rincón Largo, Dominican Republic, in the summer of
where students built a chapel and an aqueduct.
Photographs from Echoes, 1990.
Belen Youth Missions trip to Los Arroyos, Dominican Republic, in the summer of 2000, where students built a bridge and established a makeshift clinic. Photograph from Echoes, 2001.
Belen Youth Missions trip to La Piragua, Dominican Republic, in the summer of 2001, where students built a bridge and established a makeshift clinic. Photograph from Echoes, 2002.
Fifteen Belen Jesuit students returned to El Aguacate in 1988, where students built additional latrines, and for the first time in the program’s history, a chapel for the villagers to worship.33 Over the years, the Belen Youth Missions program has taken on the task of building chapels in some of these impoverished communities such as La Guama, Rincón Largo, and Arroyo Caña. During the summer of 1989, a Belen Jesuit alumnus who had graduated just two years before, Guillermo García-Tuñón (‘87), accompanied Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) on the Belen Youth Missions trip to Rincón Largo just as he had done every year since eleventh grade. The experience of building a chapel in Rincón Largo, however, carried a special meaning for García-Tuñón on that particular summer. After completing his missionary trip to Ricón Largo, on August 14th, 1989, García-Tuñón followed his vocational calling and entered the Jesuit novitiate in Grand-Coteau, Louisiana. He also went on to assist Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) with the missionary trips for many years, and eventually, after having been ordained Jesuit priest on September 2nd, 2000, Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) became the coordinator of the Belen Youth Missions to the Dominican Republic. For Fr. García-Tuñón, the missions have brought many wonderful experiences. One such experience surrounded the question of whether building a chapel in these impoverished villages, as opposed to an aqueduct, a school house, a road, or a bridge would prove more beneficial to the villagers who they were attempting to serve . In a touching recollection, published in El Nuevo Herald, Fr. GarcíaTuñón related his experience with an elderly Dominican who asked him to build his town a chapel:
“In 2004, I visited a very poor village called Arroyo Caña to offer the assistance of the Belen Youth Missions. I met with key members of the small community in a small shack with wooden walls, tin roof, and dirt fl oor. These people were anxious to meet the priest who could provide for them what they needed most. A little old man, in an old and battered guayabera, his face wrinkled and burnt from decades of working in the sun, respectfully removed his straw hat,
and informed me that the people had agreed that what they wanted was a chapel. I admit the request surprised me. These people had no running water, and I could build for them an aqueduct. They lived on dirt roads, and I could pave them. They had no bridge to cross the river when it swelled, and I could build it. Why would they want a chapel, when they obviously needed so many other things? As gently as I could, I informed the villagers that while a chapel was nice, I felt that other things were more necessary. At this point, the old man interrupted and said that his people knew all too well that they needed water, roads, and a bridge, but they also knew that what they needed first was God. They needed a place where they could gather for prayer, grow in their faith, celebrate Masses, baptize their babies, and marry their couples. And, he added, they were all convinced that if they had this chapel first, their community would then fi nd the strength to build an aqueduct, pave their roads, and construct their bridge. I was humbled and greatly impressed. Here I was, a priest, with several years of Catholic formation, studies in philosophy and theology, principal of an important school in Miami, and I was being schooled by a poor Dominican farmer who didn’t have more than a second grade education. So, in the summer of 2004, sixty-three students and one wiser Jesuit priest went to Arroyo Caña and built the chapel of Christ the King. Five years later, in the month of March, I was once again scouting through the mountains of the Dominican Republic to offer help from the Belen Youth Missions. I noticed that I was close to Arroyo Caña and asked the driver to take me to visit. As we made our way to the village, we drove over a bridge onto a paved road that went right through the village, and when I walked into the home of the little old man with the battered guayabera and straw hat, he happily invited me to a cup of coffee made with the water that ran from his faucet. The old man was right. It is amazing what we can do, the obstacles we can overcome, the heights we can reach when we have faith. That little old man and the people of Arroyo Caña may still be poor, but I assure you, they are rich in faith and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).”34
Over the years, the Belen Youth Missions have continued to benefit rural communities of different areas of the Dominican Republic with the building of bridges, chapels, aqueducts, roads, and school houses. Since 1990, they also began to provide provisional clinics staffed by volunteer physicians and healthcare professionals. Some of the clinic volunteers have been Belen Jesuit faculty, staff and parents. Over the years, the trips to the Dominican Republic have, thus, required construction, supplies, food, clothing, and medicine. While participants paid their way to attend the missionary trips, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) relied on fundraising activities such as Noche Tropical (later renamed Noche Campestre), to support his work in the Dominican Republic. He also requested help from the school community, and several Belen Jesuit clubs such as the Key Club, carried out fundraising carwashes and clothing and medicine drives to make donations to the mission trips. Since 1995, Seaboard Marine has also donated the container to ship the
The Annual Announcement of Noche Campestre, the evening that benefits the Belen Youth Mission trips to the Dominican Republic. Image from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
medicines that supply the makeshift clinics that doctors and students organize to treat thousands of villagers, many of whom have never been to a doctor. Supplies to feed student and adult participants are also packed into the container.35 All the efforts involved in undertaking the Belen Youth Missions, however, were well worth it, given the impact of the missions on students. A diary kept by Alan Díaz (‘95) during his visit to Yaque Arriba in 1994 explained the dire state of poverty that students encountered, as well as the transformation that some of them experienced when they participated in the Belen Youth Missions:
“We are preparing to sleep at CEFASA, the obispeda on the outskirts of Santiago… I realized this is the last time we will see running water for a while… Father Eddy woke us up singing “Lamb of God.” We arrived at Yaque Arriba… visited two families, one has sixteen children. In the other family, they share two beds between ten people… We are digging a foundation for a new school so that they can raise teaching from fourth to sixth grade… we set up a chain to move bricks…many of us have blisters on our hands… Kids are everywhere…Along with Fr. Willie, we played games with them and gave them presents… I think this nine-day trip has had an impact that we will feel forever… here union, faith, and above all, love and understanding ruled in our hearts to accomplish one thing: the work of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”36
In 2004, Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) transferred to serve as pastor of Gesù Catholic Church. The Belen Youth Missions then came under the guidance of Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), who renamed the annual fundraising event, Noche Campestre. With the help of his faithful assistant, Ana Mora, and many Belen Jesuit mothers, Fr. García-Tuñón holds a night of Latin food, music, dominoes, and a silent auction to raise the funds necessary to finance these important Belen Youth Missions to the Dominican Republic. In line with some of the tasks that the missionary troops had undertaken before, Fr. García-Tuñón also decided to engage students in the building of bridges, since many of the rural towns are flooded during the rainy season by the same sources of water that they use to live, and which are usually quite close to the village. Over the years, the Belen Youth Missions have built bridges in the towns of Jamamú, Los Arroyos, Yarda, Arroyo Caña, Venú, Sabaneta de Mata Grande, Arroyo Blanco, Pedro García, Loma
de Comedero, Pescado Bobo, and San Felipe Abajo.37 The work has proven invaluable, since access in and out of these villages is impeded when the towns are flooded, and in several cases, have resulted in fatalities for villagers unable to access the roads to get medical care during an emergency.
In 2011, the Belen Youth Missions celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the program, as the school was getting ready to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of its reestablishment in South Florida. The Youth Mission group, traveling to the village of Pescado Bobo to build a bridge, totaled ninety-three people -fifty-one of which were Belen Jesuit students. Twenty-one young women from Carrolton School of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, as well as five doctors, fourteen Belen Jesuit alumni, and two Belen Jesuit parents also joined the Belen Youth Missions in 2011. For Belen Jesuit Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), the trips continue to hold a special place in his heart as they remind him of his vocational calling, which started when he first attended the program to the Dominican Republic as a Belen Jesuit student. The missionary trips, however, also encompass his hopes not only for the betterment of the Dominican rural poor, but also for the spiritual development of his students:
“Consistently, the youth missions have brought students face-to-face with the reality that the majority of the world lives in poverty. The trip gives students an opportunity to work side-by-side with the poor and see how they live every day and how they also make due with so very little. The trip also allows our students not only to serve in the spirit of the school’s motto “Men for Others,” but also to become more aware of the presence of God in their lives, as well as how God can use them to make a difference in the lives of others. The hope is that the experience will motivate them to love and serve not only in extraordinary circumstances like the mountains of the Dominican Republic, but also during every single day of their lives.”38
To relate how God has been faithful in showing him that He had indeed touched the hearts of his students, Fr. García-Tuñón related another change of heart experience that he witnessed from Steven Rico (‘07) during a Belen Youth Missions trip to Arroyo Caña in 2004:
“On the last night of our stay we were outside celebrating Mass by candlelight. During the homily, I normally allow the kids to speak and share their experiences. At one point, Steven Rico (‘07) spoke up. He had been very quiet during the whole experience. He mentioned that when he first arrived, he was shocked by the poverty. He said that he would lie in his sleeping bag late at night, asking God why He didn’t do anything to help these people? And at Mass, on that last night, Steven admitted that he had finally understood that God had done something. He had sent him.”39
Belen Jesuit Youth Missions trip to Pedro García, Dominican Republic, in the summer of 2009, where students built a bridge and established a makeshift clinic. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Gonzalo Trigueros (‘11) with a Dominican infant during the Belen Youth Missions trip in the summer of 2010 to Loma de Comedero, where students built a bridge and established a makeshift clinic.
Photograph from Echoes, 2011.
Belen Jesuit Youth Missions trip to Pedro García, Dominican Republic in the summer of 2009, where students built a bridge and established a makeshift clinic. Photograph from Echoes, 2010.
Key Club
Key Club President Roberto Pupo (‘85), Faculty advisor María Hewett, Vice President Thomas Jelke (‘85), Erick Deeb (‘85), Rolando Fernández (‘85), Ernesto Valladares (‘85), and Rafael Prohías (‘85). Peter Quirós (‘86), was the first Belen Jesuit Key Club member elected District Lieutenant Governor. Exposé performs at Key Club fundraiser. Photographs from Echoes, 1985.
The Belen Jesuit Key Club was first established at the school’s campus in Little Havana in 1974, under the guidance of Jesuit scholastic Carlos Botta, SJ (‘63). The following year (1975-1976), Fr. José Esquivel, SJ (‘60) also served as the club’s faculty advisor. After 1976, Dean of Students Leopoldo Núñez took over as the club’s faculty advisor, and remained providing guidance for its members (1976-1981). The Key Club, a junior service club that patterned itself after the Kiwanis International Clubs, focused its activities on delivering service that addressed the needs of the school and the community. The club’s activities not only facilitated building student character and leadership skills, but also represented another step in providing Belen Jesuit students with direct ways to provide service to others. For example, during the 1976-1977 academic year, Key Club President Juan Carlos Abelairas (‘78) and officers Luis Garrigo (‘78) and René Valverde (‘78) carried out a canned food drive for the needy, and joined the Help Stop Crime Dade County Public Safety Department Program. Students also participated in activities, sponsored by Kiwanis International, meant to promote youth leader participation in bettering their community.
After the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, on April 5th, 1982, the Belen Jesuit Key Club received its charter from the Kiwanis International organization. Since acquiring its charter, the club went to work on special projects. In 1982, faculty member María Hewett began to serve as the club’s faculty advisor, a position in which she remained until 1992. Under Mrs. Hewett’s guidance, the club carried out countless projects. Members collected funds for the Jerry Lewis Telethon, conducted food drives, held bake sales to raise funds to complete the school’s chapel, and participated in the March of Dimes
Walkathon.40 During the 1984-1985 academic year, under the leadership of President Roberto Pupo (‘85) and Thomas Jelke (‘85), seventy-four members contributed more than 3,000 hours of service and raised substantial funds thanks to a dance, which featured the popular group Exposé. The proceeds went to help fund the Belen Youth Missions to the Dominican Republic, the Children’s Home Society, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), Project Concern, and the United Cerebral Palsy of South Florida. Given their record within the community, in 1985, the Key Club’s sponsorship was taken up by the prestigious Coral Gables Kiwanis Club. The club held a Zone Rally Training Conference at the school on February 23rd, 1985, where Peter Quirós (‘86) was elected to serve as the first Belen Jesuit Key Club District Lieutenant Governor.41 Quiros undertook his year of service (1985-1986) with distinction, as did Key Club President Alberto Xiques (‘86) and Vice President Jorge Cinca (‘86). At the yearly convention in 1986, the following year’s Lieutenant Governor for the district position also went to Javier Jiménez (‘89).42 At the following year’s convention (1986-1987), Mrs. Hewett earned an Outstanding Moderator Award, and the club, which had been under the leadership of President Roberto Castro (‘87) and Vice President Henry Landa (‘87), earned 22 out of the 24 awards given amongst 112 schools.43 Key Club’s participation in the Walkathon for Mankind and the Special Olympics, and conducting a clothes drive to help the Village of Dajabón in the Dominican Republic, under the leadership of Key Club President Javier Jiménez (‘88), also earned the club a Platinum Award for achievement. At the convention, Alexis Zequeira (‘90), Enrique Artalejo (‘88), and Charlie Calderín (‘90) also received distinguished service awards.44
The club raised its community service requirement under the leadership of President Roberto Suárez (‘89) and Vice President Aldo Cardona (‘90) for the 1988-1989 academic year. During this year, faculty member Rafael Ledesma joined María Hewett as an advisor to the club, and fundraising proceeds were donated to UNICEF. The club also participated in a new project, Horses for the Handicapped, which assisted young handicapped persons to take pony rides.45 The Key Club reached 231 active members during the 1989-1990 academic year. Under the leadership of President Charlie Calderín (‘90) and Alexis Zequeira (‘90), who served as District Lieutenant Governor, the Key Club raised funds for the Leukemia Society and the March of Dimes, held after school tutoring sessions, and sponsored
BASTA week, a dedicated drug and alcohol prevention week of information.46 For the 1990-1991 academic year, the club concentrated its efforts on helping the Athletics Department by painting wrestlingmat boxes, providing programs at football games, acting as timers at swim meets, designing and producing Basketball Calendars, and donating to the Baseball team for the purchase of equipment.47 This year, the club also began sponsoring Father and Son Day, a fun-filled weekend day between eighth grade students and their fathers, where many played basketball and tag football, competed in arm wrestling, and played checkers.48 During the 1991-1992 academic year, under the guidance of Mrs. Hewett, Mr. Ledesma, and sponsor Carolina Calderín, as well as the leadership of President Johnny Calderín (‘92), the club began asking students to donate their used textbooks which were then sold to raise funds for Key Club donations. The club also continued with its canned food drives, March of Dimes collections, and held a Red Cross Blood Drive.49
Also during the 1989-1990 academic year, the Civics Club, which had been under the guidance of faculty advisor Eugene Zoller, became the Builder’s Club and began working as middle school “little brothers” to the Key Club. That year, Builder’s Club members wrote letters to the American servicemen and troops stationed in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War.50 During the 1993-1994 academic year, Builder’s Club members, in support of Key Club activities, made 3,000 sandwiches and distributed them to needy families.51
In 1999, Teresita Campos became faculty advisor to the Builder’s Club, whose members volunteered at the Franciscan Farm, where they pulled weeds, laid down tiles for a new soup kitchen, and sorted clothes for the needy. The club also held a food and gift drive to create Christmas baskets for needy families.52 In 2002, club members established an Easter Hunt at Centro Mater, for which they filled 1,200 eggs for 200 children to find.53 During the 2007-2008 academ-
ic year, the Builder’s Club established a new project that involved tutoring fourth and fifth grade students in mathematics and English at Coral Park Elementary to get them ready to take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT).54
In 1992, Guidance Counselor Rafael Ledesma took over as faculty advisor to the Belen Jesuit Key Club, a position in which he remained until 2000. Mr. Ledesma also served in the Kiwanis International. For the 1992-1993 academic year, the club’s membership reached 350 students, and under the leadership of Audley Bosch (‘94), members offered assistance to the Hurricane Andrew victims in the Redlands by holding canned food, clothing, and toy drives. Moreover, the club also helped raise funds for Brothers to the Rescue Pilot Jorge Lares, who suffered a severe spinal cord injury when his plane crashed in the Everglades.55 For the following academic year, Audley Bosch (‘94) served as Lieutenant Governor for the district, and Jesse Peña (‘94) served as club president.56
Key Club members and faculty advisors Josefina Chirino and Rafael Ledesma delivered supplies to Cuban rafters at the Krome Detention Center in 1994. Photograph from Echoes, 1995.
Faculty advisors María Hewett, Rafael Ledesma, and supporter Carolina Carderín. Key Club President Johnny Calderín (‘92), María Hewett, Pedro Pérez (‘92), Fernando Font (‘92), Edward Mena (‘92), and Fernando Rivas (‘92). Lieutenant Governor Alexis Zequeira (‘90), Frank Sánchez (‘90), and Charlie Calderín (‘90) at March of Dimes carwash. Photographs from Echoes, 1990 and 1992.
As part of the CREST Program, Daniel Peón (‘98), Harry Binker (‘96), and Key Club President Frankie Ruiz (‘96) help students from St. Mary’s Cathedral School. Photographs from Echoes, 1996.
The 1994 Cuban Rafter Crisis caused a great resolve within the Belen Jesuit Key Club to help the plight of Cuban and Haitian refugees who had tried to flee their countries on rafts. These refugees were being held by US immigration authorities at the Krome Detention Center, in Homestead, Florida, at the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and on Grand Cayman Island. Hence, under the leadership of Key Club President Javier Cantens (‘95), the Key Club held clothing drives, collected paper and pens for the rafters to write to their families, and volunteered to help place calls to Cuba and Haiti. Cantens also requested donations on local radio stations Radio Mambí and Radio Paz. Club members also collected funds at Sedanos Supermarkets, participated in a Channel 51 Telethon, and helped clean the airplane hangars of the Brothers to the Rescue organization. The resolve by club members to help the refugees was both consistent and commendable, and it extended to an international outreach. On November 18th through 20th, 1994, several Key Club members, including Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97) and Roberto Armengol (‘95), traveled with Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) to Grand Cayman to visit more than 1,100 Cuban refugees. Key Club members delivered 600 pillows to the refugees and teamed up with Cayman Island Key Clubs to provide additional supplies. Fr. Álvarez also celebrated Mass for the refugees.57 The club’s refugee assistance initiative caused such a
positive impact, that at the annual convention, President Cantens, Vice President Eric Santa-Cruz (‘95), Héctor Florín (‘95), and Gastón Lacayo (‘95) received distinguished officer awards. At the convention, Bert Moreno (‘96) was elected Lieutenant Governor for the 17th North Division, and the club had the unprecedented honor of having José Ceide (‘96) elected as governor and Javier Sobrado (‘96) as editor for the entire district of Florida. As governor, Ceide was responsible for planning the Florida District Convention (19951996) in Tampa as well as the Key Club International Convention in Miami Beach, which hosted representatives from eighteen countries including Canada and the Cayman Islands. As editor, Sobrado was responsible for publishing four issues of the Florida Key the official newspaper of the Key Club District of Florida.58
The following year (1995-1996), as Bert Moreno (‘96), José Ceide (‘96), and Javier Sobrado (‘96) served in their state-wide positions, and under the leadership of Key Club President Frankie Ruiz (‘96) and Vice President Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97), the club adopted assisting the Culturally Rich Ethnic Schools Together (CREST) organization as their annual project. The CREST organization was composed by the principals of inner-city Catholic schools: St. Monica, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Mary’s, at which club members began to conduct after school tutoring, athletic coaching, and maintenance assistance.59 The Key Club also continued to assist Cuban refugees, and raised funds for Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD), the One Nation Program, and Radio Lollipops, as members logged an unprecedented 18,000 service hours.60 Key Club continued its work with CREST and IDD the two following academic years (1996-1999).
Although Key Club members had consistently participated in the Belen Youth Missions with Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) and Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), during the 1997-1998 academic year, they chose the missionary trips as their annual service project. For Thanksgiving, twenty club members traveled with Fr. Álvarez to the village of Yerba Buena, where they constructed six latrines, established a makeshift clinic, and helped to treat patients with medical supplies collected in Miami. Over the Christmas Holiday, another group traveled to the small village of La Bamba, where they returned the following February to build latrines and establish a makeshift clinic.61 During the 1997-1998 academic year, the trips to La Bamba also resulted in the construction of a school house for the town’s children.62
For the 1999-2000 academic year, under the leadership of President Carlos Trujillo (‘01), the club took on the Miami Bridge as their
single service project. At the Bridge, club members interacted with runaways in need to help with their studies.63 Starting with the 20002001 academic year, Rafael Ledesma served as a representative for the Kiwanis International Organization, but continued to advise the club. Faculty member Aimee Busquet served as the club’s faculty advisor. Under the leadership of President Michael Forrest (‘01) and Vice President Juan Fernández-Barquín (‘01), the Key Club expanded their tutoring service hours to help the children of Naranja migrant workers. Club members also conducted fundraising for children’s diabetes and arthritis organizations.64
For the 2001-2002 academic year, Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) took over as the club's faculty advisor, a position in which he remained until 2006. Mr. Ledesma continued to work as the club’s Kiwanis representative and advisor. Led by President Adrián Gómez (‘02) and Vice President Camilo Ferro (‘02), the club continued its projects in Naranja, spent time with teenage runaways and those receiving substance abuse counseling at Regis House, and raised funds to help the victims of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks.65 The Key Club completed over 26,000 service hours and earned several awards for their special emphasis projects at the annual convention in Orlando (2002-2003). That year, the club also began to volunteer at ARC of South Florida, a center for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.66 For the 20032004 academic year, under the leadership of President Eric Knott (‘04) and Santiago Iturralde (‘04), Key Club members assisted the school with the 150th anniversary celebrations and raised funds for the Belen Youth Missions. The following year, led by President Eric Fernández (‘05), Alexander Formoso (‘05), Julio Minsal-Ruiz (‘05), Daniel García (‘05), and Miguel Mármol (‘05), the club raised over $135,000, during a massive effort that included asking parents to donate funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina each morning when they dropped off their sons at school.67
For the 2006-2007 academic year, Belen Jesuit faculty member Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97) took over as faculty advisor to the Key Club, and Rafael Ledesma continued to work as the club’s Kiwanis representative and advisor. Under the leadership of Key Club President Oscar Guerrero (‘07), Key Club members continued their community service locally at ARC of South Florida and Regis House, and participated in fundraising activities. Under the leadership of President José Echegaray (‘08) and Vice President Marco Gómez (‘08), the club established another weekly service project at St. John Bosco, and members tutored and played basketball with students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary School.68 Under the leadership
of Jorge Riera (‘10) and Carlos Barrios (‘10), the Key Club’s Thanksgiving Food Drive delivered food to underprivileged families. Members also participated in a drug awareness program.69 In 2011, club members, under the leadership of Daniel Jaramillo (‘12) and Luis Fernández-Rocha (‘12), participated in an Autistic Basketball Clinic and Field Day held at Belen Jesuit for Blue Lakes Elementary autistic students. Currently sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Key Biscayne, the Belen Jesuit Key Club continues to carry out weekly, monthly, and yearly service projects at school and for the South Florida community at large.
Key Club member Anthony Rueda (‘13) at the Autistic Field Day. Nicholas Volsky (‘08) at the Blood Drive. Alejandro Azoy (‘10), Alan Vurgait (‘11), and Antonio Ucar (‘11) at the Missionaries of Charity soup kitchen and packing Thanksgiving meals for underprivileged families. Photographs from Echoes, 2008 - 2012.
program
1985.
Academic and College Counseling
The formal establishment of the Academic and College Counseling Department at Belen Jesuit began in 1965, when Jesuit Fr. Otto Martínez, SJ (‘49) and Fr. Ricardo Moreyra, SJ arrived at the school to serve as both faculty members and counselors. Fr. Moreyra served as academic counselor to junior high school students, and Fr. Martínez served in a combined role that provided both academic and college counseling to high school students. In 1973, lay faculty member José Lamas, who had been teaching classes in the Social Studies Department, also began to serve as an academic and college counselor to Belen Jesuit students, a role in which he remained until 1981.
Once the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, English Department faculty member Charmaine Icaza, who had been at Belen Jesuit since 1979, began to serve as the school’s official academic and college counselor, a position she held until 2010. During the 1982-1983 academic year, Mrs. Icaza began to sponsor activities especially suited to college counseling, in the hopes of preparing students and their families for the college admissions process. That year, Mrs. Icaza sponsored the first College Day, at which fifty colleges and universities presented information about their schools to juniors, seniors, and their parents. Mrs. Icaza also organized a fair about Jesuit colleges and universities, where students were introduced to the possibility of carrying out their college education at one of the Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. Another important college-related activity that year included a series of seminars that were available to Belen Jesuit and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart seniors to provide guidance about their transition from single gender schools to co-educational college environments.1 The following year (1984-1985), Mrs. Icaza also started a financialaid workshop for juniors and seniors as well as their parents. Mrs. Icaza also became involved with the Southern Association of College Admission Counselors (SACAC), and the Association of College Admission Counselors (NACAC), and attended meetings with other Catholic high school counselors. The school’s participation in these organizations, and Mrs. Icaza’s organization of events during her tenure such as College Day, Jesuit College Night, the College Fair, and the Financial Aid Workshop, consistently helped students and families throughout the years to prepare for the college application admission process.
In 1983, Brian Wentzel joined the faculty as a psychology faculty member, and he also served as an academic guidance counselor. Mr. Wentzel helped students with their class choices, but also tried innovative ways to educate them about the dangers of drug and alcohol use. For this purpose, he helped to advise a club following guidelines from the Students Against Drunk Drivers (SADD) program. At Belen Jesuit, the organization was named the Belen Against Drunk Driving (BADD) Club. Moreover, the Guidance Department began to plan classes that taught life management skills, as well as con-
tinuing to offer personal counseling and activities to help students develop throughout their middle and high school years.2
In preparing the school for the accreditation process, during the 1995-1996 academic year, the Guidance Department grew from Mrs. Icaza and Brian Wentzel to also include Belen Jesuit faculty members Rafael Ledesma, Sister María Cartaya, Sam Vega, and Dan Montesi. The additional personnel allowed for counselors to take a preemptive approach to helping students. First, the department divided the student body into groups and assigned a group to each counselor. Then, it developed guidelines through which counselors were able to meet with all their students and discuss life management skills. The practice allowed for better communication and preemptive counseling, and proved successful enough to make it the department’s permanent practice.3 The groups were eventually delineated per grade, with a specific counselor assigned to each grade. The department also had the assistance of Camila Suárez, who worked as the guidance department’s administrative assistant and
helped students with their transcripts as well as with their college application paperwork.
Over the end of the 1990s, and following the beginning of the new millennium, the guidance department continued to function both to provide academic counseling to students and to prepare them for the college application process. As accreditation guidelines were implemented and the curriculum continued to become increasingly rigorous, counselors such as Rafael Ledesma, Sam Vega, and Dan Montesi realized that certain students were struggling and several had been asked to leave the school. In 2007, Belen Jesuit President/ Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ had discussed some of these concerning issues with Belen Jesuit parent Miguel B. Fernández, and together, they envisioned the Magis Mentoring Program, which Mr. Fernández agreed to generously support and which the school was able to implement during the summer of 2007.
Since its inception, the Magis Mentoring Program, under the direction of academic guidance counselor Dan Montesi and faculty member Miriam Cambo-Martínez, has addressed the needs of the Belen Jesuit students who have been placed on academic and/or disciplinary probation. Using a positive psychology model that cou-
Guidance Counselor Brian Wentzel prepared Students Against Drunk Drivers (SADD)
at Belen Jesuit. Photograph from Echoes,
Counselors Dan Montesi Sister María Cartaya and Charmaine Icaza discuss students in the Guidance Department office. Photograph from Echoes, 2000.
Guidance Counselor Sam Vega counsels a sixth grade student in his office. Photograph from Echoes, 1998.
Director of Guidance and College Counseling Charmaine Icaza and Guidance Counselor Luis Deschapelles speak with Roberto Sroka (‘08) during the College Fair.
Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
Franco Abaroa (‘11) and Fernando SolórzanoBowen (‘11) turn in their college application forms to Camila Suárez at the new College Counseling Department offices.
Photograph from Echoes, 2011.
pled an academic mentoring program with a behavioral leadership component, the Magis Mentoring Program continuously used a comprehensive approach that included mentoring, counseling, tutoring, and motivational speakers to help students. Counselors implemented the comprehensive approach by using parent input, faculty reports, and standardized test scores to identify the inherent issues that were preventing a student from being successful. Once the issues had been identified, counselors charted a path toward remediation and recovery that included students working with dedicated Belen Jesuit faculty members who served as mentors and tutors. With their mentors and tutors, students complete homework assignments, study, and are taught organizational skills to reinforce proactive study habits that lead to being better prepared to succeed in the classroom. As part of the program, student accomplishments are celebrated daily, and mentors encourage them to seek individual help with tutors as needed. Mentors and tutors also communicate with parents and the student’s teachers on an on-going basis. National Honor Society students also help with peer tutoring when needed. The behavioral component or leadership program consists of a weekly meeting structure during which counselors ascertain the causes behind conduct issues and
discuss how students can change their reputation, develop responsibility, and become positive leaders and role models. Motivational speakers are also scheduled regularly to provide students with tangible examples of how those with similar academic struggles have become successful. Exposure to positive role models is especially important for these academically struggling students, since it gives them a sense of purpose, and helps them to also develop tenacity.
According to Mr. Montesi:
“Research tells us that many students who struggle academically develop a low self-esteem or a “failure identity” which has many negative consequences. The positive psychology model used by the Magis Mentoring Program focuses on what students are doing right and on their individual attributes, in an effort to build the student’s self-esteem and self-image. Our dedicated mentors and teachers as well as our motivational speakers, are also a big part of the process. Many community leaders, some of who are also Belen Jesuit alumni, have had to overcome challenging or difficult situations. Their contribution to the program has been extremely helpful in providing students with tangible proof that a “never give up and never give in” attitude is the way to achieve success. Although we have not been able to “save” every struggling student, both
programs have led to truly impressive results since their inception. I, for one, feel privileged to be part of the Magis process.”4
For the 2010-2011 academic year, the Academic Counseling Department was divided into two separate departments: academic counseling and college counseling. Since then, academic counselors have included Rafael Ledesma, Sam Vega, Dan Montesi, Jorge Muñoz-Bustamante (‘69), Kimberly Homans, and María Moreno. That year, Teresa Gutiérrez started serving as the director of the Academic Counseling Department, which continued to have an individual counselor assigned to each grade. Counselors focused on the special needs of students and stressed safety themes such as Red Ribbon Week and SADD. They also arranged academic testing and subsequent support to those having academic and/or disciplinary challenges through the Magis Mentoring Program. Mrs. Gutiérrez established new department initiatives, including presentations on “Internet Risks,” that were offered to Belen Jesuit’s seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students by representatives from the Attorney General’s Office Cybercrimes Unit. Special sessions for parents were also held in the evenings to educate families on Internet safety. School counselors also conducted classroom presentations to discuss study skills. During these sessions, counselors also assisted new students in acclimating to Belen Jesuit, thus providing all students with tools for academic success. Evening presentations were also scheduled for parents, to discuss strategies that could be implemented at home to assist students in developing critical thinking skills and better study habits.6
In 2010, the College Counseling Department established its own offices as part of the renovated area on the second floor of the Miguel B. Fernández and Family Main Building. After Charmaine Icaza retired in 2010, Lisa Peterson began serving as director of college counseling, and since then, Claudia Basso, Luis Deschapelles, María Carballo, Cristina Busto, and Cristina Negrón served as additional college counselors. In programs established during Mrs. Icaza’s tenure, and others implemented by Ms. Peterson, the College Counseling Department assisted students during their freshman and sophomore years by meeting with them in group settings to offer information about colleges and universities. Also starting in freshman year, counselors began offering students information about their college search, and hosting evening events for parents
and students to discuss the college application process. Family Connection, a tool to help students and parents gather information and keep track of standardized test scores, as well as grades and how these match up with their respective college choices, was also made available. Ms. Peterson also began publishing a monthly newsletter to remind students about upcoming deadlines, college visits to the school, and opportunities for scholarships. Overall, the college counseling department streamlined their procedures to make the college application process more efficient for students and parents during senior year.7
Guidance Counselor Rafael Ledesma meets with students Daniel Sojo (‘12) and Daniel Jaramillo (‘12). Photograph from Echoes, 2012.
Spiritual Counseling
Spiritual counseling had been an integral part of the school’s mission, and it had played a major role in the education and spiritual/ religious formation of students that attended the Colegio de Belén in Havana. Spiritual counseling was therefore incorporated into the reestablishment of Belen Jesuit since its first year at the Centro Hispano Católico (1961-1962). Fr. Vicente Rodríguez, SJ (‘48) served as Belen Jesuit’s first spiritual counselor. Fr. Rodríguez also served as spiritual counselor at the school’s campus in Little Havana (19621964), where he advised the Marian Congregation. During the years that the school was at its campus in Little Havana, spiritual coun-
selors included Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, SJ, Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), and Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), all of whom also served in this capacity at the new campus.
After the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, the Jesuit Administration decided to designate spiritual counselors who would attend to students by grade level. Over teh least thirty years, several Jesuit priests, including Fr. Oscar Méndez, SJ, Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41), Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), Fr. Víctor
A Faithful Counselor and Servant
Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45)
Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1945.
Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ was born in Havana, Cuba, on May 16th, 1927. At age six, his parents, Colegio de Belén alumnus Eugenio Sardiña and Georgina García-Menocal, enrolled him at the Colegio de Belén in first grade. He graduated in 1945. At the school, he was a devoted participant of the Marian Congregations. He was also chosen Prefect Leader every year. Soon after his graduation, he enrolled in the Universidad de La Habana, but decided to answer the call for the Jesuit priesthood that he said he had heard when he was a young boy. He entered the Society of Jesus on September 8th, 1947, at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario), where he was also ordained a priest on June 20th, 1959. He studied at St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto, Canada. Soon after ordination, Fr. Sardiña served as a chaplain to the No. 2506 Brigade members, while they were training in Retalhuleu, Guatemala for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. After the invasion failed, he came to serve at Belen Jesuit, when it was first reestablished at the Centro Hispano Católico. During this time, he lived and worked with the boys from Operation Pedro Pan both at the Jesuit Boys’ Residence and at the Camp Opa-locka facility. After the camp closed in 1964, he went to serve as a spiritual counselor at the Seminario Santo Tomás de Aquino in the Dominican Republic and at the Centro Católico Universitario in Puerto Rico. In 1981, he returned to Belen Jesuit, where he served students for rest of his life. When he was asked to describe Belen, he said that only one word came to mind: “Family.” Spiritual counselor to many, especially the sixth grade boys who arrived at the school for their first middle school year, he was always ready to make a student or anyone feel better with a piece of candy. A man totally devoted to God, Fr. Sardiña touched the hearts of his Jesuit brothers, faculty, staff students and Belen family members. With a gentle and devout manner, his willingness to provide support for others included reminding them how laying your cares upon Jesus Christ brings the peace that surpasses all understanding. His love for Belen Jesuit students extended up to his death. Just a few days before he passed away, a group of students came to visit him at the hospital. To them, he said: “Believe me, I only wish I had more time to give you.” Fr. Sardiña died in Miami, Florida on February 9th, 2008.
Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), with students at the Garrido Family Plaza, 2008. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives..
Hernández, SJ (‘59), Fr. Nelson García, SJ, Fr. Eduardo Barrios, SJ (‘60), Fr. Francisco Lemus, SJ (‘49), Fr. José R. Tey, SJ, Fr. Francisco Permuy (‘85), and Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) have served in this capacity.
Following the principles of cura personalis, which refers to personal care and concern that Jesuit educators share for each of their students, individual students are assigned a spiritual counselor. All counselors also serve as part of the Belen Jesuit faculty, and not only teach students in their respective subject areas, but also provide the special service of helping them develop their faith. Spiritual counselors encourage students to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation often, and they are available for students upon request. They also set appointments to meet with their assigned students several times per semester to discuss the development of their relationship with Christ. The Eucharist is celebrated twice daily in the school chapel, giving the whole school community the opportunity to nourish its spiritual life. On special occasions, the entire school gathers to celebrate Mass and give thanks to God. In addition to the Jesuit priests that have acted as spiritual counselors, Sister María Cartaya, RF has also faithfully served as both a spiritual and an academic counselor during her years at Belen Jesuit.
A Devoted Spiritual Counselor
Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59) was born in Havana, Cuba on May 9th, 1941. He attended the Colegio de Belén, from where he graduated in 1959. He first entered the Society of Jesus in 1961, at Los Teques, Venezuela; however, during his novitiate, political events in Cuba brought a violent end to his father’s life and forced his mother and siblings into exile. This devastating course of events caused him to suffer repetitive and excruciating headaches, and he was thus unable to complete the novitiate. Fr. Hernández, however, was not deterred by the adversity posed by the circumstances of his life. In order to stay on his desired Jesuit path, he came to Miami and served as registrar and administrative assistant at Belen Jesuit’s campus in Little Havana (1963-1966). On September 7th, 1966, he entered the Society of Jesus novitiate once again at Haina in the Dominican Republic, and he proceeded to study Philosophy at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra and Theology at Regis College in Toronto, Canada. Always in love with educating the youth, he pursued a Licentiate in Education at the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, in Santo Domingo. He was ordained a priest in Miami, Florida on June 19th, 1976. In the Dominican Republic, he worked as a spiritual counselor and theology faculty member at the Instituto Politécnico Loyola and the Colegio Loyola, where he became principal and rector, before being assigned to work at Belen Jesuit. He served at the school as a devoted spiritual counselor for ten years (1997-2007). In the mid-1990s, a group of ladies from the former Marian Congregations in Cuba needed the help of a Jesuit priest, willing to walk with them in the new ways of the Christian Life Communities (CLC). Always ready to serve, he accepted the task of being their “ecclesial assistant,” and thus began his association with CLC, where his spiritual work, encouragement, and quiet perseverance helped the local CLC grow to the point where the South Florida communities became a “region” of the USA-CLC. He died in Rome on February 5th, 2007, while attending a course on Ignatian Spirituality, a fitting culmination to a life dedicated to God, to the Church, and to the Jesuit way.
Colegio de Belén alum Roberto Borbolla (‘56), Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59), and Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, at the Mass for the groundbreaking of the Villa Javier Jesuit Residence on February 10th, 2000. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), with students in the spiritual counseling office at the Belen Jesuit campus in Little Havana. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59) Photograph from Echoes, 1963.
Jesuit fathers after taking their last Jesuit vows at the Colegio de Belén in Havana on February 2nd, 1956. From left to right: Fr. Fernando Azcárate, SJ, Fr. Salvador Freijedo, SJ, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), Fr. René León, SJ, Vice Provincial of the Antilles, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), Brother Miguel Pichardo, SJ, and Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ, Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1956.
Vocations
Since the Colegio de Belén opened its doors in Havana on March 2nd, 1854, and the Jesuits began educating young men throughout Cuba, God called fifty-five alumni from the Jesuit schools in Cuba and Miami to dedicate their lives to serving Him and His church as priests or brothers in the Society of Jesus. Over the years, many of those alumni returned to serve the school in both teaching and administrative capacities, and have provided many years of faithful service, not only as part of their religious order, but also to Belen, its faculty, staff, students, families, alumni, and the surrounding communities in which the school has resided.
Spanish Jesuits from the Castile Province opened the Colegio de Belén in 1854, as well as other Jesuit schools throughout Cuba, including one in Cienfuegos (Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat), an elementary level school in Sagua la Grande (Colegio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús), and one in Santiago de Cuba (Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores). Hence, most of the priests and brothers who served at these schools during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were of Spanish origin and/or descent. As early as the first two years that the school opened in Havana, Brother Clemente Sugasti, SJ (1855) and Fr. Emilio Hurtado, SJ (1886) joined the Jesuit order. Almost a decade later, Fr. A. López de Santa Anna, SJ (1897) also joined the Jesuits.
Since the start of the twentieth century and through the 1930s, several Colegio de Belén alumni joined the Society of Jesus. These were: Fr. Gustavo Caballero, SJ (1913), Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), Fr. Eduardo Martínez-Márquez, SJ (‘23), Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), Fr. Enrique Fiol, SJ (‘33), Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), Fr. Emilio Rasco, SJ (‘38), Fr. René Abreu, SJ (‘38), and Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39). Of these, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), who entered
the Society of Jesus just three months after graduating from the school (August 14th, 1919) at Carrión de los Condes, Spain, went on to not only serve as the first Cuban-born Jesuit to be appointed rector of the Colegio de Belén (1940-1947; 1959) in Havana, but also as the rector of Belen Jesuit in South Florida (1967-1972). Four years after Fr. Baldor joined the order, Fr. Eduardo MartínezMárquez, SJ (‘23) also joined the Society of Jesus and would go on to serve as the second Cuban-born rector of the Colegio de Belén (1956-1959). Another Colegio de Belén alumnus, Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), went to study at the Universidad de La Habana after graduation. At the university, he joined and served as president of the Jesuit Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU), where he received his vocational call. Fr. Chisholm entered the Society of Jesus in Marquain, Belgium, (October 9th, 1932) and went on to serve at the Colegio de Belén in Havana during several years. When the school was forcibly closed and nationalized by the Cuban government in 1961, under orders from Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ, Fr. Chisholm visited every Jesuit province in the United States to make a plea for their assistance in reestablishing the school in South Florida. He also served as rector of Belen Jesuit (1966-1967) and later as its director of development (1978-1992). Of the five Colegio de Belén alumni that joined the order during the 1930s, Fr. Ripoll would go on to serve as a spiritual counselor at the Colegio de Belén. In South Florida, he also served as Belen Jesuit vice rector (1961-1964) and spiritual counselor (1966-1987). Fr. Arvesú also served as a spiritual counselor at Belen Jesuit. Both Fr. Baldor and Fr. Arvesú also served the Jesuit order as provincials of the vice province of the Antilles.
More than any other decade, during the 1940s, sixteen Colegio de Belén alumni joined the Society of Jesus. Amongst them were several Jesuits who also faithfully served the school and its students for many years. The Colegio de Belén alumni that entered the Jesuit order during the 1940s were: Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40), Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41), Fr. Julio Cícero McKinny, SJ (‘41), Fr. Antonio Altamira, SJ (‘42), Fr. Fernando Arango, SJ (‘42), Fr. Francisco Guzmán, SJ (‘42), Fr. Julio Roque de Escobar, SJ (‘44), Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), Fr. Arturo Chirino, SJ (‘45), Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45), Fr. José Luis Alemán, SJ (‘46), Fr. Fernando Martínez, SJ (‘48), Fr. José Luis Lanz, SJ (‘48), Fr. Vicente Rodríguez, SJ (‘48), Fr.
Francisco Lemus, SJ (‘49), and Fr. Otto Martínez, SJ (‘49). From having attended the Jesuit school in Sagua la Grande and his continued involvement with the Jesuits in that town, Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, SJ also joined the Society of Jesus (August 31st, 1940) in Salamanca, Spain. Fr. Azcoitia served as spiritual counselor at Belen Jesuit and later as the director of Encuentros Familiares at the Casa Manresa Retreat House in Miami.
Of the Colegio de Belén alumni who joined the Jesuit order during the 1940s, Fr. Dorta-Duque entered the Society of Jesus (December 24th, 1941) at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario) in Havana, but soon thereafter went to finish his novitiate at a new Noviciado de los Padres Jesuitas in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Fr. Dorta would go on to serve at the school in Havana, and then to direct the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami (1967-2006). Only a few months after his graduation from the Colegio de Belén, Fr. Enrique San Pedro, SJ (‘41) entered the Jesuit order on December 7th, 1941, at the Noviciado de los Padres Jesuitas in Cienfuegos, Cuba. He would go on to serve at Belen Jesuit as a faculty member and as a spiritual counselor before becoming Bishop of Galvenston, and later of Browsville, Texas. Fr. Pérez-Lerena and Fr. Sardiña, both of whom had gone on to study at the Universidad de La Habana after graduating from the Colegio de Belén, entered the Society of Jesus together (September 8th, 1947) at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario) on September 6th, 1947. Fr. Pérez-Lerena would go on to serve at Belen Jesuit as faculty member, school president (19801983), and as a spiritual counselor. Fr. Sardiña was a faculty member and faithful spiritual counselor at the school during the early 1960s, as well as at its new campus in West Miami-Dade until his death in 2008. Fr. Vicente Rodríguez, SJ (‘48), Fr. Francisco Lemus, SJ (‘49),
and Fr. Otto Martínez, SJ (‘49) all served at Belen Jesuit as spiritual counselors, carrying out retreats to develop their faith. Fr. Martínez also served as an academic and spiritual counselor, as well as the school’s assistant principal for studies (1978-1979).
From the start of the 1950s until the school was forcibly closed by the Cuban government in 1961, twelve additional Colegio de Belén alumni also joined the Jesuit order. These were: Fr. Carlos Rodríguez, SJ (‘51), Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), Fr. Ignacio Villar, SJ (‘56), Fr. Pedro González-Llorente, SJ (‘58), Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), Fr. Carlos Diharce, SJ (‘59), Fr. Jorge Cela, SJ (‘59), Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59), Fr. Carlos de la Cruz, SJ (‘60), Fr. Eduardo Barrios, SJ (‘60), Fr. José Esquivel, SJ (‘60), and scholastic Eugenio Batista Gastón, SJ (‘60). Of the Colegio de Belén alumni who joined the Jesuit order during the 1950s, Fr. Cartaya, who entered the Jesuit order at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario) in Havana (October 9th, 1954), came to serve at the school once it had been reestablished in South Florida. Fr. Cartaya has served as a faculty member, dean of students, department chairperson, and spiritual counselor, as well as founder and director of the Belen Jesuit Observatory. Also during these years, after attending the Jesuit school in Santiago de Cuba, Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores, Fr. Oscar Méndez, SJ joined the Jesuit order. Fr. Méndez served as Philosophy and Logic faculty member and spiritual counselor at Belen Jesuit during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Also during that time, after attending the Jesuit school in Sagua la Grande, the Colegio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, and as a result of his continued involvement with Jesuit marian congregations, Fr. Mar-
Cuban Cardinal Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt, with Jesuits taking their minor orders at the Colegio de Belén on July 30th, 1954. From left to right: Armando de la Torre, SJ, Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), Rafael Camacho, SJ, Julio Roque de Escobar, SJ (‘44), Otto Traber, SJ, Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), Cardinal Arteaga, Raúl del Valle, SJ, Ramón González de Mendoza, SJ, Emilio Rasco, SJ (‘38), José R. Tey, SJ, Edelman Nogueiras, SJ, Tomás Frías, and Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39). Photograph from Ecos de Belén, 1954.
Ceremony where Jesuit priests Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), Fr. Eduardo Barrios, SJ (‘60), Fr. Manuel Maza, SJ (‘62), Fr. Alberto García, SJ, Fr. José Cruz, SJ, and Fr. Roberto Mollinedo, SJ were ordained at Gesù Catholic Church on June 24th,1972. Photograph from Echoes, 1972.
Belen Jesuit alumnus Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) was ordained to the priesthood in a Mass at Gesù Catholic Church on September 2nd, 2000.
Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román celebrated the Mass with other Jesuits from Antilles Province. Photograph from Alumni, Spring 2001.
celino García, SJ also entered the Society of Jesus at its novitiate in Los Teques, Venezuela on September 8th, 1961. Fr. García served as the school’s president for twenty-five years. Fr. Suárez also entered the Society of Jesus at the Jesuit novitiate in Los Teques on September 9th, 1961. He has been serving as president of Belen Jesuit since 2009. Sadly, it was in a fire at Los Teques in 1964 that Colegio de Belén alumnus and Jesuit scholastic Eugenio Batista Gastón, SJ (‘60) lost his life trying to save Jesuit novitiate Alberto Capdeville, SJ from a fire. Other Jesuit priests, such as Fr. Barrios and Fr. Esquivel, served as faculty members at the school. Fr. Esquivel also served as assistant principal for discipline. Fr. Víctor Hernández, SJ (‘59) first entered the Society of Jesus at Los Teques, Venezuela, in 1961, but due to health reasons was unable to initially complete his commitment. He came to Belen Jesuit in 1962, however, where he served as registrar and administrative assistant (1963-1966) until he was able to return to the novitiate at Haina in the Dominican Republic on September 7th, 1966. He went on to serve at the school as a dedicated spiritual counselor (1997-2007).
Once Belen Jesuit was reestablished in South Florida, during the 1960s and 1970s, six additional alumni joined the Society of Jesus. These were: Fr. Manuel Maza, SJ (‘62), Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), Fr. Eduardo García-Tamayo, SJ (‘63), Fr. Javier López-Muñoz, SJ (‘63), Fr. Narciso Sánchez-Medio, SJ (‘63), and Fr. José Badenes, SJ (‘76). Of the Colegio de Belén alumni who joined the Jesuit order during the 1960s and 1970s, Fr. Álvarez entered the Jesuit order (September 20th, 1963) in Villagarcía, Valladolid, Spain, but later transferred to the Jesuit novitiate in Haina, Dominican Republic. Fr. Álvarez served at Belen Jesuit (19742004) as a faculty member and director of the Belen Youth Missions. Fr. Sánchez-Medio also served as the school’s principal (1977-1978).
entered the Jesuit order. These were: Fr. Francisco Permuy, SJ (‘85), Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), Fr. Christian Sáenz, SJ (‘95), Brother Michael Wood, SJ (‘04), and scholastic Julio MinsalRuiz (‘05). Of the Belen Jesuit alumni who joined the Jesuit order since the school moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade, Fr. Permuy has served as theology faculty member and as Belen Jesuit chaplain. Fr. García-Tuñón served at the school as a theology and philosophy faculty member and after 2004, as director of the Belen Youth Missions. Fr. García-Tuñón also served the school’s principal (2009-2012). Fr. Sáenz taught social studies at Belen Jesuit (2020-2012) and Brother Wood has been teaching at the school since 2011.
In 2011, Fr. García-Tuñón wrote about how he had told his friends about his decision to become a Jesuit priest during a Belen Youth Missions trip to the Dominican Republic. In his blog entry, he recalled:
“Father, in every generation you provide ministers of Christ and the Church. We come before you now, asking that you call forth more men to serve our Archdiocese in the ministerial priesthood. Give us priests who will lead and guide your holy people, gathered by Word and Sacrament. Bless us with priestly vocations, so that we can continue to be a truly Eucharistic Church, strengthened in our discipleship of Jesus Christ, your Only Son. Raise up, we pray, men who are generous in their service, willing to offer their lives and all their gifts for your greater glory and for the good of your people. We make our prayer in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.”5
Belen Jesuit alumni Fr. Francisco Permuy, SJ (‘85), Michael Wood, SJ (‘04), Christian Sáenz, SJ (‘95), and Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) at the school’s campus in West MiamiDade. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Since Belen Jesuit moved to its new campus in West MiamiDade, additional alumni have
“Permit me to quote the last line from the Gospel of Mark: When his relatives heard of this, they set out to seize him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’ (3:21). Can you believe it? Right there in the Bible, under our noses all the time, is a phrase that accuses Jesus of being a crazy man. I got to tell you that there are not many things in the Bible that make me laugh or even grin, but this did…. I remember being called crazy once… By the time this [Rincón Largo] trip took place, I had already been discerning my vocation to the priesthood and had even applied and had been accepted. The thing was that only Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), and the crazy guy up in the sky knew about it… There we were, a small group of about twenty of my closest friends. It was pitch dark, with only the faint glow of a candle burning in the center of our group. Fr. Eddy introduced the topic by stating that there was one among us who was entering the seminary to become a Jesuit priest… Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I stood up and confessed. “It’s me,” I said, “I’m going to be a Jesuit priest.” What followed was not surprising. José González (‘87) grabbed me by the shirt and told me to sit down. Michael Morejón (‘87) scolded me for not taking the moment seriously. César Lago (‘87) expressed amazement that even at a time like this, I would joke around about something so important. Finally, it was Fr. Eddy who had to intervene and tell the group that it was true, that it was me who was entering the seminary. People were flabbergasted! And then it came. One of the guys broke the shocked silence, turned to me, and said: “You’re going to be a
priest? You’re crazy.” But the funny thing is he was right. Think about it. A young man in today’s world who leaves his family and friends to follow Jesus as a priest has to be crazy. In a materialistic world that measures success by the amount of money you make or the kind of car you drive, you have to be crazy. In a sexually promiscuous world, where a womanizer is considered a “stud,” and being celibate is considered “outdated,” “impossible,” “unnatural,” or even “depraved,” you have to be crazy. In a world where freedom is equated with a license to do anything to anyone for any reason, you have to be crazy. Yet, that is exactly what I have been called to do, and it is exactly what I am: crazy.”3
The Belen Jesuit Golden Jubilee academic year (2010-2011) included both the first vows of Julio Minsal-Ruiz (‘05) and the priestly ordination of Christian Sáenz, SJ (‘95). About his experience as a novice, scholastic Minsal-Ruiz stated:
“I made the thirty-day silent retreat, served in hospitals, and made a month-long pilgrimage. Over the course of the two years, I also studied the history and constitutions of the Jesuits, as well as the life of St. Ignatius. The novitiate was a challenging, life-changing experience that taught me to live the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience with love and evangelical joy.”4
The school’s community continues to actively pray for vocations every first Wednesday of the month, when there is adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for vocations in the school’s chapel from ten o’clock in the morning to three in the afternoon. The school’s prayer for vocations states:
For many years, the faithful service of all Jesuits at the school has helped to form Christian young men who have been called to the priesthood to exercise generosity and compassion towards others as a way of life. Some of these “Men for Others” have also returned to the school, where they have been able to continue to fulfill their commitment to Jesus Christ by educating the next generation of alumni. These Jesuit priests and brothers have always remained available to offer spiritual direction and counsel to faculty, staff, students, and their alumni brothers, at whose weddings, baptisms, and other sacramental events they have served throughout the years. As such, the school community will continue to celebrate the blessing and devotion of its Jesuits and their service to others for many years to come.
Belen Jesuit alumnus Christian Sáenz, SJ (‘95) was ordained to the priesthood in a Mass at Gesù Catholic Church on December 10th, 2011. Archbishop Thomas Wenski concelebrated the Mass with Antilles Provincial Fr. Fernando Polanco, SJ, as well as with other Jesuits and priests from the Archdiocese of Miami and the Antilles Province. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Section VIII
BELEN JESUITATHLETICS
“Eternal Word, only begotten Son of God, teach me true generosity. Teach me to serve you as you deserve. To give without counting the cost, to fi ght heedless of wounds, to labor without seeking rest. To sacrifi ce myself without thought of any reward, save the knowledge that I have done your will.”
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Basketball was the first team sport restablished at Belen Jesuit (19641965). Basketball games were held at St. Patrick’s gymnasium in Miami Beach. Game from 1966. Photograph from Echoes, 1966.
The Beginning
Since their arrival at the Little Havana campus in 1962, the Belen Jesuit administration looked for ways to reinstate the successful athletics program that had existed at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, and whose origin dated back to the end of the 19th century. The school, however, faced extreme financial difficulties during its initial years at the Little Havana campus, and their limited resources were insufficient for the development of a comprehensive athletics program. It was not until 1964, when Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ, who had served as rector of the Colegio de Belén (1947-1953) and as superior of the Antilles Province (1958-1963), arrived to begin his tenure as the rector of Belen Jesuit in South Florida (1964-1967) that the development of athletics began at the school. During this time, the generous commitment to the school’s Brick Campaign, made by one of the former presidents of the Jesuit Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) in Santiago de Cuba, José M. Bosch, enabled a modest expansion of the school’s facilities. The improvements included the construction of a basketball court and the establishment of physical
education classes. The reinstatement of basketball as an organized athletic team soon followed. Subsequently, the athletics program at Belen Jesuit developed in three distinct phases. The first phase encompassed the years following the Brick Campaign, during which the school resided at the Little Havana campus (1964-1981). The second phase resulted after the school’s relocation to the West-Miami Dade campus and included the program’s development prior to the establishment of its main indoor facility, the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center (1981-1995). The inauguration of the athletic center in 1995, initiated the third phase of the program, during which rapid growth of outdoor athletic facilities, and program expansion in both the number of sports offered and the amount of teams available for student participation, have resulted in the success-filled “Golden Years of Athletics” at Belen Jesuit. Since its inception, the program always sought to provide a vehicle for students to engage in healthy competition, while stressing that they should also continue to seek God in all things and provide service to others. A permanent quote from St. Ignatius of Loyola, which appears in the yearly Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, reminds athletes that they should strive for the following:
“Eternal Word, only begotten Son of God, teach me true generosity. Teach me to serve you as you deserve. To give without counting the cost, to fight heedless of wounds, to labor without seeking rest. To sacrifice myself without thought of any reward, save the knowledge that I have done your will.”1
The planning for the reinstatement of an organized athletics program at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School began during the summer of 1964, and it was implemented at the start of the 1964-1965 academic year. The plan included the establishment of physical education classes and the appointment of both a physical education teacher and an athletic director, who would also serve as coach of the athletic teams established at the school. Ángel Lamela served as the school’s first physical education teacher, a position in which he remained until 1968. After his departure, Frank Ramos served as physical education teacher (1968-1969). The school’s first athletic directors were
Jesuit scholastics: Amado Sandoval, SJ (1964-1966), José Cruz, SJ (1966-1967), and Alberto García, SJ (1967-1968). The Jesuit scholastics served as program directors and also as coaches of the first athletic teams established at the school.
As a necessary step in the process of establishing the first few athletic teams, Belen Jesuit joined the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), the governing body for interscholastic high school athletic competition in the State of Florida. Other steps included selecting school team colors and a school mascot, which Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ ('36) researched in 1964. Fr. Ripoll decided on royal blue and gold for school colors, and athletes at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana used those colors for over a decade. In 1977, however, limited production of royal blue athletic clothing caused the athletic director at the time, David Hewett, to change the school colors to navy and gold.
For the Belen Jesuit mascot, Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ ('36) wanted to honor the Jesuit insignia on the school’s crest, which shows two wolves eating out of a cauldron. Fr. Ripoll came across the wolverine when trying to translate the Spanish word “lobitos” (small wolves) which is actually not a wolf at all, but a stocky, strong, and ferocious carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear. Fr. Ripoll’s research also revealed that the wolverine had a reputation for ferocity and strength, as well as a documented ability to kill prey many times its size. The wolverine’s attributes seemed almost tailor-made for the Belen Jesuit athletes that were about to begin competing as part of the first organized athletic teams at the Little Havana campus. Essentially, Belen Jesuit athletes who were part of an athletic program with limited resources and facilities, forced to compete -at least in the short-termagainst opponents from larger, more experienced, and well-funded athletic programs. In order to win, they would need to overcome
those more formidable teams and face them head on. To support the decision, the administration polled faculty, staff, and students. The poll revealed that everyone was in complete agreement: the Wolverine should be the school’s mascot. Hence, the Belen Jesuit Wolverines soon began to face their considerable opponents with much fervor and determination, and their accomplishments over the next four decades would certainly speak for themselves.
Having taken some of the necessary steps toward establishing an athletics program, the Jesuit administration approved the reinstatement of organized team sports at the school. basketball, a sport that since 1923 had enjoyed a long history of success at the Colegio de Belén in Cuba, became the first competitive team to be reinstated at Belen Jesuit (1964-1965). The following academic year (1965-1966), baseball was also reinstated at the school. Baseball had been played at the Colegio de Belén in Havana since 1908. During their tenures as the school’s athletic directors, several Jesuit scholastics coached the basketball and baseball teams as follows: Amado Sandoval, SJ (19641966), José Cruz, SJ (1966-1967), and Alberto García, SJ (1967-1968). Moreover, in an effort to offer basketball and baseball to junior high students, and begin to train athletes earlier to play at the varsity level,
First Sports Banquet (1967-1968). From left to right: Baseball Coach Miguel López, José Ortega (‘71), René Walker (‘69), Ricardo González (‘68), Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68), Alberto Ley (‘68), and Athletic Director Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58). Photograph from Echoes, 1968.
First cheerleaders in the history of the school performed during Basketball games (19641965). Photograph from Echoes, 1965.
athletic directors established a junior varsity basketball team (1966-1967), a junior high basketball team (1967-1968), and a junior high baseball team (1968-1969).
The reinstatement of basketball also called for Athletic Director Amado Sandoval, SJ to coordinate a basketball cheerleading squad consisting of young ladies from other Catholic schools in the area. The objective was to conform to the traditions that were part of high school athletic programs in the United States, and even though this was an unprecedented addition to team sports at the school, the 1965 Echoes yearbook reported that attendance to basketball games increased as a result of the cheerleaders. The members of the first Belen Jesuit cheerleading squad were Marta Martínez, Marta Tabío, Anita Solaun, Elena Boudet, Marisabel Gómez, and Ana María Rey. The program became a long-standing tradition at Belen Jesuit, with many girls participating, and some for several years in a row. Among the cheerleaders who participated during the 1960s were: Conchita Perdomo, Josefina Goicochea, María Rovira, Susana Pérez, María Varona, and Ana Varona. Some of them would remain part of the Belen family for years to come, as the Belen Jesuit moms of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the Belen grandmothers of the 1990s and the new millennium.
During the early 1960s, the athletics program experienced moderate growth and success due to the combined efforts of the athletic directors, coaches, students, parents, and the Belen Jesuit administration. Coaches worked with students, who were determined to improve their athletic skills. Undoubtedly, their hard work paid off as the Belen Jesuit name began to resonate as winners in the athletic arena from very early on in the program’s history. The Belen Jesuit Wolverines earned their first athletic trophy in 1966, when they finished as runners-up in baseball for their district. It was a noted accomplishment for a team during its first year of competing in the sport, not to mention one working with limited access to athletic facilities and resources. Belen Jesuit Rector Fr. Ceferino Ruiz, SJ recognized student efforts in the 1966 Echoes yearbook, where he stated:
“In this, our fifth year in Miami, we have been able to improve our classroom and laboratory facilities, due to our generous benefactors and the parents of our students, who consider Belen their own. Thanks to the fine efforts of our boys, we have achieved city-wide recognition in sports as well as in other fields. We thank God that we are able to continue our apostolate, whose mission is to aid the Church in the salvation of the human race.”4
In 1968, Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19), who had served as rector of the Colegio de Belén in Cuba (1940-1947; 1959) and as superior of the Antilles Province (1952-1958), came to serve as rector of Belen Jesuit in South Florida. Fr. Baldor supported further development of the athletics program and its expansion. He believed that the school should continue to reinstate some of the athletic teams that had been long-standing traditions at the Colegio de Belén in Havana. He also believed that the school should establish new athletic teams to compete in the same sports practiced at other schools throughout the United States, such as football and cross country long-distance running. Fr. Baldor’s determination to expand the athletics program led him to appoint Colegio de Belén alumnus Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) as the school’s fourth athletic director in 1968. Loret de Mola had been serving as the school’s basketball coach since the previous year, and he would also remain as athletic director and basketball and baseball coach until 1972.
The following academic year (1969-1970), Fr. Luis G. Ripoll SJ (‘36) urged Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) to appoint Carlos Barquín to teach physical education at the school. Barquín had been one of the Operation Pedro Pan young men which the Jesuits had overseen at the program’s Camp Opa-locka facility. As a student, he had not been assigned to attend Belen Jesuit, and instead, graduated from Archbishop CurleyNotre Dame High School. Yet, when crisis struck his newly arrived family, with the loss of his father, Barquín turned to Fr. Ripoll for help. He asked the Jesuit father if he could assist him in finding employment since he needed to help his mother support the family. Fr. Ripoll felt that Barquín would be a great asset to the school, and the recommendation of the former rector showed much foresight, as it initiated Coach Barquín’s exemplary career at Belen Jesuit, which would encompass over forty-five years of service in the roles of teacher, coach, and athletic director.
The goal to expand athletics presented many challenges, which still included limited funding, and a lack of administrative space and athletic facilities at the Little Havana campus. The effort and resourcefulness of those involved in athletics, under the direction of Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and Athletic Director Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), and their ability to adapt and work with what they actually had, as opposed to concentrating on what they lacked, remains a source of inspiration in the school’s long-standing tradition of overcoming obstacles through faith and commitment. At the Little Havana campus, physical education teachers and coaches shared one desk, and because no other office space was available, that desk was positioned in the stairwell of the emergency fire exit staircase that led out of the faculty lounge. It might not have been the perfect venue, but they made the best of the resources at their disposal. The daily need to coordinate transportation and venues to hold team practices at public parks was also another ongoing challenge. On several occasions, even after travel had been arranged, Belen Jesuit teams would still be unable to hold practices because the public park they were attempting to use had been previously occupied by others who were also entitled to its usage. Regardless of the challenges, coaches gathered students every afternoon, as soon as the bell rang, and continued to use public parks after school to practice their individual team sports. Both Coach Loret de Mola and Coach Barquín recruited the help of Belen Jesuit parents, who supported athletic staff to make sure those practices, activities, and sporting events were successful at every turn.
Another step in improving the athletics program at Belen Jesuit was taken with respect to the physical education curriculum. In 1969, with the approval of Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and under the guidance of Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), Carlos Barquín expanded the physical
education program to include increasing student attendance to three times a week. Coach Barquín also implemented a physical education uniform requirement at the school and introduced the presidential physical fitness test into the physical education curriculum. Although the lack of athletic facilities warranted improvisation in order to carry out the requirements of the presidential physical fitness exam, Coach Barquín supervised students as they practiced running the 600-meter requirement around the Little Havana neighborhood. The practice of Belen Jesuit students running on the streets of Little Havana gave Coach Barquín another idea. Since the baseball students were transported to Crandon Park every afternoon perhaps a long-distance running team could also practice by running to Crandon Park in the afternoons. Hence, during the 1970-1971 academic year, under Coach Loret de Mola’s guidance, Coach Barquín established a cross country long-distance running team at Belen Jesuit, which he coached from 1970 to 2002. Since its inception, the cross country team has been one of the most successful athletic teams at the school, enduring for over four decades.
The following year (1971-1972), in a much anticipated event that took enormous effort and fundraising, Belen Jesuit Rector Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and Athletic Director Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) finally accomplished the establishment of a football team at Belen Jesuit. The team was initially coached by Jim Rehn. Also during that same year, given the immediate success of the cross country team at the school, a track and field team was reinstated under the direction of Coach Carlos Barquín. Track and field had enjoyed a long history
Physical education classes with established uniforms at the campus in Little Havana, after Carlos Barquín began teaching and coaching at the school in 1969. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives. The athletics weight room at the campus in Little Havana in 1979.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Athletic Director Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) and Cross Country Coach Carlos Barquín watch as student athletes practice.
Photograph from Echoes, 1972.
The first Belen Jesuit Homecoming Pep Rally (1974-1975), with the Belen Jesuit Cheerleaders.
Photograph from Echoes, 1975.
of success at the Colegio de Belén in Cuba since 1920. As part of the overall expansion of competitive sports at the school, and in order to improve scheduling and competitions for athletes, Coach Loret de Mola enrolled Belen Jesuit in the Gulf Stream Athletic Conference, an organization that sponsored one of the largest conference competitions for 1A and 2AA schools in South Florida. Although it ceased to exist during the early 1980s due to the different divisions created by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), Coach Loret de Mola served in the executive council and as president for several years in order to facilitate the scheduling of games in the high school division. Belen Jesuit competed at the Gulfstream Athletic Conference (19681983) and won several titles including nine conference championships in basketball and twelve in cross country long-distance running.
Also during the late 1960s, other athletic activities and traditions began at Belen Jesuit. These helped to enhance not only the school’s organized team competition program, but also served to boost school spirit and enhance the overall academic experience. During the 1966-1967 academic year, the students organized faculty versus student softball and basketball games, which beginning in 1971 also included football games at Southside Park. During the 1968-1969 academic year, the school reinstated a long-standing Colegio de Belén tradition: the Día del Rector (Rector’s Day). The day, which started off with the celebration of Mass, was a field day for students dedicated to the school’s rec-
tor. Students competed by homerooms in basketball, tug-of-war, sack races, sprint relays, and marathon races. The event, which later came to be known as Student’s Day and eventually as Field Day, remains a longstanding tradition at Belen Jesuit. That same year, students also began to play intramural soccer, and the juniors played the seniors in football at the same park. As a way to enhance student interest in exercise and physical conditioning, Jesuit scholastic Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ founded the Cool Club at the school, the following academic year (1969-1970). Cool Club members worked out in the area adjacent to the faculty and the cafeteria. Both athletes and regular students joined to participate in Belen Jesuit’s first exercise and conditioning club. Although the club disappeared years later, it was important at the time to bring awareness about athletics and exercise to students at the school.
Another athletic event conceived as a way to recognize the efforts and achievements of school athletes began at the end of the 1967-1968 academic year, when the school held its first sports banquet and began publishing the Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, which recorded the names of those who participated in athletic teams as well as those who earned special recognition. At the banquet, the athletic director and coaches chose an athlete of the year, and the first Belen Jesuit athlete to earn the title was René Walker (‘69). Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) awarded the title to Walker in 1968 and 1969. Julio Campa (‘71) also earned the Athlete of the Year Award the following two years, 1970 and 1971. Other winners of this title during the years that the school resided at the Little Havana campus include: Juan Dieppa (‘78), who achieved the title in 1977 and 1978, Jorge Cabrera (‘72), Manuel Díaz (‘73), Jorge Dieppa (‘74), Rodolfo Gómez (‘75), Miguel Tost (‘76), Amadeo López Castro (‘79), Alfredo Rabassa (‘80), and José Casal (‘81).
In 1972, Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ began his tenure as President of Belen Jesuit (1972-1980). Fr. Arroyo had served as principal and spiritual advisor at the Colegio de Belén in Havana (1954-1961) and had been one of the original Jesuits who in 1961 worked to reestablish Belen Jesuit in South Florida.
During his tenure at the school, Fr. Arroyo continued to provide support for the athletics department. He also concentrated on fundraising, first to alleviate the space constraints which had been exacerbated by the establishment of the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library at the school, and later to launch the Intercultural Center Campaign to build Belen Jesuit’s new campus in West-Miami Dade. To alleviate space constraints in Little Havana, in August of 1972, the school purchased the
adjacent Dalkranian Rugs locale, which came to be known as the West Campus. The building not only provided additional classroom and office space, but also included a parcel of land behind it that could be used as a small athletic field. Although the athletic department used the space for physical education and athletic activity, the funding to turn it into an actual athletic field with grass would have required a financial investment the school was not prepared to make, given its ultimate goal of moving to a new campus. Hence, the field remained a rocky, dusty area that came to be known, both because of its composition and its athletic use, as the Dust Bowl.
During the rest of the time that the school resided at the Little Havana campus, Edward Hargrove served as athletic director (1972-1977), coaching both varsity football (1972-1973), and junior varsity football (1974-1975). In 1976, David Hewett became the sixth Belen Jesuit athletic director, and he served in that capacity from 1977 to 1983. During his tenure as athletic director, Coach Hewett also coached the varsity football team and the varsity baseball team (1977-1983). To expand the organized athletic team program further, during the 1974-1975 academic year, a tennis team was founded at Belen Jesuit, coached by Patrick Collins. During that same year, a junior varsity football team was also put in place under Coach Edward Hargrove. The following year (1975-1976), students also participated in swimming, which had been practiced as a competitive sport at the Colegio de Belén in Havana since 1934. Swimming was, at first, an activity club rather than a fullysanctioned team sport, and Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) served as the club’s advisor. Founding this club led the way for eventually reinstating swimming as an organized competitive team sport at the West-Miami Dade campus years later (1983-1984). Soccer, another sport that had been practiced at the Colegio de Belén in Havana since 1920, was reestablished at Belen Jesuit during the 1976-1977 academic year, with Belen Jesuit alumnus Jorge Dieppa (‘74) as coach. During the 19791980 academic year, in order to compliment the cross country varsity team, Carlos Barquín also established a junior high team to compete in cross country long-distance running.
During the 1970s, the athletics program at the Little Havana campus continued to function with many of the same challenges and space constraints that it had worked through during the 1960s. Yet, the hope of moving to a new campus with ample space to practice athletics kept everyone focused on fundraising as well as on having the athletics program ready for expansion upon its arrival at the new campus in West Miami-Dade. With the purpose of raising funds for the new school,
the athletics department sponsored several events including a basketball game on February 7th, 1979, between Belen faculty/alumni and players from the Miami Dolphins, which took place at the Miami Dade Community College South Campus gymnasium. Miami Dolphins Coach Don Shula had joined the Belen Intercultural Center Campaign, and several Dolphin players such as quarterback Don Strock, wide-receiver Duriel Harris, line-backers Bob Matheson and Kim Bocamper, tight-end Jim Mandich, and defensive-back Charles Cornelius played to support the building of Belen Jesuit’s new campus in West-Miami Dade. The Dolphins players defeated the Belen faculty/alumni 99-78, but the game remains a fond memory among many of the fundraising events that took place to bring about the new campus. On the same night, another basketball game -at which the Colegio de Belén alumni played against the Colegio La Salle alumnipreceded the Dolphins vs. Belen faculty/ alumni game. The Colegio de Belén alumni walked away victorious from that game, as everyone enjoyed the oversight of legendary Colegio de Belén Basketball Coach Otilio (Capy) Campuzano and Colegio La Salle Basketball Coach Raúl Canosa.
Overall, the athletics program grew modestly during the years that the school resided at its campus in Little Havana, and its athletes and coaches remember those years with much fondness, in spite of the challenges they faced. Their comments about the sense of camaraderie and family they felt when they took part in athletic activities and events speak of an era when having the athletics office in a stairwell, and moving about the city to find an adequate place to practice, provided valuable lessons and opportunities for athletes and their families, as well as for the coaches themselves. The move to West Miami-Dade, which those at the school expected to solve their space constraints, proved a blessing for all, but it also brought about other challenges as the program began the years of its second phase at Belen Jesuit.
Miami Dolphins Head
Coach Don Shula promotes Belen Jesuit athletics during the Intercultural Center Campaign in 1979. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
Aerial photograph of the Belen Jesuit West Miami-Dade Campus and adjacent wooded area to the north, during the 1982-1983 academic year, showing its modest Athletic facilities including two basketball courts to the west and an outlined football field to the north. Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
THE SECOND PHASE
The success of the Intercultural Center Campaign enabled the school to inaugurate its new thirty-acre campus in West MiamiDade for the 1981-1982 academic year. The much anticipated move was not a smooth transition, as increased construction costs prevented the Jesuit administration from initially clearing some of the fields that were to be used for athletics, as well as from building some of the athletic facilities that had been planned. As Athletic Director Carlos Barquín recalled:
“It became clear to those of us in the athletic department that the dream of starting in a brand new campus with plenty of land and good athletic facilities had been put on hold. Once again, we were forced to start with two exterior basketball courts and fields that were either covered by trees or in desperate need of fill and grass; however, we became determined to make the best of our new situation and give thanks for what we had accomplished. We taught physical education classes on the courts and in the faculty’s parking lot. We converted two classrooms into a locker room, and installed showers and a couple of weight machines. We opened a running course through the west side wooded area by hand. Such is the history of our department, improvising and making it work one
step at a time. One thing is certain: the school’s commitment to athletics never wavered. Moreover, neither did the monumental support of our families. We all worked together in order to achieve the growth and wonderful facilities that students are able to enjoy today.”6
While the school quickly began another fundraising plan to carry out the second phase of its construction plan, -specifically aimed at improving both academic and athletic facilities- immediate concerns arose when Tropical Storm Dennis dumped heavy rain, inundating the areas surrounding the school. The phrase “Belen by the Lake” was soon heard throughout the campus as a large pond covered the fields, and the water reached the parking lot. After about two weeks, the waters receded, but the ground remained saturated. The unanticipated flooding and saturation clearly indicated that the land destined for athletic fields and activities would require extensive fill to prevent further flooding after heavy rain. Therefore, given the success of the alumni events that the Athletics Department sponsored to fundraise for the construction of the campus in West Miami-Dade, the school planned an Alumni Field Day event and invited Colegio de Belén and Belen Jesuit alumni to participate in athletic events. Proceeds from the event were used by the school to purchase 1,500 truckloads of fill for the athletic fields. However, after the fill was dumped and spread, it was discovered that it also contained rocks, which posed another problem for spreading topsoil and getting grass to grow. The athletics department and Belen Jesuit students tackled the problem of the rocks with determination. For at least one academic semester, students took turns walking behind an old Chevrolet pickup truck during their physical education classes, picking up rocks, and tossing these on top of the truck’s bed. By the time the job was finished, the old pickup truck was full of dents made by the enthusiastic young men who helped gather the rocks and then tossed them into the truck. Once the land was finally ready, the student commitment impressed the García family, whose children Joseph García (‘87), Jonathan García (‘88), and Jeffrey García (‘90) were students at the school. The García family generously donated the irrigation system for the field. The school then purchased the topsoil and the grass, which was soon installed. Within three to
four months, after proper fertilization, students were able to enjoy the first real Bermuda grass athletic field in Belen Jesuit’s history, and teachers and coaches were able to use the field to hold physical education classes, as well as football, baseball, and soccer team practices.
In 1983, after the announcement that the athletic director would be leaving the school, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) appointed Carlos Barquín, who by this time had already served for over twenty years as both physical education teacher and coach at the school, to assume the role of Belen Jesuit athletic director. Coach Barquín began his new role the following year (1983-1984), and under the guidance of Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, set out to take athletics to an extraordinary level at the school. His first task was to enhance the way that Jesuit principles related to athletics at the school. As a result, he incorporated the following principles into the Belen Jesuit Coaching Manual
“Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, to work as a community for the Greater Glory of God. Magis, to strive to do more in sharing Gospel values, learning, and serving. Cura personalis to care for the entire person. Our core purpose: to educate in the Jesuit tradition, looking at athletics as an extension of the classroom. To understand that the lessons learned on the athletic field of play translate to our everyday lives.”
Secondly, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín setout to expand the amount of sports available to students, as well as to increase the amount of junior varsity and middle school teams that were already available at Belen Jesuit. In his view, the measures would increase student participation in athletics. Moreover, athletes could be trained and developed earlier within their particular sport. This would in time develop more experienced players, and once the middle school athletes reached the high school level, their performance within their particular sport would also be better. In accordance with these goals, a junior varsity soccer team was established (1982-1983) and a junior high soccer team, coached by Joseph Marshall, followed (19831984). New high school organized athletics teams were also established in swimming (1983-1984), golf (1985-1986), and wrestling (1984-1985), coached respectively by Bob Karl, Richard Stuart, and Carlos Barquín. Middle school teams were established in swimming, tennis, and baseball during the 1984-1985 academic year, coached by Bob Karl, Patrick Collins, and Jorge González respectively. The es-
tablishment of the new teams proved successful as student participation increased rapidly, and by the 1985-1986 academic year, the program included ten varsity teams, five junior varsity, and ten middle school teams, for a total of twenty-five teams overall. By 1986, the increased participation and teams resulted in the Athletics Department having to hold two annual sports banquets instead of one. One banquet was dedicated to recognize varsity and junior varsity team sports, and the other to acknowledge middle school teams and athletes. At the banquets, the athletic director and coaches continued the tradition that they had established at the campus in Little Havana (1967-1968) and awarded the Athlete of the Year Award to the high school athlete who had performed most exceptionally during that year. Winners of the Athlete of the Year Award during the second phase of the athletics program at Belen Jesuit include: Julio González (‘82), Juan Sánchez (‘83), and Eric Álvarez (‘85), who earned the award in both 1984 and 1985. Héctor Ortiz (‘86) and Alberto Gross (‘86), shared the award in 1986, and it was also earned by: Joseph Zumpano (‘87), Eduardo Gross (‘88) Juan Lucas Álvarez (‘89), Manuel Mejido (‘90), Michael Covert (‘91), Alejandro Hoyos (‘92), and Albert Acuña (‘93). Mario Díaz (‘94) and Marcelo Llorente (‘94) shared the award in 1994, and Erik Montalvo (‘97) earned the Athlete of the Year Award in both 1995 and 1996.
Athletic Director Carlos Barquín also set out to expand the amount of athletic teams that were available for the lower grades, given some of the restructuring that occurred at Belen Jesuit during the early 1980s. In 1984, the Jesuit administration decided to restructure the composition of the student body, adding a sixth grade in order to
The Wolverine Mascot “Waldo” makes an appearance at the new campus in West-Miami Dade. Photograph from Echoes, 1984.
mirror the new middle school and high school structure that was to be implemented by the Dade County Public Schools Board of Education’s five-year plan (1985-1990). Hence, under the guidance of Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, during the 1985-1986 academic year, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín established sixth grade teams in cross country, basketball, and baseball, coached by Tom Drexler, Pedro Peña, and Richard Stuart respectively. A middle school volleyball team was also established that same year, coached by Miriam Cambo-Martínez.
During the 1983-1984 academic year, in addition to incorporating Jesuit principles into the mission of the Athletics Department and expanding the amount of sports offered at the school, Coach Barquín also formulated plans for a summer camp program. Although a structured summer program had existed at the Colegio de Belén in Havana to provide Catholic education, as well as athletic and recreational activities to its students throughout the summers (1945-1960), space constraints at the Little Havana campus always prevented the reinstatement of a summer program at Belen Jesuit.
Coach Barquín believed that the extensive grounds at the West-Miami Dade campus offered an opportunity to create an excellent program, which could incorporate some of the same basic principles that had existed in the summer programs at the Colegio de Belén in Havana. The Belen Jesuit program would provide a Catholic educational environment where students could participate in enrichment classes, learn important skills such as swimming, and enjoy athletic and recreational activities. Coach Barquín also proposed that the program be co-educational, accepting both boys and girls. In addition, the summer camp program would also be structured to give Belen Jesuit high schools students, as well as students from other area high schools, the opportunity to work as counselors and gain valuable work experience. As part of their commitment to providing service to their community, Belen Jesuit students would also be able to volunteer some of their time to assist in teaching younger children to learn how to swim.
Carlos Barquín presented the program goals to Belen Jesuit Principal Fr. Sergio Figueredo, SJ and discussed the program’s potential as well as its possible challenges. One challenge was the lack of a swimming pool facility at the West-Miami Dade campus. The summer camp needed a swimming pool to implement swimming instruction as part of its program. To solve this issue, Coach Barquín suggested that just as the Belen Jesuit swimming team traveled to the Tamiami Park Pool to hold practices and meets, the campers would be transported to the park for their lessons. The summer camp staff would also install a portable swimming pool to teach the younger children. Soon thereafter, Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ approved the establishment of the Belen Summer Camp. Coach Barquín inaugurated the program during the summer of 1984, and he has served as its director for over twenty-five years. Miriam Cambo-Martínez, who played a key role in structuring and launching the
Gustavo Busse (‘83), Augusto Vinegas (‘85), Jorge Barinaga (‘84), Emiliano Herrán (‘84), Jorge González (‘82), Eric Álvarez (‘85), Armando Averhoff (‘82), Ernesto Portuondo (‘88), Joe García (‘82), Miriam Cambo-Martínez, María “Gordi” Pérez, Jorge Barquín (‘85), Lisa González, Luis Plana (‘85), Gian Zumpano (‘86), Carlos Barquín, Ana Fernández-Rocha, Elena Blanco, Chichi Cepero, Annie Figueras, Susy Maciá, Aleida Tuñón, Luly Planas
camp to its successful start, also served as its first assistant director. Although the goal of the camp was to begin with 300 campers, the camp enrolled 500 campers during its first summer of operations. Over the last twenty-five years, the Belen Summer Camp has grown into the largest summer day camp in Miami-Dade County, enrolling over 1,300 campers during each of its two summer sessions. It employs over 250 counselors, and the camp’s current assistant directors are all former summer camp high school counselors. Some are also Belen Jesuit faculty and/or alumni, such as José Roca (‘84), Harvard College professor Carlos Díaz-Rosillo (‘91), and Florida Christian faculty member, Cary Calvo.
The establishment and immediate success of the Belen Summer Camp and the need for a permanent swimming pool facility for the Belen Jesuit swim team to hold practices and meets, prompted Belen Jesuit parent and future school chief administrator Carolina Calderín to spearhead a fundraising campaign to construct a swimming pool at the Belen Jesuit West Miami-Dade campus. Over the next two years, her diligence in achieving this goal along with the support and generosity of Belen Jesuit parents allowed the project to proceed. One such donation, for the construction of the swimming pool’s restrooms, was made by the parents of Belen Jesuit alumnus Héctor Ortiz (‘86), who was a student at the time. The Ortiz family also collaborated with the Dalmau and Torres de Navarra families, parents of Jorge Dalmau (‘84) and Carlos Torres de Navarra (‘86), to also support the start of the construction of the Belen Jesuit tennis courts, which began during the 1983-1984 academic year. The home courts were completed in time for the following academic year’s tennis season (1984-1985). Shortly thereafter, the school inaugurated the swimming pool facility, just in time for it to be used by the 900 campers who enrolled in the 1986 Belen Summer Camp. The pool was officially christened in 1991 as the Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool, named after Belen Jesuit alumnus, swimmer, and camp counselor Gian Zumpano (‘86), who had passed away in 1990. Since then, thousands of Belen Jesuit campers have learned to swim at the pool. The school’s swimming team began using the pool to hold practices and meets during the 1986-1987 academic year. A decade later, the Belen Jesuit water polo team, established during the 1997-1998 academic year, also began to use the pool for its practices and games. Throughout the years, both the swim and water polo teams have also honored the school by winning several state championships.
Also in 1986, the Belen Jesuit administration and Athletics Department came up with a plan to use the soil extracted as part of the excavation of the swimming pool as fill for the construction of an additional football field and a varsity baseball field. Once again, the generous support of Belen Jesuit families such as the Pernas and Santa Cruz families, whose sons Carlos Pernas (‘92), Francisco Pernas (‘98), Eric Santa-Cruz (‘95), and Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97) were students at the school, donated all the labor costs, as well as the use of its equipment to build the new fields through their company, Persant Construction. The varsity baseball field dugout was completed the following year (1986-1987), when the entire school property was also fenced, and the Key Club painted the football bleachers. Also during that year, the school purchased two new sixty-five passenger
At the Belen Summer Camp, Luis San Miguel portrays the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Edward Acosta (‘99) plays street hockey with campers, and former camper and firstyear counselor Sasha hugs a student. Photograph from Echoes, 1997.
Aerial photograph of the Belen Jesuit West Miami-Dade Campus showing the original tennis courts completed in 1984 and the swimming pool inaugurated for the 1986 Summer Camp session. The pool was named the Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool in 1991. Photograph from the cover of the Boletín Informativo, August 1990.
school buses to transport athletes to away games, and Persant Construction donated additional labor and materials to resurface the exterior basketball courts. The following year (1987-1988), the Belen Jesuit Parents Club spearheaded an effort to improve the football field sidelines, bleachers, and locker rooms. Work also started that year to construct a middle school baseball field, which was completed during the 1988-1989 academic year. The following year, the construction of the first Belen Jesuit track started. Once again, the spirit of cooperation and enthusiasm for the growth of the school was demonstrated by the efforts of the entire Belen family in the completion of this successful project. Persant Construction donated the labor and shared the cost of the asphalt with Delgado Paving. The parents of Colegio de Belén alumnus Lorenzo Puentes (‘94), who was a student at the time, donated the cost of surveying and the plans. Idalberto Rodríguez donated the drainage pipe materials for under the track, and a middle school class raised funds to pay for painting the stripes on the track. Belen Jesuit alumni, Carlos Arazoza (‘78) and Alberto Arazoza (‘84), through their company Costa Nursery, donated the top soil for the football/soccer field that stands in the middle of the track. The Lanza family, whose
son Ramón Lanza (‘88) was a student at the school, donated the Bermuda grass sprigs and irrigation system. The football field was eventually completed during the 1991-1992 academic year, when the Powers family, whose sons Martin Powers (‘95) and Matthew Powers (‘96) were students at the school, donated the goal posts, and Lemartec donated the football scoreboard.8
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín continued to establish additional middle school teams in order to give younger students the opportunity to participate in athletic activities earlier. During the 1989-1990 academic year, both a middle school and a sixth grade team were established in track and field and Richard Stuart coached both teams. During the 1990-1991 academic year, Carlos Barquín also established a middle school and a junior varsity wrestling team. A middle school football team was also put in place during the 1994-1995 academic year.
In 1989, Belen Jesuit began a fundraising campaign to build the gymnasium/athletic center that had been originally envisioned as part of the plans to build the new campus in West Miami-Dade. For the school, the gymnasium-theater project, as it was originally called, represented an important milestone for its development as an educational institution. In the view of the school’s president, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, the gymnasium-theater was an indispensable goal necessary to serve an even larger purpose than just providing for a more adequate place to practice and hold sporting events. Since its arrival at the 127th Avenue location, the school had lacked an indoor meeting facility, where large groups could congregate to hold important ceremonies, assemblies, banquets, theatrical productions, dances, expositions, conferences, and school-wide Masses. Realizing that building such a facility would improve the athletics department’s offerings to Belen Jesuit students, as well as allow for a more adequate indoor gathering place, Belen Jesuit’s leadership, its Board of Advisors, families, alumni, faculty, and staff worked tirelessly to fundraise for the gym construction project.
By the beginning of the 1992-1993 academic year, it was clear that Belen Jesuit families, alumni, and several corporations had responded generously to the fundraising campaign, and architectural/engineering plans and bids were carried out in anticipation of the athletic center’s construction.
Among many fundraising efforts was a large alumni dinner, envisioned by Belen Jesuit alumnus Francisco Ruiz (‘73) and organized
with the support of the school’s administration. The large gathering of Belen alumni at the Radisson Hotel raised funds for the athletic center’s construction. At the dinner, Colegio de Belén alumnus and Belen Jesuit Director of Development José Ignacio Rasco (‘45) stated:
“This event assures us all about the future of Belen Jesuit. It shows that lots of people really care about the school, and we are very thankful.”9
Construction began in 1994, and the school inaugurated the 24,000 square foot facility with an Inaugural Mass and Blessing by Archdiocese of Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora on November 28th, 1995.10 The athletic center includes not only the gymnasium, which holds two full length basketball and volleyball courts and can accommodate school wide-Masses and other large events, but also the athletic department offices, a weight room, three locker rooms, a wrestling room, a training room, and a spacious lobby, where the school’s athletic accomplishments would be displayed. The lobby of the gymnasium was immediately graced that year with the addition of a State of Florida championship trophy, the first of its kind in Belen Jesuit history, won by the 1995-1996 cross country team. As a result of this accomplishment, both the City of Miami and Dade County declared a “Wolverine Day,” and the entire team were the recipients of special honors at City Hall and at the county’s Government Center.
Among the many generous donors who contributed to the completion of the athletic center were two foundations related to Colegio de Belén alumnus, Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49). These were the Coca-Cola Foundation and the Goizueta Foundation. Mr. Goizueta, served as chief executive officer of the Coca-Cola Company (1981-1997) and had also established his own private Goizueta Foundation in 1992 to provide financial assistance to educational and charitable institutions. In August of 1997, doctors diagnosed Mr. Goizueta with lung cancer. He died just two months after on October 18th. At Belen Jesuit, the school’s community was deeply saddened by the loss of an alumnus who had shared the fundamental Jesuit Jesuit commitment Docetes omnes gentes, to teach all peoples. Hence, President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ held a memorial Mass for Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49) on November 18th, 1997. The Goizueta family attended the Mass, where Mr. Goizueta’s son, Roberto S. Goizueta spoke about his father. In 1998, Belen Jesuit named its athletic facility the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center in memory of their supportive alum. The ceremony included presentations from school officials and Roberto C. Goizueta’s widow, Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta, who expressed her appreciation for the school’s tribute to her late husband and unveiled the athletic center’s building sign. Mrs. Goizueta also pledged the Goizueta Foundation’s ongoing support for Belen Jesuit, its educational programs, and its scholarship fund. The establishment of the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center served to enhance the athletic programs at the school and brought about a new era filled with athletic victories, as well as state, regional, and national championships. Hence, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín named the following era the “Golden Years” of athletics at Belen Jesuit.
The Goizueta Family sits in the front row at the Memorial Mass for Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49) celebrated at Belen Jesuit ymnasium on November 18th, 1997.
Photograph from Alumni Magazine, March 1998.
The Inaugural Mass and Blessing of the Belen Jesuit Gymnasium celebrated by Archbishop John C. Favalora on November 28th, 1995.
Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
A True Man for Others
Carlos Zumpano (‘92), Joseph Zumpano (‘87), Daniel Zumpano, Rosana Zumpano, and Gian Zumpano (‘86). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Gian Zumpano (‘86) was a true example of a “Man for Others.” The son of Dr. Bernard Zumpano and Rosa María Canto Martí, Gian Andrew Zumpano was born in 1968 and spent his early childhood in the White River Junction area of Vermont, where he attended Wilder Elementary School until the family moved to Miami in 1978. From his early years, Gian was a model of kindness toward others. As a young man, during the Christmas holidays, his mother Rosa would take Gian and his brother Joseph Zumpano (‘87) to neighboring homes where families were in need. When no one was present, the boys would drop off goods and clothing for the families on their doorsteps and then hurry back to the car. Rosa instilled upon her children a keen sense of family history and giving, particularly with talks of her cousin, José Ignacio Martí Santacruz (Dolores ‘56), who lost his life in 1958, when he and three other members of the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU) tried to provide Cuban rebels with food, clothes, and medical assistance. Martí Santacruz was one of the three Mártires de Guajaibón inducted into the Belen Jesuit Wall of Martyrs on May 2009. In many ways, it was Rosa Canto de Zumpano’s Catholic faith and spirit, manifested through action on behalf of others, which helped to develop Gian’s extraordinarily kind and generous heart. That heart, filled with a spirit of giving, would touch many people throughout Gian’s short life.
At Belen Jesuit, Gian was a model student and athlete. He led the school’s first swim team at the campus in West Miami-Dade, where in the early years of the program, he excelled in the sport and guided his teammates to many victories.
Gian’s perseverance also helped to set the swimming program’s tone for years to come. Years after Gian’s time at Belen Jesuit, under the steady hand of his coach, Kirk Peppas, the team would go on to win multiple state championships.
As Gian progressed in his studies, it was clear that he was not just an amazing athlete, but also a remarkable student. With grades that put him at the top of his class, he not only showed great tenacity in academics, but also as a leader. But perhaps what was most extraordinary about Gian’s life was his love of the poor. Despite the challenges that life gave him, Gian’s service to others while at Belen Jesuit was exceptional. One of his great loves was serving the poor in the Belen Youth Missions to the Dominican Republic. Another was teaching young children how to swim at the Belen Summer Camp, where he served with much dedication since it first opened in 1984.
Tragedy struck Gian during high school, when he started to suffer from epileptic seizures. He was subsequently diagnosed with grand mal epilepsy and was prescribed medication that interfered with his focused study. Nonetheless, Gian was determined to overcome the daunting neurological condition. The entire Belen Jesuit community witnessed his heroic effort, exemplary of the perseverance he embodied, when he graduated as the salutatorian of the class of 1986.
Gian went on to attend Creighton University, the same Jesuit university that his father had attended as a medical student. At Creighton, he pursued a degree in dentistry, and during the summers, he came back to teach swimming to five and six year-old children at the Belen Summer Camp. In 1990, Gian died in his sleep at Creighton, and the Belen Jesuit community lost one of its most beloved sons.; however, it also gained a shining example of a life well-lived. In 1991, the Belen Jesuit pool was dedicated in his memory as the Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool. In the Dominican Republic, the Centro de Educación para la Salud Integral (Misión ILAC) building was also dedicated in his memory. Inside the building’s main conference hall, upon the broadside wall, an inscription under a portrait of Gian reads: “I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.” Gian Andrew Zumpano, a true man for others, had also chosen that quote for his senior page in the Belen Jesuit 1986 Echoes yearbook.
“Educate yourself. Educate Each Other. Educate the World.”
Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49) was born in Havana, Cuba on November 18th, 1931, the son of Crispulo Goizueta and Aida Cantera de Goizueta. He enrolled at the Colegio de Belén in first grade, where he was considered serious, well-mannered, and very studious. Consistently ranked at the top of his class, in 1948, he earned the title of Brigadier, the school’s highest honor. For his senior year of high school, he traveled to the United States, and in 1949 he graduated as valedictorian of the Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. He then went on to Yale University, from where he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering in 1953. He returned to Cuba, and on June 14th, 1953, married his sweetheart, Olga Casteleiro at the Jesuit Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola in Havana. The couple would eventually have three children: Roberto, Olga, and Javier Goizueta. After the wedding, Roberto began working at one of his father’s business enterprises, but he was soon moved to search for success on his own. In June 1954, he answered an unidentified “help wanted” ad for a bilingual chemical engineer. The position turned out to be at the Havana subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company, Cia Embotelladora, where Mr. Goizueta’s qualities as a thinker, problem-solver, and manager brought about his promotion to technical director.
However, when the Cuban government nationalized all privately owned businesses and turned toward communism, he took his wife and children and immigrated to the United States, where he embarked on a brilliant business career with the Coca-Cola Company. In 1961, he went to work as an area chemist for Coca-Cola’s Caribbean operations in the Bahamas and soon became the staff assistant to the senior vice president for Latin America. Then, in 1964, he moved to Atlanta to work at the company’s headquarters, where he became the youngest vice president in the company’s history, senior vice president of its technical division in 1974, and vice chairman in 1979. In May of 1980, he was elected president and chief operating officer, and ten months later, chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer (CEO). During his tenure as CEO, he served on the board of directors of other enterprises such as SunTrust Banks, Ford Motor Company, and Eastman Kodak Company; however, his accomplishments went beyond the corporate environment. He was also committed to philanthropic endeavors which contributed to furthering educational opportunities for individuals and families. In 1980, he was named an Emory University trustee and served on the university’s board of directors, as well as the boards of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Woodruff Arts Center, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He was also a trustee of the American Assembly, as well as of the Robert W. Woodruff and the Lettie Pate Evans Foundations. In 1994, Emory University honored him by naming its school of business the Roberto C. Goizueta Business School, in appreciation for his continued service to the university. It was his belief that the nation’s future and the future of our country’s youth depended on the strength of the American family. Thus, in 1992, he established the Goizueta
Foundation to support institutions and organizations that empower individuals and families to improve the quality of their lives through education. In 1989, just a few years prior to the establishment of the Goizueta Foundation, Belen Jesuit started a fundraising campaign to build the school’s gymnasium. For the school, the gymnasium-theater project represented an important milestone for its development as an educational institution. Amongst the many donors who generously gave to bring about the gymnasium’s construction project were the Coca-Cola Foundation and the Goizueta Foundation.
In August of 1997, doctors diagnosed Roberto Goizueta with lung cancer. He died just a few months later on October 18th. At Belen Jesuit, the school community was deeply saddened by the loss of this devoted alum, who adamantly shared the fundamental Jesuit commitment to furthering education for all people. Belen Jesuit President Fr. Marcelino García, SJ held a memorial Mass for Roberto Goizueta (‘49) on November 18th, 1997, which the Goizueta family attended. As a tribute to his memory, on April 22nd, 1998, Belen Jesuit named its gymnasium the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center. Roberto Goizueta personified the service-oriented Jesuit philosophy fostered at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. After his death, his widow, Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta, continued to build upon his legacy through the Goizueta Foundation’s invaluable contribution to the development of Belen Jesuit’s educational mission. The school remains grateful to the foundation for their continued partnership and support, and it honors the memory of its alum, Roberto C. Goizueta (‘49), for he truly lived according to the Goizueta Foundation’s motto: “Educate yourself. Educate Each Other. Educate the World.”
Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta speaks at the naming of the Belen Jesuit Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center on April 22nd, 1998. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives. Roberto C. Goizueta speaks at the inauguration of the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. October 1st, 1986. Photograph courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library.
The Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool. bac Belen
The Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center at the Belen Jesuit campus in West Miami-Dade. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
THE GOLDEN YEARS
The establishment of the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center began the third phase of the Belen Jesuit Athletics Program better known at the school as the “Golden Years” of Belen Jesuit athletics. During this time, first under the guidance of President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, and after 2009, under that of President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), Athletic Director Carlos Barquín led his department through a period of unprecedented growth and success. Augmented once again by the continued dedication of its faculty, coaches, and athletes, as well as by the support of Belen Jesuit families, alumni, and the school’s administration, the athletics program at the school focused on expanding the amount of sports and teams offered at the school, as well as in developing “state of the art” exterior athletic facilities to complement the indoor Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center. The program also concentrated in making sure that every Belen Jesuit athlete was a well-rounded student. Each athlete was called to succeed in both sports and academics, as they were also called to keep their individual commitments to serve others. One of the key concepts within the department’s coaching philosophy was to teach life lessons through sports, while stressing that great athletic achievements are empty of any long-lasting value if they were not accompanied by a commitment to contribute to the betterment of their school and that of its surrounding community. As Belen Jesuit President/Principal Fr. Marcelino García, SJ reminded the school athletes in the 2004-2005 Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program
“Belen Jesuit has many attributes that make our school successful in our community: a strong Christian service program, high academic achievements, participation in clubs and school activities, and a highly competitive sports program. One key element in our school is you, the student athlete. You represent the best that our school has to offer: the total package. You are a sportsman who competes without compromising your academic responsibilities or forgetting those less fortunate than you. Because of this, you are to be commended. You have embodied what our founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, envisioned: a well-rounded student who seeks God in all things and succeeds for the greater glory of God. I could not be prouder of our Belen student athletes, coaches, and parents. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide us in all we do, and may we always strive to achieve our best in both the classroom and on our courts and fields.”11
During the end of the 1990s, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín focused on developing new athletic teams in sports not previously available at the school, as well as additional teams in sports that were already in place at Belen Jesuit. High school teams specifically meant for ninth grade (freshmen) athletes were established in basketball (19961997) and baseball (1998-1999), coached by Jerry Jones and Benigno Aguirre respectively. Sports which had been traditionally played at the school continued to expand by establishing junior varsity teams, such as the one put in place for golf. During the 1997-1998 academic year, the school established a water polo team, coached by Alfonso Aguirre, and a middle school team in the same sport followed five years later (2003-2004). The new millennium also featured the establishment of crew, as a new athletic activity at Belen Jesuit. Varsity and junior varsity crew teams were established during the 2000-2001 academic year, coached by Roberto Armas, and a middle school crew team followed (2005-2006), coached by Adam Thorstad. Also during the 2000-2001 academic year, a varsity roller hockey team coached by Fr. Francisco Permuy, SJ ('85) was assembled, and junior varsity team in the same sport followed (2004-2005) as well as a middle school team (20052006). Both of these teams were coached by Ski Aguad. A junior varsity volleyball team was also established (2003-2004), a sixth grade soccer team (2001-2002), and a flag football team (2000-2001) coached by Frankie Ruiz (‘96), Miriam Cambo-Martínez, and Richard Stuart. A lacrosse team was established (2009-2010), coached by John Okunski. Lastly, during the 2012-2013 academic year, a bowling team, coached by Luis Dulzaides and Andrés Blanco was also established at the school.
By the start of the new millennium, plans to develop exterior “stateof-the art” athletic facilities to complement the indoor Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center were in place. They included raising all of the existing fields and installing drainage systems to comply with Miami-Dade County storm and water retention requirements. The project also included the construction of a new football, soccer, and track and field stadium, five new tennis courts and shelter, and two new baseball fields. The new baseball fields included batting cages, dugouts, bleachers, a locker room, a storage facility, an office for the coaches, and a scoreboard. As always, the monumental support of Belen Jesuit families made the completion of the baseball fields possible. The Martínez family, whose son Nicholas Martínez (‘08) was a student at the school, donated the construction labor costs for the baseball field dugouts, locker room, batting cages, storage, and coaches office. Nicholas Martínez (‘08) eventually became the first Belen Jesuit alum to play baseball for a major league team, the Texas Rangers. The Calderón family, whose sons Lucas Calderón (‘08) and Marcos Calderón (‘10) were students at the school, donated the bleachers, cement deck, and back stops, as well as materials for the baseball complex, through their company, Diamonette. Belen Jesuit alumnus Manuel Díaz (‘73) and his law firm, Díaz, O’Naghten & Borgognoni, LLP, donated the baseball field scoreboard.
Construction for the new football, soccer, and track and field stadium began in 2001 and included a nine-lane, 400-meter synthetic track with jumping pits, stadium fencing, sidewalks, additional parking with a drainage system, bleachers, a coaches’ box, and a new scoreboard. Once again, the generous spirit of the Belen ‘family’ was mobilized. Belen Jesuit alumnus Carlos Penín (‘73) donated all the engineering drawings and plans for the entire project. Persant Construction donated part of the labor associated with surveys, as well as the laying of the asphalt and storm drains. The Newmeyer family, whose sons James Newmeyer (‘01) and Michael Newmeyer (’08) were both students at the school, donated the new football field
scoreboard. A donation from the De la Cruz family, which includes Colegio de Belén alumnus Carlos de la Cruz (‘60) and Belen Jesuit alumnus Carlos de la Cruz Jr. (‘81), helped to the purchase the materials for the synthetic surface for the track, and contributed to the completion of the overall football, soccer, and track and field stadium project. As soon as the project was completed, and in appreciation for the generous support of the De la Cruz family, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ named the new football, soccer, and track and field facility the De la Cruz Stadium.
The improved athletic facilities contributed greatly to the development of the athletic program, and the accomplishments of Belen Jesuit athletes honored the school during the new millennium. Prior to the new millennium, Belen Jesuit had displayed, with much honor, the one state championship title trophy attained by the cross country team (1995-1996) and the ten individual state titles that the school’s athletes had achieved between 1983 and 1999. After the new millennium, however, the unprecedented success of the athletics program culminated in a series of state championships titles for the school that included seven additional titles for the cross country team (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), seven for the swim team (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013), one for the track and field team (2007), and one for the water polo team (2009). In addition, by 2013, the list of Belen Jesuit individual state champions surpassed one-hundred athletes. Throughout this time, several of the school’s teams have also consistently ranked in the state’s top ten teams for academic grade point averages, and some have obtained the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) academic championship in their respective sport. State academic championship titles went to basketball (2008, 2009), football (2009, 2010),
The Belen Jesuit campus in West MiamiDade during the 150th anniversary year (20032004), showing the De la Cruz Stadium with a synthetic track and the two baseball fields at the north end of the campus. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The inaguration of the De la Cruz Stadium on October 17th, 2003. From left to right: Javier Riera (‘91), Carlos de la Cruz, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, Carlos de la Cruz Jr. (‘81), Carlos de la Cruz (‘60), and Claudia de la Cruz. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Miami Heat president and former coach Pat Riley, visited Belen Jesuit September 20th, 2011 to share experiences with students. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
volleyball (2009), and bowling (2012). Also after the new millennium, the overall Belen Jesuit athletics program has been consistently ranked as one of the top-ten programs in the state of Florida. For the 2003-2004 academic year, the athletics program earned second place in the FHSAA Floyd E. Lay Sunshine Cup All-Sports Award competition. Then, in an unprecedented honor and for the first time in its history, the program earned the 2011-2012 FHSAA 6A Division Floyd E. Lay Sunshine Cup All-Sports Award as the best overall boys athletics program in the state of Florida. The program received the award once again for the 2013-2014 academic year.
During the golden years of the Belen Jesuit athletics program, the amount of organized athletic teams at the school increased, resulting in additional student participation. Hence, in 2004, the Athletics Department began holding three instead of two yearly sports banquets as a way to accommodate attendance by athletes and their families. The athletics program recognizes varsity athletes at one banquet, freshman and junior varsity athletes at another, and at a third banquet, athletes who participated in middle school teams are also acknowledged. At the varsity banquet, the athletic director and coaches continued the tradition that they had established at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana (1967-1968) and awarded the Athlete of the Year Award to the high school varsity athlete that had performed most exceptionally during that year. Winners of the Athlete of the Year Award during the golden years of athletics at Belen Jesuit include Jorge Vigo (‘97) and Edward Acosta (‘99), who won the title in both
1998 and 1999. Acosta shared the title with Vincent Cartaya (‘99) in 1999. Jorge Palmerola (‘01) won the award in 2000, followed by Iván Enríquez (‘01) in 2001. Jason Machado (‘04) won the award both in 2002 and 2003. Machado shared the title with David Bouza (‘02) in 2002, and with José García (‘03) and Jeffrey Vivó (‘04) in 2003. Javier García-Tuñón (‘04) received the award in 2004, and Carlos Nieto (‘05) and Patricio González (‘05) shared the title in 2005. Other Belen Jesuit athletes of the year winners included: Peter Pidermann (‘06), Andrew Jacobs (‘07), Carlos Araque (‘08), Julio César López (‘09), Pablo Álvarez (‘10), Carlos Omaña (‘11), Esteban Gómez-Rivera ('12), Julián Ballestas (‘13), and Boleck de Pawlikowski (‘14).
Another important milestone for the athletics program included the establishment of the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. The Sports Hall of Fame allowed the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami and the athletics program to recognize alumni for their playing ability, sportsmanship, character, and exemplary contribution to their teams when they participated in athletics at any of the Jesuit schools in Cuba and Miami. Although athletic achieve-
ments accomplished during the time that the candidates were students at Jesuit educational institutions were given prime importance during the Sports Hall of Fame selection process, accomplishments after graduation were also considered. Sports Hall of Fame inductees also included team coaches, who were chosen on the basis of their coaching, managerial, or executive ability, sportsmanship, and character, as well as their contribution to the school and to the sport that each of them coached.
Colegio de Belén alumni, teams, and coaches inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame since it was established in 2007 have included Luis J. Botifoll (‘25), José Hernández-Gelpi (‘33), Ernesto Smith (‘36), Ignacio Tamayo (‘41), Pablo Carreño (‘42), Roberto Suárez (‘46), Alfredo Porta Bolaños (‘47), Raoul García-Vidal (‘47), Julio Bordas (‘48), Carlos Morales (‘54), Félix P. Pérez-Majul (‘55), Eduardo Sowers (‘56), Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), Omelio Sosa (‘58), the 1946 basketball team, the 1955 volleyball team, and Coach Otilio (Capy) Campuzano.
Sports Hall of Fame inductees have also included Belen Jesuit alumni Ricardo González (‘68), René Walker (‘69), Julio Campa (‘71), Jorge Cabrera (‘72), Manuel Díaz (‘73), Francisco Ruiz (‘73), John Medina (‘77), Eric Álvarez (‘85), Héctor Ortiz (‘86) Alberto Gross (‘86), Antonio Franyie (‘86), Joseph Zumpano (‘87), Louis Iglesias (‘88), Michael Covert (‘91), César Conde (‘91), Marcos Mestre (‘91), Albert Acuña (‘93), Ignacio García (‘93), Oliver Benítez (‘96), Erik Montalvo (‘97) Jorge Vigo (‘97), Mikel Llanes (‘98), Frank Quesada (‘98), Edward Acosta (‘99), Vincent Cartaya (‘99), José García (‘03), Jason Machado (‘04), Jeffrey Vivó (‘04), Javier García-Tuñón (‘04), the 1995-1996 cross country team, and coaches Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68) and Carlos Barquín. Two inductees have also received lifetime achivement awards, Coach Patrick Collins and José Pañeda (‘82).
In 2008, in an effort to offer athletes the opportunity to use their athletic talent to also help others, mathematics faculty member Olga Ramón founded and began serving as faculty advisor to the Athletes for Charity club at Belen Jesuit. The service club created and offered its members the opportunity to participate in service projects; however, although the club was for athletes, it was not necessary to be actively involved in a sport to be a member. All that was needed was a desire to help out with the service projects, which included the Reason to Run Marathon, benefiting pediatric cancer patients, and a field day hosted at Belen Jesuit for over 140 children from Blue Lakes Elementary, ages three through twelve, all of whom have been diagnosed with autism and other disabilities. The Autism Field Day is an annual event and has included participation from 200-300 Belen Jesuit Athletes for Charity members. Club members watch a presentation regarding
autism early on a Saturday morning, during which they learn about the compassion, patience, and understanding needed to interact with autistic children. Activities include finger painting, a basketball clinic, hula-hoops, and races. The club has developed both high school and middle school divisions, and theology faculty member Kathleen Mackle served as faculty advisor to the middle school division.
In 2010, the school also installed the Preferred Care Partners Vita Course that runs along the perimeter of the school property, and which consists of eight stations spaced along a mile and half trail with three hills. Each station provided types of exercises including
The Wolverine Mascot “Waldo” carries Javier Álvarez (‘13) during a game. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Cross Country Coach Frankie Ruiz (‘96), Athletic Director Carlos Barquín, and Track and Field Coach Víctor Arrieta (‘95) pose on the Nike Hill that towers over the cross country running course at the school. Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
warm-ups, muscle stretching, muscle strengthening, cardiovascular conditioning, and cool down, combined with walking, jogging, and running between stations. The Vita Course was named after Preferred Care Partners, given the support offered by one of its founders, Belen Jesuit alumnus Justo Pozo (‘75) for its installment. Alumni Lorenzo Rodríguez (‘93), Robert Suris (‘79), Héctor Maldonado (‘74), and Charlie Calderín (‘90) also contributed to the project. Also that year, the school implemented its new Belen Jesuit website, which helped every department, including athletics, to communicate with students and parents much more efficiently. Each team had its designated web page with team rosters, game/practice schedules, and contact information for coaches and the athletics offices. Historical information about school athletes and teams was also incorporated in the athletics section of the website, with the Belen Sports Hall of Fame, Hall of Champions, All County Athletes, and even the sports banquet programs became available at the click of the mouse. Links to guidelines, school forms, and important Athletics organizations throughout the State of Florida were also made available on the website. Moreover, the Athletics Maul Newsletter which had been traditionally produced by the assistant to the athletic director, Coach Víctor Arrieta (‘95), and ingeniously named for the Wolverines’ ability to maul their prey, became the Maul News blog that could be accessed by members of the Belen Jesuit community at any time.
Overall, by 2012, the Belen Jesuit athletics program included over forty-five teams playing across fifteen different sports. During the Golden Jubilee Year (2011-2012), thanks to the initiative and hard work of Belen Jesuit alumni Francisco Ruiz (‘73), the standing cross country course that had been established in 2009 was enhanced to include a Nike Hill and tunnel, making Belen Jesuit the first school with a permanent cross country longdistance running facility. Additional alumni that contributed to the cross country facility included José A. Garrido (‘46), and José A. Garrido, Jr. (‘72), through the Garrido Foundation, Raúl Rodríguez (‘97), Carlos Penín (‘73), Pedro Munilla (‘00), Carlos Vara (‘80), Adalberto Vara (‘76), Alexis Mantecón (‘97), Justo Pozo (‘75), Peter Montadas (‘76), Carlos Arazoza (‘78), Alberto Arazoza (‘84), René Valverde (‘78), Balbino Vázquez (‘82), Eric Santa-Cruz (‘95), and José Smith (‘80). During the summer of 2012, the football field was converted to a synthetic artificial turf field, thanks to the support of a fundraising effort that was spearheaded by the Mariano and Carolina Macías, whose sons at the school include Eduardo Macías (‘02), Carlos Macías (‘05), Jordi Macías (‘07), and Alec Macías (‘12). During the summer of 2012, the artificial turf field was named the Sánchez Field, in recognition of the generosity provided by José Sánchez and his family, who have been traditional school benefactors since the
construction of the Vincam Wing, which Mr. Sánchez also supported during the late 1990s. Additional alumni who contributed to the construction of the new artificial turf field include: Eugenio Cosculluela (‘79), Ricardo Mayo-Álvarez (‘85), Jorge Padrón (‘86), and René Velíz (‘03).
An additional three acres of land purchased by the school in 2004 has also been developed as a soccer, cross country, lacrosse, track & field and football practice field at the school. In addition, 400 meters were added to the cross country course and the shot put. The project was carried out thanks to the generosity of the Hernández family. Rodolfo Hernández (‘93) explained his family’s support for Belen Jesuit in the development of this field when he stated:
“Our family is eternally grateful to Belen and the community it has created. In the effort to show our gratitude, we would like to help with the addition of the Hernández Family Field. We have created the Hernández Family Foundation with the intention of giving back to organizations making a difference, and Belen Jesuit could not be a better place to start. Our family, Rodolfo and Mercy Hernández, parents of Rodolfo Hernández (‘93), Daniel Hernández (‘97), Gregory Hernández (‘04), and grandparents of Adrián Hernández (‘17), are all very excited to be a part of the continued growth of Belen.” 12
Professional assistance for developing the Hernández Field project was also provided by alumni Eugenio Cosculluela (‘79), Carlos Penín (‘73), Joseph Zumpano (‘87), Guillermo Pujals (‘86), and David García (‘87). Building and construction plans have also been developed for a new Olympic-size swimming pool for the West Miami-Dade campus with the assistance of a committee that includes Joseph Zumpano (‘87), Carlos López-Cantera, Martaligia López-Cantera, Javier Salman (‘81), Steve Avallone, Jim Baker, Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations Fr. Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín, and Coach Kirk Peppas.
The exponential growth of the Belen Jesuit athletics program since 1964, could not have been imagined by the Jesuits, who with great conviction and sacrifice, fundraised during the 1963-1964 academic year to build a simple basketball court with two hoops at the school’s campus in Little Havana. Undoubtedly, the program could not have achieved as much success throughout its history without the combined efforts, support, and dedication of many members of the Belen Jesuit community. Their accomplishments and generous support
continue to be a source of pride for Belen Jesuit and its administration. In the words of Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) to student athletes included in the President’s Message as part of the 2010-2011 Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program:
“The Jesuit spiritual tradition inspires us to seek God in all things, including sports. Healthy competition brings out the best of you as you try to achieve success. The effort required to be the best in sports trains you to pursue excellence in your own personal lives and in your future professions. We are proud of our Belen Jesuit athletes! May the Lord continue to inspire each of you to excel in your lives not only as athletes, but also in academics and in service to others! May Our Lady of Belen, the humble Mother of Christ, help you to be better “Men for Others” both now and in the future.”13
The individual athletic team history sections that follow relate how each sport developed at Belen Jesuit, highlighting the hardwork and dedication of the faculty, coaching staff, athletes and families that contributed to the development of athletics at the school. Athletic teams appear in the order in which they were either reinstated from the Colegio de Belén or first established at Belen Jesuit in South Florida.
The inaguration of the Sánchez Field at Belen Jesuit on August 31st, 2012. Standing from left to right: Eugenio Cosculluela (‘14), Frankie Hernández, Carlos Barquín, Mariano Macías, José Sánchez, María Sánchez, Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), and Ralph Rosa (‘14). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Aerial photograph of the Sánchez Field artificial turf and the surrounding synthetic track at Belen Jesuit. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
BASKETBALL
The first Belen Jesuit basketball team, coached by Jesuit scholastic Amado Sandoval, SJ, began practicing in the newly built basketball court at the Little Havana campus during the 1964-1965 academic year. It was a momentous beginning, since basketball had been played at the Colegio de Belén since 1923, and it was the first team sport reinstated at Belen Jesuit in South Florida. From the start, the Wolverine basketball team played their home games at the St. Patrick School’s gymnasium in Miami Beach, where they also held some of their practices. Although the team finished the first season with a 1W-8L record, they improved their record the following year to 7W-8L, and proceeded to win their first district championship in 1967, coached by Jesuit scholastic José Cruz, SJ. 14
In 1967, Colegio de Belén alumnus, Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), joined the faculty at Belen Jesuit, and began coaching the team. He would coach the team until 1972. The team continued to play their home games at St. Patrick’s, where they also began holding night practices after 1968. During Coach Loret de Mola’s tenure, the team won the district championship (1968) and the Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship (1971). Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during these years included: Celso Ahumada (‘67), Alberto Ley (‘68), Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68), Ricardo González (‘68), and René Walker (‘69), all of whom were young men from Operation Pedro Pan, who either resided at the Jesuit Boys’ Residence or at the program’s Camp Opa-locka facility. Other outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during the 1970s were: Eduardo Muñoz-Bustamante (‘70), Julio Campa (‘71), Orlando Puente (‘71), Rivero Cauchtemoc (‘71), Jorge Cabrera (‘72), and Carlos Pérez (‘72).15 Of these outstanding players, Walker, Campa, and Cabrera were inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
In 1971, Bill Woods started coaching the varsity basketball team. During his tenure (1971-1975), the team had four winning seasons and won the Gulfstream Athletic Conference in 1972 and 1975. Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during these years included Francisco Ruiz (‘73) and Manuel Díaz (‘73).16 In 1975, Belen Jesuit alumnus, Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68), joined the faculty at the school and began to coach the team. Coach Ferreiro had obtained faculty support to found the junior high basketball team (1967) while he was still a senior at Belen, which he also coached (1967-1972). In 1972, he began to coach the junior varsity team and established an impressive three-year 40W-1L record. Coach Ferreiro coached the varsity team (1975-1982), and during his tenure, the team won three district championships (1977, 1978 and 1982). They also won the Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship (1976-1979) and two regional championships (1977 and 1978). During the 1975-1976 season, the Wolverines walked away as champions at both the La Salle Christmas Tournament and the Gulfstream Athletic Conference. The team also finished as runners-up in their district, and for the first time in their history, they were ranked fifth in the State of Florida. The following year (1976-1977), the team finished the season with their best record to date (26W-3L). They also won the district championship and attained their first regional championship. The team retained both the District and Regional titles the following year (1977-1978). Outstand-
Raúl Bezos (‘65), Mario Dávalos (‘65), Luis González (‘65), René Loyola (‘65), Rodolfo Menéndez (‘65), Roberto Rodríguez (‘65), Ángel González (‘66), Eudaldo Suárez (‘66), Fernando Vega (‘66), Celso Ahumada (‘67), Scholastic Amado Sandoval, SJ
ing Belen Jesuit basketball players during these years included: John Guiteras (‘76), Agustín de la Vega (‘76), Carlos Pereira (‘77), John Medina (‘77), Ignacio Portuondo (‘77), and Enrique Águila (‘77).17 For his accomplishments as basketball athlete as well as his contributions at Belen Jesuit in cross country and track and field, Medina was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
In 1979, after finishing the season as runners-up in their district and winners of the Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship, the Miami News presented Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68) with the Coach of the Year award. The newspaper article stated:
“Ferreiro is everything from a basketball coach, to a math teacher, to a counselor, to a friend at Belen. The players do not hesitate to come to their coach with their problems, and the coach rarely turns them down.”18
The 1981-1982 season, the first at the West-Miami Dade campus, included a victory over Pine Crest to win the district championship. Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during these years included: Antonio Fernández (‘79), Enrique Fernández (‘79), Manuel León (‘79), Javier Arellano (‘80), Peter Pérez (‘81), Bernardo Cantens (‘82), and Pablo Álvarez (‘82).
In 1982, Belen Jesuit alumnus, Rubén Marrero (‘75), who had been coaching the junior varsity basketball team at Belen Jesuit since 1975, became the varsity basketball coach. He coached the varsity team from 1982 to 1988. During his tenure, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) had the Belen Jesuit team classified in the 2AA level. Under that classification, the team won the district championship (1983) and the Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship (1983), with an excellent performance from All County athlete José Moreiras (‘83). During the 1984-1985 season, the team finished as runners-up at the Christopher Columbus Christmas Tournament. The following season (1985-1986), the team finished as runners-up in their district.19 Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during this time included All County athletes Antonio Franyie (‘86), Emilio Marrero (‘85) and Arnaldo Paniagua (‘86). In 1988, after coaching varsity basketball for six years, Coach Marrero returned to coaching the junior varsity basketball team (1988-1998).
The following season (1988-1989), Jorge Martínez became the varsity basketball coach. He had been coaching the junior varsity basketball team since 1986 and serving as assistant varsity coach since 1987. During Coach Martínez’s tenure (1988-1993), the team finished the season as district runners-up four years in a row (1990-1993). During
the 1988-1989 season, Alejandro Espino (‘89) made the All-County team, and both Espino and Juan Cueto (‘89) made the Gulfstream Athletic Conference All-Star team. Also during that season, the team traveled to New York to play at the Jesuit Christmas Tournament. During the following season (1989-1990), Belen Jesuit alumnus José Roca (‘84) began assisting Coach Martínez with the team. Coach Roca had also been coaching the junior varsity basketball team since 1988. That same season, the team also traveled to New York and finished as runners-up in the Jesuit Christmas Tournament. For the 1991-1992 season, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) reclassified the Belen Jesuit basketball team to the 3A level, and the team struggled against its new district opponents; however, in true Wolverine fashion, they overcame some of their more powerful opponents and finished their season as runners-up in the district. Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during these years include: Alejandro Hoyos (‘92), Jorge Rodríguez (‘92), Gastón Macau (‘92), Alfonso Cueto (‘93), and Albert Acuña (‘93).20 For his accomplishments in basketball as well as in baseball, football, and volleyball, Acuña was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.
In 1993, José Roca (‘84) became the varsity basketball coach. During his tenure (1992-1998), Coach Roca’s assistant basketball coaches were Steve Holland (1993-1995) and Rubén Marrero
The first Belen Jesuit Basketball team (19641965). Photograph from Echoes, 1965.
Ricardo González (‘68) (#15) plays during a 1966 Belen Jesuit vs. Immaculata La Salle High School basketball game at the St. Patrick School’s gymnasium. González was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
After a basketball game, Coach Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) receives a plaque for his onehundredth victory from future Miami Mayor Manuel Díaz (‘73), who was then a freshman at Belen Jesuit. Both Loret de Mola and Díaz were inducted to the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Photograph from Echoes, 1970.
Coach Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68) with the first Belen Jesuit team to win a regional championship (1976-1977). Ferreiro was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. Photograph from Echoes, 1977.
(‘75) (1995-1998). The team finished their season as runners-up in their district in 1995 and 1998. During the 1994-1995 season, the basketball team completed its most successful season 1980, with a 22W-11L record. The team also defeated Monsignor Edward Pace for the first time since 1986 and finished the season as runners-up in their district. Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during these years included: Michael Cabrera (‘95), Omar Travieso (‘95), Niberto Moreno (‘96), Blas Cueto (‘96), and Carlos Maristany (‘96). The 1995-1996 team practiced at the school’s new athletic facility, th e Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center. The team inaugurated the athletic center with a game against St. Brendan High School, which they played in front of a sold out, 1,100-spectator crowd on November 20 th, 1996. Playing for the 1996-1997 team, Marcos Macau (‘97) led the team and scored his 1,000 varsity career point at the game. Macau finished his senior season by establishing a school record for career points scored (1,374). The team finished their season with a 22W-9L record. Outstanding players that season included: Marcos Macau (‘97), Aldo Calderín (‘97), Eduardo Cepero (‘97), and José Ignacio Rasco (‘97). 21
The following year (1997-1998), thanks to the new indoor facility, Belen Jesuit hosted the basketball district championship competi-
tion for the first time in their history at the Roberto Goizueta Athletic Center. The 1997-1998 season included a great playoff run, with victories against St. Brendan and Monsignor Edward Pace High School, where a last-second shot by Mikel Llanes (‘98) ensured the district runner-up position. A similar shot by a player, however, from Cardinal Gibbons High School, kept the team from the district title. Although it was a heart-breaking loss, players rallied together to celebrate their memorable season, and its 20W-10L record. Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during this season included: Mikel Llanes (‘98), Daniel López (‘98), Erik Guanche (‘98), Joseph Noa (‘98), and Michael Mena (‘98). In 1998, Coach Roca went to coach the freshman basketball team, which had been established the previous year (1996-1997). Coach Roca coached the freshman team (1998-2000), and the middle school team from 2000 to 2002.
In 1998, Coach Rubén Marrero (‘75), who had served as varsity basketball coach from 1982 to 1988, began his second tenure (1998-2002) as coach of the varsity basketball team. Several assistant coaches, Jerry Jones (1998-2002), Eduardo Delgado (‘91) (1998-2000), and Thomas de Quesada (‘94) (2001-2002), helped Coach Marrero with the team. During the 1998-1999 season, Jean Paul Chávez (‘01) set a record for most points scored in one game (40) against G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School at the Sunset Knight Time Tournament. The team defeated Cardinal Gibbons and Northeast High School at the district playoffs, finished as runnersup in their district, and advanced to the first round of the Regional
Tournament. The following season (1999-2000), the team achieved a 20W-8L record. The team followed their impressive 1999-2000 season record with a commendable start the following season (20002001), which featured wins over Ransom Everglades and Booker T. Washington High School. Also during this year, Jean Paul Chávez (‘01) finished his senior season by establishing a school record for career points scored (1,498). The following season (2001-2002), the team traveled to St. Augustine, Florida to compete at the Florida State Catholic Basketball Tournament, where they finished in third place. Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during this time include: Vincent Cartaya (‘99), Ignacio Portuondo (‘00), Jean Paul Chávez (‘01), Gabriel García (‘01), Oscar Peguero (‘01), Christian Hermida (‘02), Daniel Valdés (‘02), and José García-Tuñón (‘02).22
In 2002, José Roca (‘84), who had served as varsity basketball coach from 1992 to 1998 began his second tenure as coach of the varsity basketball team. He has been coaching the basketball varsity team ever since. After Coach Roca returned to coaching the varsity team, the Wolverines won the district championship in 2004 and 2005 and finished as runners-up in their district (2006-2011). Jerry Jones (2002-2007) and Carlos Bravo (‘86) (2002-2011) served as assistant coaches to the varsity team. Since 2005, Rubén Marrero (‘75) has also served as assistant varsity basketball coach. The 2002-2003 season was one of the most exciting in school history as the team played in five overtime games, winning four of them, and with two of the games going into quadruple overtime. Alejandro Guardiola (‘03) established a new school record for most points scored in one game (44), and it was during this season, that after seventeen years, Belen Jesuit renewed its old rivalry against Christopher Columbus High School. Although they did not walk away victorious in 2003, the following season (2003-2004), the Wolverines defeated the Explorers in front of a sold out, exhilarated crowd of almost 1,500 at the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center. According to Coach Roca:
“The moment we won was one of the most incredible in my time at Belen. The feeling from the crowd, the players hugging, and the screams from fans were truly overwhelming. I saw the school have one of the highlights of its history that day, and I will never forget it.”23
The team finished the 2003-2004 season with a 22W-6L record, and they defeated Immaculata La Salle High School to win the district championship for the first time in twenty-one years. The team also walked away as champions of the Félix Varela Pre-Season Classical
Tournament and of the Sunset Knight Time Tournament. That season, the team traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, where they finished as runners-up in the St. Pius X Christmas Tournament. Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during this time included: Alejandro Guardiola (‘03), Jean-Paul Bermúdez (‘03), Anthony Torrente (‘03), Iván Echenique (‘04), and Raúl Ordoñez (‘05).24
The following season (2004-2005), when it seemed as if the exhilaration of Belen Jesuit fans could not possibly surpass the previous year, the team defeated the Christopher Columbus High School once again at the FIU Golden Panther Arena, where a sold out crowd of 5,000 fans broke attendance records for any college or high school athletic event ever held at those premises. It was also by far the largest crowd to have ever attended a Belen Jesuit sporting event. The team finished their season with a 25W-4L record, the second best season in school history, and won their second district championship title earned by defeating Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School at the District Final. The team also walked away as Champions of the Sunset Knight and the St. Pius X Christmas Tournaments.
Orlando Cabeza (‘83), José Roca (‘84), José Moreiras (‘83), Julio Pestonit (‘83), Emilio Marrero (‘85), Alexander Rodríguez (‘84), Edward Fuller (‘83), Rubén Marrero (‘75), Rolando Torricella (‘86), Floriberto Puente (‘84), G. Pérez (‘83), Thomas González-Diego (‘84), Rilde León (‘83), Rolando Mendoza (‘84), Jorge López-García (‘84)
Coach Rubén Marrero (‘75) with the 19821983 Belen Jesuit Basketball team, winners of both the 1983 district championship and the Gulfstream Academic Conference. Photograph from Echoes, 1983.
Also during the (2004-2005) season, Alejandro Tellería (‘05) and Anthony Fernández (‘06) scored their 1,000th career points at the school, and Coach José Roca (‘84) recorded his 150th career win in eight seasons as varsity basketball coach. The following season (2005-2006), the team finished as runners-up in their district, and Anthony Fernández (‘06) finished his senior season by establishing a school record for career points scored (1,586). Gabriel Bermúdez (‘06) also established a school record for career assists (732). Both Fernández and Bermúdez went on to play college basketball at Emory University and Samford University, respectively.
Also in 2006, the Florida High School Athletics Association (FHSAA) began a recognition program honoring teamwork not only in athletic competition, but also in the classroom. The Belen Jesuit basketball team received the Association’s Academic State Team Championship title in 2008 and 2009, since the team held the highest grade point average of any other high school basketball team in the state of Florida. The team
has consistently remained among the top ten academic teams in the State since the program began in 2006. During the 2006-2007 season, the team once again defeated their rivals, the Christopher Columbus High School, at the FIU Golden Panther Arena in front of a recordbreaking crowd, and they finished their season as district runners-up. The following season (2007-2008), the team also finished the season as district runners-up and defeated the Explorers for the third time in five years in an exciting overtime victory at FIU, as exhilarated Belen Jesuit fans chanted: “Don’t turn your back on the wolf pack!’ During this season, Coach José Roca (‘84) also set a school record by surpassing every other basketball coach in Belen Jesuit history with the most career wins (191). During the (2008-2009) season, the team finished as district runners-up and defeated Christopher Columbus High School with an impressive twenty-five point victory. The team competed at the Hawk Kreul Classic National High School Tournament in Coral Springs, Florida and traveled to Georgetown Preparatory in North Bethesda, Maryland, where they competed and took third place
at Father George National Jesuit School Christmas Classic Tournament. Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during this time included: Steven Agras (‘07), Agustín Guardiola (‘07), Antonio Quezada (‘08), Diego Fernández-Soto (‘08), Jonathan Fernández (‘08), Michael García (‘08), and Jorge Menocal (‘09).26
Although the success of the football team during the 2009-2010 season caused the basketball team’s season to begin with six key players on the bench, the Wolverines came back to finish their season as runners-up in their district and with an impressive 20W-10L record. Also during that season, Coach José Roca (‘84) celebrated his 250th win at Belen, and the team participated in both the Hawk Kreul Classic in Coral Springs, Florida and the Father George National Jesuit School Christmas Classic Tournament in North Bethesda, Maryland. The 2010-2011 season also included travel to Atlanta, Georgia to participate in the St. Pius X Christmas Tournament and to the Hawk Kreul Classic in Coral Springs, Florida. The team also finished the season as runners-up in their district for the sixth year in a row and advanced into the regional tournament for the eighth year in a row, reaching the regional quarterfinals. The varsity basketball team’s 2011-2012 season included an 11W-14L record with notable wins over Westwood Christian and Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School. The following season (2012-2013), the team finished with a 15W-11L record and played in the district playoffs. The team finished the 2013-2014 season with a 14W-12L record and a victory against Columbus (62-55) on January 17th, 2014, at the Bank United Center. During this season, Coach Roca celebrated his 300th varsity win.
For many athletes, the experience of playing basketball at Belen Jesuit surpasses just playing for the team and winning championships. It also provides life lessons that stay with them long after they have left the school. Belen Jesuit Dean of Students Thomas de Quesada (‘94) shared one such experience as follows:
“I was always impressed with Coach Roca as a teacher and coach, but so much more with who he was as a husband and father. He dedicated endless hours to practices and games, but he always had equal dedication to his family. His wife and kids were almost always at the games cheering us on. It made me think that when I went on to lead my life, I wanted to involve my family in whatever I was doing professionally, and I aspired to balance my life, just like I saw Coach Roca carry out his life. What I did not know then, and value so much now as well, is that we would become colleagues, working together here at Belen every single day.”28
Outstanding Belen Jesuit basketball players during this time included: Reggie Colas (‘10), Stefano Natali (‘10), Pablo Álvarez (‘10), Nicholas Santurio (‘10), Manuel Sicre (‘11), Nicholas Botero (‘11), Brendan Gray (‘11), Aurelio Leyva (‘12), Emmanuel Noya (‘12), Pedro Cicera (‘12), Michael Fernández (‘13), Eric Couto (‘13), Guillermo Pujals (‘13), José Roca (‘13), Javier Álvarez (‘13), and Nicolás Iparraguirre (‘14), Matthew Fernández (‘14), Jonathan Herrera (‘14), Eduardo Cruz (‘15).27 Iparraguirre would go on to play basketball at the college-level at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Coach José Roca (‘84) talks with his team during a time out at the Belen Jesuit vs. Columbus basketball game played at the Florida International University Golden Panther Arena in 2007.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Jesuit basketball coaches with Coach Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68), who was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. Standing left to right: Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), Jorge Martínez, José Roca (‘84), Ferreiro, and Rubén Marrero (‘75).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
All-County Anthony Fernández (‘06) established a school record for career points scored (1,586). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The first Belen Jesuit baseball team (19651966) with Athletic Director Amado Sandoval, SJ. The team finished as runners-up in their district to earn the school’s first athletic trophy in South Florida. Photograph from Echoes, 1966.
BASEBALL
The Belen Jesuit baseball team became the second team sport to be reinstated at the school (1965-1966). Athletic Director Jesuit scholastic Amado Sandoval, SJ coached the team (1965-1967). Since the Little Havana campus did not have a baseball field, however, the team played its home games at Curtis Park and practiced in public baseball fields, such as the one at Crandon Park Beach Lot #2. The baseball fields at Crandon Park were on a first come, first serve basis; therefore, coaches rushed to transport students out to Crandon every afternoon, hoping that others had not taken over the field prior to their arrival. Practice efforts paid off. During the first season (1965-1966), the team finished as runners-up in their district, earning Belen Jesuit its first athletic trophy. Over the next two years, the team played with great eagerness, also finishing as district runner-up during the 1967-1968 season. In September 1968, Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) began coaching the team, and during his tenure (19681972), the team finished as runners-up at the Gulfstream Athletic Conference in 1971. Several outstanding Belen Jesuit baseball players during those years included: Jorge Ardura (‘69), Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68), Ricardo González (‘68), René Walker (‘69), Julio Campa (‘71), Manuel Díaz (‘73), and Joe Kalbac (‘75).29
The baseball team had several coaches during the next five seasons including Jim Rhem (1972-1973) and Billy Long (1973-1975). The team struggled during those seasons, finishing the 1974-1975 season with a 1W-18L record. In order to improve performance, cross country and
track and field Coach Carlos Barquín took over coaching the varsity baseball team for just one season (1975-1976). During Coach Barquín’s season coaching the team, he asked the Belen Jesuit administration for funds to purchase the first Belen Jesuit pitching machine; however, even using the pitching machine posed some challenges. Since the team traveled every day to practice at Crandon Park Lot#2, the pitching machine had to be loaded onto the school van every afternoon and transported to the practice site. Coach Barquín also soon discovered that he could not run the pitching machine at the Crandon Park Lot #2 field because no electricity was available. Hence, he was forced to approach the Belen Jesuit administration once again to request the purchase of a small generator that he could also transport to power the pitching machine. Thereafter, and for every practice day that the school remained in Little Havana, the pitching machine and the generator were faithfully loaded into the van that transported the baseball team to Crandon Park Lot #2 for practices. The pitching machine purchase caused immediate results, as batting averages improved and the young team composed of mostly sophomores finished their season with a 9W-8L record and as runners-up in their district. In a further attempt to improve performance, the Athletics Department decided to establish a junior high baseball team (1974-1975), where young players could be trained and groomed for playing at the varsity level once they reached high school. Belen Jesuit alumnus, Eugenio Ferreiro (‘68), who had been coaching the junior high basketball team since his senior year at the school, began to also coach junior high baseball, and remained in that position until 1976. During the rest of the years that the school resided in Little Havana, the junior high baseball team had several coaches. Among them was Belen Jesuit alumnus, Antolín Cossío (‘73), who coached junior high baseball (1976-1978) and taught social studies at the school, and Michael Crudele (‘73), who coached baseball (1978-1980) and taught mathematics at the school.30
During the 1976-1977 season, David Hewett began coaching the varsity baseball team, and he remained in that position until 1983. Tom Koziol served as Coach’s Hewett’s assistant baseball coach. During Coach Hewett’s first season, baseball player Joaquín Maciá (‘77), who was the leading hitter, and most valuable pitcher and player on the team, made the All-County team. Maciá was the first Belen Jesuit baseball player in the history of the school to make the All-County team. During the 1978-1979 season, Jorge Álvarez (‘81) made both the All-City and the All-Conference team, and twins, Antonio Fernández (‘79) and Enrique Fernández (‘79) made the All-Conference team. The 1979-1980
baseball season showed the team’s promise, as the pitching of George de la Hoz (‘80) and Alejandro Peña (‘82) complemented the excellent hitting of then sophomore, All-City and All-Conference catcher Frank Mora (‘82), whose contribution to the team lasted throughout his four years of high school at Belen Jesuit. The 1980-1981 season marked a spectacular achievement, when the Wolverine baseball team won the district championship for the first time in their history. The team also won the district championship during their 1982 and 1983 seasons. Also during the (1982-1983) season, José de Goti (‘84) and Ángel Navarro (‘84) made the All-City team. Outstanding Belen Jesuit baseball players during this time also included: Miguel Baláis (‘76), Gustavo Pérez-Abreu (‘78), and Orlando Collazo (‘78).31
In 1983, after coach Hewett’s departure from Belen, Eduardo Fraga took over coaching the baseball team. During Coach Fraga’s tenure (1983-1990), several coaches served as assistants such as Ernesto Rodríguez, Manuel Matrana, Robert Vázquez, Oscar Celorio, and Bill Hernández. The (1983-1984) season started out with the school’s first win in the history of the program over State Champion Westminster Christian. The team finished the season as runners-up in the district. The following year (1984-1985), Oscar Benítez (‘85) and Antonio Franyie (‘86) made the All-County and All-Conference teams and Emilio Roldán (‘85), Alexander Adams (‘85) and Javier Mariscal (‘86) were among the top hitters for the team. For his accomplishments in baseball, as well as in basketball and football, Franyie was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Mariscal was team captain the following year (1985-1986), providing great leadership for a team that also had notable contributions from Franyie, Roberto PérezAbreu (‘86), José Sánchez (‘86), José López (‘86), and Jorge Vasseur (‘86). The following year (1986-1987), the batting power of Héctor
Tundidor (‘87) and Manuel Hadad (‘87) helped the team finish their season with a 2W-9L-1T record.32
In an effort to develop players during their early high school years, during the 1984-1985 season, a junior varsity baseball team was established at the school. With the same purpose in mind for the middle school students, the Athletics Department established a sixth grade team during the 1985-1986 season. Also in 1986, a combination of the soil extracted as part of the excavation of the swimming pool, and the generous support of Belen Jesuit families and its administration, made the construction of a varsity baseball field possible. That same year (1986-1987), work also began to construct a middle school baseball field, which was completed during the 1988-1989 academic year. Also during that year, the team came together after one of their players, Michael Cardoso (‘89), was involved in a serious car accident, and they dedicated the rest of their season to their teammate. The team finished their season with a 16W-11L record. The following season (1989-1990), Alberto Valdés (‘90) led the team in runs scored and had great support from Pablo Carreño (‘91) and Israel Alfonso (‘91). Other All-County and All-Conference Belen Jesuit players during these years included: Javier Mariscal (‘86), Carlos Segredo (‘89), Juan Álvarez (‘89), and Marcos Mestre (‘91).33
In another extraordinary accomplishment, Mestre earned the Miami Herald Scholar Athlete Award in 1991. He also set a record at the
All-City and AllConference catcher Frank Mora (‘82), who played baseball all four years of high school, was also part of the first Belen Jesuit baseball team to win a district championship (19801981). Photograph from Echoes, 1981.
Miami Herald Scholar Athlete Marcos Mestre (‘91) set a strikeout record (99) at the school. Mestre was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
Photograph from Echoes, 1991.
The 2002-2003 Belen Jesuit baseball team stands for the national anthem at the state championship game played at Tampa’s Legends Field in 2003. The team earned the first baseball regional championship and state finalist title in school history. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
school for most strikeouts (99). Robert Guedes coached the baseball team (1990-1991), and the following year, Víctor Hernández began coaching the team. During his tenure (1991-1995), Eric Hansen served as assistant coach (1991-1994). During the 1991-1992 season, the team beat Key West High School, which at the time was a highly ranked team at the state level. That season included great contributions from Javier de la Vega (‘92) and Adrián Sainz (‘93). During the 1992-1993 season, the team won the South Miami Diamond Classic, and Albert Acuña (‘93) was team captain and most valuable player for his team. For his accomplishments in baseball as well as in basketball, football, and volleyball, Acuña was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.
During the 1993-1994 season, the team achieved second place in the Midway South Florida Baseball Challenge Tournament and had excellent contributions from Marcelo Llorente (‘94) and Lorenzo Puentes (‘94). The following season (1994-1995), the team won second place at the Starter Tournament in Pensacola, with great contributions from Ángel Estévez (‘95) and Anthony García (‘96). During the 1995-1996 season, Raúl González coached the varsity baseball team, and Leo
Borroto served as assistant coach. Once again, the team won second place at the Starter Tournament in Pensacola, and had great contributions from team captain Oliver Benítez (‘96) as well as from Eric Pérez (‘96), who made the All-Conference team.34 For his accomplishments in baseball as well as in football and track and field, Benítez was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
In 1996, Eric Hansen began coaching the baseball team. During his tenure (1996-1999), Belen Jesuit alumni Oscar Benítez (‘85) served as assistant coach (1996-1999) as well as Javier de la Vega (‘92). During all three seasons (1996-1999), the school held a Belen Pre-Season Baseball Tournament, and the team walked away as tournament champions. The team also participated in an Easter trip to a conference tournament in New Orleans, Louisiana, (1996-1998), where they had the opportunity to challenge out-of-state teams. The trip included team member families who gathered at the historic St. Louis Cathedral for Easter Sunday Mass. During the 1998-1999 season, a high school freshman team was established with Benigno Aguirre as its coach. The varsity team finished that season with a 20W-12L record -its best in the decade. The team also finished in fourth place in their district. Outstanding Belen Jesuit baseball players during this time included: Oscar Fernández (‘97), David Masvidal (‘97), Gabriel Dorado (‘98), Mario Pascual (‘99), Emil Ricart (‘99), and Daniel Padrón (‘99). As the 1990s came to an end and the new millennium approached, John Livermore coached the varsity baseball team (1999-2000). The team finished in third place in their district, and for the fourth consecutive year, as Belen Pre-Season Baseball Tournament champions, with excellent contributions from Jorge Livermore (‘00), Derek León (‘00), and David Aguiar (‘00).35
In 2000, Coach Tony Meilán took over the varsity team. During his tenure (2000-2009), several coaches served as assistants: Tommy Molina (2000-2004), Kiki Ávila (2001-2003), Gilbert Meilán (2001-2009), and Andrés Blanco (2004-2009). Moreover, the Belen Jesuit baseball team earned achievements that had eluded them since the early 1980s. Starting with the 2000-2001 season, the team won the Diamond Bash Classic hosted by Florida Christian, defeated Monsignor Edward Pace High School for the first time in eighteen years, and finished third in their district. The team had excellent contributions from André Enríquez (‘02), Jorge Suárez (‘01), Adrián Correa (‘02), and first baseman, Louis Rojas (‘03), who won 3A Miami-Dade County Player of the Year. The following season (2001-2002), the team was forced to play all of its games away due to the construction of a new varsity baseball field at the West-Miami Dade campus, but they still managed a great season. During Spring Break, the team traveled to Anaheim, California to play at the Toyo National Classic High School Baseball Tourna-
Louis Rojas (‘03), Alexander Esteban (‘03), Jonathan Mederos (‘03), Mario García (‘04), Daniel Márquez (‘04), Rafael de Armas (‘03), Matthew Maranges (‘04), Alexander Parets (‘04), Emmanuel Pérez (‘04), Armando de Zayas (‘05), Miguel Massens (‘04), Gabriel Hernández (‘04), Robert Pérez (‘04), Andrew Guasch (‘05), Jorge Jordán (‘05), Eduardo Mendiola (‘05), Juan Pérez (‘05), Christopher Rey (‘05), Alexander Wiltz (‘05), Daniel Wiltz (‘05), Eric Wiltz (‘05), Daniel Rodríguez (‘06), Tony Meilán, Tommy Molina, Kiki Ávila, Gilbert Meilán
ment, where they played against nationally ranked high schools. Also that year, André Enríquez (‘02)signed a Division I Scholarship to play baseball at Le Moyne College. Other outstanding Belen Jesuit baseball players that season included: Antonio Llera (‘02), Jonathan Mederos (‘03), and Daniel Márquez (‘04).36
The following season (2002-2003), the team started to play on their new baseball field and received new uniforms. The changes led the team to a wonderful season, which finished with a 21W-10L record and as runners-up in the district for the first time since 1984. The team also made school history by both capturing the regional championship and ending up as runners-up in the state championship for the first time in the history of the program. That same season, first baseman Louis Rojas (‘03), who had made the All-County and the All-State team for three years in a row, received the Miami Herald 4A1A Baseball Player of the Year Award and was signed to a Division I Scholarship to play baseball at Florida State University, the number one ranked team in college baseball at the time. At the end of the (2002-2003) season, Coach Meilán was the first coach from Belen Jesuit to receive the Coach of the Year Award for baseball. The following season (2003-2004) was no less exciting than the previous, with the team capturing the district championship for the first time since 1983, and Daniel Márquez (‘04) and Gabriel Hernández (‘04) making the All-County team. Hernández had twenty strikeouts while pitching in a game against St. Brendan High School. He earned the Belen Jesuit Sportsman of the Year Award (2004) and became the first Wolverine baseball player in the history of the school to be drafted during the Major League Baseball amateur draft. Hernández was drafted by the New York Mets. Outstanding Belen Jesuit baseball players during that season also included: Christopher López (‘05), Mario García (‘04), Robert Pérez (‘04), and Matthew Maranges (‘04).37
The following season (2004-2005), the team finished as runners-up in their district with excellent contributions from Jorge Jordán (‘05), Christopher López (‘05), Daniel Rodríguez (‘06), Kristopher García (‘06), and Mario Allende (‘06). During the 2005-2006 season, the team finished with an 18W-11L record, and placed second in their district for the second year in row. They also reached the semi-final round of the regional tournament for the fourth year in row. At the district quarter-final regional game, Pitcher Mauricio Rodríguez (‘07) pitched a complete game shut-out to give the team the win (9-0). Outstanding contributions also included: Jonathan Colao (‘06), Alejandro de Zayas (‘07), Kristopher García (‘06), Manuel Fernández (‘06), Adrián Lorenzo (‘07), and Yoe López (‘08).38
The 2006-2007 season also made history. The team won the district championship title by defeating Key West High School and Mater Academy Charter School. At the regional finals, the Wolverines attained the regional championship for the second time in their history by defeating Pembroke Pines Charter High School and Jensen Beach High School and moved to compete at the state level. Pitcher Mau-
Pitcher Gabriel Hernández (‘04), drafted by the New York Mets at the 2004 Major League Baseball amateur draft. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Three-year All-County, All-State, and Miami Herald (4A-1A) Baseball Player of the Year (2002-2003), First Baseman Louis Rojas (‘03). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
ricio Rodríguez (‘07) made the All-County team and recorded 113 strike-outs for the season, setting a new “most strike-outs” in a single season school record. The team also had excellent contributions from Adrián Lorenzo (‘07), Eric Cos (‘07), and Pablo Vinent (‘07). During the 2007-2008 season, the team finished with a 17W-7L record, took third place at the Bishop Moore Catholic Challenge Tournament, and was ranked fourth in the state of Florida 4A class for its entire season. Lucas Calderón (‘08) was the team’s most valuable player. Calderón established a new school single season home run record (9), and made the All-County team. Yoe López (‘08) was the team’s leading hitter, and Christopher de Goti (‘08) was its leading pitcher. De Goti signed to play baseball at Tufts University, while Catcher Byron Soler (‘08) signed with Samford University, Shortstop Nicholas Martínez (‘08) signed with Fordham University, and Pitcher Marco Mejía (‘08) with St. Louis University. For the 2008-2009 season, the team finished the season with a 20W-10L-1T record, won the district championship for the third time in five years, and Coach Meilán won the Miami Her-
ald Baseball 4A Coach of the Year honor. Pitcher Andrés Wiltz (‘09) signed with St. Louis University, and Emilio Pastor (‘09) with the University of Pennsylvania. With one of the fastest teams in the history of the program, the season had outstanding contributions from Kyle Prats (‘11), who established a new school record for stolen bases (19), as well as César Ferreiro (‘09), Mario Rojas (‘09), Edgar Sánchez (‘10), Daniel Barrero (‘09), and Michael Herrera (‘09).39
The following year (2009-2010), Ralph Enríquez coached the varsity baseball team, and Leo Mayi served as assistant coach. The team finished their season with a (20W-8L) record and won the district championship in a game that ended with a magnificent grand-slam by Alexander de Goti (‘12). Outstanding Belen Jesuit baseball players during that season included: Roberto Baroniel (‘11) and Joseph Rodríguez (‘12). During the 2010-2011 season, Coach Andrés Blanco coached the team, and Leo Mayi and Christopher Altieri (‘06) served as assistant coaches. The team finished the season as runners-up in their district. During the season, the Wolverines played a game against Gulliver Preparatory School at Sun Life Stadium, home of the Florida Marlins, and won on the bottom of the seventh inning. Sheehan Planas-Arteaga (‘11) made the All-County team and was the team’s leader in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. Joseph Rodríguez (‘12) set a new school record for bases stolen (25) in a single season. The team also had excellent contributions from Christopher Trujillo (‘11), Andrés Fernández (‘11), and Daniel Guevara (‘12).40
In 2011, Coach Jerry Albert, whose extensive background coaching included the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) Baseball Coach of the Year Award for Broward County, took over as new head varsity baseball coach. The 2011-2012 season started with two terrific victories over Westminster Christian School and Christopher Columbus High School at the Explorers First-Pitch Classic. After this spectacular start, in November 2011, four of the Wolverine baseball players signed national letters of intent to play in Division I Scholarship programs. Shortstop Alexander de Goti (‘12) would play for Long Beach State University, Center fielder Joseph Rodríguez (‘12) would join the team at Wake Forest University, Catcher David Díaz-Fernández would play at Marshall University, and Pitcher Alejandro Lavandero (‘12) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Team players also felt great anticipation when an announcement was made that the Belen Jesuit Wolverines would face the Christopher Columbus Explorers in the game that would inaugurate the new Marlins Park Stadium. Hence, on March 5th, 2012, the new ballpark hosted the first game in its history, at which the Wolverines faced the Explores. At an unforgettable evening, 6,000 fans from the two schools filled the brand new stadium, as former Miami Mayor and Belen Jesuit alumnus Manuel Díaz (‘73)
Roberto Baroniel (‘11), Sheehan Planas-Arteaga (‘11), Christopher Trujillo (‘11), Alexander de Goti (‘12), Joseph Rodríguez (‘12), Giovanni Ayala (‘11), Andrés Fernández (‘11), Alexander Giménez (‘11), David Díaz-Fernández (‘12), Alejandro Lavandero (‘12), Daniel Guevara (‘12), Héctor de la Nuez (‘11), Gilberto Delgado (‘12), Christopher Fontela (‘12), Nicholas Hernández (‘12), Andrés Sánchez (‘12), Christian Solís (‘12), Ricardo de Armas (‘13), Daniel Parets (‘13), Joseph Acosta (‘14), Andrés Blanco, Leo Mayi, Christopher Altieri (‘06)
and Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski delivered the first ceremonial pitches. Belen Jesuit enjoyed home field advantage during the game, and the Belen Jazz Band performed the national anthem. Although the Explorers walked away victorious (6-4), the Miami Marlins decided that the successful event demanded an annual event. The Miami Marlins have since introduced the Legacy Cup, a perpetual trophy that will be awarded to the winner of the game that will be played annually between the two rival schools to open each baseball season. With memories that will surely last a lifetime, the Wolverines also finished the 2011-2012 season with a 20W-9L record and the district championship. Moreover, keeping in line with what had been an extraordinary season, Belen Jesuit received the news in June 2012 that Pitcher Alejandro Lavandero (‘12), who had been recruited by Florida Atlantic University (FAU), had been selected in the ninth round of the Major League Baseball (MBL) draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. With great enthusiasm, Head Baseball Coach Jerry Albert stated:
“Alex is a great athlete and wonderful guy. This is a testament to the work ethic and dedication that he has shown to the sport he loves. We are all very proud of him; it’s a very exciting day for the Belen Jesuit baseball program.”41
The team ended the 2012-2013 season with a 20W-9L record. They also advanced to the district championship and the regional quarterfinals. Two team members signed to play in the Manhattan College Division I program, Elías Monsalve (‘13) and William Fabra (‘13). Two additional seniors also went on to play college-level baseball, Alexander Lorenzo (‘13) at Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana and Lucas Fernández-Rocha (‘13) at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.
The team ended the 2013-2014 season with a 22W-8L record and as runners-up in the district. In March of 2014, the Belen Jesuit Athletics Department and the baseball program announced that Nicholas Martínez (‘08), who had been drafted out of Fordham University by the Texas Rangers in the 2011 major league baseball draft, had been named as that team’s fifth starting pitcher. Martínez made his major league baseball pitching debut on April 5th, 2014. It was a great day for the Belen Jesuit baseball program, whose humble beginnings included transporting players to practice at public baseball fields and using “bare bones” equipment. While many years had passed since those days, at last, one of their own Wolverines had debuted as a starting pitcher in the major leagues.
In retrospect, the baseball program at the school developed by overcoming the same overall challenges that the Athletic Department faced since it was first established in 1965 at the campus in Little Havana. The program also experienced the same success as other athletic teams at the school after the new millennium since it benefited from the athletic program’s growth and new facilities. With its five resident teams, the baseball program remains one of the most competitive and successful sports at Belen Jesuit, and the future should continue to shine brightly for its team players and their coaches.
Alexander de Goti (‘12), Joseph Rodríguez (‘12), David Díaz-Fernández (‘12), Daniel Guevara (‘12), Gilberto Delgado (‘12), Christopher Fontela (‘12), Nicholas Hernández (‘12), Michael Iglesia (‘12), Andrés Sánchez (‘12), Christian Solís (‘12), Francisco Rigueiro (‘12), Daniel Parets (‘13), Roberto Álvarez
William Fabra
Nikolas Fernández (‘13), Lucas Fernández-Rocha (‘13), Alexander Lorenzo (‘13), Bernardo
Javier Martínez (‘13), Elías Monsalve (‘13), Robert Morgado (‘13), Alberto Naya (‘13), Nicholas Suárez (‘13), Joseph Acosta (‘14), Eric Artigues (‘14), David Villa (‘14), Iván Montane, Mike Curiel, Jorge Prieto, Chris Jaile
The 2010-2011 Belen Jesuit baseball team at Sun Life Stadium, where the Wolverines defeated Gulliver Preparatory School in 2011.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The 2011-2012 Belen Jesuit baseball team with Head Coach Jerry Albert at the Marlins Park Inaugural Game, March 5 th, 2012.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Alejandro Lavandero (‘12), recruited by Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the ninth round of the June 2012 Major League Baseball amateur draft. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
(‘13),
(‘13),
Manrique (‘13),
The first Belen
cross country team (1970-1971).
Photograph from Echoes, 1971.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Belen Jesuit cross country long distance running team was founded by Carlos Barquín during the 1970-1971 academic year under the leadership of Athletic Director Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58). Cross country became the third organized athletic team sport at Belen Jesuit. Coach Barquín would continue to coach the varsity cross country team for over thirty years (1970-2002). One of Coach Barquín’s first tasks was deciding how and where the team would practice and hold home races. Since the school lacked both an athletic field and a running track during the years the school resided in Little Havana, cross country athletes carried out what today is known as “road races” by running around the Little Havana neighborhood. The team also ran to Crandon Park, in Key Biscayne, where they also practiced in Parking Lot #2 at a makeshift course that Coach Barquín had measured out for them.
At first, the cross country team was composed mostly of Belen Jesuit basketball players who joined in an attempt to get in shape for their
season; however, their efforts soon proved to be worthwhile. Even though they lacked of athletic facilities and were forced to compete against some of the most prestigious and well-established schools in the state, the Wolverine cross country team soon became much more than Coach Barquín ever expected. In its first season, the team won the district championship and became the first Belen Jesuit team to advance to compete at the state championship finals, in Jacksonville, Florida. At the state finals competition, Jorge Cabrera (‘72) captured an individual state championship trophy, the first of its kind by a Belen Jesuit student. The excitement overwhelmed the students during the ride home, as they passed the trophy back and forth to another. By the time the team returned to Miami, the trophy was in need of repair; however, the experience and sense of accomplishment that remained with the young athletes and their coach was much more than any trophy could exemplify. Against unbelievable odds, Belen Jesuit had a state champion.42
During the years that the school resided in Little Havana, the team won eight district championships, as well as four conference titles, and recorded the first undefeated season for any varsity team in school history (1976-1977), during which Juan Dieppa (‘78) established a three-mile record for the school (15:49). Two years later, the 1978-1979 team brought home the first state level team athletic trophy, when they finished as runners-up in the state finals. Believing that varsity performance could be enhanced by students learning to compete in races from a younger age, Coach Barquín founded and began coaching a junior high cross country team (1979-1980). Outstanding Belen Jesuit cross country runners from when the school resided in Little Havana included: Alfredo Fernández de Castro (‘73), Francisco Ruiz (‘73), Richard Doyle (‘76), John Medina (‘77), Peter Buigas (‘78), Manuel Buigas (‘78), Juan Rodríguez (‘79), Juan Carlos Álvarez (‘81), and Carlos de la Cruz Jr. (‘81).43
After the school’s relocation to West Miami-Dade, the new campus offered plenty of space in which to run; however, at first, the school still lacked athletic facilities and a running track, which called for Coach Barquín’s improvisation once more. In an effort to establish a course for his cross country runners, Coach Barquín had running paths opened through the twenty-acre wooded area that had yet to be cleared for use. Student practices soon revealed, however, that bees, which escaped from nearby bee farms, had built several hives with-
José Alemán (‘72), Ramón García (‘73), Alfredo Fernández de Castro (‘73), Julio Campa (‘71), Carlos Pérez Heydrich (‘72), Alberto Aran (‘72), Orlando Manrique (‘72), Michael Crudele (‘73), Luis Hernández (‘74), Francisco Ruiz (‘73), Jorge Bouza (‘74), Jorge Cabrera (‘72), Carlos Barquín, Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58)
in the wooded area. In true Belen spirit, students did not complain. Instead, they laughed the entire thing off while claiming that running from the bees was a great incentive to run even faster.
In 1981, soon after moving in, Belen Jesuit hosted its first middle school cross country invitational competition, at which an excess of 500 students participated. A few weeks before, however, school grounds had been inundated by torrential rains from Tropical Storm Dennis, and although the waters had receded, the ground was still soft and muddy, having been saturated by the rains. As a result, many of the middle school runners who participated in the race finished without either one or both of their running shoes, which they had been forced to leave behind, stuck in the muddy race course. Laughter proved to be the best medicine that year, as runners looked through the mud for their shoes after the race and celebrated upon finding them. The middle school invitational became a tradition at Belen, and it has taken place yearly at the school since that first muddy competition.44
During the 1980s, the varsity cross country team had four undefeated seasons, won five additional district championships, and five conference titles. The team also came in as runners-up in the state championship competition four times. During the summer of 1983, Coach Barquín began a new tradition: the team would carry out preseason training during a summer trip to the mountains. The reasoning behind training in the mountains was two-fold. First, lower oxygen levels in high altitudes help runners gain endurance. Second, the time together helped the team bond. The first trip during the summer of 1983 was to the North Carolina mountains, where the team also camped out. Belen Jesuit parents supported Coach Barquín in his pre-season training endeavor, helping to fundraise and chaperone during the process. In the mid-1980s, the success of the junior high program also caused Coach Barquín to establish a sixth grade cross country team during the 1985-1986 academic year. The team would start training cross country runners even earlier. Outstanding Belen Jesuit cross country runners during this time included: Juan Carlos Álvarez (‘81), Emiliano Herrán (‘84), and Juan Álvarez (‘84). Also during these years, Nilton González (‘87) and Naldo González (‘88) both made the All-County cross country team two years in a row.
Daniel Sánchez-Galarraga (‘96), Armando Vázquez (‘96), Raúl Rodríguez (‘97), Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97), Alexis Mantecón (‘97), Frankie Ruiz (‘96), José Rodríguez-Torres (‘97), Jorge Salum (‘98), Alejandro Rivera (‘96), Erik Montalvo (‘97), Edward Acosta (‘99), Mikel Llanes (‘98), Carlos Barquín
Also during the 1980s, one of the most impressive runners in Belen Jesuit history, Eric Álvarez (‘85), established a new three-mile cross country record at the school (15:23), which held for fifteen years, and remains as the third best time achieved in the school’s history. Álvarez made the All-County team in both 1982 and 1983, and was Dade County Fair & Exposition champion in 1984. He was also All-Conference as well as district champion in 1983 and 1984, and Miami Herald Runner of the Year in 1984. During the 1984-1985 season, he became the first and only Belen Jesuit student to win a state title two years in a row, when he attained the state champion title in both 1984 and 1985. For his accomplishments, Álvarez won the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award in both 1984 and 1985. He also became the first student to be offered a full scholarship to compete in cross country and track at the college level, which he accepted at Florida International University. In 2007, Álvarez was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame.45
Jesuit
The cross country team won the 1995-1996 overall team state championship for the first time in school history. The team was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Eric Álvarez (‘85) won the 1983 and 1984 cross country state championship. Álvarez was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Edward Acosta (‘99) won the 1998 cross country state championship. Acosta was the first Belen Jesuit cross country runner to become a national finalist at the Footlocker National Tournament. Acosta was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
During the 1990s, the cross country team finished with eight undefeated seasons and won eight district championships, four Dade County Fair & Exposition titles, and six regional championships. During the summer of 1994, thanks to the generosity of Belen Jesuit parents Raúl Rodríguez and Nidia Rodríguez, whose son Raúl Rodríguez (‘97) was a cross country runner at the time, the team conducted preseason training in Marco Island. Another Belen Jesuit parent, Emilio Mantecón, whose son Alexis Mantecón (‘97) was also on the team, accompanied the runners and supported Coach Barquín, as the team trained from a motor home parked next to the Rodríguez’s residence.
Finally, after much effort and hard work, during the 1995-1996 season, the team won the coveted cross country state championship, the first of its kind for the school. That same year, Coach Carlos Barquín received Coach of the Year awards from the Miami Herald, the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA), and the Knights of Columbus. Outstanding Belen Jesuit cross country runners during this time were: Carlos Salvat (‘89), Javier Riera (‘91), Alejandro Bienes (‘94), Alejandro Rivera (‘96), Frankie Ruiz (‘96), Mikel Llanes (‘98), and Jorge Muñoz-Bustamante (‘00). Bienes, Rivera, Llanes, and Muñoz-Bustamante made the All-County team, with some being awarded the honor several years in a row. Also during this time, another Belen Jesuit runner, Erik Montalvo (‘97), made the All-County team three times (19941996). Montalvo was the Miami Herald AllCounty Runner of the Year Award (1997), and came in as runner-up in the state championship three-mile race in 1995. For his accomplishments, Montalvo won the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award in both 1995 and 1996.46
1999). Acosta came in as runner-up in the state championship in 1997, attained the state champion title in 1998, and was the first Belen Jesuit student to become a national finalist at the Footlocker National Tournament (1998). Acosta received a full scholarship to Wake Forest University to compete in cross country and track. For his accomplishments, Acosta won the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award in both 1998 and 1999. In 2007, Acosta was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame.
With the change of the millennium, the Belen Jesuit cross country team became a true powerhouse in the state of Florida and established a presence in national competitions. During the 2002-2003 academic year, Belen Jesuit alumnus Frankie Ruiz (‘96) began coaching the team. While he had been a student at Belen Jesuit, Coach Ruiz had been a member of the team which attained the only state championship in the history of the program (1995-1996). He had returned to Belen Jesuit to coach both the junior high and the sixth grade cross country team during the 1997-1998 academic year. When Coach Ruiz took over the varsity team, another Belen Jesuit alumnus, Víctor Arrieta (‘95), took over coaching both the junior high and the sixth grade cross country teams. Athletic Director Carlos Barquín, who by 2002 had already been coaching the varsity cross country team for over thirty years, gave careful consideration before turning the team over to Coach Ruiz:
“I saw great potential in Coach Frankie Ruiz. He had already coached the other teams with much success and taken the runners to pre-season training. He had an enormous sense of pride and dedication to Belen Jesuit and wanted to bring the state titles home, as his team had done during the 1995-1996 season. I could not be happier, but also could not have possibly imagined how well it would work out once Coach Ruiz took over coaching the varsity cross country.”47
Also during this time, one of the most impressive runners in Belen Jesuit history, Edward Acosta (‘99), established a new three-mile cross country record at the school (15:07). Acosta made the All-County team as well as the AllState team during all four of his high school years (1996-1999). He was also All-County Runner of the Year (1998), district champion (1997-1999), and regional champion (1998-
Belen Jesuit alumnus, Juan Rodríguez (‘79), who had been assisting Coach Barquín for several years, became Coach Ruiz’s assistant cross country coach. During the first decade of the new millennium, several outstanding Belen Jesuit cross country runners have also made the All-County team, with some being awarded the honor several times. Among these are: Jorge Palmerola (‘01), José García (‘03), and Michael Jalil (‘04). Other Belen Jesuit cross country runners such as Paul Santuoso (‘05) made the All-County team twice, and Javier Cruz (‘04) and Eduardo Argüello (‘05) made the team three out of the four years that they competed in cross country in high school.
During the pre-season training in the summer of 2006, Coach Ruiz took the varsity cross country team to Boulder, Colorado, where they met Olympic Gold Medalist Frank Shorter, and the number one triathlete in the world, Mark Fretta. During the 2006-2007 season, the team won the state championship, the second such title in the history of the program. The 2006-2007 cross country state final remains as one of the most dramatic in the history of Belen. After leading by a good margin, team Captain Guillermo Echarte (‘08) collapsed about 400 meters from the finish line. By sheer will power, he staggered ahead. Bruised and cut from his falls, Echarte collapsed two more times before reaching the finish line. Although team members were disappointed by his fall, as a team, they overcame the setback and edged to win the state championship title. Echarte shed tears of joy. Without worrying about his individual state title, he said, “We could not have won anything without the team. It was a team effort.” In 2007, Coach Frankie Ruiz (‘96) won Coach of the Year awards from the Miami Herald and the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA).
The following year, for the summer of 2007, Coach Ruiz took the team to Oregon to train for their 2007-2008 season. As they remained determined to defend the state championship title, the team had an excellent season and repeated their performance from the prior year, becoming only the second team in Miami-Dade County history to ever win back-to-back state championships. Guillermo Echarte (‘08), who made the All-County team all four of his high school years (2005-2008), also won Miami Herald Runner of the Year in 2006 and in 2008. In 2008, Coach Frankie Ruiz (‘96) also won Coach of the Year awards from the Miami Herald and the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA).48
During the summer of 2008, Coach Ruiz took the team to train in the North Carolina Mountains. The 2008-2009 season yielded a fourth cross country state championship title, and the Wolverines became the first team in Miami-Dade to win three consecutive state championships in the sixty-two year history of the sport. The team was ranked sixth in the southeast region for the Nike Team National Tournament and attended the regional meet in Cary, North Carolina. The 2010-2011 season also proved extraordinary as the Wolverines captured their fifth cross country state championship title with Joseph Lindsey (‘11), Branden Martínez (‘12), Elliot Clemente (‘12), Avery López (‘13), and Fabián Tomás (‘14).
Javier Zamparelli (‘07), David Otero (‘07), Jason Oliver (‘07), Guillermo Echarte (‘08), Michael Cruz (‘08), Lawrence Durán (‘09), Conor McCarthy (‘07), Frankie Ruiz (‘96)
During the first and second decade of new millennium, several Belen Jesuit cross country runners made the All-County team, including Joseph Dorfman (‘09), Lázaro Fields (‘09), Joseph Lindsey (‘11), Elliot Clemente (‘12), Francisco Tejidor (‘12), Avery López (‘13), Michael Magoulas (‘14), Fabián Tomás (‘14), and Ryan Rodríguez (‘15). Clemente established a new school five-mile record (15:03). He made the All-County team every year he was in high school and came in as an individual runner-up in the state championship in 2011. He is the second Belen Jesuit student and only the fourth in Miami-Dade County history to become a national finalist at the Footlocker National Tournament. In 2011, Coach Frankie Ruiz (‘96) won Coach of the Year awards
The Belen Jesuit cross country team won the 2006-2007 state championship. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Cross Country Team Captain, All-County, and Miami Herald Runner of the Year for 2006 and 2008 Guillermo Echarte (‘08) hugged Athletic Director Carlos Barquín after his collapse on the state competition track. Although he lost the individual state title, the 2006-2007 cross country team won the overall state championship. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The 2011-2012 cross country state champion and the Miami Herald's Runner of the Year, Elliot Clemente (‘12), was also a national finalist at the Footlocker National Tournament. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
from the Miami Herald and the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) for the third time in his career as head cross country coach.
The Wolverine cross country team had an extraordinary 2011-2012 season -the best in the team’s history at the school- with exceptional performances at the local, state, and national levels. With a five-mile average of 15:37, the team surpassed any other team in the history of the state of Florida. The team won major invitational wins at the University of Florida Invitational, the Flrunners. com Invitational, at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition, at the Pre-State Invitational and at the Celtic Invitational. The team captured Belen Jesuit’s thirtieth district and fifteenth regional championship. Elliot Clemente (‘12) also won the state championship. Clemente led the team to its sixth state championship, supported by Avery López (‘13), Michael Magoulas (‘14), Fabián Tomás (‘14), and Francisco Tejidor (‘12). The team’s state performance earned them a ranking of sixth at the national level from Dyestat and XCNation. Clemente established a new five-mile record (14:58) at the Nike NXN (Southern) regional championship in Cary, North Carolina. The team’s regional championship, the first of its kind for Belen Jesuit, earned them a spot to compete at the Nike NXN national competition in Portland, Oregon, where
they finished in twentieth place. Clemente won the Miami Herald’s Runner of the Year Award and Coach Frankie Ruiz (‘96) the Coach of the Year Award. Clemente went on to compete in college-level cross country at the University of Florida.49
Over the 2012-2013 season, the team led by Avery López (‘13), and supported by Michael Magoulas (‘14), Fabián Tomás (‘14), and Ryan Rodríguez (‘15) earned distinction by defeating every single team in Florida across all classifications. They carried this dominating momentum and captured the seventh Wolverine cross country state championship in the history of the program. It was also their seventh state championship in seven years. Magoulas, Tomás, and Rodríguez as well as Alexander Issac (‘14) continued the tradition of excellence that the team had become known for during the 2013-2014 season. Once again, the team earned the state championship, the eighth such title in their history. In addition, once again, Coach Frankie Ruiz (‘96) earned the Miami Herald’s Cross Country Coach of the Year Award. It was the sixth time that Coach Ruiz had achieved the honor since he had been coaching the cross country team at Belen Jesuit.
In the new millennium, the Wolverine cross country program heightened its success to a new level of excellence. Since 2009, and thanks to the initiative and hard work of several Belen Jesuit alumni, a new varsity cross country course has been built on campus, making Belen Jesuit the first school with a permanent facility which also includes a permanent vita course. With its eight state championships, the program’s success is a testament to the hard work and commitment exhibited by coaches, students, families, and the Belen Jesuit administration throughout the history of the program. When reflecting about the history of the program, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín said:
“At first, when Athletic Director Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) asked me to coach cross country, I had many doubts because of my inexperience. Even after the success of the first season, my anxiety level only increased when we made it to the state finals. I remember that from where I stood to watch the race, I could see the entire field of runners. I noticed that it looked like a curve. Off course, a few exceptional runners were out in front. Another few runners lingered behind toward the back end. The majority of them, however, ran somewhere in the middle of this long winding curve. As I stood there watching, I heard a Belen Jesuit parent, Antonio Rabassa, point to the field of runners and say: ‘Look! It’s the curve of life.’ As Dr. Rabassa said that, I reflected on how that curve did in fact resemble life. Some exceptional people are way ahead of the rest, some are struggling behind, and the great majority are concentrated somewhere in the middle. I thought about how I had trained my runners. I had explained to each of them that they all needed to try to stay toward the front of the curve if we were going to have any hope of winning the state title. I had also warned them that if just one were to get stuck in the middle or begin to struggle behind the curve, the team would not win. I had emphasized that this was a team effort. Even after all my coaching, however,
it was clear to me then that it was really up to each one of them. It did not matter how much I hoped that they remembered my advice. All I could really do was watch and pray. After that race, I spoke to my cross country runners and shared what I had realized during the race. I also told them that just like it was up to them to become better runners, it was also up to them to strive to be ahead of the curve in becoming better Christians, better students, better sons, and better men. I also told them that no matter how much advice I or their parents gave them, it would always be up to them to strive to do their best to stay ahead of the curve. I realized that day that it was a blessing to have the opportunity to coach cross country precisely because the experience went much further than just training runners. It also involved learning about the many life lessons involved in a team sport. I could have never imagined, however, how many of those runners would succeed both on and off the race course. Even further from my imagination still, was how many of them would return as professional men to tell me how much their time in cross country had meant to them. For that, I am always most grateful. That is, after all, what we hope to do here. We strive educate better Christian men who will make their way toward the front of the long-winding curve that is life.”50
The 2011-2012 Belen Jesuit cross country team won the top championships at the county, district, regional, state, and southeast regional competitions. They also placed twentieth in the United States at the Nike NXN national competition. Photographs, taken after winning the state and the Nike NXN southeast regional championship, are from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Diego Rojo (‘13), Francisco Tejidor (‘12), Alexander Issac (‘14), Peter Jude (‘12), Elliot Clemente (‘12), Michael Magoulas (‘14), Fabián Tomás (‘14), Avery López (‘13), Frankie Ruiz (‘96)
Francisco Ruiz (‘73) won the first Belen Jesuit track and field one-mile Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship. Ruiz was also a 19721973 half-mile state medalist. Both titles were the first of their kind in school history. Ruiz was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
TRACK AND FIELD
The Belen Jesuit track and field team was reinstated at the Belen Jesuit Little Havana campus by Athletic Director Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) and Coach Carlos Barquín during the 1971-1972 academic year. Colegio de Belén athletes had competed in track and field events in Havana since 1920, collecting thirteen conference championships (1925-1961). Athletic Director Loret de Mola and Coach Barquín both believed that the athletes at Belen Jesuit had great potential to succeed in track and field events given the exemplary performance attained by the cross country long distance running team at the school. Historically, some of the Belen Jesuit long distance runners who competed in cross country during the fall semester have also competed in track and field events during the spring. 51
Over the years, Carlos Barquín coached the track and field team at Belen Jesuit (1971-1984; 1997-2004) and served as an assistant to several other track and field coaches. During the years that the
school resided in Little Havana, the success of the track and field team could be attributed to both commitment and resourcefulness. Track and field runners practiced during the spring -just as the cross country runners did during the fall- by running from Little Havana to Crandon Park after school, where they also practiced to compete in other track and field events. In 1973, Francisco Ruiz (‘73) won first place in the one-mile race event held at the Gulfstream Athletic Conference and Ruiz also became the first Belen Jesuit runner to win a state finalist medal at a race that took place at Showalter Field in Orlando. A few years later, team member Alfredo Rabassa (‘80) wanted to compete in the pole vault event. Having no other recourse, Rabassa learned how to pole vault by running up to the Crandon Park Lot #2 ticket sales building, thrusting his pole, and landing his jump on the building’s rooftop. His resourcefulness and commitment paid off when he became the first Belen Jesuit student to earn a state finalist medal in the pole vault event. During the 1970s, the track and field team won the district championship in 1974, 1975, and 1981. It also achieved the Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship in both 1979 and 1981. The team also finished as runners-up at the conference in 1980. Several Belen Jesuit track and field athletes established school records during this time. Amongst them were: Jorge Dieppa (‘74) for both the 100-yard (9.9) and 200-yard (23.3) races, Jorge Duarte (‘75) for the 120-yard hurdles (15.5), Juan Dieppa (‘78) in the 880-yard race (21.02), as well as Manuel de la Fuente (‘78) and Amadeo López Castro (‘79), who both achieved (51.8) in the 440-yard races.52
After the school relocated to the West Miami-Dade campus, the lack of a running track facility on campus continued to pose challenges; however, athletes and coaches pressed forward in their accomplishments. Carlos Barquín continued to coach the team until 1984, and Richard Stuart served as assistant coach (1982-1984). During this time, the team won the Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship in 1982, 1983, and 1984. During the 1983-1984 season, for the first time in track and field history, Eric Álvarez (‘85) won the state champion title. Álvarez won the title in the twomile race. That year, Ricardo Mayo-Álvarez (‘85), who had won the district champion title for pole vault, placed sixth at the state finals, and Emiliano Herrán (‘84) set a new school record (42.23) in the 330-yard hurdles race.53
The following season (19841985), Phillip Dembowski took over as coach of the track and field team, a position in which he would serve until 1988. Tom Drexler served as assistant coach from 1984 to 1986. During the 1984-1985 season, the team finished as runners-up in the Gulfstream Athletic Conference, and Eric Álvarez (‘85) won his second state championship title in the two-mile race, also setting a new school record (9:28). Both Álvarez and Mayo-Álvarez made the All-County, the All-Conference, and the All-State teams in both 1984 and 1985. The following season (1985-1986), Jorge García (‘86) and Richard Torra (‘86) won district Champion titles in shot put and the 880-yard dash respectively. García also placed third at the state finals, where Nilton González (‘87) competed in the one-mile race, and Naldo González (‘88) placed sixth in the twomile race. Outstanding track and field athletes that season also included Carlos Bravo (‘86) in the triple jump event and Alberto Gross (‘86) in shot put. The following season (1987-1988), in-spite of a slow start, the team came together for a landmark year, during which they won both the district and the Gulfstream Athletic Conference championships, and ten team members qualified as state finalists. Outstanding Belen Jesuit track and field athletes during this time included: Eduardo Gross (‘88), Alejandro Permuy (‘88), Wilfredo Braceras (‘88), Maurice Milton (‘88), and Manuel Monal (‘88).54
In 1988, Richard Stuart, who had been coaching football as well as golf at Belen, and who had also served as assistant track and field coach (1982-1984), began coaching the track and field team. Ángel Aparicio (1988-1991; 1996-1997), Carlos Barquín (1991-1997) and Belen Jesuit alumnus Víctor Arrieta (‘95) (1996-1997) served as assistant coaches. Also in 1988, under the guidance of Athletic Director Carlos Barquín, Coach Stuart established both a middle school and a sixth grade track and field team at the school. Moreover, with
the cooperation and generosity of several Belen Jesuit families, construction for the first Belen Jesuit track began (1989-1990) and was completed the following year. The school began hosting the First Annual Wolverine Relays (1991-1992), and in 2004, the relays were renamed the Fr. Luis Ripoll, SJ Relays, to honor the memory of the beloved Belen Jesuit rector and counselor.
During Coach Richard Stuart’s tenure (1988-1997), the team had six undefeated seasons and won eight district championships. The 1988-1989 season included the tying of two school records: Alexis Abril (‘89) tied the 120-yard hurdles record (15.5), and Juan Taboas (‘89) tied the 880-yard record (2:01). Also, the one-mile relay team, which included Taboas, Luis Zúñiga (‘91), Manuel Mejido (‘90), and Carlos Salvat (‘89), established a new school record (3:31). During the 1989-1990 season, Mejido achieved fourth place at the state finals in the 880-yard race. The following year (1990-1991), the team won the district championship, and began an undefeated winning streak that would last until 1997. Also during that year, the one-mile relay team, composed of Zúñiga, Gabriel Jiménez (‘91), Javier Argamasilla (‘92), and Eric Cartaya (‘92) placed eighth in the state finals, and Walter Lista (‘91) won the district championship title. The following season (1991-1992), the team was reclassified to the 3A level. The 400-meter relay team, which included Cartaya, Alejandro Muelle (‘93), Eduardo Martínez (‘92), and Alexis González (‘92), set a new school record (45.0). State finalists that year included Alejandro Bienes (‘94) in both the one and two-mile events, Javier Salazar (‘92) for discus, and Ignacio García (‘93) for pole vault. The following year (1992-1993), García won the State Champion title in pole vault, and established a new school record (14’6”), which has yet to be broken.55
Eric Álvarez (‘85) won the 1983-1984 track and field one-mile and the 1984-1985 twomile state championship. Álvarez was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives. Track and field pole vault state medalist Alfredo Rabassa (‘80) does the high jump. Photograph from Echoes, 1979.
During the 1993-1994 season, Mario Díaz (‘94) established three new school records in the 100-meter race (10.98), the 200-meter race (22.03), and as part of the 100-meter relay team with Jorge Calienes (‘96), Ricardo Pérez (‘94), and Jorge Solares (‘95). Other new school records established included Richard Sanders (‘94) in the 110-meter hurdles (15.2) and the high jump (6’4”), and Solares in the 300-meter hurdles (41.5). In 1995, the 1600-meter relay team, which included Erik Montalvo (‘97), Alexis Mantecón (‘97), Edward Acosta (‘99), and Roberto Armengol (‘95), set a new school record (18:17) that has yet to be broken. That year, state finalists included Eric Santa-Cruz (‘95) and Leónidas Abaunza (‘95) in pole vault, who finished in eighth and tenth place respectively. In the 1995-1996 season, Montalvo won the state championship title in the 1600-meter event and set a new school record (4:18:55). Montalvo also came in second place for the state final 3200-meter race. Moreover, the 800-meter relay team, composed of Montalvo, Mantecón, Mikel Llanes (‘98), and Daniel Sánchez-Galarraga (‘96), also took second place in their race at the state finals. The following season (1996-1997), Montalvo, Llanes, Mantecón, and Jorge Muñoz-Bustamante (‘00) also finished in second place at the state finals. Outstanding Belen Jesuit track and field team members during this time also included: Manuel Feijóo (‘89), Juan Carlos Daire (‘91), Javier Taboas (‘93), Pablo Conde (‘96), Oliver Benítez (‘96), and Matthew Powers (‘96).56 For his accomplishments in track and field as well as in football and baseball Benítez was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
García
won the 1992-1993 track and field pole vault state championship. García was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
During the 1997-1998 academic year, Carlos Barquín started the second part of his tenure (1997-2004) coaching the team, and several coaches served as assistants including: Víctor Arrieta (‘95) (1997-2002), Frankie Ruiz (‘96) (1997-2004), Ary Montalvo (1997-1999), Julio Valdés (19992001), and Arthur Foster (2003-2004). The 1997-1998 season included the eighth consecutive track and field district championship for the team and exceptional performances at the state finals by Edward Acosta (‘99), Alex Burgos (‘98), and the 800-meter relay team, which included Jorge Muñoz-Bustamante (‘00), Jorge Salum (‘98), Mikel Llanes (‘98), and Steven Henríquez (‘99). District champions that year also included: Víctor McMillian (‘99) for shot put, Vincent Cartaya (‘99) for discus, and the 800-meter relay team of Muñoz-Bustamante, Salum, Henríquez, and Alex Beltrán (‘00). The following season (1998-1999), the team achieved their ninth consecutive district championship title, and finished as runners-up in the region. At the state finals, Acosta won the state championship title in the 3200-meter race and set a school record for the three-mile race (15:07). Muñoz-Bustamante finished as state runner-up in the 800-meter race and McMillian established a new school record for shot put (51’6”). For their accomplishments in track and field as well as in cross country, Acosta was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and Llanes in 2014.
During the 1999-2000 season, state finalists included the 400-meter relay team composed of Jorge Muñoz-Bustamante (‘00), Alejandro Bedoya (‘01), Jean Paul Chávez (‘01), Raymond Méndez (‘01), and substitute Roberto Zaldívar (‘02). Moreover, in a spectacular comeback, Jonathan Salum (‘02), who returned after a serious ankle injury the previous season, finished in fourth place in the pole vault event at the state finals. The following season (2000-2001), the team remained undefeated, captured its tenth district championship in eleven years, won four invitational meet championships, set four new school records, won three regional championships, and had eleven state finalists. Jorge Palmerola (‘01) made the All-County team, and earned the Miami-
Dade County Fair & Exposition championship title in the 3200-meter race. Chávez, Méndez, Bedoya, and Miguel Ferrer (‘03) made up the 400-meter relay team that won the regional championship title for that race. The following season (2001-2002), the team finished the season after defending its district title, with a third place finish at the regional meet, and a fourth place finish at the state finals. Javier Cruz (‘04) obtained the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, the regional, and the district championship titles. He also placed fourth at the state finals in the 3200-meter race. Also at the state finals, the 100-meter relay team, which included Ferrer, Felipe Ojeda (‘03), Luis Pereda (‘03), and Javier García-Tuñón (‘04), placed third, and José García (‘03) placed second (1600-meter) and fourth (800-meter). The following year (2002-2003), García won the state championship title in the 1600-meter race and established two school records in the 1600-meter (4:15.99) and the one-mile (4:18.87) races. Ferrer also set a new record (50.09) in the 400-meter race. Also in 2003, and once again as a result of the generosity of Belen Jesuit families and alumni, the Belen Jesuit track team inaugurated a brand new, world class 400-meter nine-lane synthetic running track at the West Miami-Dade campus, where the school has since hosted the district championship finals as well as the All Catholic Conference (ACC) and high school track and field events. The following year (2003-2004), García-Tuñón won the state championship title in both the 100-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles. García-Tuñón became a Miami Herald scholar athlete finalist, and
he graduated from Belen Jesuit as the best all-around track athlete, after establishing nine new records at the school. Among García-Tuñón’s standing records at Belen Jesuit are the following: the 400-meter intermediate hurdles (56.22), the high jump (6’6”), a record achieved with the 100-meter shuttle hurdles relay team (1:04.20) that included Ferrer, Alejandro Sosa (‘05), and Gabriel Suárez (‘04), and another obtained with the distance medley relay team (18:17) that included Javier Cruz (‘04), Paul Santuoso (‘05), and Eduardo Argüello (‘05).57
During the 2004-2005 season, Arthur Foster started coaching the Belen Jesuit track and field team. Coach Foster had assisted Carlos Barquín the previous year in preparation to take over the team. During his tenure (2004-2008), several coaches served as assistants including: Carlos Barquín (2004-2008), Víctor Arrieta (‘95) (2007-2008), Frankie Ruiz (‘96) (2004-2005), Ary Montalvo (2004-2006), Roberto Bell (20042005), Guillermo Hill (2005-2008), Gerardo Pórtela (‘70) (2007-2008), and Tammy King Foster (2007-2008). The team also won three district and two regional championships. During the 2004-2005 season, Eduardo Argüello (‘05) finished in second place at the state finals in the
Erik Montalvo (‘97) won the 1995-1996 track and field 1600-meter state championship. Montalvo was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Ignacio
(‘93)
Edward Acosta (‘99) won the 1998-1999 track and field 3200-meter state championship. Acosta was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
José García (‘03) won the 2002-2003 track and field 1600-meter state championship. García was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The 2006-2007 track and field team won the first overall team state championship in school history. Andrew Jacobs (‘07) also won the 300-meter hurdles 2006-2007 state championship.
800-meter race and set a new school record (1:55.44). Also at the State Finals, Peter Pidermann (‘06) finished in second place in the 300-meter hurdles, Paul Santuoso (‘05) placed eighth in the 1600-meter race, Guerdi Fabré (‘05) placed eighth in the high jump, Guillermo Echarte (‘08) placed eleventh in the 3200-meter race, and the 800-meter relay team, made up of Argüello, Santuoso, Jason Oliver (‘07), and Michael Jalil (‘05), finished in fourth place. During the 2005-2006 season’s state finals, Andrew Jacobs (‘07) placed third and Pidermann eighth in the 300-meter hurdles, and Conor McCarthy (‘07) and Echarte placed seventh and eighth in the 1600-meter race. The 800-meter relay team, made up of McCarthy, Oliver, Echarte, and Daniel Silva (‘07), also finished in fourth place at the state finals. During the 2006-2007 season, the Belen Jesuit track and field team captured the 2A state championship for the first time in school history. Also at the state finals, Andrew Jacobs (‘07), who had won the district and regional championship titles for the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, won the state championship title and placed second on the 110-meter high hurdles. Moreover, a third state championship title was achieved that same year by the 800-meter relay
team composed of Oliver, Silva, Zamparelli, and Roberto Arán (‘08). The 800-meter relay team was also ranked fifth on the national level and established a new record (7:53.53) at the school. Two new school records were also set that year by the 400-meter relay team (3:22.45) that included Jacobs, Jason Oliver (‘07), Javier Zamparelli (‘07), and Daniel Silva (‘07). Alexander del Río (‘07) also set a school record in the triple jump event (44’8.25”). During the 2007-2008 season, the health of track and field Coach Arthur Foster, who had been battling stomach cancer, took a turn for the worse, and he was forced to stop coaching the team. At this point, Víctor Arrieta (‘95) and other assistant coaches took over coaching the team for the rest of the season. Coach Foster passed away after battling cancer for eight months. He had been an example of outstanding leadership, courage, and hope for everyone who had the privilege of getting to know his commitment and fighting spirit at Belen. As his wife, Mrs. Tammy King Foster, shared:
“Foster never let anyone know how sick he really was. His stomach was removed to try to save his life. He was dependent on a feeding tube for nutrition. He had lost seventy pounds, but he just kept pushing. He showed up to the track every day to coach his kids until the last month of his life.”58
After the tragic loss, the team achieved both the district and regional championship titles. At the state finals, the 800-meter relay team made up of Echarte, Roberto Arán (‘08), Lawrence Durán (‘09), and Joseph Dorfman (‘09) finished in second place. Echarte was also the state runner-up in the 3200-meter race and established a new school record (9:25.31).
In 2008, Víctor Arrieta (‘95) became the official varsity track and field head coach. Coach Arrieta had served as assistant coach of the varsity team since graduating from Belen Jesuit and had also been coaching the middle school and sixth grade track and field team, as well as the middle school and sixth grade cross country team since 2001. During the 2008-2009 season, the team won the district championship, finished as runners-up in their region, and placed fifth overall at the state finals, where Brix Gómez (‘10) won third place in the 300-meter hurdles and Andrés Rodríguez (‘09) established a new school record in discus (153’8”). During the 2009-2010 season, the team won the district and regional championships and placed fourth overall at the state finals, where Pablo Álvarez (‘10) won the state championship title in the 300-meter hurdles and was also part of the Belen Jesuit 100-meter relay team, with Nicolás Platt (‘10), Javier Rodríguez (‘11), and Nicholas Menocal (‘11) who won the state championship title in that race. New school records were established by Álvarez in both the 110-meter
hurdles (13.83) and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (36.73), by Javier Rodríguez (‘11) in the long jump (22’11.75”), by Elliot Clemente (‘12) in the 3200-meter race (9:11.95), and by the 100-meter relay team (41.18), which included Álvarez, Platt, Menocal, and Javier Rodríguez (‘11). The following year (2010-2011), the team won the district championship and finished as runners-up in their region. At the state finals, Clemente finished in third place in the 3200-meter race, and was part of the 800-meter relay team that finished in fourth place and which also included Branden Martínez (‘12), Diego Rojo (‘13), and Avery López (‘13). Moreover, Alfonso Horner (‘12) also finished in sixth in the 200-meter at the state final. That season, Clemente and Horner had won both the district and regional championships in their respective races and Horner established two new school records for both the 100-meter (10.73) and the 200-meter (21.6) races. District champions also included Menocal in shot put, Nicolás White (‘11) in discus, and Víctor Velázquez (‘11) in pole vault.59
Over the next two seasons, the track and field program worked consistently toward the goal of obtaining another state title. For the 20112012 season, the team was runner-up in both the district and regional competitions. The team also competed at the state finals, where they finished in fourth place. The 2012-2013 season had a historic first win at the Burley Invitational, a meet that the top programs in the state of Florida attend. Although the team had a disappointing 1.5 point loss in the district competition, they regrouped to win the regional championship. At the state finals, the 3200-meter relay team, made up of Diego Rojo (‘13), Avery López (‘13), Alexander Issac (‘14), and Omar Rosete (‘14), won the state championship. López was state runner-up in the 1600-meter competition and regional and district champion for both the 1600-meter and 3200-meter events. López also established a new school record for the 3200-meter event (9:10.34). Carlos Muñiz (‘13) also earned the district, regional, and Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition championships in the pole vault event.
The success of the Belen Jesuit track and field team now encompasses over forty years of team and individual athlete district, regional, and state championships. The team has not lost a track and field meet since 1998, and it is currently in the middle of its fourteenth undefeated season. However, the program’s most important accomplishments continue to be the unconditional support of the school’s administration, the dedicated service of coaches, the hard work of the athletes, and the consistent generosity of Belen Jesuit families and its alumni. These accomplishments are the heart and soul of the program, whose achievements began modestly over forty years ago at the Little Havana campus and should continue to flourish throughout the future of Belen Jesuit in West Miami-Dade.
track and field 100-meter relay
2009-2010 state
the 300-meter hurdles state championship. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Javier García-Tuñón (‘04) won the 20032004 track and field 110-meter high and 300-meter intermediate hurdles state championships. García-Tuñón established nine track and field records at the school, was a Miami Herald scholar athlete finalist, and was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The
team won the
championship. Standing from left to right: Nicolás Platt (‘10), Javier Rodríguez (‘11), Pablo Álvarez (‘10), and Nicholas Menocal (‘11). Álvarez also won
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Roberto Arán (‘08), Michael Ríos (‘08), Javier Zamparelli (‘07), Andrew Jacobs (‘07), Jason Oliver (‘07), Guillermo Echarte (‘08), Lawrence Durán (‘09), Arthur Foster, Carlos Barquín
The first Belen Jesuit football team (19711972) playing in the 1971 Gulfstream Athletic Conference. The team managed to win just one game during their first season. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
FOOTBALL
The establishment of football as a team sport at Belen Jesuit had been a prominent goal for Rector Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) and Athletic Director, Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58) since Fr. Baldor’s arrival at the school in 1968. Both Fr. Baldor and Athletic Director Loret de Mola understood that football was one of the most highly regarded sports in the United States, and therefore, an essential component for any high school athletic program. Moreover, the Miami Dolphins’s highly successful NFL seasons of the early 1970s had created much fervor throughout South Florida and contributed to the student’s increased enthusiasm about playing football at Belen. Hence, Athletic Director Loret de Mola worked with students and other faculty members to raise the necessary funds to purchase football equipment and uniforms. In a combined effort, they expanded the scope of the Tómbola, and the students conducted a door-to-door chocolate sale. The fundraising proved successful, and during the 1971-1972 academic year, just as the Miami Dolphins started to play their historic perfect season, football became the fifth organized sport to be established at Belen Jesuit.
During the first season, Jim Rehn coached the team, which practiced at Coral Way Elementary, where the school bused players every afternoon. The team continued to use the field at Coral Way Elementary to practice until it moved to its new campus in West Miami-Dade (1981-1982). Undoubtedly, the first Belen Jesuit football game held in 1971 was an anticipated event that after four decades is still fondly remembered by participating alumni. The team’s leading scorer, with two touchdown receptions and the first touchdown scored in Belen
Jesuit football history, was the future 41st Mayor of Miami (2001-2009) Manuel Díaz (‘73). Defensive tackle Julio Fernández (‘73), who also gave an outstanding performance that season, made the Miami Herald All-County team. Although not a stellar season (1W-8L), the team recorded its first and only victory up to that point against the Florida Christian School Patriots. The victory occurred when Jorge Cabrera (‘72) scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion to win the game.
In the words of Coach Jim Rehn, “We (Belen) had waited a long time for that moment.”60 The following academic year (1972-1973), Ed Hargrove took over coaching the football team. Bill Long, John Mays, and James Walker also coached over the next three years. Outstanding Belen Jesuit football players during this time included Jorge Dieppa (‘74), and the school’s first four-year letterman, Fernando Arán (‘75), as well as All-County team members Justo Pozo (‘75), Rodolfo Gómez (‘75), Thomas Harrington (‘76), Miguel Baláis (‘76), and Miguel Tost (‘76).
During the 1976-1977 academic year, Dave Hewett began coaching the football team. During his tenure, the team accomplished its first winning season (8W-2L) during the 1979-1980 academic year. During that historic season, the team played home games at Flamingo Park in Miami Beach, and delivered impressive performances both offensively and defensively. The offense averaged 28.6 points per game. The defense had four shutouts and averaged giving up only 7.9 points per game. The offense was led by a strong offensive line which included Luis Guerra (‘81), who established a school record by rushing more than one thousand yards. Guerra made the All-County team, as did several other outstanding Belen Jesuit football players during the early 1980s, including Federico Arvesú (‘78), Enrique Doce (‘80), Francisco de la Cámara (‘80), Luis Fernández-Rocha (‘82), Antonio Muñiz (‘82), Carlos Esnard (‘83), and Edward Fuller (‘83).61
Shortly after the school moved to the campus in West Miami-Dade, the team began practicing on its new field. During the 1982-1983 season, in order to continue to establish a way to develop the younger players prior to them reaching the varsity team, Richard Stuart began coaching the junior varsity football team. Originally founded at the school during the 1974-1975 season, the junior varsity program would flourish over the years, under the direction of other coaches such as Jorge González (1983-1986), Ángel Aparicio (1986-1991) (1994-2003), Eric Hansen (1991-1992), Víctor Hernández (1992-1994), Daniel Baldor (‘91) (2003-2008), and Mario Pino (2008-present).
During the 1983-1984 academic year, the Belen Jesuit administration accepted the recommendation of newly appointed Athletic Director Carlos Barquín and appointed the junior varsity coach, Richard Stuart, as head coach of the Belen Jesuit football program. Coach Stuart’s football coaching career at Belen Jesuit now spans three decades. At the time that he became head coach, he was only twenty-four years old and the youngest high school head coach in the State of Florida. The year following his appointment (19841985), Coach Stuart had his first winning season with the team (6W-4L), whose tough swarming defense and homecoming victory over Marathon contributed to accomplishing the second winning season in the history of the Belen Jesuit football program.62
A few years later, the 1987-1988 season became the turnaround year for the Belen Jesuit football program, as the team gave a stellar performance. The offense moved the ball on the ground, as running back Eduardo Gross (‘88) ran for a school record 1,250 yards. The top-ranked defense was led by linemen José Romano (‘88) and René Sánchez (‘88). Not only was the team able to tie their best season record (8W-2L), but they also captured their one and only Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship. Moreover, Coach Richard Stuart received the Miami News Coach of the Year award at the end of the season. Both Gross and Romano made the All-County team, as did several other outstanding Belen Jesuit football players during the late 1980s including Joaquín Novoa (‘84), Carlos Vega (‘84), Erick Deeb (‘85), Antonio Franyie (‘86), Ángelo Longo (‘86), Juan Carlos Sague (‘87), Louis Iglesias (‘88), Manuel Mejido (‘90), Manuel Feijóo (‘89), Mario Solórzano (‘89), and Germán Delgado (‘90).63
The 1990s was an impressive decade for the Belen Jesuit football program with dedicated players and well-balanced teams, three of whom made it to playoff competitions. Amongst them was the 19901991 team, who achieved the best record in Belen Jesuit football history (9W-1L). Led by a large group of seniors, the well-balanced team shut their opponents down consistently, and they had as their only loss a game played against the state’s top-ranked team. Five of the team’s players made the All-County team including Jorge Zagales (‘91), Juan Carlos Daire (‘91), Daniel Baldor (‘91), Arturo Pérez (‘91), and quarterback, Marcos Mestre (‘91), who threw for over one thousand yards and received the Offensive Player of the Year award, as well as Scholar Athlete recognition from the Miami Herald. 64
The following year (1991-1992), the team ended their season as runners-up in their district. The 1992-1993 team ended their season by making the playoffs for the first time in the school’s history due to their
Francisco Argamasilla ('85), Juan
Anthony
Federico
Fernando
The Belen Jesuit 19791980 football team during the first foorball winning season (8W-2L) in school history. Athletic Director David Hewett and Coach Michael Crudele (‘73) coached the team from the sidelines. Photograph from Echoes, 1980.
The Belen Jesuit 19821983 football team during a home game half-time at the West Miami-Dade Campus. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Quintero (‘83),
Maciá (‘83),
García (‘84),
Silva (‘83), Jorge del Valle (‘84), Carlos Fernández (‘85), Edward Fuller (‘83), Jorge Guisasola (‘84), Ángel Navarro (‘84), Albert Lucas (‘84), Frank Cauce (‘84), Jorge González, Víctor Bata, Richard Stuart, David Hewett
Vincent Cartaya (‘99) earned the first Division I Scholarship awarded to a Belen Jesuit student to play college-level football at Northwestern University. Cartaya was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Belen Jesuit 20002001 football team earned the first playoff win in the history of the program when they beat Cardinal Newman High School in 2000.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
victories against high ranking district opponents such as Gulliver Preparatory School and Key West High School. During the season, quarterback Marcelo Llorente (‘94) threw for 1,580 yards, and Felipe Fernández (‘94) caught thirty-six passes for 523 yards. Fernández made the All-County team, as did several other outstanding Belen Jesuit football players during the early-mid 1990s including Javier Argamasilla (‘92), Otto Ortega (‘92), Javier Salazar (‘92), Albert Acuña (‘93), Carlos Zumárraga (‘93), Mario Díaz (‘94), Alan Gómez (‘94), José Corral (‘94), Gastón Lacayo (‘95), Alejandro Arrieta (‘96), and Oliver Benítez (‘96).65 For his accomplishments in football as well as in baseball and track and field, Benítez was inducted into the Belen Sport Hall of Fame in 2014.
During the 1994-1995 academic year, the first junior high football team was established at Belen, and the team had an undefeated first season. Since then, several coaches have led the Wolverine junior high teams including Fausto Dorado (1995-1997), Belen Jesuit alumnus Javier Argamasilla (‘92), (1997-2000), Eduardo Fraga (2000-2002), Nicolás García (2002-2008), and Jorge Reyes (2008-present). The 1996-1997 team was the second team in Belen Jesuit history to advance to the playoffs. The team was an offensive powerhouse, running the ball as well as throwing it, while a strong defense also kept opponents out of the end zone. Jorge Vigo (‘97) had 102 tackles, helping him to establish a career record at the school, and Vincent Cartaya (‘99) had nine sacks, and two years later, he earned recognition as a Miami Herald Athlete Scholar. Quarterback Michael Martínez (‘98) threw for over 1,000 yards and received the Miami Herald Offensive Player of the Year award. Vigo, Cartaya, and Martínez made the All-County team, as did other outstanding Belen Jesuit football players during the late 1990s including Alejandro Villasuso (‘97), Joseph Selem (‘97), Aldo Calderín (‘97), André Aguirre (‘97), Diego Morales (‘98), Jay Carreño (‘98), Alejandro Llama (‘99), Eric Mauri (‘99), and Ángel González (‘99). The 1999-2000 team was the third football team at Belen Jesuit to make it to the play-offs. With a strong offense, the team overpowered Hialeah High School, defeated Michael Krop High School at the homecoming game, and ended their season as district runnersup. Two outstanding Belen Jesuit football players made the All-County team (1999-2000): Mark Llorente (‘00) and Javier Valdés (‘01).66
The new millennium marked the beginning of the golden years for the Belen Jesuit athletics program, and football was no exception to the string of achievements accomplished by Belen Jesuit athletes. The 2000-2001 team finished the season with an outstanding record of 9W-3L. The team became the first in the school’s history to win a playoff game, while also establishing new school records for most points in one game (70) and during one season (421). A squad of running backs, nicknamed “the five back attack,” led the team, and the defense shut out three of its opponents. Jimmy Newmeyer (‘01) caught thirty-two passes for 533 yards and 8 touchdowns. Raymond Méndez (‘01) broke the record for most yards rushing in one season. Both Newmeyer and Méndez made the All-County team, as well as other outstanding Belen Jesuit football players including Javier Valdés (‘01), César Álvarez (‘01), and Nicholas Carreño (‘01).67
The 2001-2002 football team had another outstanding season repeating their 9W-3L record for the second year in a row. They also won a playoff game. The season’s highlights were the victories over Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School at homecoming and a win over Gulliver Preparatory School (43-6). Gastón Fontela (‘03) rushed for over one thousand yards during the season and for the third year in row, Quarterback Joaquín Sánchez (‘02) threw over 1,000 yards. Sánchez received the Scholar Athlete of the Year Award from the Miami Herald, and was admitted to Harvard College upon graduation. Sánchez also made the All-County team as did other outstanding Belen Jesuit football players including Roy Schultheis (‘02), David Caballero (‘03), Christopher Gueits (‘03), and René Velíz (‘03).68
The 2002-2003 football team had another outstanding season record (10W-2L), and for the third year in a row, also won a playoff game.
This was the first team in Belen Jesuit football history to ever to win ten games in one season, which it accomplished despite it not being able to practice or play their games on its home field because of the stadium construction and resurfacing of the track. The offense averaged 34.8 points a game, while the defense shut out Gulliver Preparatory, Immaculata LaSalle, and Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School. René Larrieu (‘03) led the team in tackles. Gueits, Caballero, and Veliz made the All-County team for the second year in a row, as well as other outstanding Belen Jesuit football players including: Gastón Fontela (‘03) and Ignacio Duquesne (‘03). Christopher Gueits (‘03) enrolled at Princeton University upon graduation, making it two years in a row that a Belen Jesuit football player had been admitted to an Ivy League school. The following year (2003-2004), a young football team with a tough schedule also won a playoff game and then lost to the eventual state champion, Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School. Carlos Ortega (‘04), David Romero (‘04), and Alejandro Castro (‘04) made the All-County team in 2004, as did Peter Muñoz (‘05), Carlos Nieto (‘05), and Jorge Ríos (‘05) in 2005.69
In 2005, a new tradition was established at Belen Jesuit, in which the football team would play a pre-season game against rival Christopher Columbus High School at the Florida International University Stadium. Although Belen Jesuit lost the game, attendance surpassed 8,000 fans, and since then, the games have also featured a pre-game tailgate hosted by the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami. The team made history during the 2005-2006 season by winning the first football district championship since the sport had been established at the school (District 16-3A). The team began their regular season in Tampa with a loss, but then accomplished ten straight victories, ending their season with a 10W-2L record, and wins over Gulliver Preparatory School, Monsignor Edward Pace, and Key West High School. Outstand-
ing Belen Jesuit football players distinguished themselves during this historic season. Peter Pidermann (‘06) was the leading 3A-1A rusher in the county with 102 carries for 1,064 yards, and 16 touchdowns, earning the Miami Herald’s 3A-1A Offensive Player of the Year Award and the Miami Touchdown Club’s 3A-1A Player of the Year Award. Fernando Arán (‘06) earned the Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. Pidermann and Arán made the All-County team, as well as other outstanding Belen Jesuit football players including: Marshall Thomas (‘06), Christopher Brolley (‘06), and Frank Estévez (‘07). Upon graduation, Pidermann enrolled at Dartmouth College, Arán and Carlos Roque (‘06) at Princeton University, and Thomas at Northwestern University.
The following year (2006-2007), the team won the Jesuit Bowl over Tampa’s Jesuit High School, claiming the Ignatian Bucket. Portable lights made it possible to hold the first night game ever at Belen Jesuit, as the Wolverines won a thriller over Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School for homecoming. Frank Estévez (‘07) made the All-County team, as did Gustavo Duquesne (‘07), Gregory Fontela (‘07), and Andrew Fernández (‘07). Duquesne and Fernández went on to play football at Wagner College, and Fontela at Columbia University. Belen Jesuit football player Gio Christodoulou (‘07) also went on to play football at Yale University. The following year (20072008), Iñigo Abaroa (‘08), Diego Fernández-Soto (‘08), Javier Sosa (‘09), and Anthony Diblasi (‘08) made the All-County team, and Sosa, Alfonso Águila (‘09), and Pablo Álvarez (‘10) also made the
Defensive Tackle Marshall Thomas (‘06) earned a Division I Scholarship to Northwestern University.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Belen Jesuit 20052006 football team won the first district championship in the history of the program. Daniel García (‘06) hands Peter Pidermann (‘06) the ball in the pre-season game against Christopher Columbus High School at the FIU Stadium. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Mateo Buraglia (‘13) kicked the game-winning field goal against Booker T. Washington in the regional semi-final game in 2009. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
All-County team (2008-2009). Both Fernández-Soto and Diblasi went on to play football at Dartmouth College, and Sosa went on to play at Yale University.70
The 2009-2010 football team had one of the most exciting and memorable seasons in the history of the program; however, the season did not start off well. The team lost the first two games and the players seemed shaken by the losses. Soon afterward, their record improved to 2W-3L, but it was still not representative of the talent that Coach Richard Stuart felt characterized the team. Then, the Wolverines played a game against Glades Day School, and the outcome changed everything. A traditional football powerhouse, the Glades team had already won seven state championships by the time it played the Wolverines in 2009. As expected, Glades was ahead the entire game until the last second, when a pass thrown by Quarterback Nicolás Platt (‘10) to Wide-Receiver Sergio Fernández-Soto (‘10) resulted in a game-winning touchdown. The win against Glades was not only commendable, but also began a Wolverine winning-streak that would bring about several milestones in the history of the Belen Jesuit football program. First, at the end of the regular season, the team beat Miami Nordland Senior High School (27-17) for the district championship title. The Wolverines then entered the first round of the payoffs, where they came from behind to beat Miami Jackson High School. The team advanced to the second round, where
they faced Booker T. Washington Senior High School. In the fourth quarter, the Wolverines were losing (17-16); however, with under a minute to play, the offensive line drove the football down the field and put them within field goal range. Then, as the last nerve-racking seconds of the game trickled down, Mateo Buraglia (‘13) kicked the game winning field goal for a (19-17) Wolverine win.
The victory against Booker T. Washington gave the Wolverines the opportunity to play in the regional championship finals, which took place at the Florida International University Stadium. At the game, the Wolverines won (27-20) against Fort Pierce Westwood High School, and the win allowed the Belen Jesuit football team to advance to the State of Florida semi-final for the first time in the history of the program. The school rallied behind their Wolverine football team, hiring buses to take fans to the State Semifinal game against Lake Wales High School, during which exhilarated Belen Jesuit fans cheered. In the fourth quarter, with nine minutes left to play and the Wolverines leading (21-14), Lake Wales began making their way up the field to try to tie up the game. Suddenly, Lakes Wales fumbled the ball, and the Wolverines recovered. The Belen Jesuit team was then able to hold on to the ball for the remaining few minutes of the game and won the State Semi-Final.
Belen Jesuit rallied behind the Wolverine team once again after the win against Lake Wales High School. Twelve chartered buses and a caravan of cars traveled from the school’s campus in West MiamiDade to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, where the team faced Pensacola High School for the state championship. Although, the Wolverines lost the game (28-7), Imani Davis (‘12) scored the first touchdown in school history at a state finals game, and Sergio Fernández-Soto (‘10) made several spectacular catches. It had been a history-making season for the Wolverines. Off the field, the Belen Jesuit football team was also named 3A Academic State Champions for the first time in their history, earning a team grade point average of 3.195. Several outstanding Wolverine football players from this season also made the All-County team including: Nicholas Busse (‘11), Pablo Álvarez (‘10), Nicholas Menocal (‘11), Nigel Dondo (‘10), Sergio Fernández-Soto (‘10), Nicolás Platt (‘10), and Tyler Stanish (‘10).
At the end of this season (2009-2010), Coach Richard Stuart was named 3A Coach of the Year by the Florida Dairy Farmers Association and Coach of the Year by the Miami Touchdown Club and the Miami Herald. The following year, the 2010-2011 team captured the district championship, with excellent performances on defense by José Smith (‘11), Nicolás White (‘11), and Frankie Hernández (‘12),
as well as great performances by offensive players Manuel Sicre (‘11), Miguel Maseda (‘11), and Javier Rodríguez (‘11). Busse, Menocal, and Smith made the All-County team. During the summer of 2012, the Belen Jesuit football program benefited from the support of José Sánchez, whose son José Sánchez (‘17) is a student at the school. The Sánchez family made a donation which allowed for artificial turf to be installed to cover the football field. At the newly-named artificial turf Sánchez Field, Wolverine football, track and field, and soccer teams will continue to practice and play.
The 2011-2012 season ended with a 9W-3L record that included two wins over Monsignor Edward Pace High School and Stranahan High School. The Wolverines also had a historic comeback win against the Northwestern High School Bulls at the De la Cruz Stadium. The team also qualified for the state playoffs for the seventh year in a row. Reflecting on the season, senior Imani Davis (‘12) wrote in the Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program
“The season brought out the competitive spirit and tenacity of the Wolverines to never quit until the clock reads zero. We played with God and intensity in our hearts and formed a brotherhood that will last forever.”71
The 2012-2013 season had many challenges as the team finished with a 2W-7L record. The following season (2013-2014), the team achieved a 7W-4L record, and returned to the playoffs, finishing as runners-up in the district. Jorge Powell (‘14) made the All-County team and established a new school field goal record (54’). Seven Wolverines went on to play at the college level including Powell,
This brief account of the history of the football program at Belen Jesuit shows how its development has been akin to that of the entire athletics program at the school. Encompassing four decades of coaches, players, administration, staff, and families employing resourcefulness, hard work, and enormous support, the football program experienced a major turnaround after 1983. Under the leadership of Athletic Director Carlos Barquín and Head Football Coach Richard Stuart, coaches consistently developed players from the junior varsity and junior high divisions, and thus obtained better performances from these students when they reached the varsity level. As a result, Belen Jesuit football players have not only succeeded in attaining great victories and recognition for their team wherever they have played football, but have also consistently made the All-County team, received yearly awards from the Miami Herald and have gone on to excel at Ivy League and other exceptional universities throughout the United States. Overall, the vision of the Athletics Department and the football program at Belen Jesuit remains unchanged: to offer students the opportunity to compete in one of the country’s most highly-regarded sports, as they are also encouraged to excel in their studies, and to be “Men for Others” in all that they accomplish.
Jack Flood (‘14), Jonathan Schultz (‘14), John Medina (‘14), Jorge Pola (‘14), Daniel Neptune (‘14), and James García (‘14).
Belen Jesuit coach Richard Stuart with the 2009-2010 Belen Jesuit football team after winning the state semifinal game played against Lake Wales High School. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives. Running back Imani Davis (‘12) somersaulted his way over the Pensacola High School defense to score the school’s first touchdown at a state championship game played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando in 2009. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Rolando Vázquez (‘78), Kevin Shaughnessy (‘76), Raúl Gallo (‘75), Agustín de Goytisolo (‘76), Michael Shaughnessy (‘77), Patrick Collins, Carlos Cuervo (‘78), Manuel Jurado (‘75), Max Belin (‘75)
TENNIS
The Belen Jesuit tennis team was established during the 1974-1975 academic year. Tennis had been played as an individual sport at Colegio de Belén in Havana for many years, but never as a team sport. The team began as a result of a conversation between Belen Jesuit faculty member Patrick Collins and student council vice president Max Belin (‘75) who said, “Tennis anyone?” Coach Collins agreed to establish and coach the team, which finished its opening year with a 4W-3L record. During the years the school resided in Little Havana, the school did not have any formal home tennis courts, and every match was played away. Also being without a practice facility, the team arrived early and practiced for short periods of time prior to the matches. According to Coach Collins and in true Wolverine fashion:
“We were like an army of mercenaries that came together to defeat stronger opponents!”72
While the school still resided in Little Havana, the team obtained third place at the 1980-1981 Gulfstream Athletic Conference and Ricardo Martínez (‘81) became the first player in Belen Jesuit history to advance into the quarterfinals for the district.
During the 1981-1982 academic year, the school moved to its new educational complex in West Miami-Dade, where finally there was room to grow the program. However, school funds were still scarce to
fulfill the team’s need to build tennis courts in which to practice and hold home matches. Once again, Belen Jesuit families came together and contributed generously, and as a result of donations from the Ortiz, Torres de Navarra, and Dalmau families, construction of the tennis courts began during the 1983-1984 academic year and were completed the following year. For the 1984-1985 season, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) adopted a classification system for tennis, and the school was placed in the 2A division.
The home tennis courts made a great difference for tennis team at the school. Team results improved, and they completed the 19841985 season with their best record to date (15W-3L). That season, Patrick Collins also began coaching a middle school tennis team. Also during the 1984-1985 season, Héctor Ortiz (‘86) began playing for the varsity tennis team, and won, in the number one singles category, Gulfstream Athletic Conference champion and Dade County Fair & Exposition champion in 1984, 1985, and 1986. Ortiz also won as number one singles category district champion in 1985 and 1986, making him the first Belen Jesuit tennis player to have won both conference and district championships. During both of those academic years, Ortiz also captured the doubles category district championship with Louis Iglesias (‘88). In 1985, Ortiz and Iglesias competed at the state championship and finished as state runners-up in doubles. Ortiz received a full tennis scholarship to the University
of Illinois. Two years later (1988), Iglesias also received an athletic scholarship to the University of Toledo. Both played tennis at the college level, and both have been inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame (Ortiz in 2007 and Iglesias in 2010).73
The team’s improvement continued during the 1985-1986 season, when they finished as runners-up in their district as well as at the Gulfstream Athletic Conference. At the conference, the team defeated Pine Crest School, a considerable opponent which they had been unable to conquer in their ten-year history. Other outstanding Belen Jesuit tennis team members during this time also included: Carlos Torres de Navarra (‘86), Julio Trías (‘86), Jorge Bisbal (‘87), and Jorge Mestre (‘88). The following season (1986-1987), the middle school players provided great support to the varsity team, which finished the season with an 11W-4L record, in third place at the Gulfstream Athletic Conference, and as runners-up in their district. The team also finished the two following seasons as runners-up in both the Gulfstream Athletic Conference and in their district. In 1988, outstanding Belen Jesuit tennis player Jorge Mestre (‘88) also went on to play tennis at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Mestre had played on the same team with another outstanding tennis player, César Conde (‘91), who began playing for the middle school tennis team (1985-1986), and went on to join the varsity team during the following year. Conde won the Gulfstream Athletic Conference singles championship in 1989 and the district singles cham-
pionship in both 1990 and 1991. He also competed in the singles championship round at the state finals in Tampa, Florida and finished fourth in the state. Conde went on to play college-level tennis at Harvard College. Other outstanding Belen Jesuit tennis players during this time included: Néstor Francisco Machado (‘91), Alexander Almazán (‘91), and Carlos Martell (‘91).74
After starting the 1990s with a spectacular season, Coach Collins was forced to rebuild his team the following season (1991-1992), having lost some of its most outstanding players to graduation. Although the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) also reclassified the team into the 3A division that year, they managed to pull together with outstanding contributions from Erik González (‘93) and Rodrigo Mantica (‘93) to finish their season with an impressive (11W-3L) record. The change to the 3A division did make a difference for the team’s chances at the district playoffs, where they finished tied for last place. However, during the following season (1992-1993), the team made a tremendous effort to overcome their opponents and not only finished in fourth place in the district, but in what was perhaps one of the greatest comeback moments in
The first Belen Jesuit tennis team (1974-1975) with Coach Patrick Collins. Photograph from Echoes, 1975.
Coach Patrick Collins with eighth grader César Conde (‘91), and District Champion, Gulfstream Athletic Conference Champion, and State Finalist Héctor Ortiz (‘86). Ortiz was inducted into the Belen Jesuit Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Photograph from Echoes, 1986. District Champion, Gulfstream Athletic Conference Champion, and State Finalist Louis Iglesias (‘88). Iglesias was inducted into the Belen Jesuit Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.
Photograph from Echoes, 1988.
Coach Patrick Collins with All-County Athlete, District and Gulfstream Athletic Conference Champion, and State Finalist César Conde (‘91). Conde was inducted into the Belen Jesuit Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
All-County Athlete, District Champion, and State Quarter-Finalist Steven Pessoa (‘04).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Jesuit tennis history, Freshman Daniel Fernández (‘96) and Joseph de Vera (‘96) won the district championship in doubles within the 3A division. During the 1993-1994 season, the team finished fourth in the district, with a 12W-3L record, and had excellent contributions from Javier Carreño (‘94) and Joaquín Aviñó (‘94). The team also celebrated the twentieth anniversary of their inception as a team at Belen Jesuit, with new tennis shirts and hats that were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Joaquín Aviñó, Sr. The following season (19941995), the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) realigned the district once again, and the team was reclassified into the 4A division; however, the team pulled together right away to face their new opponents and finished fourth in the district with an 11W-3L record. The 1995-1996 season was dubbed the “Year of the Seniors,” since six of the nine players on the team, Daniel Fernández (‘96), Joseph de Vera (‘96), Armando Vásquez (‘96), Christopher Rosario (‘96), Javier Aviñó (‘96), and Efrén Salinero (‘96), graduated that year. The team finished fourth in the district with a 12W-2L record, and also recorded their 200th victory in the history of the tennis program.75
During the 1990s, a tradition was started by Coach Collins. Every year, the team played matches versus Key West High School and Coral Shores High School, in Coral Shores, where they drove to attend their competition. On the way back to Miami, Coach Collins would always stop at the Holiday Inn in Tavernier to show the players the African Queen boat. The African Queen was the actual boat used in the filming of the 1951 movie The African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The boat was bought by the owner of the Holiday Inn and is displayed to the public. The team enjoyed their stop every year, and the practice has remained a Belen Jesuit tradition since then.
During the last half of the 1990s, the team finished fifth in their district with a 10W-4L record for the 1996-1997 season, anchored by Jonathan de Vera (‘98) and Fernando Tur (‘97), who led the number one and number two singles categories respectively. The following
season (1997-1998), the team finished in third place at the District Finals, with an 11W-5L record, and once again de Vera, along with Gerardo Prieto (‘98), Michael Piñeiro (‘98), and Mark Guzmán (‘99), provided the strength and purpose to take the team through another winning season. Coach Collins recognized and thanked the De Vera family for their support of the Belen Jesuit tennis team, since Jonathan’s graduation brought an end to an eight-year era, during which Jorge de Vera had attended more tennis matches than any other parent in the twenty-three years of Belen Jesuit tennis. The 1998-1999 season brought an end to the decade and the millennium, led by Mark Guzmán (‘99), who received a Miami Herald All-County honorable mention for his accomplishments while playing tennis. Once again, the future of the tennis team looked bright, given the talent that was making its way up from middle school.76
As the new millennium began, the team had excellent contributions from middle school players, whose ability allowed them to play at the varsity level. Such was the case during the 1999-2000 season, when eighth graders dominated the team, which finished as runners-up in their district with a 13W-3L record and excellent contributions from Enrique Escobar (‘02), Steven Pessoa (‘04), Sean Daly (‘04), and Jorge Salazar (‘05). During the 2000-2001 season,Víctor Arrieta (‘95) and María Elena Cartaya served as assistant coaches to Coach Collins. During subsequent years, Coach Arrieta continued to assist Coach Collins with district competitions, and Coach Cartaya was cited as the team’s number one fan as she attended every match during the season. Pessoa led the team during the 2000-2001 season, during which they finished as runners-up in their district with a 9W-3L record. The team also had excellent contributions from Daly, Salazar, Escobar, and Louis Velasco (‘02). During the 2001-2002 season, Pessoa suffered a shoulder injury and was unable to play for the entire season; however, both Escobar and Salazar had a spectacular year and both received All-County honorable mentions. During the 2002-2003 season, Pessoa returned to have an impressive season, where he won the district championship in the singles category, and advanced to play at the state championship in Tampa, Florida, where he reached the quarterfinals. Pessoa and Salazar both made the All-County team, and Salazar was also district runner-up in singles. The team finished the season as runners-up in their district with an 11W-5L record for the season. Outstanding Belen Jesuit tennis players during this year also included Luigi Juárez (‘03) and Santiago Tefel (‘03). The following year (20032004), the team finished once again as runners-up in their district with a 9W-5L record for the season.77 Pessoa and Salazar were both district runners-up in the singles category and Coach Collins praised Pessoa for being “not just a tennis player, but an exemplary gentleman in victory and in defeat.”78 Also during this year, Deacon Robert O’Malley began assisting in coaching the team, a role he ably filled as a former tennis player at the University of Notre Dame.
During the 2004-2005 season, the team had to undergo some rebuilding, given the loss of players to both graduation and relocation. However, the team pulled together to finish third in their district, with a 12W-3L record for the season. Freshman Roland Martínez (‘08) also showed excellent determination. Martínez had missed most of the season due to a back injury, but he returned in time to win the district championship title in the number three singles category. The following season (2005-2006), the team recorded its 300th victory at a game against Coral Shores High School (February 24th, 2006). The team celebrated their 300th victory by making their traditional stop at the Holiday Inn in Tavernier to pay homage to the African Queen. On March 10th, the team hosted Strake Jesuit from Houston, marking the first time that Belen Jesuit tennis players competed against another Jesuit school as well as a school from outside the State of Florida. The team
finished in fourth place at the district competition, with a 12W-3L record for the season, and had excellent contributions from Marcos Segrera (‘06), Jorge Gómez (‘06), Roland St. Louis (‘06), and Luis Tornes (‘06). During the 2006-2007 season, several players were out for part of the season due to illness. Among them was Martínez, who had suffered another back injury; however, once again, Martínez returned to provide the highlight of the season. At the district finals, he won as the district championship in the number one singles category. Martínez advanced to the state championship, where he reached the semi-final round by defeating the top player from Lely High School in the opening round and a Crystal River High School player in the quarter finals. He also made the All-County team. Also that season, a “Friend of the Belen tennis team,” who requested to remain anonymous, donated brand new tennis uniforms for the team. In 2007, after 316 career victories and thirty-three years, Coach Patrick Collins retired from coaching the tennis team at Belen Jesuit. In 2010, Coach Collins was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement and contributions to both the varsity and the middle school tennis teams.
All-County Athlete, District Champion, and State Semi-Finalist Roland Martínez (‘08).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
In a Herculean
“The most notable match I have ever been involved in was the climactic match at the 2010 regional tennis final versus Olympic Heights here at Belen. The match came down to the third singles match involving Manuel Lorenzo (‘10). Manny battled in a Herculean three-hour match before finally losing on a match point. Despite falling short, I have never witnessed an athlete display the Ignatian principle of Magis more clearly. He played his heart out and was gracious in defeat, as befitting the school and Our Lady of Belen.”79
Coach VanScoy’s experience continues to be memorable. During the 2010-2011 season, in a match versus Coral Shores High School, Belen Jesuit fielded for the first time two sets of brothers in doubles competition. Juan Lorido (‘13) and José Lorido (‘11) played number one doubles, and Alberto Pérez (‘12) and Christian Pérez (‘14) played number two doubles. On the way home from the Coral Shores match, the team paid homage at the African Queen honoring the tradition established by Coach Collins. Also during that season, Belen Jesuit participated in the Jesuit Invitational in Houston, Texas hosted by Strake Jesuit. Rounding out the four-team competition was Dallas Jesuit and New Orleans Jesuit. This trip was also notable due to the participation of Belen Sports Hall of Fame inductees Coach Patrick Collins and Louis Iglesias (‘88), both of whom gave the team invaluable coaching, advice, and fellowship. In the 2010-2011 season, the team won the district championship once again, as well as its first regional championship in the history of the program. Juan Lorido (‘13) also won the district championship in the number one singles category. In addition, José Lorido (‘11), Alberto Pérez (‘12), Raúl Cruz (‘14) and Bryan Rodríguez (‘14) also won district championships in the singles category within their respective divisions, and the Lorido brothers won the district championship in the doubles category. At the state championship, Raúl Cruz (‘14), came in as state runner-up in the number four singles category.80
During the 2007-2008 season, Joshua Seigmeister coached the tennis team, which finished its season in third place at the district competition with a 9W-3L record for the season. Outstanding Belen Jesuit players during that season also included William Gómez (‘08) and Alejandro Lázaro (‘09). For the 2008-2009 season, Coach Timothy VanScoy began coaching both the varsity and junior varsity tennis teams. During his first season, the team finished in third place at the district tournament, with a 6W-3L record for the season. The following season (2009-2010), for the first time in its history, the team won the district championship title and finished as runners-up in the regional tournament. Juan Lorido (‘13) captured the district championship in the number one singles category, and eventually advanced to the state semi-finals. In addition, John Pessoa (‘12), Manuel Lorenzo (‘10), Ferrán Arimón (‘10), and José Lorido (‘11) all won individual district championships in the singles category within their respective divisions. Lorido and Pessoa also won the district championship playing doubles. Juan Lorido (‘13) and Pessoa advanced to the state championship in Altamonte Springs, Florida, where Lorido reached the semi-finals round in singles. Also that year, the team revived a tradition started by Coach Patrick Collins and hosted Strake Jesuit from Houston. It was a memorable season filled with accomplishments; however, Coach VanScoy noted one of his most memorable moments during that season for different reasons. According to Coach VanScoy:
During the following two seasons, the tennis players established a new standard of excellence for their sport at the district and regional level. The team ended the 2011-2012 season with a 9W-2L record and won their third straight district title. Team members also captured every singles title as well as their second doubles title at districts, and Juan Lorido (‘13) earned his third trip to the state championship tournament. During the 2012-2013 season, the team won their fourth straight district championship. At the district matches, they swept all seven categories. The team also won a second regional championship. The season marked the “end of an era” for the team’s senior captain, Juan Lorido (‘13), whose sevenyear tennis career at Belen Jesuit included four district championships and a regional championship. Lorido led a team of steady
performers that included William Lorenzo (‘14), Bryan Rodríguez (‘14), Alejandro Hasegawa (‘15), and Christian Pérez (‘14). The 2013-2014 tennis season had some challenges, however, the Wolverines still finished with a 5W-7L record, and as runners-up in their district and region. The team received notable support from Hasegawa, Pérez, Rodríguez, and Daniel Martínez (‘17).
It was a great blessing for the school, as well as for all the students that have played tennis over the years that in 1975, Max Belin (‘75) asked the right question, and Coach Collins was willing to provide a positive answer to his call. The effort and dedication of the coaches and players during the last quarter century have certainly yielded many benefits for the Belen Jesuit tennis Wolverines!
example of the Ignatian principle of Magis, District Champion Manuel Lorenzo (‘10) played a three-hour match at the 2010 regional competition. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Belen Jesuit 20112012 tennis team won the district championship and the first regional championship in the history of the program.
From left to right, Alberto Pérez (‘12), Raúl Cruz (‘14), José Lorido (‘11), Bryan Rodríguez (‘14), and Juan Lorido (‘13), with Coach Timothy VanScoy. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The first Belen Jesuit swim team (19831984). From left to right: Jorge Cinca (‘86), Gian Zumpano (‘86), Joseph Zumpano (‘87), and Enrique Artalejo (‘88). Not pictured: Alexander Milton (‘84). Photograph from Echoes, 1984.
SWIMMING
The reinstating of swimming as an organized competitive sport at Belen Jesuit took place during the 1975-1976 academic year, while the school was at its campus in Little Havana. That year, student Fausto Álvarez (‘81), who had been swimming as part of several city of Miami competitive swimming programs, approached Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) about starting a swim team at Belen Jesuit. Fr. Ripoll agreed to serve as an advisor to the team, and several other students, such as Humberto Casariego (‘80), Juan Álvarez (‘84), and Eric Álvarez (‘85), also participated in the sport in subsequent years. Lack of access to swimming pools in which to practice and hold meets, however, prevented the team’s continuity at the school. Once the school relocated to its campus in West-Miami Dade, the idea of officially establishing a swim team at Belen Jesuit resurfaced. The team was finally established during the 1983-1984 academic year, and for the first two years, coaches transported the team to the Tamiami Park Pool for competitions and practices. In its first season, Bob Karl and Carlos Barquín coached the team, which finished the season with a 3W-3L record. The swimmers that came together to compete as part of the first Wolverine swim team were: Alexander Milton (‘84), Jorge Cinca (‘86), Gian Zumpano (‘86), Joseph Zumpano (‘87), and Enrique Artalejo (‘88).81
The following season (1984-1985), many other swimmers joined the team, which that year was coached by José Vasallo. The team finished the season with an impressive 7W-1L record and won the district championship for the first time. In an effort to begin training swimmers to compete at a younger age, Coach Vasallo also established a junior high swim team. That same season, five swimmers qualified for the state finals, including the members of the first team, Cinca, Artalejo, Gian and Joseph Zumpano, as well as Jorge Basté (‘87). During the 1985-1986 season, Olympic Swimmer André Phillips coached the team. That same year, the team repeated its winning season 7W-1L record, attained the district championship once again, and qualified seven swimmers for the state finals. The following season (1986-1987), thanks to a fundraising initiative spearheaded by Belen Jesuit Chief Administrator Carolina Calderín and the generosity of several Belen Jesuit families, a swimming pool was inaugurated at the West Miami-Dade campus, where team members began to practice and hold competitive swim meets. Charlie Hogdson coached the swim team the following season (1986-1987).
Also in 1986, the Belen Jesuit swim team received national attention, as Joseph Zumpano (‘87) had become one the fastest 100-yard breaststroke preparatory school swimmers in the nation. Zumpano, who like his brother, Gian Zumpano (‘86), also graduated as salutatorian of his class, established a 100-yard breaststroke record at the school and became the first All-American swimmer in Belen Jesuit history. He also qualified to swim at the 1986 US Olympic Sports Festival held in Houston, Texas. Joseph Zumpano (‘87) also went on to swim at Harvard College, where in 1988, he earned All-Ivy League status at the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League Championships with his performance in the 100-yard breaststroke. Moreover, he also remained one of the ten best performers in Harvard College swimming history in that event until the year 2000. For his accomplishments, Joseph Zumpano (‘87) was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.82
During the 1987-1988 academic year, Kirk Peppas began coaching the Belen Jesuit swim team and has continued as coach the team ever since. Coach Peppas instituted a daily training regimen that included two hours of swimming before school, two more hours of swimming after school, and another hour of conditioning and exercise; however, as Coach Peppas explained:
“A coach can only plan or prepare a swimmer with the means to succeed, but the tenacity and will to attain those personal goals come only from the swimmer.”83
Since Coach Peppas began coaching the swim team in 1987, and throughout the 1990s, the Wolverine swimmers obtained impressive results. Starting with Coach Peppas’s second season (1988-1989), the Belen Jesuit swim team began a five-year district championship winning streak. That same year, they also placed seventh in the state finals, and the following season (1989-1990), the team improved their standing to fifth place, also coming in as Dade County Fair & Exposition champions. Outstanding Belen Jesuit swimmers during this time include: Juan Fanjul (‘89), Arturo Fanjul (‘90), and Guillermo de Angulo (‘90). During the 1990-1991 season, the team placed fourth at the state finals, and another Belen Jesuit swimmer, Michael Covert (‘91), made the All-County team as well as the All-State team. Covert also won All-American honors three years in a row and won the 500-yard freestyle 1991 state championship. For his accomplishments, Covert received the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award in 1991.84
The swim team dedicated the 1990-1991 season to a former teammate, Gian Zumpano (‘86), who had passed away in 1990 at just twenty-two years of age while attending Creighton University. Gian and his brothers, Joseph, Daniel, and Carlos had also been Belen Jesuit swimmers -all pillars of the swimming program- and the Zumpano family had always been extremely supportive at the school. As Coach Barquín explained, Gian would also be sorely missed during the summer months at Belen Jesuit:
“Gian always reminded me of Belen Jesuit Rector and Spiritual Counselor Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36), for whom I always had great admiration. Both Fr. Ripoll and Gian suffered from seizures, which in Gian’s case were due to Grand Mal Epilepsy; however, neither allowed their illness to affect their disposition. Both exhibited great patience and a wonderful sense of humor when dealing with others, even when they may not have been feeling up to it. Besides being a dedicated swimmer and salutatorian of his class (1986), a position he achieved in spite of his struggles with his illness, Gian also served as a swimming instructor at the Belen Summer Camp, during high school, as well as during his summer breaks from Creighton. With great patience, he taught many Belen Jesuit campers how to swim, always having great regard for the little ones, which he trained with a lot of dedication. Upon his death, Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, Coach Peppas, and I discussed naming the Belen Jesuit pool the Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool. It was the best way to honor the memory of a true Belen Jesuit alumnus and one which the school motto, “Men for Others” certainly described. His story is recounted to all the swim team members who practice and compete at the West Miami-Dade campus pool.”85
The following year (1991-1992), for the first time in their history, the Wolverine swim team accomplished an undefeated season. They also won the district championship, and Andrés de Angulo (‘93) finished
Joseph Zumpano (‘87) was an All-County, All-State, and the first All-American swimmer at Belen Jesuit. Zumpano was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Photograph from Echoes, 1987. Michael Covert (‘91) was an All-County, AllState, an All-American swimmer. He won the 500-yard freestyle 1991 state championship. Covert was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
as runner-up in the state finals backstroke competition. De Angulo also made All-County and All-American honors. The following year, the 1992-1993 season yielded the fifth consecutive district championship for the swim team. They also finished as runners-up in the Dade County Fair & Exposition competition, and in ninth place at the state finals. Outstanding Belen Jesuit swimmers during this time included: Robert Caragol (‘91), Carlos Zumpano (‘92), Gustavo Membiela (‘94), and George Le-Bert (‘95). During the following two seasons (1993-1995), the team finished as runners-up in their district. In 1993, Belen Jesuit alumnus, Robert Caragol (‘91), returned to assist Coach Kirk Peppas in coaching the swim team.86
The 1995-1996 season began a three-year streak of back-to-back undefeated seasons, district championships, and Dade County Fair & Exposition first place wins. The 1995-1996 team had surprising results, given that it was completely comprised of underclassmen, with the sole exception of its captain Eric Pérez (‘96). The team qualified ten swimmers for the state finals and their efforts ensured spectacular results during the 1997-1998 season when Frank Quesada (‘98), Ricardo Piedra (‘98), Fernando Goudie (‘98), and Robert Riley (‘99) made AllAmerican honors. This was the first time anyone from Belen Jesuit had
qualified for the honor since 1993. Quesada and Piedra also made the All-County team for three of the years they competed (1995-1998), and Riley achieved the honor for all of his four years of high school (1995-1999). For his accomplishments, Quesada was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. Other Belen Jesuit swimmers who made the All-County team during this time included: Gouide, Juan Jacoby (‘97), Phillip Riverón (‘98), and Michael Pérez (‘00). In 1998, for his athletic as well as his academic accomplishments, Riverón also received the Belen Jesuit Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.87
By the end of the 1990s, the competitive history of the Wolverine swim team included ten district and four Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition championships. The team had also ranked top ten at the state finals five times; however, in the new millennium, the Wolverine swimmers obtained even more impressive results than they had achieved during the 1990s. The record-breaking and spectacular result seasons of the Wolverine swim team in the new millennium started with the 2002-2003 season, when Jeffrey Vivó (‘04) won the 50-yard freestyle state championship, and set a new school record (21.29). The following year (2003-2004), Vivó also won the 100-yard freestyle state championship and finished as the 50-yard freestyle state runner-up. Vivó made the All-County team for three consecutive years (2002-2004). For his accomplishments, Vivó received the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award in 2003. Years later, in 2014, Vivó was inducted into the Belen Jesuit Sports Hall of Fame. During the 2003-2004 season, the Belen Jesuit swim team had an undefeated season, achieved the district and Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition championships, and finished third as a team at the state finals. Also during these years (2003 and 2004), the Miami Herald awarded Coach Kirk Peppas the Coach of the Year Award.
During the 2004-2005 season, the team also finished their season undefeated and as district champions. Swim team captain, Javier Basnuevo (‘05), made the All-County team (2001-2005). For his academic as well as his athletic accomplishments, Basnuevo also received the Belen Jesuit Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2005. The following year (20052006), Francisco Lacayo (‘06), Javier Fonseca (‘06), and Robert Gentry (‘06) made the All-County team, an honor that Fonseca achieved for three years, and Lacayo obtained for all of his four years of high school (2003-2006). As for the team, the 2005-2006 season was one step short of perfect. The team remained undefeated, won the district, Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, and regional championships but finished as runners-up in the state finals. Coming so close to the title and not achieving it was disappointing, but it served also to motivate the team to work even harder. In retrospect, the state championship loss that year actually proved to be the first step in what became a continuous streak of winning seasons and state championships for the swim team thereafter.88
Raymond Zomerfeld (‘07), Sebastián Orozco (‘08), Andrés Simauchi (‘08), Patrick Arenson (‘08), Gaspar Barreto (‘09), Carlos Fonseca (‘08), Juan López (‘09), Carlos Araque (‘08), Víctor López-Cantera (‘08), Carlos Omaña (‘11), Tulio Álvarez-Burgos (‘08), Carlos Basnuevo (‘09), Jean-Paul Godreau (‘10), Reynaldo Mastrapa (‘07), Pablo Morejón (‘09), Orlando Álvarez-Burgos (‘07), Julio César López (‘09), Jake Bakas (‘09), Diego Donna (‘08), Anthony López (‘10), Kirk Peppas, Javier Araque (‘03), Christopher Pérez de Alejo (‘06)
When the (2006-2007) season began, the Belen Jesuit swim team stepped up their training and remained focused on obtaining the state championship that had eluded them the previous year. Their dedication and the excellent leadership of Coach Peppas paid off For the first time in its history, the Wolverine swimming team not only achieved a perfect season by remaining undefeated and winning the district, Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, and regional championships, but they also attained the first state championship in the history of the program. Their win also made Belen Jesuit the first school from Miami-Dade County to win a state championship in swimming since 1972.
The Wolverine swim team clinched the 2006-2007 state championship, thanks to the hard-work of all its members, but the determining factor occurred when team captain Carlos Araque (‘08), Víctor López-Cantera (‘08), and Raymond Zomerfeld (‘07) finished respectively in first, ninth, and tenth place at the state competition. Araque won an individual state championship medal in the 100-yard breaststroke competition and established a new school record (1:28.78). Araque, as well as Sebastián Orozco (‘08), Andrés Simauchi (‘08), and Pablo Morejón (‘09) also won the state championship in the 200yard freestyle relay event. In addition to the freestyle relay, Araque, Orozco, Morejón and Patrick Arenson (‘08) also won the state championship in the 200-yard medley relay. Moreover, Araque, Orozco, Morejón, and Zomerfeld won the state championship spot in the 400-yard freestyle relay event as well. At the end of the 2006-2007 season, as a result of his dedication and success coaching the Belen Jesuit swim team, the Miami Herald awarded Coach Kirk Peppas the Coach of the Year Award.89
The following year (2007-2008), the team set out to defend their state championship, a task that as Coach Peppas explained at the beginning of the season, when he told them that it was much harder to defend the state championship than to achieve one. The team pulled together and worked tirelessly to obtain their second state championship and not only achieved another back-to-back perfect season, but also became the first school in the state of Florida since 1964 to win back-toback state championships in swimming. In addition to the team winning their second state title, Carlos Araque (‘08) won the individual state championship in the 100-yard breaststroke event. Araque, Carlos Omaña (‘11), Víctor López-Cantera (‘08), and Sebastián Orozco (‘08), also won the state championship in the 200-yard medley relay, and with their time (1:37.36) established a new school record for this event. Omaña also established new school records in the 200 yardindividual medley (1:54.38) and López-Cantera in the 100-yard butterfly event (51.89). New school relay records were also established for the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:26.39) and the 400-yard freestyle relay
Carlos Araque (‘08), Víctor López-Cantera (‘08), Juan López (‘09), Carlos Basnuevo (‘09), Carlos Omaña (‘11), Paul Grenet (‘11), Jean-Paul Godreau (‘10), Laurindo Pardo (‘09), Patrick Arenson (‘08), Tulio Álvarez-Burgos (‘08), Andrés Simauchi (‘08), Juan López-Bosch (‘12), Jake Bakas (‘09), Mario Cárcamo (‘10), William Johnson (‘11), Ricardo Herrera (‘09), Sebastián Orozco (‘08), Pablo Morejón (‘09), Gaspar Barreto (‘09), Anthony López (‘10), Mario Egues (‘10), Andrés Vázquez (‘11), Anthony Kanelidis (‘09), Kirk Peppas, Javier Araque (‘03)
(3:11.21). For his accomplishments, Carlos Araque (‘08) received the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award. For coaching a truly spectacular 2007-2008 season, the Miami Herald awarded Coach Kirk Peppas the Coach of the Year Award.90
The 2008-2009 season started out with great determination to retain the state championship title; however, the swimming team was soon troubled by the news that Coach Peppas had suffered a mild stroke and would be unable to coach for the rest of their season. Although the loss of their coach hurt the team, they committed to bring home their third state title. They wanted this achievement not only for Coach Peppas, but also as a sign of the self determination that he had always taught them. In Coach Peppas’s absence, assistant coaches Kyle Hastings and Javier Araque (‘03) took over coaching the varsity team. The team was again hit hard by a loss at the district competition, where they finished as runners-up, and where a technicality disqualified the 200-yard freestyle relay not only for the district competition, but also for the rest of the season. Even with the loss of the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team came back and won the regional championship. The left the regional competition ready to succeed at the state finals. Al-
The 2006-2007 swim team won the first Belen Jesuit swimming state championship title in school history. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The 2007-2008 Swim team won the second Belen Jesuit swimming state championship title in school history. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
though at one point during the competition they were down by more than eighteen points, the Wolverines pushed ahead and came home with their third consecutive state championship. In addition, Carlos Omaña (‘11) won the state championship in the 200-yard individual medley. Omaña, Julio César López (‘09), Pablo Morejón (‘09), and Julián Ballestas (‘13) also won the state championship in the 200yard medley relay. Moreover, Omaña, Morejón, Ballestas, and Andrés Vázquez (‘11) also won the state championship in the 400-yard freestyle relay. For his accomplishments, Julio César López (‘09) received the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award.91
The 2009-2010 season included Coach Peppas’s return and another commitment by the team to retain the state championship. Although they did not accomplish another perfect season, the Wolverines won the district, Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, regional, and their fourth consecutive state championship. In addition, Carlos Omaña (‘11) won the state championship in the 200-yard individual medley as well as in the 500-yard freestyle event. Andrés Vázquez (‘11) won the state championship in the 100-yard butterfly event. Vázquez, Paul Grenet (‘11), Matthew Long (‘12), and Diguan Pigot (‘12), also won the state championship in the 200-yard freestyle re-
lay. Moreover, Omaña, Vázquez, Ballestas, and Long also won the state championship in the 400-yard freestyle relay.92
The Belen Jesuit swim team earned a fifth consecutive state championship in swimming during the 2010-2011 season, which also included district, Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, and regional championships. In addition to their fifth consecutive state championship title, Carlos Omaña (‘11) won the state championship in the 200-yard individual medley as well as in the 500-yard freestyle event. Andrés Vázquez (‘11) won the state championship in the 100-yard butterfly event, and Julián Ballestas (‘13) also won the state championship for the 100-yard freestyle event. Omaña, Vázquez, Ballestas, and Matthew Long (‘12) also won the state championship in the 200-yard freestyle relay. In addition, Omaña, Vázquez, Ballestas, and Long also won the state championship in the 400-yard freestyle relay. For coaching a truly spectacular 2010-2011 season, the Miami Herald awarded Coach Kirk Peppas the Coach of the Year Award once again. It was the fifth such award of his coaching career.93
For the 2011-2012 season, the Belen Jesuit swim team experienced a rebuilding year. The season included the district and regional championships for the overall team as well as the Miami Dade County Youth Fair championship for the 400-yard freestyle relay team made up of Boleck de Pawlikowski (‘14), José Álvarez (‘13), Julián Ballestas (‘13) and Manuel López (‘14). Although the state championship eluded them, the team still placed fourth in the state of Florida and Ballestas placed second in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard freestyle events.
The Belen Jesuit swim team earned a sixth state championship in swimming during the 2012-2013 season, which also included district,
Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, and regional championships. In addition to their sixth state championship title, Julián Ballestas (‘13) won the state championship in the 200-yard freestyle event. The 200yard freestyle relay team made up of Ballestas, Ryan Guso (‘15), Evan Banciella (‘13), and Thomas Avallone (‘13), also won the state championship. In addition, Ballestas, Guso, José Álvarez (‘13), and Juan PérezCosta (‘14) won the state championship in the 400-yard freestyle relay. For his accomplishments, Ballestas earned the Miami Herald’s Swimming Athlete of the Year Award and the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award. For his coaching accomplishments during the 2012-2013 season, the Miami Herald awarded Coach Kirk Peppas the Coach of the Year Award once again. It was the sixth time that he had been awarded this honor during his coaching career.
The Belen Jesuit swim team earned a sixth state championship in swimming during the 2013-2014 season, which also included district, Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, and regional championships. In addition to their seventh state championship title, Boleck de Pawlikowski (‘14) won the state championship in the 100-yard backstroke event. The 200-yard medley relay team made up of De Pawlikowski, Ryan Guso (‘15), Manuel López (‘14), and Alejandro Carriazo (‘17) also won the state championship in that event. In addition, De Pawlikowski, Guso, Carriazo, and Juan Pérez-Costa (‘14) won the state championship in the 400-yard freestyle relay. For his accomplishments, De Pawlikowski earned the Belen Jesuit Athlete of the Year Award. For his coaching accomplishments during the 2013-2014 season, the Miami Herald awarded Coach Kirk Peppas the Coach of the Year Award once again. It was the seventh time that he had been awarded this honor during his coaching career.
Several outstanding Belen Jesuit swimmers who were part of the state championship teams also made the All-County team, and some of them obtained the honor several years in a row. Among them were:
Raymond Zomerfeld (‘07), Patrick Arenson (‘08), Carlos Araque (‘08), Víctor López Cantera (‘08), Sebastián Orozco (‘08), Andrés Simauchi (‘08), Pablo Morejón (‘09), Andrés Vázquez (‘11), Carlos Omaña (‘11), Matthew Long (‘12), Julián Ballestas (‘13), Thomas Avallone (‘13), Evan Banciella (‘13), José Álvarez (‘13), Boleck de Pawlikowski (‘14), Manuel López (‘14), Juan Pérez-Costa (‘14), Ryan Guso (‘15), Alejandro Carriazo (‘17), Maximiliano García del Pozo (‘17), and Daniel Simpson (‘17).
Since 2000, the Wolverine swim team has accomplished several undefeated seasons, as well as multiple district, regional, and Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition championships. In addition, the Belen Jesuit swim team has also attained the highest honor, the state of Florida championship, seven times, establishing a record at the state level that will be difficult to match. Not only has the hard-work and dedication of the Wolverine swimmers paid-off but Coach Kirk Peppas’s excellent coaching has also been recognized with seven Miami Herald Coach of the Year awards during the last decade. Plans at Belen Jesuit include the continued success of the swimming program as well as the construction of an Olympic size swimming pool, a project that is on its way thanks to the generosity of the several Belen Jesuit families and alumni.
The 2010-2011 Swim team after winning the fifth consecutive state championship. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The 2009-2010 swim team won the fourth consecutive Belen Jesuit state championship title. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Carlos Omaña (‘11) won state championship medals in the 200yard individual medley, 500-yard freestyle, and 400-yard relay. Omaña also received All-County and All-State honors.
Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
The Belen Jesuit 20102011 State Champions in 200-yard and 400yard Freestyle Relay Andrés Vázquez (‘11), Carlos Omaña (‘11), Matthew Long (‘12) and Julián Ballestas (‘13).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Fr. Francisco Permuy, SJ (‘85), Carlos Barquín, Herzen Cortés (‘13), Paul Grenet (‘11), Jake Guso (‘13), William Johnson (‘11), José Álvarez (‘13), Kirk Peppas, Christian Gómez (‘12), Matthew Long (‘12), Carlos Omaña (‘11), Andrés Vázquez (‘11), Alejandro Carr (‘12), John Amy (‘11), Boleck de Pawlikowski (‘14)
Anthony López (‘10), Mario Cárcamo (‘10), John Amy (‘11), Paul Grenet (‘11), William Johnson (‘11), Carlos Omaña (‘11), Jonathan Pérez (‘11), Andrés Vázquez (‘11), Kyle Merino (‘12), Matthew Bill (‘12), Alejandro Carr (‘12), Fernando de Caralt (‘12), Matthew Espinosa (‘12), Christian Gómez (‘12), Alejandro Huamani (‘12), Matthew Long (‘12), Juan López-Bosch (‘12), Diguan Pigot (‘12), Daniel Ruiz (‘12), Jorge Salazar (‘12), Alejandro Trujillo (‘12), José Álvarez (‘13), Thomas Avallone (‘13), Julián Ballestas (‘13), Evan Banciella (‘13), Manuel Corbea (‘13), Herzen Cortés (‘13), Jake Guso (‘13), Enrique Lam (‘13), Alberto Maza (‘13), Kyle Hastings, Javier Araque (‘03)
SOCCER
The establishment of soccer as a team sport at Belen Jesuit began during the 1976-1977 academic year and came about thanks to the generous support of the school’s student council, whose members used their fundraising proceeds to help start the team. With a dedicated group of athletes, alumnus Jorge Dieppa (‘74) established and coached the soccer team during its first four seasons (1976-1980). Although in its first year it competed as a club, the Wolverine soccer team faced experienced junior varsity teams from Ransom Everglades and Palmer Trinity School, and ended their season with a surprisingly successful 5W-1L record. At first, just like the other Belen Jesuit athletic teams, the soccer players practiced at Crandon Park. In 1978, the team also began to practice at Bicentennial Park in Downtown Miami and played home games at Gerry Curtis Park.94
During those early days, Miami-Dade soccer teams all played under one division, and Belen Jesuit played some very memorable and hard fought games against local district powerhouse schools such as Miami High, Hialeah-Miami Lakes, and Miami Beach High School. During the four years that Coach Dieppa coached the team, the Wolverine soccer players finished as runners-up in their district (1978-1979). During their fourth season in play (1979-1980), the team recorded the best record in their history (14W-1L-1T), captured the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) district championship as well as the Gulfstream Athletic Conference championship, and finally finished as runners-up in their region in a game against Westminster Christian School that ran through eight overtime periods. Outstanding Belen Jesuit soccer players during this time were: Antonio Rabassa (‘77), Juan Dieppa (‘78), Sergio Rodríguez (‘79), Alfredo Rabassa (‘80), Federico Poey (‘80), and Francisco de la Cámara (‘80).95
In 1980, Belen Jesuit alumnus Agustín de Goytisolo (‘76) took over coaching the soccer team for the next three years (1980-1983). During that time, the team finished as runners-up in the district twice and had two winning seasons with excellent contributions from outstanding players such as Antonio Muñiz (‘82), Jeff Iturralde (‘82), Luis Uriarte (‘83), Juan Sánchez (‘83), Leonardo Rodríguez (‘83), and Federico Maciá (‘83). During the 1983-1984 season, the team was coached by Munga Eketebi, who was at the time the star player of the Florida International University soccer team, and since 2007, serves as head soccer coach at FIU. During that season, Coach Eketebi had excellent contributions from Belen Jesuit soccer players Teodoro Sánchez (‘84), Carlos Muñiz (‘85), and Antonio Abella (‘85).96
In 1984, Fernando Fonseca took over coaching the team for three years (1984-1987). During the first season, the new coach attempted to rebuild the team by giving some of the younger players much needed experience. The strategy paid off the following year, as the team finished their 1985-1986 season as runners-up in the district. In an attempt to start players off earlier and train them prior to them joining the varsity team, a junior varsity team was established during the 1985-1986 academic year ,with Belen Jesuit alumnus Antonio Abella (‘85) as coach. The following year (1986-1987), a middle school team was also established coached by Diego Ospina.97
Rick Díaz (‘81), Antonio Rabassa (‘77), José Santiago (‘79), Juan Dieppa (‘78), Jorge Álvarez (‘78), Enrique Mendía (‘80), Jorge Guerra (‘80), Reinol González (‘79), Alfredo Rabassa (‘80), Jorge Mendía (‘79), Marco Sainz (‘80), Sergio Rodríguez (‘79), Ángel Suárez (‘80), Luis Mechoso (‘80), Federico Arvesú (‘78), Pablo Mila (‘80), Jorge Dieppa (‘74)
Over the next six years, the varsity soccer program had several coaches. The team had six winning seasons and finished three of them (1991-1993) as runners-up in the district finals. Among the dedicated coaches who worked with the Wolverine varsity soccer players was Carlos Rosado, who coached the team (1987-1988), in a season where the team began to show that it could win by playing cohesively. Antonio Abella (‘85) coached the team once again during the 19881989 season. The following year (1989-1990), Robin Fraser coached the team. Although that year the team was plagued with injuries, Alejandro Murguía (‘90) and Rolando Molina (‘91) still managed to play with determination and made the All-Conference roster. José Chao coached the team (1990-1991) during a year in which Rolando Molina (‘91), César Molina (‘91), and Julián Bendaña (‘91) made the AllCounty team. That year, the Wolverines ended up with one of the best records in their history (12W-5L-2T), and as runners-up in the district. The following year (1991-1992), Carl Osborne coached the team, and then during the 1992-1993 season, Coach Chao coached the team once again. Both years, the teams performed very well finishing each season as runners-up in the district. Outstanding Belen Jesuit soccer players during this time were: Víctor Sallick (‘92), Ernesto Morán (‘92), Edward Mena (‘92), and Luis Saladrigas (‘93).98
Radames Ventura coached the Belen Jesuit varsity soccer team from 1993 to 1995. During the 1993-1994 season, one of the best soccer players in the history of Belen Jesuit, Gabriel Morán (‘95), became the first Wolverine ever to lead the Dade County 3A-2A-1A soccer category in scoring and receive All-State honors. That year, Enrique Reyes (‘96) made the All-County team, as well as Gabriel Morán (‘95), who also made the team during his senior year. Other outstanding Belen Jesuit soccer players during this time were Tony Ullivarri (‘95) and Ricardo Caporal (‘96).99
In 1995, Pablo Taquechel, who had been coaching the junior varsity team since 1990, took over as head coach of the varsity soccer team. He coached the team from 1995 to 2001. Since the first season of his tenure (1995-1996), the soccer program took a turn for the better, as they defeated Key West High School for the first time in seven years and one of the top-ranked teams in the state, Gulliver Preparatory School. Coach Taquechel proudly stated:
“This is the first year that we have had the consistency, commitment, and unity we needed. As a result, we had the most successful season in Belen Jesuit history (17W-4L-1T).100
During the 1995-1996 season, Enrique Reyes (‘96) and Christian Banchs (‘97) made the All-County team. The following season (1996-1997), the varsity soccer team overcame expectations and a slow start in their season and won the district championship for the second time in their history by beating the number one-ranked team in the state, Gulliver Preparatory School. Senior Christian Banchs (‘97) and José Rovira (‘98) made the All-County team. The Wolverines finished the 1999-2000 season as runners-up in their district, with excellent performances from Jonathan Pagnussat (‘00) and Marco González (‘01), who made the All-County team. The following season (2000-2001), González made the All-County team once again. Other outstanding Belen Jesuit soccer players during this time were: Luis Arrazola (‘96), Rafael Villoldo (‘97), Marco Botero (‘97), Daniel Arenas (‘97), José Garrido (‘99), Jorge Saladrigas (‘99), Erimar Von der Osten (‘99), and Miguel Bolaños (‘01).101
In 2001, Fabio Ortega, who had been coaching the junior varsity team since 1998, took over as coach of the varsity team. Coach Ortega coached the team from 2001 to 2007. During the first season of Coach Ortega’s tenure (2001-2002), the Wolverine varsity soccer team achieved their first and only undefeated season in the history of the program. The team also captured the third district champion-
Jeff Iturralde (‘82), Henry Garrigo (‘80), Francisco de la Cámara (‘80), Benjamín Fernández (‘82), Antonio Muñiz (‘82), José Smith (‘80), Kenneth Irigoyen (‘80), Leonardo Rodríguez (‘83), Orlando Casariego (‘82), Edward Fidalgo (‘82), Jorge Blanco (‘80), Juan Sánchez (‘83), Alfredo Rabassa (‘80), Jorge Dieppa (‘74), William Candela (‘80), Jorge Castellanos (‘82), Víctor Mendía (‘83), Enrique Mendía (‘80), Jorge Powell (‘81), Federico Poey (‘80), Federico Maciá (‘83), Alberto Hernández (‘81) Alberto Cardelle (‘82)
The 1979-1980 Belen
team
both the district and Gulfstream Athletic Conference championships for the first time in the history of the program. The team was also a finalist in the regional competition. Photograph from Echoes, 1980.
The first Belen Jesuit soccer team (19761977). Photograph from Echoes, 1977.
Jesuit soccer
won
The 1995-1996 Belen Jesuit soccer team won the district championship for the second time in the history of the program.
Photograph from Echoes, 1996.
Alimer González (‘04) (#13), Eduardo Valdés (‘03) (#16), and Luis Angulo (‘02) (#8) in action during the Belen Jesuit soccer team’s
first undefeated season (2001-2002). The team also obtained the district championship and was a finalist in their region.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
ship in their history and finished as runners-up in their region. The team was led by the “fantastic four:” Michael Montiel (‘02), Andrés Chiriboga (‘02), Víctor León (‘02), and Emilio Saiz (‘02). Two players made the All-County team: Luis Angulo (‘02) and Carlos Ortega (‘04). Ortega also won the Miami Herald Player of the Year Award. The following season (2002-2003), the varsity team also won the district championship for the fourth time in their history, as they also did during the 2003-2004 season, when they came in as runners-up in the region for the second time in the history of the program.102
For a team that had only won two district titles in their history, winning three consecutive titles was a testament to the development of the program over time and the dedication of its coaches and players. Alimer González (‘04) made the All-County team for two years (2002-2004), and he was joined in the honor by Carlos Ortega (‘04) and Borja Polo (‘04). During the 2004-2005 season, the team finished as runners-up in their district. During the 2006-2007 season, the team defeated the 5A state championship team from St. Thomas Aquinas High School (1-0) for the first time ever. Belen Jesuit soccer players who made the All-County team during this time were: Patricio González (‘05), Andrés Vega (‘05), and José Cobián (‘07). Other outstanding players were: Omar Palacios (‘05), John Slater (‘07), Iñigo Abaroa (‘08), and Llobal Alonso (‘08).103
Daniel Domínguez (‘97), Alfredo Gutiérrez (‘96), Iván Santa-Cruz (‘97), Pablo Conde (‘96), Pablo Cartaya (‘96), Marco Botero (‘97), Christian Banchs (‘97), Luis Arrazola (‘96), Luis Patino (‘97), Rafael Villoldo (‘97), Frankie Ruiz (‘96), Ricardo Caporal (‘96), Luis Cabrera (‘96), Raúl Cruz (‘98), Marco Ciocca (‘97), Armando Vásquez (‘96), José Rodríguez (‘97), José Rovira (‘98), Eduardo Carreño (‘97), Gabriel Peláez (‘97), Daniel Arenas (‘97), Enrique Reyes (‘96), Alfredo Socorro
Since 2007, Tanger Mendonca has been coaching the Belen Jesuit varsity soccer team. Since his first season as coach (2007-2008), he concentrated on developing talent and had excellent contributions from players Víctor Verdeja (‘08), Llobal Alonso (‘08), and Andrés Mármol (‘08). Mármol made the All-County team. During the 2008-2009 season, the Wolverine team came together to beat long-time rival, Ronald Reagan High School, after which they decided to stop wearing their blue uniforms and went undefeated until their district loss.
The following two academic years yielded district championships, and some of the most exciting seasons in Belen Jesuit soccer history. During the 2009-2010 season, Diego Costa-Bonaduce (‘10) made the All-County team. Outstanding Belen Jesuit soccer players during this time were: José Ferreiro (‘09) and Borja Sagarduy (‘10).104 During the 2010-2011 season, the Belen Jesuit varsity soccer team made an unprecedented run in the playoffs. They won all their regional games in overtime versus opponents who were ranked much higher. In the first round versus Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy High School, Sebastián Duque (‘11) scored the golden goal. In the second round versus nationally ranked Pembroke Pines Charter High School, Juan Pablo Cobián (‘12) scored the winner, and in the regional final versus Merritt Island, Gabriel Loret de Mola (‘11) scored and the Wolverines captured the regional championship and went on to play in the state final for the first time in the history of the program. The fans followed the soccer team and began calling them the Tangerines, a play on words for the name of their beloved Coach Tanger Mendonca. Although the team lost the state championship, their attitude in defeat exemplified what the Belen Jesuit athletics program was all about. Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), who traveled
with the soccer team to Tampa University and watched them face Chocktawhatchee High School, put it best when he stated:
“I was proud of the crowd, proud of those boys who loaded the buses that left our campus early in the morning, excited to be part of what already was history. What a beautiful sight when they cheered their classmates after our defeat. They yearned and clamored for their team’s attention and insisted on offering that one bit of consolation in the midst of such sad desolation. And before huddling together to receive parting words from their coach and then make their way back to a quiet and barren locker room, they lined up along the side of the field closest to the crowd and applauded back to their fans as a sign of humble but signifi cant gratitude. That is Belen! Better than any slogan or motto, better than any song or poem, better than any homily or discourse, it is the sight of camaraderie, especially in defeat, that echoes best what is Belen.”
105
The 2010-2011 season ended beautifully with Daniel Mion (‘11), and Gabriel Loret de Mola (‘11) making the All-County team. Loret de Mola was also the leading scorer on the team, with twelve goals for the season. For his accomplishments, Coach Tanger Mendonca also won the Coach of the Year Award in 2011, a great accomplishment for the team and the school.106 The following season (2011-2012), the team finished their season with an 11W-7L-4T record and as runners-up in the district, with excellent contributions by Carlos Acevedo (‘14), Fernando de Caralt (‘12), Eduardo Valle (‘13), and All-County team captain José Scheuren (‘12).
The team finished the following season (2012-2013), with a 14W-4L4T record and Diego Mion (‘13) made the All-County team. The
Sebastián Duque (‘11), Gabriel Loret de Mola (‘11), José Perrone (‘11), Franco Abaroa (‘11), Daniel Mion (‘11), Gabriel Mion (‘11), Nicolás Olvera (‘11), Salvador Sanchis (‘11), Pedro Morfin (‘12), Mateo Buraglia (‘13), Alexandre Félix (‘11), Alejandro Paz (‘11), Nikolas Arenas (‘12), Juan Pablo Cobián (‘12), Alexander Durant (‘12), Dimmytri Morency (‘12), Augusto Naccarato (‘12), José Scheuren (‘12), Sergio Sroka (‘12), Kevin González (‘13), Diego Mion (‘13), Eduardo Valle (‘13), Reynaldo Madiedo (‘14), Cesar Rebolledo (‘14)
team finished the 2013-2014 season with a 16W-3L-1T record. They remained undefeated within the district, scored sixty-two goals, while allowing their opponents to score only seven, and won the district championship. The two team captains, Reynaldo Madiedo (‘14) and Carlos Acevedo (‘14), provided strong leadership inside and outside the field of play. Gabriel López (‘14), José Vicente Sanchis (‘14), Marcello Hernández (‘15), Francisco de la Cámara (‘16), and Anthony Castro (‘16) also provided great support for the team. Acevedo made both the All-County and the All-State team.
The Belen Jesuit soccer program has developed over time into a competitive, committed, determined squad that appreciates the hard work and dedication that it takes to play soccer as a team sport. The players also appreciate the talent and knowledge of professional soccer player, Coach Tanger Mendonca, who continues to lead them as they strive to win a coveted state championship. In 2010, Robert Grimal (‘10) put it best when he stated:
“We’re very lucky to have such a talented and knowledgeable coach teaching us not only how to play the game well, but also to be good men.” 107
The 2010-2011 Belen Jesuit soccer team in a prayer circle with Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) and Coach Tanger Mendonca before the state championship semi-final game at the University of Tampa. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
At the 2010-2011 state championship semi-final game, Belen Jesuit played against Chocktawhatchee High School at the University of Tampa.
Photograph from Belen Jesuit Archives.
(‘97), Derrick Welch, Pablo Taquechel
José González (‘87), Andrés de Armas (‘86), Jorge Cinca (‘86), Antonio Portuondo (‘86), Carlos Pérez-Abreu (‘88), Guillermo García-Tuñón (‘87), Richard Stuart
GOLF
The idea of establishing golf as a team sport at Belen Jesuit came about during the 1984-1985 academic year, when a group of students approached Belen Jesuit Football Coach Richard Stuart, who agreed to coach a golf team the following academic year. Coach Stuart coached the golf team from 1985 to 1988. At first, the golf team functioned more like a sports club than a competing team. Although they did not have a home golf course or a place to practice regularly, the golf team began playing against established teams at local tournaments, where they managed to hold their own. During their first season (1985-1986), the golf team finished out the year with a 1W-3L record, winning one sole match against Palmer Trinity School. Belen Jesuit golf players during that first season included: Andrés de Armas (‘86), Antonio Portuondo (‘86), Jorge Cinca (‘86), José González (‘87), Guillermo García-Tuñón (‘87), and Carlos Pérez-Abreu (‘88). The following year (1986-1987), González,
Pérez-Abreu, and García-Tuñón continued to lower their averages, joined by Raúl Chao (‘91), Luis Fernández (‘89), Juan Fanjul (‘89), and Edward Zieseniss (‘89). The 1986-1987 season included seven matches, with two victories: one against Miami High School and the other against Ransom Everglades. The team finished the season with a 2W-5L record, and team players recounted how they had come together not only as teammates but as friends and thought that they had also grown as from the experience. The following season (1987-1988), Pérez-Abreu received recognition as one of Dade County’s top ten scholar athletes and made the Gulfstream Athletic Conference golf team. Pérez-Abreu also made what was considered one of the season’s most difficult putts, from thirty yards away. The team finished the season with a 10W-4L record. Other outstanding Belen Jesuit players that year included Guillermo Fernández (‘89), Noel Orozco (‘90), and Javier Antuña (‘92).108
María Elena Cartaya began coaching the team during the 1988-1989 academic year. During this year, the team began to use the Fontainebleau Park Golf Course to play its home matches as well as to practice. Coach Cartaya coached the golf team from 1988 to 1993. Although the 1988-1989 season was tough, and the team finished with a 2W-10L record, the team came together with a clear-cut commitment to re-build under the guidance of their new coach. Javier Antuña (‘92) finished with forty-three points and the Most Valuable Player Award. Belen Jesuit golf players during the 1988-1989 season also included Luis Fernández (‘89) and Jesús Ayo (‘91). The following year (1989-1990), the team improved and finished the season with a 5W-8L record. Although many challenges remained, the team also qualified for the district tournament and placed fifth at the Dade County Fair & Exposition competition, with outstanding participation from Antuña, Ayo, Albert Calienes (‘91), Giraldo Leyva (‘91), José Paret (‘91), and Francisco Paredes (‘93). During the 1990-1991 season, the team finished with a 5W-10L record, and although their record was clearly not much of an improvement from the year before, the matches that they lost during the season were hard-fought and extremely close in score. That year, the team had excellent participation from Antuña, Ayo, Calienes, Leyva, Paret, Paredes, and Jorge Fraga (‘91). Also that year, for the first time, the team traveled overnight to play several matches in Key West.109
Starting in 1991, one of the team’s original student founders, Jesuit scholastic Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), assisted Coach María Elena Cartaya with coaching. The team had another challenging season (1991-1992), as only four players consistently played throughout the year. Antuña, who had been playing golf at the school since ninth grade, placed eleventh at the district and second at the Dade County Fair & Exposition competitions. An outstanding contribution was made again by Paredes, as well as by newcomers Gonzalo de la Iglesia (‘92) and Felipe Aspillaga (‘94). During the 1992-1993 season, Jesuit scholastic García-Tuñón continued to assist Coach Cartaya with the team, and they both decided that the team should take in middle school students in an effort to develop student commitment to the sport in the years prior to high school. The damage suffered in the area by Hurricane Andrew, however, left them with little time to get ready for what turned out to be another challenging season, which the team finished with a 2W-7L record.110
During the 1993-1994 season, Belen Jesuit alumnus José Roca (‘84), who had become a faculty member at the school, began to coach the
team. That year, team captains Felipe Aspillaga (‘94) and Enrique Reyes (‘96) finished with averages of forty-one and forty-seven respectively. Belen Jesuit golf players who participated that season included Jorge Fernández-Silva (‘94), Eduardo Costa (‘94), and Pablo Tirado (‘94). The following season (1994-1995), the team began to use the Costa del Sol Golf Course instead of the one at Fontainebleau Park as its home course, and their practices began to improve week after week with the assistance of Coach Pete Di Pietro. The season included victories over Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame and Monsignor Edward Pace High School. Belen Jesuit players who contributed that season included Reyes, Alfredo Grandal (‘95), Alejandro Paredes (‘96), and Luis Martínez (‘00). Although the team finished the season with a 4W-8L record, they were optimistic about their future because four of its starting golfers were due to return the following season. During the 1995-1996 season, the team did in fact benefit from having four experienced starters in its line-up. The team defeated Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame, Dade Christian, Miami High, and Monsignor Edward Pace High School. They also finished fifth in their district with a 10W-4L-1T record for the season. Characterized by their coach as a team filled with competitive
The first Belen Jesuit golf team (1985-1986).
Photograph from the Sports Banquet Program, 1986.
The Belen Jesuit 19901991 golf team at the Golf Club of Miami District Tournament, 1991. Photograph courtesy of Coach María Elena Cartaya.
Albert Calienes (‘91), Jorge Fraga (‘91), José Paret (‘91), Francisco Paredes (‘93), Jesús Ayo (‘91), Giraldo Leyva (‘91), Javier Antuña (‘92), María Elena Cartaya
Juan Weissenberg ('03) was a MiamiDade County Fair & Exposition medalist and All-County third team golf player. Weissenberg went to play golf at Barry University in Miami, where he led the team to its first-ever NCAA Division II Golf National Championship. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
spirit, and determined to make golf one of the best sports at Belen Jesuit, outstanding players during this season included: Reyes, Paredes, Martínez, Jonathan Gardere (‘96), Antonio Suárez (‘97), Juan Carlos Alexander (‘99), and Jerónimo Esteve (‘99).111
The 1996-1997 season also proved to be a great success, as the team finished fifth in their district, with a 12W-2L record, placed ninth at the Dade County Fair & Exposition competition, and gave a great performance at the Melbourne Central Classic Invitational. Outstanding Belen Jesuit golf players during this season also included: Jerónimo Esteve (‘99), Juan Carlos Alexander (‘99), Antonio Suárez (‘97), Gabriel Bustamante (‘99), Luis Martínez (‘00), Eric Alexander (‘00), and José Jiménez (‘00). During the 1997-1998 season, increased student participation in the program prompted Athletic Director Carlos Barquín to establish a junior varsity golf team at the school, which functioned as an extension of the varsity team. That season, Esteve led the varsity team with the help of Martínez, Jiménez, Juan Carlos Alexander (‘99), and Gregory Bel (‘00). Incredible talent, unity, and hard practices paid off for the team, which finished the season with a (16W3L) record. Pleased with his team’s performance, Martínez stated:
“I loved this team. We had a lot of heart, determination, and leadership, which were necessary for the kind of season that we had.”112
The 1997-1998 golf team finished in seventh place at the MiamiDade County Fair & Exposition competition and fifth in their district, beating experienced teams such as Christopher Columbus High School, Coral Gables High School, Key West High School, and Monsignor Edward Pace High School. The following season (1998-1999), the team finished with a 15W-6L record, third in their district, and sixth at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition. Moreover, at the end of that season, Esteve led all the
golfers in Miami-Dade County Class 1A-4A with an average ninehole score of 36.2 for the season. The 1999-2000 season was filled with much hard work and practice for the team, which started out with five straight wins that were followed toward the end of the season by four consecutive losses. As a result, the golf players began to doubt themselves. The team, which by this time had substantially grown in size to include fifteen players, managed to hold together, all the while hoping that a successful finish was possible. Their resilience paid off and they finished their season with a 27W5L record, the best in their history. Moreover, for the first time, the team finished as runners-up in both the district and regional tournaments. They also qualified to compete at the state competition in Melbourne, Florida. Although they were not successful at the state finals, the entire season had been a notable accomplishment, fueled by the outstanding contributions of the Belen Jesuit golf players including: Juan Weissenberg (‘03), José Jiménez (‘00), Gregory Bel (‘00), and José Canto (‘03).113
The new millennium started out with several accomplishments for the Belen Jesuit golf team. Although they had lost some of their valuable players to graduation the year before, during the 2000-2001 season, the team finished fifth in their district and obtained third place at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition. That year, Juan Weissenberg (‘03) and Nicholas Alexander (‘03) made the AllCounty third team. Moreover, in his first year playing as part of the Belen Jesuit golf team, Federico Moreno (‘03) received an All-County honorable mention. Also during that memorable season, José Canto (‘03) and Weissenberg had top scores at the district championship and Weissenberg qualified for the regional competition. Other outstanding Belen Jesuit golf players during this season also included: John Paul Albert (‘01), Daniel Bustamante (‘02), and Julián Knight (‘04). During the 2001-2002 season, Alexander and Weissenberg led the team to finish with a spectacular record (12W-2L-1T). Like the previous year, the team finished in third place at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition, as runners-up in their district, and qualified as a team to compete in the regional championship, where they placed sixth. Weissenberg finished in the top five at the regional competition, where Alexander also placed in the top ten. Outstanding Belen Jesuit golf players that season also included: Canto, Moreno, Bustamante, Knight, and Alejandro Lega (‘05).114
During the (2002-2003) season, Jay Perkins and Gerardo Pórtela (‘70) began coaching the Belen Jesuit golf team. The coaches got
to work right away to raise the team’s level of excellence and commitment and obtained great results. The team finished their season with a 12W-4L record and obtained third place at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition. The team also competed at the regional competition and placed fourth as a team. Team captains Juan Weissenberg (‘03) and Nicholas Alexander (‘03) placed fourth at the regional competition, where Weissenberg shot a low score (71). Weissenberg made the All-County team and Nicholas Alexander (‘03), José Canto (‘03), Federico Moreno (‘03), and Ricardo Escobar (‘07) received honorable mentions. Outstanding Belen Jesuit golf players that season also included: Gregory Schaiberger (‘03), Mario Murgado (‘06), and Jorge Gómez (‘06). The following year (2003-2004), the loss to graduation of four starting varsity players from the class of 2003 presented an enormous challenge, but coaches Perkins and Pórtela pulled the team together and obtained strong performances from its committed players, which were led by Team Captain Julián Knight (‘04). Thanks to Knight’s commitment as well as that of Escobar, Murgado and newcomers Richard Massa (‘08), and Andrés Pumariega (‘08), the team finished the season
with a 12W-2L record and fourth place at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition. Massa made the All-County team, and Escobar and Pumariega received honorable mentions from the Miami Herald Massa and Pumariega both advanced to the regional tournament. The team’s nucleus, although comprised at that point by ninth and eighth graders, was committed to push one another in order to reach new heights as individual players, and they were sure that they would accomplish great things in years to come.115
During the (2004-2005) season, Richard Massa (‘08) and Ricardo Escobar (‘07) became team co-captains, and although the team was young, they finished the season with an 8W-1L record. It was also a great accomplishment when for the first time in the history of the program, the Miami Herald referred to the Belen Jesuit golf team as a “golf powerhouse team.” The team placed third at the MiamiDade County Fair & Exposition competition, as well as in their district, and Andrés Pumariega (‘08) finished in second place with an overall score of seventy-one. At the district competition, the team qualified for the regional tournament. Pumariega and Massa made
The 2004-2005 Belen Jesuit golf team won third place at the MiamiDade County Fair & Exposition competition. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, 2005.
Mario Murgado (‘06), Jorge Gómez (‘06), Ricardo Escobar (‘07), Richard Massa (‘08), Donato Argüelles (‘05), José Ortega (‘05), Gustavo Rubio (‘05), Alfredo Rodríguez (‘08), Andrés Pumariega (‘08), Mauricio Valencia (‘05), Gabriel Henríquez (‘07), Jorge Guerra (‘08), William Gómez (‘08), Michael Mendoza (‘08), Roberto Machado (‘09), Jay Perkins, Jerry Pórtela
the All-County team, and Escobar received an honorable mention. Belen Jesuit golf players during this season also included: Donato Argüelles (‘05), Gustavo Rubio (‘05), José Ortega (‘05), Mario Murgado (‘06), Jorge Gómez (‘06), and Gabriel Enríquez (‘07). The following year (2005-2006), the team finished their season with an 8W3L record, third in their district, and fifth at the regional competition,
where Pumariega also finished in third place. Pumariega made the All-County team, and Massa as well as Escobar received honorable mentions. The team also had the lowest score recorded in team history for eighteen holes (294). Other outstanding team members also contributed to the season including: Roberto Machado (‘09), Nicholas Castellanos (‘09), and Alejandro Machado (‘12).116
During the 2006-2007 season, Frank Rakusa coached the Belen Jesuit varsity golf team, and Gerardo Pórtela (‘70) coached the junior varsity team. The varsity team finished their season with a 7W-4L record, and as runners-up in the district and at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition. The team had outstanding contributions from Ricardo Escobar (‘07), Richard Massa (‘08), Alfredo Rodríguez (‘08), Roberto Machado (‘09), and Charles Meléndez (‘08). Massa placed in the top ten at all the tournaments, posted all of his rounds in the mid-low seventies, and had an average score of 37.2 for all the nine-hole matches. Escobar had a season average score of 37.8 for nine-hole and of 78.2 for eighteen-hole matches. Rodríguez scored a seventy-three at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition which tied him and the team for second place at that competition. Coach Rakusa had been impressed by the team’s resilience and dedication during the 2006-2007 season, which made him have great hope for the following season. The team came through spectacularly during the 2007-2008 season. They finished with an 8W-2L record, as runners-up in their district, and in third place at the regional competition. Once again, Richard Massa (‘08) placed in the top ten at all the tournaments. Massa had an average score of 36.7 for all the nine-hole matches, and he placed second at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition with a score of seventy. Massa also placed fourth at the districts tournament, and tenth at the regional competition. Charles Meléndez (‘08) had a season average score of 37.6 for nine-hole and of 76.8 for eighteen-hole matches. Meléndez also moved up from fourth position to play in second, by far the most improvement by a player that Coach Rakusa had seen in one year. Roberto Machado (‘09) also had a great season, finishing with an average score of 39.2 for all his nine-hole matches and with a round low score of thirty-three. He also placed tenth at the regional competition.117
During the 2008-2009 season, Roberto Machado (‘09) led the varsity team, which finished with a 6W-4L record, as runners-up in the district, and in third place at the regional competition. Machado earned All-County team honors from the Miami Herald Outstanding Bel-
en Jesuit golf team members during that season included: Alejandro Machado (‘12), Carlos Padrón (‘10), Juan Carlos Álvarez (‘11), and Guillermo Quirch (‘11). The following year (2009-2010), Gerardo Pórtela (‘70), who had been coaching golf at the school since 2002, coached both the varsity and junior varsity golf teams. The team finished the 2009-2010 season with a 3W-6L record, in third place in the district, and in fourth place at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition competition. The team also finished in fifth place at the inaugural Deering Bay Invitational. Padrón and Oscar Cabanas (‘13) led the team, which also had outstanding performances from Quirch, Álvarez, Alejandro Machado (‘12), René Negrón (‘12), Gerard Beauchamp (‘12), and Gerardo Pórtela (‘12).118
During the 2010-2011 season, Mario Avello started coaching the varsity golf team, and Coach Gerardo Pórtela (‘70) continued to coach junior varsity. Coach Pórtela also established a middle school golf team in order to give students the ability to start practicing and competing in golf prior to high school. The varsity team had a spectacular 2010-2011 season, as they finished with an 8W3L record, and as runners-up in both the district and the region. The team’s performance at the regional competition enabled them, for the first time in their history, to compete at the state tournament in Ocala, Florida. At the state competition, the Belen Jesuit golf team was ranked thirteenth in the state. Throughout this season, the team had outstanding performances from team members Alejandro Machado (‘12), Juan Carlos Álvarez (‘11), Guillermo Quirch (‘11), and Oscar Cabanas (‘13). During the 2011-2012 season, the team finished in second place at the district competition and in fourth place at the regional tournament. Moreover, Oscar Cabanas (‘13), who finished second at the district and regional competitions, qualified to compete at the state tournament once again. Cabanas also made the All-County first team. In addition, Gerardo Pórtela (‘12) placed second at the Maverick Classic and made the All-County second team. For the 2012-2013 golf season, the team finished with a 7W-2L record, as runners-up in the district, and in fourth place in their region. Cabanas was an AllCounty team member once again, and a district and regional runner-up. Cabanas was also qualified to compete at the state tournament for the third consecutive year. During the 2013-2014 season, the team had excellent contributions from Guillermo Saade (‘14), Pedro Gómez-Faccio (‘14), and Daniel Pérez (‘14) to finish their season with a 9W-3L record.
From the first year that he started coaching the team at the school, Coach Avello recognized the special contributions of his players as well as that of Belen Jesuit parents when he stated:
“As a first year varsity coach, I found a solid group of young men who wanted to work hard and make a difference. As a coach, I was extremely proud of our players all season, but in particular at the state tournament, where several parents from other teams and coaches approached me to complement our players’ behavior in the field. This team’s goal was to make it to the state tournament, and we can proudly say that we achieved this goal -a first in the school’s history. We look forward to the opportunity of bringing very soon a state championship to Belen Jesuit!”119
In a historic first, the 2010-2011 golf team placed second in the region and qualified to compete at the state tournament.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
All-County first team golf player Oscar Cabanas (‘13) finished second at both the district and regional tournaments. He also qualified to compete at the state tournament.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Alejandro Machado (‘12), Guillermo Quirch (‘11), Juan Carlos Álvarez (‘11), Oscar Cabanas (‘13), Gerard Beauchamp (‘12), René Negrón (‘12), Gerardo Pórtela (‘12), Patricio Espinosa (‘15), Mario Avello
WRESTLING
The history of wrestling at Belen Jesuit began in 1984, when Athletic Director Carlos Barquín decided that the time had come to found a wrestling team at the school. Coach Barquín had participated in wrestling as a competitive sport in both high school and college, and he knew that Belen Jesuit students would be able to compete successfully once they had been properly trained. Hence, he also decided that he should be the one to coach them, a position in which he served from 1984 to 1990. At first, the team practiced on mats that were laid out every day in the school’s cafeteria and which were stored under the covered patio. Every afternoon, wrestlers moved the cafeteria’s tables and chairs and laid out their mats, only to pick them up at the end of practice and then replace the tables and chairs to their original set-up. During the first decade of the program’s existence at the school, and prior to the Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center being built, the team followed this practice routine daily and held their home matches and tournaments by laying out their mats in the school’s central patio. During their first season, sixty-three
wrestlers tried-out, a third of which made the team, and began to compete against other established wrestling programs such as those at Ransom Everglades School and Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame.
During the first year (1984-1985), the win over Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame was the highlight of the season, since it was Coach Barquín’s alma mater and the place where he had first learned to wrestle during the early 1960s. The team ended their first season with a (8W-2L) winning record, and four Belen Jesuit wrestlers became regional semi-finalists: Daniel Garrido (‘85), Manuel Portuondo (‘85), Albert de Cárdenas (‘86), and Ángelo Longo (‘86).120
During the team’s second season (1985-1986), Ángelo Longo (‘86) won both the district and Gulfstream Conference championship for the unlimited weight class. Alberto Gross (‘86) also won as district championship in his weight class (171 pounds). The wins qualified Longo and Gross to represent Belen Jesuit at the state competition and although neither placed, it was a great accomplishment that in its second year of being established, the wrestling program had already been able to send two team members to compete at the state level. The following season (1986-1987), several seniors led the team including Manuel García-Linares (‘87), Bryant Herrera (‘87), and Alberto Zaldívar (‘87). That year, all the seniors and juniors Derek Barba (‘88), Jeremy Longo (‘88), Fernando Portuondo (‘88), and Alejandro Permuy (‘88) qualified to compete at the regional championship. During the following season (1987-1988), the team finished in fourth place at the Jacksonville Invitational and in third place at both the Sunset Christmas Tournament and the district competition. Permuy won the district championship in his weight class (123 pounds), and reached the final rounds in both the Sunset and Jacksonville tournaments. Jonathan García (‘88) won the Sunset Christmas Tournament and finished as runner-up in the district for his weight class (152 pounds). Other outstanding wrestlers that year included Daniel Grandal (‘89) and Fernando Pomares (‘88).
During the 1988-1989 season, the team players wrestled in classes below 145 pounds. In spite of having a lightweight team, the Wolverine wrestlers defeated Coral Shores for the first time in their history and placed among the top ten teams at the Jacksonville, Florida Christian, and district tournaments. Aldo Cardona (‘90) won the district championship for his weight class (121 pounds). Grandal
won first place in two of the tournaments and went undefeated in regular season matches, beating several heavier opponents. Other outstanding wrestlers during that season included: Henry Artigues (‘90), Ray Castellanos (‘90), Juan Carlos González (‘91), Raynold González (‘91), and Agustín Arrieta (‘92). Cardona was team cocaptain during the 1989-1990 season, during which the team also finished as runners-up at the All-County Conference, where Cardona, Castellanos, Juan Carlos González (‘91), and José MuñozSuárez (‘90) made the All-Conference team.121
During the following three seasons (1990-1993), the team had two coaches: Cosme Salas (1990-1992) and Amaury Castillo (1992-1993). During the 1990-1991 season, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín established a junior varsity team. That same season, a middle school wrestling team was also put in place. Wolverine varsity wrestlers gave peak performances during the season. For the first time in the history of the program, the team finished as runners-up in the district and Juan Carlos González (‘91) and Andrés Vidal (‘94) qualified for the regional tournament. Vidal reigned as district champion in his weight class (103 pounds) and qualified for the regional and state tournaments during all of his four years of high school (19901994). He also placed third (1991-1992; 1993-1994) and second (1992-1993) at the regional competition, and fourth in the State of Florida (1993-1994). During the 1991-1992 season, the wrestling team finished in third place in their district, and Joaquín Alemany (‘93) finished in second place in his weight class (125 pounds). The following season (1992-1993), Vidal and Jorge Caso (‘93) led the team to increase their practices to four hours, six days per week.122
In 1993, Fidel Albelo became the wrestling coach at Belen Jesuit, a position which he has faithfully held for over two decades. Coach Albelo defected from Cuba, where for several years he had been in charge of the youth free-style wrestling program for the island. When he started, he only spoke Spanish, which forced our athletes to use the language during wrestling practices and games. Over the years, he has been known at Belen Jesuit for his trademark phrase: “I love you, baby.” Besides coaching wrestling at the school, Coach Albelo has also developed a career officiating wrestling tournaments. He is ranked among the top three international wrestling officials in the United States and travels worldwide, particularly to Latin American countries to officiate at wrestling tournaments. Coach Albelo began training and developing the Belen Jesuit wrestling team
Alberto Menéndez (‘87), Alberto Gross (‘86), Daniel Garrido (‘85), Ángelo Longo (‘86), Antonio Berástegui (‘86), Manuel Portuondo (‘85), Joseph Granda (‘87), José López (‘86), Manuel García-Linares (‘87), Juan Mendieta (‘86), Albert de Cárdenas (‘86), Joel Méndez (‘85), Alexis Kredi (‘87), Andrés Jiménez (‘87), Miguel Berástegui (‘87), Carlos Martínez (‘87), Luis Espino (‘87), Carlos Barquín
during the 1993-1994 season. The team finished that season with a 7W-3L-2T record. During the season, in addition to the achievements of Team Captain Andrés Vidal (‘94), wrestler Orlando Cicilia (‘95) also became a great example of leadership to his teammates. Moreover, André Aguirre (‘97), in spite of an injury to his finger, managed to win a gold medal at the Invitational Tournament. Outstanding wrestlers during this year also included Omar Cartaya (‘94), Jorge Vigo (‘97), and Michael Llorente (‘97). The following season (1994-1995), Pavel Chamizo served as assistant coach and helped Coach Albelo with developing the team. That year, the team achieved a 8W-5L record. Both Cicilia and Carlos González (‘96) won the district championship in their respective weight classes. Aguirre also finished as runner-up in his weight class at the district
District Champion Alberto Gross (‘86) qualified to compete in the state championship. Gross was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. Photograph from Echoes, 1986.
The first Belen Jesuit wresting team (19841985). Photograph from Echoes, 1985.
The first Belen Jesuit state wrestling champion in school history, Jorge Vigo (‘97), and state finalist Michael Llorente (‘97) pose after the 1997 state competition, with Coach Fidel Albelo, family, and friends. Vigo was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
competition. Even though the wrestling team had progressively improved since his arrival, it would have been difficult for Coach Albelo to imagine the success that the wrestling team achieved during the end of the 1990s. The following year (1995-1996), the team ended their season with a 15W-1L record, its best since the start of the program. Alberto Hernández began serving as assistant coach, a position in which he would remain for twelve years (1995-2007). The team also won the district championship for the first time in its history, and went on to successfully defend the title during the following two years (1996-1998). Also during the 1995-1996 season, at the district competition Jorge Vigo (‘97), Manuel Chica (‘97), André Aguirre (‘97), Michael Llorente (‘97), and Oscar Zapata (‘99) won as individual district championships in their respective weight classes. The team also obtained a fourth place ranking at the regional competition, where Zapata, Vigo, Chica, and Carlos González (‘96) qualified to compete at the state tournament. Vigo led the Wolverines at the state finals where he finished in fifth place.123
The following year (1996-1997), the Belen Jesuit wrestling team started its season ranked tenth in the state of Florida. That year, the
team went on to record the first undefeated season in its history, finishing with a 16W-0L record. David Cuervo started serving as assistant coach, a position in which he would remain from 1996 to 2003. Also during the 1996-1997 season, Jorge Vigo (‘97) won the individual district championship once again, as well as the regional championship, and was selected to the All-County team. Moreover, Vigo also became the first Belen Jesuit wrestler to reign as state champion in his weight class. Also during that season, Michael Llorente (‘97) achieved the district championship once again, and finished as runner-up in the state finals for his weight class. Chica also won the district and regional championships, while André Aguirre (‘97), Oscar Zapata (‘99), and David Lay (‘98) all won the district championships in their respective weight classes. During the 1997-1998 season, the team defended its district championship title for the third year in a row and finished fourth at the regional tournament. At the district competition, Lay, Zapata, Pedro Vidal (‘98), Diógenes Carrera (‘98), and David Bouza (‘02) won individual district championships in their respective weight classes. Six wrestlers qualified to compete at the state competition, where both Zapata and Lay finished in fourth place. The following season (1998-1999), Zapata won the district championship once again, an achievement he accomplished all of his four years of high school (1995-1999). Zapata also won the regional championship for his weight class (1998-1999), and once again finished in fourth place at the state finals. Both Michael Reyes (‘99) and David Bouza (‘02) finished as runners-up in the district and in fourth place at the regional tournament for their respective weight classes. Christopher Alonso (‘01) won the district championship in his weight class and finished in third place at the regional tournament. Although that same year the Wolverines finished their season as runners-up in the district, they came back the following season (1999-2000) to regain the district championship. In addition, Oscar Zapata (‘99) returned to the school after graduation and assisted Coach Fidel Albelo in coaching the team from 1999 to 2003. The team finished the 1999-2000 season with an 8W-2L record and ranked sixth at the regional tournament. Alonso, Bouza, Iván Enríquez (‘01), William Wood (‘01), and Ricardo Palmerola (‘03) also won individual district championships that year and all of them finished in third place in their respective weight classes at the regional tournament. Enríquez also finished in fourth place at the state finals and Bouza finished in sixth place.124
During 2000-2001 season, the team won the district championship for the fifth time in its history, finished fourth in the region,
and sixth in at the state tournament. Iván Enríquez (‘01), David Bouza (‘02), and Jason Machado (‘04) won district and regional championships in their respective weight classes and Wood won the district championship in his weight category for the second year in a row. Enríquez made the All-County team, but the highlight of the season for him came at the state finals, where he won the state championship in his weight class. Enríquez became the second Belen Jesuit wrestler to reign as state wrestling champion in his weight class. The following year (2001-2002), the team had another spectacular season. Although as a team, they finished third in the district, fourth in the region, and sixth in the state, the individual accomplishments of the wrestlers spoke for themselves. Ricardo Palmerola (‘03), Bryan Suárez (‘03), David Bouza (‘02), and Jason Machado (‘04) won individual district championship titles. All four qualified for the state competition, where Bouza and Machado came away with two state championships, the third and fourth in the history of the Belen Jesuit wrestling program. Bouza and Machado also made the All-County team. The following year (2002-2003) proved to be a tremendous challenge for the team, as well as for one of its accomplished state champions. Losing several key wrestlers to graduation in 2002, and others choosing to end their participation early, caused the team to undergo a difficult season. While the team competed at the district tournament without several key wrestlers, committed performances by Steven Rico (‘07) and Ernesto Calderín (‘03) earned them recognition, when these two wrestlers finished as runners-up in their respective weight classes. Belen Jesuit state champion Machado felt the pressure of the difficult season as well as the difficulties in competing brought about by injuries, when he suffered a stress fracture in his hip. Machado still managed to recover and attain the district championship in is weight class. At the Regional meet, however, he dislocated his ankle during the opening minutes. Machado, who qualified for the state competition, taped his ankle and chose to compete at the state finals nevertheless. He walked away with his second consecutive state championship and the fifth such title for the Belen Jesuit wrestling program. Machado also made the All-County team all of his four years of high school (2000-2004) and continued to compete the following season (2003-2004), when the team had only eight wrestlers. Nevertheless, Steven Rico (‘07) still performed admirably, and Machado finished strong by attaining another consecu-
tive state championship title. He remains as the only wrestler in Belen Jesuit history to have won three state championship titles.125
At the end of the 2004-2005 season, the team finished undefeated for the second time in its history and Javier Rodríguez (‘07) achieved the individual district championship title for his weight class. During that season, Lázaro Reinoso began serving as assistant coach, a position in which he would remain from 2004 to 2010. Outstanding Belen Jesuit wrestlers during that year included Steven Rico (‘07), Marshall Thomas (‘06), and Nicholas Díaz (‘07). During the 2005-2006 season, the team finished third in the district. The team finished in third place at the Florida Christian Tournament with outstanding performances by Steven Rico (‘07), Javier Rodríguez (‘07), and Dylan Rico (‘09). Both Rodríguez and Steven Rico qualified to compete at the state tournament, where Rico placed sixth in his respective weight class. The following year (2006-2007), both Rodríguez and Steven Rico led the team, which won the district championship title that had eluded them since 2001. Steven Rico (‘07) and Dylan Rico (‘09) both advanced to compete at the state tournament, as well as Ricardo Rodríguez (‘09), who also attained the district championship for his weight class that year. During the 2007-2008 season, the team finished with a 6W-6L record and
Iván Enríquez (‘01) received the 2000-2001 state championship medal. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
as runners-up in their district. Rodríguez and Amado Nieto (‘08) qualified to compete at the state tournament, where Rodríguez finished as runner-up in his weight class (103 pounds).126
The following season (2008-2009), Belen Jesuit alumnus Jason Machado (‘04) began serving as assistant coach. That season, the team finished with a 7W-3L record. Both Ricardo Rodríguez (‘07) and Esteban Gómez-Rivera (‘12) won the district championship in their respective weight classes. Rodríguez also won the regional championship, and for the second year in a row, he finished as runner-up in his weight class at the state tournament. Gómez-Rivera also finished as runnerup in his weight class at the state competition. Both Rodríguez and Gómez-Rivera made the All-County team. During the 2009-2010 season, although the team finished in fourth place in their district under their new 2A classification, its members, Gómez-Rivera, Joshua López (‘11), Christopher Argüello (‘11), and Randy Monpremier (‘12), achieved four individual district championships. All four district champions qualified to compete at the state tournament, where Gómez-Rivera won the state championship for his weight class (119
pounds). The following year (2010-2011), the team finished their season in third place at the district tournament. Three Belen Jesuit wrestlers, Gómez-Rivera, Monpremier, and Benzo Rudnikas (‘13) also won individual district championships in their respective weight classes. Gómez-Rivera also finished as runner-up in the regional competition and at the state tournament. At the end of the 2011-2012 season, Gómez-Rivera faced an extremely tough opponent in his weight class (126 pounds) from Jensen Beach High School, which he had been facing at the most important competitions since the 2009-2010 season. In 2012, Gómez-Rivera defeated the Jensen Beach opponent both at the regional championship and at the state tournament, thereby wining the state championship for the second time in three years. Also, at the two of the largest 2011-2012 tournaments, Gómez-Rivera was voted as the top wrestler in both competitions, thus finishing his wrestling career at Belen Jesuit with top honors.127
During the 2012-2013 season, the team ended up fifth in the district, with a 2W-6L record. At the district competition, Keonte Cash (‘13) won an individual district championship in his weight class (285 pounds),
while Julian Ramírez (‘19) and Benzo Rudnikas (‘13) were runnersup in their respective weight classes. Also at the district competition, Paul Martínez (‘14) finished in third place for his weight class (138-pounds). For the 2013-2014 season, a young team with four high school and four middle school wrestlers finished with a 4W9L record, and ranked sixth place in the district. During that season, the Wolverines team members continued their individual achievements. At the regional competition, Ramírez finished in third place for his weight class (113-pounds), which qualified him to compete at the state tournament, where he also placed third. Ariel Jiménez (‘16) worked hard during the season. Jiménez won both the district and regional championships for his weight class (170-pounds).
Wrestling, like many of the other athletic teams at Belen Jesuit, functions as an intricate program that requires much dedication and rigorous practice. The recognition obtained from the hard work involved in being a wrestler at Belen Jesuit goes well beyond the championships and titles obtained by those who excel at the sport. Like many other of Belen Jesuit’s teams, the wrestlers think of themselves as a network of families who support every match, attend every tournament, and offer support to one another. In an athletic sport where technique and following the rules are imperative during a match, Belen Jesuit students speak about the lessons they learn, and cite their camaraderie with the other wrestlers as one of the most important components of their success. Since the early days of the program, team members lay down on a mat, face down in a circle, to pray together prior to the start of their matches. They have also learned during these moments to motivate and support one another for what lies ahead. 128 Although each wrestler has to work at their respective match on their own, the support offered by coaches, families, and teammates makes all difference in the world. Undoubtedly, when each is asked to perform, Belen Jesuit wrestlers are always extremely thankful for the support.
Three-time
Two-time
Belen Jesuit State Wrestling Champion (2002, 2003, and 2004) Jason Machado (‘04) during a wrestling match. Machado was inducted into the Belen Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
State Wrestling Champion (2010 and 2012) Esteban GómezRivera (‘12) after a victory. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
At the 2001-2002 State Wrestling Championship, from left to right: Jorge Vigo (‘97), Assistant Coach Alberto Hernández, David Bouza (‘02), Coach Fidel Albelo, Jason Machado (‘04), Carlos González (‘96), André Aguirre (‘97), and Osvald Friger. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The first Belen Jesuit volleyball team (19861987) with coaches Miriam Cambo-Martínez and Beatriz Jiménez.
Photograph from Echoes, 1987.
VOLLEYBALL
The Belen Jesuit volleyball program began during the 1986-1987 academic year under the direction of Athletic Director Carlos Barquín and founding coaches Miriam Cambo-Martínez and Beatriz Jiménez. When they founded what began as a middle school volleyball team, coaches Cambo-Martínez and Jiménez were the first Belen Jesuit women faculty members to serve as coaches in the history of the school’s athletics program.
During the second week of the 1986-1987 academic year, the coaches began holding team tryouts, and student response was an overwhelming success. Over forty students tried out for the six permanent positions and ten alternate spots available on the team. After three weeks of rigorous training, during which Coach Cambo-Martínez wanted students to learn to play “real and not jungle volleyball,” the team got off to a slow start, but went on to finish with a 6W-2L record for the season. The highlight of the first season was the team’s performance at the All Catholic Conference competition, where the Wolverine middle school volleyball team swept the competition by winning all seven matches. As a result, the team walked away with the All Catholic Conference (ACC) competition first place trophy in hand. It was a great accomplishment for the new team, whose players had attained the honor of reigning as ACC champions during their first season. The members of the first middle school volleyball team included outstanding players: Juan Carlos Daire (‘91), Eduardo Delgado (‘91), and Giraldo Leyva (‘91).129
The middle school volleybal team continued to compete over the next eight years, coached by Miriam Cambo-Martínez (1986-1989), Carolyn Donahue (1989-1990), and Juliet Bertemati (1990-1994). Throughout its history at the school, which has lasted until the present day, the middle school volleyball team has attained several championships at the All Catholic Conference (ACC) competition.
During the 1991-1992 academic year, Coach Miriam Cambo-Martínez established a high school team at the school, which competed during its first three seasons as a sports club. Belen Jesuit alum and former volleyball player Gastón Macau (‘92) coached the sports club team the year after he graduated (1992-1993). Outstanding Belen Jesuit players during the first few seasons included Macau, Albert Acuña (‘93), Andrés de Angulo (‘93), Rodolfo Hernández (‘93), Ernesto Erdmann (‘93), and Hugo Basterrechea (‘93). During the 1994-1995 season, an official varsity team was established at the school. Frank Blanco coached the varsity team during its impressive first season, and they finished with a 21W-6L record. The following year (1995-1996), Hipólito Valdivieso coached the team. Although they were matched against more experienced and established teams in the 6A Division, the Wolverine volleyball team finished their season with a 16W-8L record. This season, the team was also able to play at the newly-built Roberto C. Goizueta Athletic Center. Outstanding Belen Jesuit volleyball players that year included Marcos Macau (‘97), Eduardo Cepero (‘97), Hiroki Kurenuma (‘96), José Ignacio Rasco (‘97), and Eduardo
Carreño (‘97). Carlos Zarraga coached the volleyball team during the 1996-1997 season, and they finished with an undefeated record during the regular season for the first time in their three-year history.130 Macau, who had made the All-County team (1995-1996), and was chosen as the Miami Herald’s Volleyball Player of the Year. The team felt the loss of Marcos Macau (‘97) the following season (1997-1998). The 1998 yearbook stated:
“With the all-star talent of ‘Mac’ gone, the Wolverines had to reestablish themselves as a [volleyball] powerhouse once again.”131
During the 1998-1999 season, Tomás Besu coached the team, which finished with an 11W-3L record, and achieved third place in the G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School Volleyball Tournament. The following year (1999-2000), Coach Besu continued to rigorously train the team, which finished with an 11W-1L record. Outstanding Belen Jesuit volleyball players that season included José Romero (‘00), Michael Forrest (‘01), and Jason Burrows (‘01). Volleyball players Forrest and Burrows also led the team during the difficult 2000-2001 season, at the beginning of which, the school had been unable to se-
cure a coach for the team. With great resolve, Forrest and Burrows approached former volleyball coach Miriam Cambo-Martínez, and asked if she would agree to coach the team so that it could compete that season. Coach Cambo-Martínez agreed to coach the team and worked tirelessly during just two short weeks to get them ready. The team finished their season with a 7W-7L record, beating experienced teams such as Monsignor Edward Pace, American Heritage School, and Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School.132 During the 2001-2002 season, Coach Cambo-Martínez developed player’s techniques that included the outstanding performances from Víctor Ruiz (‘03) in spiking, Juan Andión (‘03) in setting, and Michael Ortiz (‘02) in blocking. Andión and Ruiz led the team the following season (2002-2003), delivering great sets and spikes respectively. The team finished their season with an 8W-8L record and won first place at the Ransom Everglades School Tournament.131
Jorge Dávila coached the team during the 2004-2005 volleyball season, and players worked hard to improve what had been a devastating 0W-13L record during the 2003-2004 season. That same academic year, the athletics program established a junior varsity
Víctor Sallick (‘92), Gastón Macau (‘92), Gonzalo de la Iglesia (‘92), Alexander Blanco (‘92), Alejandro García (‘92), Oscar García (‘93), Albert Acuña (‘93), Andrés de Angulo (‘93), Ernesto Erdmann (‘93), Daniel Palacio (‘93), Rodolfo Hernández (‘93), José López-Santos (‘93), Michael García (‘93), Francisco Trujillo (‘93), Hugo Basterrechea (‘93), Marcos Macau (‘97), Miriam Cambo-Martínez Raynold González (‘91), Domingo Moreira (‘91), Alex Mirones (‘91), Eduardo Delgado (‘91), Javier Riera (‘91), Juan Carlos Daire (‘91), Manuel Fernández (‘91), Giraldo Leyva (‘91), José Jiménez (‘91), Gastón Macau (‘92), Gabriel Jiménez (‘91), Gabriel Prado (‘91), Alexander Almazán (‘91), Alejandro González (‘91), José Paret (‘91), Víctor Sallick (‘92)
first Belen Jesuit
volleyball team (1991-1992). Photographs from the Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, 1992.
The
varsity
volleyball team, which Coach Cambo-Martínez also coached during its first season. The team finished with a 4W-10L record. Amongst those who worked hard during that season were José Dávila (‘05), Gerardo Cabezas (‘05), and Alexander León (‘06). During the 20052006 season, Fernanda Ferreira-Downey coached the team and the season finished once again with a 4W-10L record. The following year (2006-2007), Coach Ferreira-Downey went on maternity leave pre-season, and the team was taken over by Coach Lázaro Reinoso and Belen Jesuit alum Alexander León (‘06). Although James Darmody (‘07) gave an excellent performance with his blocking ability, and Christopher Cruz (‘08) achieved 251 assists, the team finished with a disappointing 4W-8L record.132
The 2007-2008 academic year brought a new volleyball coach to Belen Jesuit. Juan Zapata began coaching the team in 2007, and since his arrival, the volleyball program has experienced a complete turn around. During Coach Zapata’s first season, the team finished the season with a 15W-8L record, a definite improvement over the previous year. Moreover, that season, the team qualified to play in the district tournament for the first time in its history by beating both Christopher Columbus High School and Miami High School. With great determination and hard work, during that same season, the team also defeated Jupiter High School, the third ranked team in the state. The following season (2008-2009) was no less exciting. Although they suffered a defeating loss against Christopher Columbus High School, the team came back to beat Mater Academy Charter School, Coral Gables High School, and Coral Park High School. They placed third in the West Palm Beach Tournament and qualified for the district play-offs once again, where they reached the semi-finals round. Outstanding Belen Jesuit volleyball
players during this time included Jorge Portuondo (‘09), Brandon Fernández (‘09) and Alexander Fischer (‘10).133
During the 2009-2010 academic year, the team suffered through several injuries, but led by team captains Alexander Fischer (‘10) and Christopher Palomo (‘10), they were able to finish the season with a 14W-11L record. The team also placed third at the district championship tournament. The 2009-2010 Echoes yearbook stated:
“Although they were not one of the tallest teams in the league, the Wolverines surprised their opponents with their clear mastery of the sport, whether it was serving, bumping, setting, or spiking.”134
The following year (2010-2011), the varsity volleyball team ended their season with a 12W-12L record and finished fourth in their district. Outstanding Belen Jesuit volleyball players during the season were Ricardo Fernández (‘12) and Alexander Esquivel (‘12). During the 2011-2012 season, the team shifted to a new district which included some of the top teams in the state. They finished with a 13W-12L record and attained second place at Florida Invitational Tournament, with notable contributions from Esquivel, Fernández, David Barquín (‘12), and Jon-Michael Barquín (‘12). For the 20122013 season, the team finished with a 6W-17L record, but Coach Juan Zapata knew that the players had gained valuable experience. The following season (2013-2014), the team finished with an 18W4L record and as runners-up in the district for the first time in their history. In the semi-final round of the district competition, the team
lost the first two sets to Christopher Columbus High School. After changing their strategy, the Belen Jesuit team easily won the third set. In a contested fourth set, the Wolverines defeated the Explorers (28-26). Coach Zapata classified the game as: “the most beautiful set in my thirty years of coaching.”
The future looks bright for the Belen Jesuit volleyball program, which continues to thrive as Coach Juan Zapata leads the team. The Wolverine volleyball players are also committed to improving their performances in upcoming volleyball seasons and the program will surely benefit from the dedication of its players and its coach.
The 1994-1995 volleyball team won first place in the Southwest High School Invitational. Photograph from Echoes, 1995.
Marcos Macau (‘97) made the All-County team and was also selected as the Miami Herald’s Volleyball Player of the Year.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The 2007-2008 volleyball team. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The 1999-2000 volleyball team. Photograph from Echoes, 2000.
Gabriel Suárez (‘04), Leonardo Marrero (‘01), Michael Morín (‘01), Jean-Paul Bermúdez (‘03), José Romero (‘00), Andrés Garganta (‘00), Rodrigo Tefel (‘01), Jean Paul Chávez (‘01), Michael Forrest (‘01), Tomás Besu, Jorge Menocal (‘09), Michael Garrote (‘08), Giovanni Rodríguez (‘08), Peter Arriola (‘08), Jorge Portuondo (‘09), Nicholas Fischer (‘08), Alexander Egusquiza (‘08), Carlos Smith (‘08), Michael Cruz (‘08), Christopher Cruz (‘08), Alexander León (‘06), Juan Zapata
Erik Martel (‘95), Andrés Añón (‘95), Tony Ullivarri (‘95), Armand Souto (‘95), Leónidas Abaunza (‘95), Marcos Macau (‘97), Kenji Kurenuma (‘98), Michael Santos (‘97), Eduardo Cepero (‘97), David Morán (‘97), Alejandro Vázquez (‘98), Frank Blanco
first water polo team (1997-1998).
Photograph from Echoes, 1998.
WATER POLO
The Belen Jesuit water polo team was founded during the 1997-1998 academic year. The team began its initial practices at the school’s Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool about a month prior to the beginning of the academic year. Alfonso Aguirre coached the team (1997-1999), which played their first game in the Early Bird Tournament at the Florida International University North Campus, where they defeated Gulliver Preparatory School and Barbara Goleman High School. The team finished the tournament with a 2W-2L record. They also finished their first season with a 7W-4L record and came within one goal of qualifying for the state competition. It was a fantastic accomplishment for the program’s first year, and the team had outstanding contributions from Víctor Gilpin (‘98), who scored thirty-three goals for the season and team co-captains Joel Cabrera (‘98) and Christian Navarrete (‘98). Belen Jesuit water polo players during that first year also included Frank Quesada (‘98), Robert Fojo (‘98), Alfredo Izaguirre (‘99), Richard Rasco (‘99), Francisco González-Learra (‘99), Alexander Sanjenis (‘99), and Gabriel Pumariega (‘02).135
At the start of the team’s second season (1998-1999), only three experienced players returned, given that most of the previous season’s starting players had graduated as part of the class of 1998. However, under Coach Aguirre’s guidance, the water polo team came together and developed a cohesive offensive and defensive strategy. Losses at the beginning of the 1998-1999 season were discouraging, but teamwork paid off, when they played Miami High School, whose team was ranked fourth in the State of Florida. Although they lost the game in the last few seconds, pulling off a close game against such a highly-ranked team gave the water polo Wolverines the confidence that they needed to face the final matches of the season. The team won their three final games against Lake Worth High School, Sunset High School, and Miami Country Day School. They fin-
ished their season with a 4W-4L record, with outstanding contributions from the team’s most valuable player, Alfredo Izaguirre (‘99), who averaged twenty saves per game. Another valuable player, Francisco González-Learra (‘99), also scored twenty-four goals during the season. Outstanding Belen Jesuit water polo players during the 19981999 season also included returning players Richard Rasco (‘99) and Gabriel Pumariega (‘02), as well as newcomers: Carlos Debayle (‘99), Rubén Trujillo (‘99), José Álvarez (‘00), Richard Nelson (‘01), Jason Bueno (‘01), and Leonardo Silveira (‘03). The water polo team’s third season (1999-2000) was riddled with challenges. The team finished the season with a 2W-7L record and failed to play enough matches to qualify for important tournaments. Coach Marcos Carvalho coached the team, which included participation from returning Belen Jesuit water polo players: Pumariega, Álvarez, Bueno Nelson, and Silveira, as well as newcomers: Carlos Fernández (‘00), Arturo Armand (‘00), Giancarlo Bertaina (‘01), Luis Hernández (‘01), Juan O’Naughten (‘03), and Javier Morejón (‘03). Challenges in the program prevented the team from functioning over the next two years (2000-2002).136
At this point, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín decided that it was time to re-start the program and hired Coach Olga Uribe and Assistant Coach Alfredo Moreno to coach the team. After a season characterized by hard work and extensive practices, the team finished the season with a 5W-3L record. Belen Jesuit water polo players during the 2002-2003 season included returning players Leonardo Silveira (‘03) and Javier Morejón (‘03), as well as newcomers Javier Araque (‘03), Roberto Colón (‘04), and Oscar Fonseca (‘06). During the 2003-2004 academic year, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín decided that it was time for the water polo program to benefit from having a varsity and junior varsity division. Both divisions included high school and middle school students in their rosters, making the team one of the youngest in the county since it included players between the ages of eleven and sixteen. The players’ ages were surprising to some of the opponents whom the team defeated that season such as Miami Killian Senior High School and G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School since their squads were made up mostly of seniors. Jorge Carmenate, who was considered as one of the best water polo coaches in the country, coached both Belen Jesuit water polo divisions from 2003 to 2005, and put high emphasis on player performance. The 2003-2004 season turned out to be quite exciting for the team, and they finished their season with a 9W-6L record and won first place at the inaugural Belen Jesuit Water Polo Classic Invitational held at the Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool. Belen Jesuit
water polo players during the 2003-2004 season included returning player Fonseca, as well as newcomers Robert Gentry (‘06), Julio César López (‘09), Patricio González (‘05), Julián Miranda (‘07), Erick Echevarría (‘08), Jake Bakas (‘09), and Anthony López (‘10).137
During the 2004-2005 season, Alfredo Moreno and Mario Tello assisted Coach Carmenate with the team, and they finished the season with a 17W-4L record, as runners-up in their district, and obtained first place at the St. Andrews Tournament. Experienced player Oscar Fonseca (‘06) led the team with sixty-one goals for the season, and Juan Carlos López had forty-five. Belen Jesuit water polo players during the 2003-2004 season included Patricio González (‘05), Eric Van Zaten (‘05), Anthony López (‘10), Jake Bakas (‘09), Julián Miranda (‘07), Julio César López (‘09), Juan López (‘09), Andrés Simauchi (‘08), Robert Gentry (‘06), and William López (‘06). During the 2005-2006 season, Coach Luis Martínez coached the Belen Jesuit water polo team, and they finished their season with a 16W-6L record, as runners-up in their district, and ranked as the sixth team in the state of Florida. The team was led by Julio César López (‘09), who set a new school record when he scored sixty-five goals for the season. He also had thirty-nine assists and forty steals. López was closely followed by Fonseca, who had sixty-one goals, nineteen assists, and ten steals. Fonseca was the first Belen Jesuit water polo player to make the All-County first team and Julio César López (‘09) made the All-County second team. Bakas, Gentry, and Anthony López (‘10) all received honorable mentions in the Miami Herald The team organized a trip to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California over the summer of 2006 to participate in a water polo camp to improve their skills and cohesive play.138
The following year (2006-2007), Osvaldo García began to coach the team, a position in which he remained until 2011. During Coach García’s first season, the results were unprecedented for the water polo program. The team finished their season with a 19W-5L record, and won the district championship for the first time in their history. The
team also won the De Smet Invitational, held at De Smet Jesuit in St. Louis, Missouri. During this season, Julio César López (‘09) set a new school record when he scored ninety goals, breaking the sixty-five goal record he had set the year before. He, Jake Bakas (‘09), and Juan López (‘09), all made the All-County team. During the 2007-2008 season, Carlos Moreno assisted Coach Osvaldo García in coaching the team. Although they started their year with some injuries and setbacks, the team finished their season with a 19W-4L record and as runners-up in their district. The team won first place at the Gulliver Preparatory Tournament by beating both Gulliver and Ransom Everglades School even after having two of its starting players on the injured list. The team also won first place at the Winter Park Tournament in Orlando and finished the season as runners-up in the regional competition after a loss to Ransom Everglades.139
At the start of the 2008-2009 season, the Belen Jesuit water polo team set important goals with Coach Osvaldo García and Assistant Coach Luis Martínez. The team’s most desired goal was to win the coveted water polo state championship which eluded them the previous year. One of their other goals was to also achieve an undefeated season for the first time in their history. Both coaches and players felt that after five years of hard work, they had developed an experienced group who could deliver on both of those goals. The hard work started early
David
Julio César López
Ricardo Herrera
Herzen Cortés (‘13), Osvaldo García Frank Quesada (‘98), Joel Cabrera (‘98), Christian Navarrete (‘98), Víctor Gilpin (‘98), Roberto Fojo (‘98), Alfredo Izaguirre (‘99), Richard Rasco (‘99), Francisco González-Learra (‘99), Alexander Sanjenis (‘99), Gabriel Pumariega (‘02), Alfonso Aguirre
Miranda (‘07), Luis Simauchi (‘07), Andrés
Anthony Kanelidis
David Angarita
Juan López
Mario Cárcamo (‘10), Anthony López
The
The 2006-2007 water polo team after winning the first district championship in the history of the program. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The first Belen Jesuit AllCounty water polo player Oscar Fonseca (‘06). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Julián
Simauchi (‘08), Carlos Basnuevo (‘09), Jake Bakas (‘09), Gaspar Barreto (‘09), Julián de Zulueta (‘09), Gustavo Figueroa (‘09),
Fonseca (‘09),
(‘09),
(‘09),
(‘09),
(‘09),
(‘10),
(‘10),
The 2008-2009 water polo team was the first team in the history of the sport at the school to win a state championship and to have an undefeated season (28-0).
from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
in the season, with a team composed by experienced players such as Team Captain Julio César López (‘09) and starters Jake Bakas (‘09), Juan López (‘09), Anthony López (‘10), Gaspar Barreto (‘09), William Johnson (‘11), Mario Cárcamo (‘10), Carlos Basnuevo (‘09), and Carlos Padrón (‘10). Although riddled with the injury of their starting goalie, and soon thereafter by the broken finger of their replacement goalie, the team delivered beyond everyone’s expectations. Not only did they finish their season undefeated (28W-0L), but they also obtained the district championship, as well as three other championships which included the Gulliver Preparatory Tournament, the Winter Park Tournament in Orlando, and the
De Smet Invitational, in St. Louis, Missouri. At the De Smet Invitational, the final game had the Wolverines playing against St. Louis University High School, a team that had been on a seventy-six game winning streak and that had also not lost a game in four years. The Belen Jesuit water polo team put an end to the St. Louis winning streak in a game that in Missouri was considered as the high school water polo game of the decade, and which ended with a score of 14-10 in favor of Belen Jesuit. At the district competition, the team defeated Ransom Everglades School for the district championship, and then beat Christopher Columbus High School at the regional competition, ensuring their opportunity to compete at the state level. In the final match at the state competition, Belen Jesuit played against Winter Park High School, a team that had made it to the state finals two years in a row, but that had also lost on both of those occasions to both Gulliver Preparatory and Ransom Everglades. The Wolverines prevailed and won 13-10, obtaining the first water polo state championship in their history. Other outstanding team members from that historic season included: Anthony Kanelidis (‘09), Ricardo Herrera (‘09), Jonathan Pérez (‘11), Mattias Galliano (‘11), John Amy (‘11), Herzen Cortés (‘13), and Jake Guso (‘13).140
During the 2009-2010 season, the team set out to defend their state championship title. Even though they finished their season with a 15W-1L record, and the district championship, a crushing loss at the regional competition kept them from competing at the state level. Team Captain Anthony López (‘10) led the season, with seventy-one goals and thirty-one steals, and with great support from players Mario Cárcamo (‘10), David Angarita (‘10), and Carlos Padrón (‘10).
The team won the St. Andrews Invitational Tournament and traveled to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland for training and practices. At the end of the season, Athletic Director Carlos Barquín thanked parents, players, and the coach for their dedication. In just six years, the water polo team at Belen Jesuit had already attained three district, one regional, and one state championship. They had also carried out an undefeated winning streak that started in 2009 and reached thirty-nine games during the 2010 season. Outstanding Belen Jesuit water polo players during the 2009-2010 season also included William Johnson (‘11), Mattias Galliano (‘11), John Amy (‘11), Herzen Cortés (‘13), Jake Guso (‘13), Matthew Bill (‘12), Matthew Espinosa (‘12), Enrique Lam (‘13), and Alfredo Ramírez (‘13).
During the 2010-2011 season, the team maintained a high level of technical awareness. After some early season losses, the team came back to finish the season with a 11W-7L record and won the district championship in a dramatic match, where John Amy (‘11) hit the game-winning goal over Ransom Everglades during overtime. The win secured the team’s chance to compete at the state level for the
Julio César López (‘09), Jake Bakas (‘09), Ricardo Herrera (‘09), Carlos Basnuevo (‘09), Juan López (‘09), Gaspar Barreto (‘09), Anthony Kanelidis (‘09), Mario Cárcamo (‘10), Anthony López (‘10), Carlos Padrón (‘1), William Johnson (‘11), John Amy (‘11), Jonathan Pérez (‘11), Mattias Galliano (‘11),
Jake Guso (‘13), Herzen Cortés (‘13), Osvaldo García, Luis Martínez
second time, but the team lost in the quarterfinals. Outstanding Belen Jesuit water polo players during the 2010-2011 season included returning players, Cortés, Amy, Galliano, Bill, Espinosa, Lam, Ramírez, and Guso, and newcomers: Maxwell Goldberg (‘14), Jonathan Pérez (‘11), Ryan Guso (‘15), Alfredo Argüelles (‘13), Adrián Alepuz (‘14), John Díaz-Silveira (‘14), José Sirven (‘14), Eduardo Tamborrel (‘14), César González (‘15), and Santiago Núñez (‘15).141
In February of 2011, the Belen Jesuit community, its Athletics Department, and the water polo team suffered the loss of determined water polo assistant coach, supporter, and Belen Jesuit parent Julio López, the father of Julio César López (‘09) and Anthony López (‘10). Coach López’s dedication and support of the water polo team was exemplary. He epitomized what a “Man for Others” should be. His friendly smile, caring and loving personality, and his devotion to the team will always be remembered by those who had the privilege of knowing him.142
During the Golden Jubilee Year (2011-2012), Jimmy Aguilera began coaching the water polo team with the assistance of Luis Martínez and Lázaro Fernández Bueno. The team finished their season with a 16W-5L record and earned its fourth consecutive district championship title. Leading the Wolverines in goals during the season were Jake Guso (‘13) and Herzen Cortés (‘13), with eight-four and eightythree goals respectively. Ryan Guso (‘15) recorded 177 blocks. The team also finished in fifth place at the DeSmet Invitational in Missouri.143 For the 2012-2013 season, the water polo team had a wonderful season. They finished with a 21W-2L record and earned their fifth consecutive district championship title. They competed strongly and cohesively at the state competition, where they finished as runnersup in the state of Florida. During the season, Goalie Ryan Guso (‘15)
Alejandro Carr (‘12), Matthew Espinosa (‘12), Alfredo Argüelles (‘13), Herzen Cortés (‘13), Jake Guso (‘13), Enrique Lam (‘13), Alberto Maza (‘13), Alfredo Ramírez (‘13), Adrián Alepuz (‘14), John Díaz-Silveira (‘14), Maxwell Goldberg (‘14), José Sirven (‘14), Eduardo Tamborrel (‘14), Eduardo Abascal (‘15), Miguel Angarita (‘15), César González (‘15), Ryan Guso (‘15), William López (‘15), Santiago Núñez (‘15), Carlos Solanilla (‘15), Jimmy Aguilera
blocked over 200 shots. Cortés and Jake Guso (‘13) served as team co-captains, and with the help of five other seniors, Alfredo Ramírez (‘13), Enrique Lam (‘13), Alfredo Argüelles (‘13), Michael Fernández (‘13), and Alberto Maza (‘13), they pulled the team together at crucial points during the season. The following season (2013-2014), the team finished with a 20W-3L record, earned their sixth consecutive district championship and made the quarterfinals at the state competition. The team also had notable contributions from Adrián Alepuz (‘14), Maxwell Goldberg (‘14), César González (‘15), Adrián Hernández (‘16), Eduardo Tamborrel (‘14), Nicolás Tamborrel (‘16), and Federico Tamborrel (‘17). The water polo program, under the careful coaching of Jimmy Aguilera, has established itself as a definite force in the district and also at the state level. The team is on its way to what are sure to be years of achievement and success representing Belen Jesuit at both local and state competitions.
Photograph
Coach Jimmy Aguilera talking to the 20112012 water polo team.
Photograph courtesy of Herzen Cortés.
Assistant coach and water polo team supporter Julio López, father of water polo team members Julio César López (‘09) and Anthony López (‘10).
Photograph courtesy of Herzen Cortés.
Photograph from Echoes, 2001.
The establishment of crew as a competitive sport at Belen Jesuit began during the 2000-2001 academic year, thanks to the initiative of Alexander Echevarría (‘01) who had trained in rowing the prior summer at the American Barge Club. Echevarría believed that because rowing was traditionally recognized as a prestigious sport for the academically inclined, it would be a perfect fit for Belen Jesuit. He therefore convinced his father, Alejandro Echevarría, to support his idea, and they soon met with Fr. Marcelino García, SJ and Athletic Director Carlos Barquín. Fr. García and Coach Barquín were open to the idea but explained the financial challenges involved in launching such an program at the school. Shortly thereafter, the generosity of the Crew Booster Club, an organization made up of Belen Jesuit parents led by Alejandro Echevarría, Rolando León, and Rick Laviña, brought about the establishment of a crew program at Belen Jesuit. Their fundraising and coordination was
truly commendable, and throughout the history of the program, the Crew Booster Club has remained a traveling band of supportive parents and fans who have become as much a part of the team, as the young men they support and cheer on.144
The team’s first home was provided by Aldo Berti, MD at his facility on Blue Lagoon new Miami International Airport. They also used a small American Barge Club boathouse on the Tamiami Canal with access to Blue Lagoon Lake. To recruit students, Alejandro Echevarría, Rick Laviña, and future assistant coach René Revuelta brought a scull to the school, and explained the requirements to interested students. Training for rowers would be aimed at bringing about maximum efficiency while rowing a boat, and take place on land, as well as on the water, through the use of rowing machines, weights, running, and other exercises. Rowers would train and compete during the fall season by rowing in “head” races which are time-trail style races, typically 5000-meters (3.1 miles) long. During the spring season, also known as the “sprint” season, rowers would compete in 1500-meter races. For in-state competition, the Belen Jesuit team would compete within the auspices of the Florida Scholastic Rowing Association (FSRA).145
The crew team began its inaugural season in mid-November of 2000, under the coaching direction of Roberto de Armas and René Revuelta. At first, the team consisted of both a varsity eight-man and a fourman shell, a novice eight-man, and a third four-man shell. Soon, the first thirty aspiring Belen Jesuit rowers found out about the commitment involved in undertaking rowing as a competitive sport. At first, the rowers could barely keep a boat balanced, but they practiced and trained, and their hard work paid off as the season progressed. Forced to compete as a young team against seasoned programs from across the state of Florida and Georgia, the team performed admirably by winning four gold, one silver, and two bronze medals during their first six regattas. The team won the gold medals at the Novice and Mayor’s Cup Regattas in Orlando, Florida, and at the South Florida Challenge Regatta in Key Biscayne, where both the novice eight-man and the freshman four-man boats walked away victorious. At their first regatta, the novice eight-man boat defeated Sarasota High School by just a fraction of a second. When recalling the regatta, Coach René Revuelta remarked:
“The boat was coming apart at the 800-meter mark. The Belen Jesuit rowers pushed the boat across the finish line with their desire to win.”146
Although the team was led by seniors Alexander Echevarría (‘01) and Javier Echenique (‘01), it also had strong sophomore and freshman crews that remained the backbone of the team throughout the season. The success of the team was clearly evident when the varsity eight-man crew, which included Echevarría, Echenique, Ignacio García (‘02), Alfredo Vargas (‘03), Jorge de León (‘03), Felipe de León (‘03), Francisco Rovirosa (‘03), Christopher Camargo (‘03), and Louis Jane (‘04) qualified to compete at the FSRA state championship in Tampa, Florida. The junior varsity crew division also performed admirably, participating in six regattas which included two trips to Orlando, Florida, one to compete at the Orlando Area Rowing Society (OARS) Invitational Regatta, where the junior varsity four-man boat won a bronze medal racing against a varsity crew opponent.147
During the second season (2001-2002), Luis Gutiérrez coached the team with José Mendoza and René Revuelta as assistant coaches. With the same fighting spirit and commitment that it had exhibited during its inaugural season, the team achieved much success. For the first race, the Devil’s Half Mile Sprint Regatta, the team swept the field, winning eight gold medals in eight races. Never in the history of the regatta had one team swept every race. The varsity four-man crew, that consisted of Team Captain Ignacio García (‘02), Alfredo Vargas (‘03), Jorge de León (‘03), and Felipe de León (‘03), led the team. The junior varsity, novice, and freshman crews also had a spectacular season and qualified to participate in the Florida Scholastic Rowing Association (FSRA) state championship regatta in Tampa, Florida. The following season (2002-2003), Alex Salas coached the team and René Revuelta assisted. This season began a new chapter for the team. In order to facilitate team practices, the Crew Booster Club successfully secured access to the lake by the Rinker Cement Plant (now called Cemex) located just five minutes northwest of the Belen Jesuit West Miami-Dade campus. At the lake, the team also began to develop its very own training facility. That same year, four experienced seniors including Vargas, the De León twins, and Alexander Volsky (‘03) led the team, the bulk of which consisted of sophomores who also performed well beyond expectations. All three boats qualified to compete at the FSRA state championship regatta, where the third four-man boat won the state championship in their category, giving Belen Jesuit their first gold medal at the state-level in the history of the program. The junior varsity four-man shell placed second in their category at the state championship in an incredible race that they won in the last second. The novice and freshman crews competed both in the fall and the spring rowing seasons. The novice team earned a gold medal at the Miami International Regatta, qualified for the FSRA state championship, where they placed third winning a bronze medal.148
Alejandro Alvarado (‘07), Daniel Arbucias (‘07), and Daniel Pérez (‘07) midway through their rigorous drive. This was one of the most competitive and successful boats of the team for crew (20062007). Photograph from Echoes, 2007.
The Stern four of the Varsity Eight+ hoist up the first place trophy at the Opening Day Regatta. Photograph from Echoes, 2009.
The first Belen Jesuit crew team (2000-2001).
Alexander Echevarría (‘01), Javier Echenique (‘01), Ignacio García (‘02), Christopher Camargo (‘03), Jorge de León (‘03), Felipe de León (‘03), Francisco Rovirosa (‘03), Alfredo Vargas (‘03), Luis Costa (‘04), Louis Jane (‘04), Nicholas Camargo (‘05), Richard Laviña (‘05), René Revuelta, Roberto de Armas
Florida Scholastic Rowing Association (FSRA) Freshman Cox-Four 2011 Gold Medal State Champions: Nicholas Keenan (‘15), Andrés Fernández (‘14), Alexander Keenan (‘15), Nicolás Fernández (‘15), and the coxswain Kristian Ventura (‘17).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Florida Scholastic Rowing Association (FSRA) Men’s Pair 2011 Gold Medal State Champions: Julián Mazaira (‘12) and Nicolás Tomasino (‘11).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
During its fourth season (2003-2004), Pedro Ramírez coached the team and Edgardo Carranza served as assistant coach. Throughout the season, the team’s presence was felt at every regatta, where rowers from other teams could be heard lamenting that they had been scheduled to race against Belen Jesuit. At the FSRA state championship regatta, the team made history by having the largest amount of competitors qualified to compete at the state level. The third fourman boat, the freshman boat, and the two-oar scull, manned by José Ugas (‘05), won two gold and one silver medal. Five juniors led the team including Ugas, Richard Laviña (‘05), Michael Casas (‘05), Raymond del Castillo (‘05), and Jeffrey Montes (‘05).
The following season (2004-2005), Dawn Scott-Viyella coached the team, with Alex Salas serving as assistant coach during the fall and Kathryn Wright during the spring. The program showed strength across the board with both four-man and eight-man crews performing admirably. With only two experienced seniors, Team Captain Montes and Laviña, the fifty-member squad performed admirably with younger athletes often serving in leadership roles. At the Miami International Regatta, for example, it was in the novice and freshman categories that swept the races, winning four out of a possible five races. At the FSRA state championship regatta, the varsity four-man and the freshman four-man crews both finished in second place. The varsity lightweight eight-man also earned third place at the state level.
During the program’s sixth season (2005-2006), Adam Thorstad coached the team, and Kathryn Wright, Edgardo Carranza, and Adam Severi served as assistant coaches. The season started with a young
squad in the fall that built a good cardiovascular base by undertaking a lot of running. The team also participated at the Southern Erg Sprints in Melbourne, Florida, an indoor rowing machine tournament where Richard Sanz (‘08) set a new team record on the ergo meter (2000-meters in 6:45.1). At the start of the spring season, the team competed at the Stanton Invitational Regatta in Jacksonville, Florida and finished in second place behind the host team. At the OARS Invitational Regatta, the team once again finished in second place. Also during the season, the team spent twelve days training at Lake Lanier in Georgia. The out-of-state training time allowed the team to sharpen their technique, and those who had qualified to compete at the FSRA state championship focused on the task ahead. The varsity eight-man crew competed in the heavyweight category and finished third in a tight, heated race. The victory qualified them to compete in the Petit Final, which the eight-man won by over two feet, defeating the OARS eight-man crew. That year, the University of Florida (UF) recruited Fernando Moreno (‘06), to row at the college level.149
In its seventh year (2006-2007), Edgardo Carranza coached the team. Adam Severiand and Gianfranco Belevan served as assistant coaches. The fall season included the St. John’s Regatta Head Race in Jacksonville, Florida, where the varsity four-man, the lightweight four-man, and the novice eight-man won their respective races. The team also participated at the Southern Erg Sprints in Melbourne, Florida, where Richard Sanz
(‘08) once again set a new team record on the ergo meter (2000-meter in 6:30.4). The team also participated in the head race at the Indian Creek Regatta in Miami Beach, where rowers won a gold, silver, and bronze medal. In the spring, Coach Carranza instituted a new training regimen, during which practices began at five o’clock in the morning, and the hard work brought about great results. The varsity four-man, varsity eight-man, junior varsity four-man, freshman eight-man, freshman four-man, and novice four-man crew boats achieved an average seven medals per regatta, taking first place at the Novice, OARS Invitational, Hood Cup, and the Southern Scholastic Independent Rowing regattas. At the Southern, the crew team captured overall first place for the first time in its history, winning six gold, one silver, and one bronze medal. The varsity eight-man boat crew won the Miami International Regatta and the South Florida Championship, defeating their rival crew team from Pine Crest School. At the FSRA state championship regatta, the varsity eight-man crew finished in second place, the junior varsity eight-man in third place, and the freshman eight-man won the state championship. Overall, the team finished as runners-up in the state of Florida, marking the best varsity team finish in the history of the program. That year, two graduating seniors were recruited to row at the college level: José Arredondo (‘07) went to row at Georgetown University and Daniel Arbucias (‘07) at Boston University. Senior leadership included Team Captain Daniel Pérez (‘07) and Alejandro Alvarado (‘07). Outstanding contributions were also made by juniors: Joshua Llano (‘08), Richard Sanz (‘08), José de la Torre (‘08), Joshua Llano (‘08), Alejandro Ruiz (‘08), and David Motola (‘08).150
The program’s eighth year of competition (2007-2008) was coached by Dawn Scott-Viyella, with Belen Jesuit alumnus Jeffrey Montes (‘05) as assistant coach. During the spring season, the team traveled to Orlando and Tampa almost constantly in order to race the
most experienced and fastest crew programs in the state of Florida. Four graduating seniors went to row at the college level that year. The University of Pennsylvania recruited Team Captain Richard Sanz (‘08) and Matthew Cabrera (‘08), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recruited Alejandro Ruiz (‘08), and the University of Central Florida (UCF) recruited José Rivero (‘08). Outstanding Belen Jesuit rowers that season also included: Alex Montes (‘08), Sebastián Juncadella (‘08), Alexander González-Jacobo (‘08), and Stephen Koch (‘08). Coach Scott-Viyella continued to coach the team the following season (2008-2009). Edgardo Carranza and Roberto Ruiz served as assistant coaches, and Jeffrey Montes (‘05) also continued to assist during the spring. The team successfully competed at the head races of the Indian Creek Regatta in Miami Beach and of the Hooch in Chattanooga, Tennessee. At the Opening Day Regatta, the varsity squad won the top three eight-man races, and the team nearly swept the Miami International Regatta, where they won all races except for one eight-man race. At the FSRA state championship, the varsity lightweight boat captured the bronze medal, and the entire team competed at the National Scholastic Championship Regatta in Mercer, New Jersey in May 2009. Toward the
Florida Scholastic Rowing Association (FSRA) Lightweight Cox-Four 2011 Gold Medal State Champions: Javier Tato (‘12), Fernando Ruiz (‘12), Kevin Lowenhaupt (‘12), Vincent Vázquez (‘13), and the coxswain Pablo Cepero (‘11).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Southeast Youth Championship Regatta Varsity Quad Gold Medal Champions: Christopher Sanu (‘13), Andrés Fernández (‘14), Kevin Lowenhaupt (‘12), and Vincent Vázquez (‘13).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Belen Jesuit President Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58) and Principal Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) celebrate the spring season Mass for the 2010-2011 crew team and their families.
Following the Mass, the rowers and their families cheered as two new shells were christened by their respective namesakes.
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
end of the 2008-2009 academic year, Cornell University recruited graduating senior Carlos Cancela (‘09) to row at the college level. Cancela exhibited excellent senior leadership during that year, as well as Ramón Quirantes (‘09) and Luis Barreto (‘09). Outstanding juniors that year also included: Alex Olesen (‘10), Christopher Hernández (‘10), Mario Egues (‘10), Brandon Eisaman (‘10), and Carlos Fernández (‘10).151
Coach Scott-Viyella continued to coach the crew team during the 20092010 season, and Yunían Cabrera and Roberto Ruiz served as assistant coaches. The team successfully raced at the head races at both the Indian Creek Regatta in Miami Beach and the Hooch in Chattanooga, Tennessee. For the first time in its history, the team was also invited to race at the biggest head race in the United States, the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts. In the spring, the varsity team dominated the Opening Day Regatta, winning in the eight-man first, second, and third categories. Although their performance at the Miami International Regatta was not as stellar as the previous year, the varsity team was still able to garnish a bronze medal, while the junior varsity team eight-man crew boat won a silver medal. At a tri-meet in Winter Park, Florida, the lightweight eight-man crew defeated the Winter Park High School junior varsity eight-man by six seconds. The annual spring training trip to Carter Lake in Georgia was marred by a virus that sickened three quarters of the team and caused the team to miss a critical pre-states race hosted by the Florida Sprints League. At the FSRA state championship, the varsity team struggled against tough competition, which included most teams being only three seconds apart within their races. The bright spot in the competition was when the third varsity eight-man crew won the silver medal in their category. The team, however, recovered with the lightweight eight taking first place in the US Rowing Southeast Regional Championship Regatta. On the heels of their regional success, the varsity lightweight eight-man boat competed at the US Rowing Youth National Championship for the first time. The
event features more than 1,600 athletes competing for national titles at the junior, intermediate and senior levels. The lightweight rowers raced against the top teams in the country and finished an impressive thirteenth in the nation. That year, two graduating seniors were recruited to row at the college level: Alex Olesen (‘10) went to row at Dartmouth College, and Joseph Santos (‘10) at Bates College.152
The eleventh Belen Jesuit crew rowing season (2010-2011) was led by Coach Yunían Cabrera, with Jeffrey Montes (‘05) and Roberto Ruiz serving as assistant coaches. With the team now in its second decade of racing and established as a contender, the excuse “Belen is a young team” was no longer valid. With Coach Cabrera came a new a conditioning regiment and a refocused strategy. What might have been the weakest season due to the changes resulted instead in the most successful season to date. On the ergo meter, two team records were set with Nicolás Fernández (‘15) breaking the eighth-grade record (7:08.3) and Julián Mazaira (‘12) setting the lightweight record (6:38.8). At the FSRA state championship, the lightweight four-man crew of juniors Javier Tato (‘12), Fernando Ruiz (‘12), Kevin Lowenhaupt (‘12), and sophomore Vincent Vázquez (‘13) won the state championship in their category, as well as the freshman four-man team, which consisted mostly of eighth graders and the men’s pair of Mazaira and Nicolás Tomasino (‘11). The lightweight eight, lightweight two, and the second varsity four-man finished with silvers in the FSRA state championship. Most importantly, the team also qualified to compete at the National Scholastic Championship Regatta in Camden, New Jersey. At nationals, Belen Jesuit discovered that every stroke counted in their .04 second besting of Buffalo-based Jesuit Canisius High School for the bronze medal, another team first. That year, four seniors went to row at the college level: Yale University recruited Nicholas González (‘11), and Alexander Cosío (‘11) went to row at the University of Pennsylvania. Villanova University recruited Mario Solores (‘11), and Adrián Sánchez-Roig (‘11) went to row at Washington University in St. Louis.153
With an excellent coaching staff, led by Coach Cabrera and which includes the additional experience of two-time Cuban Olympian Yosbel Martínes, the Belen Jesuit crew program entered its twelfth season (2011-2012) with strong performances in the fall races as well as a continual record-breaking during the spring. The team brought home numerous medals from the head races at the Indian Creek Regatta, the Hooch in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well as at the Giblet in Orlando, Florida. At Southern Sprints, Julián Mazaira (‘12) broke his own team record to become the number one spot for the 2000-meter erg time in the state of Florida. To welcome the spring season, the team carried out a special Mass and celebration at the Belen Jesuit boathouse. Following the Mass, the rowers and their families cheered as the team’s two new shells (boats), the Fr.
García-Tuñón, SJ and the Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ shells, were christened each by their respective namesakes.154
During the 2012-2013 season, Coach Yunían Cabrera continued to coach the team assisted by Yosbel Martínes, Aris Nelson Aguiar and José Ugas (‘05). In the fall, the team won twenty-two medals (7-gold, 11-silver, and 4-bronze) from competing in the following regattas: Indian Creek, in Miami Beach, Florida, the Hooch, in Chattanooga Tennessee, and the Head of the Giblet in Orlando, Florida. In the spring, the team won thirty-six medals (14-gold, 13-silver, and 9-bronze) from the following regattas: Novice Regatta and OARS Regatta in Orlando, Florida, Sarasota Invitational, Miami International, San Diego Crew Classic in California (the largest regatta in the nation), and the Sculling States Championship in Sarasota, Florida. For the first time, the team was invited to compete in the Manny Flick Regatta in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along with the best teams in the northeast. With two boats racing, Belen Jesuit brought home one gold and one bronze medal.
For the 2013-14 season, Coach Cabrera continued to coach the team with the assistance Aris Nelson Aguiar. During the entire year determined athletes exhibited unprecedented speed, commitment, and discipline. The team won the first international medal at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, held near Toronto, Canada in the Under-17 category, where the Belen Jesuit lightweight young men competed against heavyweight athletes. During the fall, the team also won their first medal at the famous Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts. At this international regatta, Héctor Formoso-Murias (‘15), and José Armengol (‘15), won a bronze medal competing against thirty-eight opponents that included crews from Canada and Russia. Also for the first time, the team won a gold medal at the Head of the Hooch Regatta, in the varsity
eight-man category. At the FSRA state championship regatta, the team brought home six championship cups. That year, in a historic first, eight Belen Jesuit crew boats, with forty-two rowers, qualified to compete at the prestigious Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) National Championships Regatta, in Princeton, New Jersey, in May 2014. The team’s chaplain, Fr. Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ, traveled with the athletes, provided great spiritual support, and celebrated a special Mass for the team. At the SRAA, the team secured four medals (2-gold, 2-silver). The varsity lightweight eight+ crew of Nicolás Fernández (‘15), Daniel Ugas (‘14), Nicholas Keenan (‘15), Alexander Keenan (‘15), Andrés Fernández (‘14), Benjamin Gilbert (‘16), Joseph Menéndez(‘15), Manuel Sánchez (‘15), and coxswain Miguel Zaldívar (‘14), won silver, as well as the lightweight-quad made up of Nicholas Thompson (‘16), Nicolás Waterhouse (‘16), Alexander Vidal (‘15), and Joseph García (‘16). In addition, the varsity lightweight double team of Formoso-Murias and Armengol and the lightweight four+ made up by Joseph Pérez (‘15), Daniel Brennan (‘16), Christian Norniella-Burke (‘16), Alejandro Seda (‘15), and coxswain Fernando Piñera (‘16) won gold medals, thus giving Belen Jesuit its first crew national championships.
The Belen Jesuit crew program has achieved the national invitational status generally reserved for established and well-seasoned teams. Contributing efforts over the last fourteen years included the initiative of Alexander Echevarría (‘01), the early support and coordination provided by Alejandro Echevarría, Rick Laviña, René Revuelta, and Aldo Berti. In addition, the continued generosity and commitment of the Crew Booster Club, Coach Cabrera’s consistent dedication, and the determination of its rowers have coalesced, and should continue to ensure that the future of the program will remain bright and full of promise.
Nicolás Fernández (‘15), Héctor Formoso-Murias (‘15), Alexander Keenan (‘15), Nicholas Keenan (‘15), Joseph Menéndez (‘15), Manuel Sánchez (‘15), Alejandro Seda (‘15), Alexander Vidal (‘15), Kristian Ventura (‘17), James Pérez (‘13), Christian Tello
Michael Jasman
Armengol
Ryan
Guillermo
The 2011-2012 varsity, freshman, and middle school crew teams at the Belen Jesuit crew facility. Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Tomás Cacicedo (‘12), Kevin Lowenhaupt (‘12), Julián Mazaira (‘12), Daniel Pérez (‘12), Luis Restrepo (‘12), Fernando Ruiz (‘12), Javier Tato (‘12), Miguel Zaldívar (‘14), Matthew Sierra (‘12), Nicolás Castillo (‘13), Peter Jackson (‘13), Christopher Sanu (‘13), Manuel de Ovin-Berenguer (‘13), Vincent Vázquez (‘13), Jonathan Pereyra (‘14) David Álvarez (‘14), Matías Buedo (‘14), Vincent Cendan (‘14), Santiago Dipilla (‘14), Diego Guimaraes-Blandon (‘14), Andrés Fernández (‘14), Alejandro Novoa (‘14), Daniel Ugas (‘14),
(‘13),
(‘14), José
(‘15),
Gutiérrez (‘15), Joseph Pérez (‘15), David Dukenik (‘14), Nicolás Pérez (‘14), Andrew Escobar (‘15), Benny Fernández (‘15), Horacio García (‘15), Sebastián Hernández (‘15), Rashad Ismail (‘15), Leo Lamarche (‘15), Casey Rodríguez (‘15), Luis Suárez (‘15), Nicholas Vázquez (‘15), Roberto Villasante (‘15), Robert Waechter (‘15), Robert Woodry (‘15), Harry Formoso-Murias (‘16), Ricardo Labrada (‘17), Jonathan Menéndez (‘17), Daniel Pérez (‘17), Santiago Ugas (‘17), Kristian Ventura (‘17) Ian Anderson (‘18) Andrés Dones (‘18) Daniel Giacosa (‘18) Andrés Gómez (‘18) Eduardo Hernández (‘18) Lucas Zumpano (‘18) Jeffrey Montes ‘05 , Roberto Ruiz, Yunían Cabrera
Jesuit lacrosse player Robert Cosío (‘13).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
The first Belen Jesuit Varsity lacrosse team (20092010). Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
LACROSSE
The Belen Jesuit lacrosse program began as a junior varsity club/team during the 2008-2009 academic year. John Okunski was the team’s first coach. He coached the team from 2009 to 2013, with the help of several assistant coaches including Peter Cabrera, Alex Estevan, Roger Lara, Christopher Manly, John Klein, Alan Bellando, and Matthew Bellando. Initially, the team was composed of fifty student athletes from both middle school and high school. Although the team carried out conditioning drills at Kendall Soccer Park every day, most players on the first team were novices. Within four weeks, however, the team began to face opponents from schools where lacrosse had been an on going sport for years. Although the Wolverines were extremely competitive, the team lost all seven games they played during their first season. In the off-season, students who were truly committed to the program attended camps as well as summer/fall leagues to improve their skills.155
The following year (2009-2010), the Athletics Department decided to go ahead with a varsity program, and the new varsity team began to compete within the South Florida Lacrosse League. Once again, the team was forced to face more formidable and experienced opponents; however, in true Wolverine fashion, the team’s style of play was filled with heart-felt determination. Their strength of purpose paid off as they finished the season with a 6W-9L record, ranked in third place within the district, made the playoffs. Seniors Michael Mechoso (‘10), Giuseppe Zouzo (‘10), Edward Franca (‘10), and Eduardo Senior (‘10) dominated the defense. Axel González (‘12) played outstanding during his first year as goalie, and the defense developed an experienced attack unit led by Brandon Mesa (‘10), Robert Cosío (‘13), and Kevin Pérez (‘12). Wolverine fortitude at the midfield included: Daniel Boix (‘11), Gilbert Serein (‘11), Andrew Alvarado (‘10), Michael Murgado (‘10), and Michael Rodríguez (‘12), all of whom played crushing defense and skilled offense. In a historic first, Alvarado was recruited to play collegelevel lacrosse at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.156
By its third year (2010-2011), more than eighty-five students were already involved in the school’s junior varsity and varsity lacrosse teams that practiced at Kendall Soccer Park, and played home games at the Tropical Park stadium. As a result, the Athletics Department enrolled the lacrosse program to compete within the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA). As part of FHSAA, the program faced opponents from schools that had fielded lacrosse teams for ten years or more. Nevertheless, even with the additional challenge, led by Robert Cosío (‘13), Daniel Boix (‘11), Gilbert Serein (‘11), Miguel Maseda
(‘11), Axel González (‘12), and Michael Rodríguez (‘12), the team achieved its first winning season (8W-7L).157
The following season (2011-2012) was about rebuilding, since the entire midfield group had graduated in 2011, and several key players suffered early season injuries. The season ended with a 5W-9L record. Team Captain Michael Rodríguez (‘12) was the inspirational leader of both the team and his midfield unit. Robert Cosío (‘13) led the offense along with Ethan Rodríguez (‘13), Patrick Arrojo (‘14), and Edwin Ricardo (‘13). Goalie Axel González (‘12) led the offense with strong play from Matthew Cristóbal (‘13), Nicholas Leonard (‘13), and Matthew Díaz (‘13). 158
The fifth varsity lacrosse season (2012-2013) was a breakout year for the program. The team finished with an 11W-8L record. The team also set records for most wins in a season (11), most goals in a season (193), and lowest average goals allowed per game (7.57). They also made the district playoffs and participated in the Jesuit Lacrosse Classic in New York City, New York, where they defeated Rochester’s McQuaid Jesuit High School. Individual achievements included school records set by Robert Cosío (‘13) for most goals/assists in a season (58/36), and during his overall lacrosse career at the school (167/136). Matthew Cristóbal (‘13)and Francisco Villafañe (‘13), led the defense, and Cristóbal made the All-County first team. Cosío, as well as Oscar Vila (‘14) and Oscar Ortega (‘16), made the All-County second team.
For the sixth varsity lacrosse season (2013-2014), Alan Bellando, who had served as assistant coach the previous year, began coaching the varsity lacrosse team, with the assistance of Matthew Bellando and Joseph Bellando. In his first year as coach, the team tied its record for most wins in a season (11), and won second place at the Pope John Paul II Pre-season Classic. Also in a historic first, a total of eleven players earned All-County honors. Luis Corps (‘16) made the first team, and Jorge Powell (‘14), Jordi Fernández (‘14), Gabriel García (‘16), and Alejandro Pórtela (‘14) made the second team. Honorable mentions went to Matthew Salas (‘16), Daniel Dager (‘16), Ted Huertas (‘16), Patrick Arrojo (‘14), Kevin Pascual (‘14), and Oscar Ortega (‘16). Corps also made the All-Region second team. David Hondal (‘14) and Daniel Hondal (‘16) also provided great support for the team. That year, the team held practices at the school’s new Hernández Field and played a home game in the Sánchez Field, where they defeated Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy High School. Lacrosse, as a sport, seems to be growing all over the country. It is interesting to note that the modern name for the sport was coined by French Jesuit saint and martyr, Fr. Jean de Brebeuf, SJ (1593-1649), who saw Native Americans play it and thought that the sticks used in the game reminded him of a bishop’s crosier. Since the bishop’s crosier is “crosse” in French, Fr. De Brebeuf added the French feminine definite article “la,” and came up with lacrosse.159 Although there are other explanations for the name’s origin, it seems only fitting to establish a Jesuit connection to this growing and successful sport at Belen Jesuit.
Brandon Mesa (‘10), James Munilla (‘10), Anthony Murgado (‘10), Eduardo Senior (‘10), Jorge Trilles (‘10), Giuseppe Zuozo (‘10), Daniel Álvarez (‘11), Daniel Boix (‘11), Ramón Castella (‘11), Calixto García-Vélez (‘11), Roy García (‘11), José Llorens (‘11), Albert Lucas (‘11), Esteban Pareja (‘11), Gabriel Pérez (‘11), Juan Radiques (‘11), Gilbert Serein (‘11), Gerard Beauchamp (‘12), José González (‘12), Gabriel Jiménez (‘12), Manuel León (‘12), Roberto López-Ibáñez (‘12), Gabriel Mesa (‘12), Anthony Monzón (‘12), Kevin Pérez (‘12), John Paul Rodríguez (‘12), Benzo Rudnikas (‘13), Andrés Sacasa (‘12), Simón Rivas (‘12), Daniel Sojo (‘12), Brandon Villena (‘12), Brandon Arciero (‘13), Robert Cosío (‘13), Kyle Hernández (‘13), Michael Jiménez (‘13), Jonathan Lucas (‘13), Ricardo Martínez-Cid (‘13), Cristian Paz (‘13), Thorvald Sánchez (‘13), Hunter Sessions (‘13), Francisco Villafañe (‘13), John Okunski, Roger Lara, Peter Cabrera Matthew Agramonte (‘10), Andrew Alvarado (‘10), Enrique Comas (‘10), Jorge Corrales (‘10), Edward Franca (‘10), Michael Mechoso (‘10), Brandon Mesa (‘10), Michael Murgado (‘10), Eduardo Senior (‘10), Jorge Trilles (‘10), Giuseppe Zuozo (‘10), Daniel Álvarez (‘11), Daniel Boix (‘11), Julián Bruna (‘11), Ramón Castella (‘11), Víctor Chinchilla (‘11), Albert Lucas (‘11), Sebastián Mariátegui (‘11), Esteban Parada (‘11), Esteban Pareja (‘11), Gabriel Pérez (‘11), Antonio Rabassa (‘11), Juan Manuel Rodríguez (‘11), Gilbert Serein (‘11), Axel González (‘12), Manuel León (‘12), Kevin Pérez (‘12), Michael Rodríguez (‘12), Thorvald Sánchez (‘13), Daniel Sojo (‘12), Robert Cosío (‘13), John Okunski, Roger Lara, Christopher Manly, John Klein
Belen
The first Belen Jesuit junior varsity lacrosse team (2008-2009).
Photograph from the Belen Jesuit Archives.
Manuel Flor (‘09), Matthew Agramonte (‘10), Andrew Alvarado (‘10), Enrique Comas (‘10),
Section iX
BELEN RECTORS
“Take, Oh Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will.
All that I am and all that I possess, You have given me.
I surrender it all to You, to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace;
With these, I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more.”
Bartolomé Munar, SJ was born on December 5 th, 1815, in Costix, Mallorca, Spain. He entered the Society of Jesus in Madrid, Spain, on April 14 th, 1832, and studied at the Universidad de Alcalá (1834-1836) in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. When the Jesuits were expelled from Spain in 1836, however, he was forced to complete his studies in Chambéry and later in Vals, France, where he was also ordained in 1843. After his ordination, Fr. Munar served at the Jesuit residence in Nivelles, Belgium from August 15 th, 1849, until he left for Cuba in 1853. On May 29 th, 1857, after completing his tenure at the Colegio de Belén (1854-1857), he returned to Spain, where he served as the rector of the Noviciado Jesuita de Carrión de los Condes (1862-1865). He also served as the rector of the Jesuit school, Colegio San Luis Gonzaga, in the City of Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Spain (1865-1869). Fr. Munar died in Seville, Spain, on May 24 th, 1869. 1
José María Lluch, SJ (1822-1885) Rector (1858-1862)
José María Lluch, SJ was born in Manresa, Spain in 1822. He was the brother of Joaquín Lluch, the Bishop of Salamanca, Barcelona, and Seville. After serving as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1858-1862), he left Cuba for Puerto Rico to serve as the Jesuit master of novitiates in the City of San Juan (1862-1869). Unable to return to Spain because the Jesuits had been expelled from that country in 1868, he departed Puerto Rico and traveled to France in 1869, and was subsequently appointed as the master of the novitiates at the Noviciat des Jésuites in Toulouse, France. In 1871, he was sent to the Philippines, where he served as the Jesuit superior of the Philippine Mission. In 1874, due to illness, he was forced to return to Spain, where Alfonso XII had finally restored the religious orders. He remained in Spain over the next decade and died in Veruela in 1885.2
Buenaventura Feliú, SJ was born in Lérida, Spain in 1823. After entering the Society of Jesus, carrying out his studies, and serving in several posts, he traveled to Cuba to serve as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1862-1868). During his tenure, he endured the challenges posed by the political unrest that existed in Spain, which eventually led up to the Glorious Revolution of 1868 and the expulsion of the Jesuits and other religious orders from the Spanish realm. While at the Colegio de Belén, he was forced to face the political unrest that preceded the Grito de Yara (1868), the first call to arms made by Cuban rebels in an effort to obtain independence from Spain, which started the island’s Ten Year War (1868-1878). After completing his tenure at the school in 1868, he was sent to the Noviciat des Jésuites in Angers, France, where he served as both master and teacher of the Jesuit Spanish novitiates who had been expelled from Spain. In 1885, he traveled to Argentina, where he served at the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires. In 1890, he went to serve at the Colegio de Montevideo in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he died in 1903.3
Andrés García Rivas, SJ (1833-1898) Rector (1868-1874)
Andrés García Rivas, SJ was born in Cantalpino, Salamanca, Spain on September 11th, 1833. He entered the Society of Jesus on July 2nd, 1857. In 1868, he traveled to Cuba, where he served as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1868-1874). In 1871, while the country was in the middle of the island’s Ten Year War (1868-1878), he was forced to plead with colonial authorities for them to show mercy during a trial of Universidad de La Habana medical students accused of defacing the tomb of a Spanish journalist. Although he succeeded in obtaining the release of fourteenyear-old Colegio de Belén student, Octavio Justo Smith y Guenard, another eight medical students were executed, amongst whom were two Colegio de Belén alumni. In 1874, he was sent to Seguin, Texas, to join the Jesuits who had been expelled from Mexico. He then founded and served as the first rector of the Colegio de Guadalupe (18761880) in Seguin. In 1880, he returned with the Jesuits to Mexico, where he directed the publication, El Mensajero del Corazón de Jesús. He died in Puebla, Mexico, on May 18th, 1898.4
Ángel Rosendo Gallo, SJ was born in Valladolid, Spain, on March 1st, 1823. After serving as a Catholic priest for seventeen years in Spain, he entered the Society of Jesus on September 8th, 1868. He then served as the assistant to the master of the novitiates at the Noviciat des Jésuites in Poyanne, France, where the Jesuits had been exiled since their expulsion from Spain during the Glorious Revolution of 1868. He remained in France until he received his assignment to Cuba. After his tenure as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1874-1881), he served as a spiritual counselor of the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat in Cienfuegos (1881-1887). He was then sent to Vigo, Pontevedra Spain, where he also served as a spiritual counselor until his death on June 21 st, 1895. 5
Tomás Ipiña, SJ (1844-1915) Rector (1881-1885)
Tomás Ipiña, SJ was born on July 22nd, 1844 in Ceberio, Vizcaya, Spain. He entered the Society of Jesus in Castile on May 11th, 1862. He studied philosophy in León, Spain (1868) and Poyanne, France (1868-1871). He was then sent to Cuba, where he taught physics at the Colegio de Belén and assisted Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ at the Observatorio del Colegio de Belén (1871-1875). He then traveled to the United States to study theology at the Jesuit seminary, Woodstock College (1875-1879), and he was ordained a priest in 1879. He later taught in Poyanne, France (1880), served as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (18811885), and taught theology in Oña, Spain (1880). He also served as the rector of the Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain (1887-1889), and as the rector of the Noviciado Jesuita de Salamanca (1889-1891). He later also taught at the Noviciado Jesuita de Carrión de los Condes (1891-1894) and at the Noviciado Jesuita de Loyola (1894-1901). He served as the superior of the Jesuit Mexico Province (1901-1913), after which he retired to the Jesuit residence in Bilbao, Spain, where he died on November 9th, 1915.6
Isidoro Zameza, SJ (1847-1919) Rector (1885-1889)
Isidoro Zameza, SJ was born on April 4th, 1847 in Frúniz, Vizcaya, Spain. He entered the Society of Jesus on May 24th, 1864, and was ordained a priest in Poyanne, France, in 1879. Fr. Zameza served as both principal and chaplain of the Colegio de Belén (1881-1885) and then as its rector (18851889). During his tenure as rector, he became one of the Jesuits who volunteered for Carlos J. Finlay’s yellow fever research experiments conducted at the Jesuit Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano. Fr. Zameza served as the socious to the superior of the Castile Province in Spain (1889-1890), as rector of the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé in Bogotá, Colombia, and as the superior of the Jesuit Mission in Colombia (1890-1897). He also served as the superior of the Castile Province (1897-1903), as rector of the Colegio Máximo de Oña (19031906), and as the superior of the residence in Bilbao, Spain (1906-1912). He was also appointed as the Jesuit Assistant for all of Spain (1912-1914).
After 1914, he returned to the Colegio Máximo de Oña, where he served as the spiritual director until his death on November 22nd, 1919.7
Benigno Iriarte, SJ was born in Tolosa, Guipúzcoa, Spain, on February 13th, 1851. He entered the Society of Jesus on June 16th, 1867, but was forced to finish his novitiate in Poyanne, France due to the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain during the Glorious Revolution of 1868. In Poyanne, France, he studied the fine arts, philosophy, and the sciences. After the religious orders were restored in Spain (1874), he returned to Seville to teach science and then finished his studies in theology at the Colegio Máximo de Oña, in Burgos, Spain. He then served as the prefect of the Noviciado Jesuita de Carrión de los Condes until he traveled to Cuba in 1887. On the island, he served as the principal of the Colegio de Belén (1887-1889) and then as its rector (1889-1893). Fr. Iriarte was also one of the Jesuits who volunteered for Carlos J. Finlay’s yellow fever research experiments conducted at the Jesuit Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano. He was taken ill at the Colegio de Belén in Havana, where he died in 1893. His body was laid to rest at the Jesuit crypt in the Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón in Havana.8
José María Palacio Avellaneda, SJ (1849-1906) Rector (1893-1899)
José María Palacio Avellaneda, SJ was born in Vizcaya, Spain, in 1849. During his tenure as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1893-1899), Fr. Palacio Avellaneda was one of the Jesuits who volunteered for Carlos J. Finlay’s yellow fever research experiments conducted at the Jesuit Quinta de la Asunción in Luyano. In 1899, he returned to Spain, where in 1901, he founded the Catholic newspaper, La Gaceta del Norte. The concept for the publication had been conceived when the Jesuits carried out St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises during Easter of that same year. The Catholic newspaper was to serve as a counterpoint to the anti-clerical press that operated in Spain during this time. He died in Valladolid, Spain, in 1906. 9
Vicente Leza, SJ (1857-1943) Rector (1899-1908)
Vicente Leza, SJ was born in Pamplona, Spain, in 1857. After entering the Society of Jesus and completing his studies, he was appointed as the first rector of the Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain, which was founded in 1886. He then traveled to Cuba in 1899 to serve as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1899-1908). During his tenure, he directed repairs and the expansion of the Compostela Campus, which also included renovations to the school’s buildings, as well as to the adjacent church, the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén. After his tenure at the school, he served as the superior of the Jesuit Mission in Colombia and as the rector of the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé in Bogotá, Colombia (1908-1916). He died at the the Noviciado Jesuita de Loyola in Spain in 1943.10
Silverio Eraña, SJ (1854-1920) Rector (1908-1909)
Silverio Eraña, SJ was born in Pamplona, Spain, in 1854. In 1868, the Society of Jesus was suppressed in Spain as a result of the Glorious Revolution. After the Jesuits were allowed to return to Spain (1874), he helped to fundraise to build the Colegio de la Inmacualda Concepción in Gijón, Spain, where he also taught after it opened in 1890. He traveled to Colombia in 1897 and served as both the rector and the master of the novitiates in the Noviciado Jesuita de Chapinero in Bogotá. In 1902, he became the superior of the Jesuit Mission in Colombia. He also served as the rector of the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé in Bogotá (1902-1907). He traveled to Cuba in 1908, and he served as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1908-1909). After his tenure at the school, he traveled back to Spain and died at the Jesuit residence in Loyola in 1920.11
Fernando Ansoleaga, SJ (1869-1933) Rector (1909-1915)
Fernando Ansoleaga, SJ was born in Vizcaya, Spain, on March 6th, 1869. He served as the rector of the Universidad Pontifi cia de Comillas (19051908) and then as rector of the Colegio de Belén (1909-1915). After his tenure at the Colegio de Belén, he returned to Spain to serve as the rector of the Colegio de San José in Valladolid (19151918). He also founded and served as the first rector of the Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Ikastetxea Jesuitak in San Sebastián, in the northern Basque region of Spain (1928-1932). In January of 1932, as had happened several times before, the Spanish government expelled the Jesuits from their country, and the school was taken over by governmental authorities. Fr. Ansoleaga was then exiled to Tournai, Belgium, where he died on July 28 th, 1933.12
Antonino Oraá, SJ (1881-1965) Rector (1915-1918)
Antonino Oraá, SJ was born in Burgos, Spain, in 1881. He served as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1915-1918). During his tenure at the school, he initiated a fundraising campaign to have a Sacred Heart of Jesus Monument built for the school in Spain. He wanted a Sacred Heart monument to be positioned in the center of the school’s courtyard and to have a special ceremony and Mass celebrated to consecrate the school to the Sacred Heart. On March 1st, 1918, he formally dedicated and consecrated the Colegio de Belén Compostela Campus to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The tradition and ceremony has been observed and carried out by all the subsequent rectors at the Colegio de Belén in Marianao and at Belen Jesuit in Little Havana and in West Miami-Dade. Fr. Oraá remained in Cuba for most of his life, where he published two editions of the Ejercicios Espirituales de San Ignacio de Loyola in 1947 and 1950. He died in San Sebastián, Spain, in 1965.13
Pedro Abad, SJ (1881-1952) Rector (1919-1922)
Pedro Abad Sáiz, SJ was born in Quintanavides, Burgos, Spain, on January 6th, 1881. He entered the Society of Jesus at Carrión de los Condes, Spain, on February 23rd, 1896, and was ordained in Oña, Burgos, Spain, in 1913. Before his arrival in Havana, he had served as principal of studies and as the rector of the Jesuit school in Orduña, Spain (1914-1918). After his tenure as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1919-1922), Fr. Abad also served as the rector of the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat in Cienfuegos (1922-1924) and of the Colegio Apóstol Santiago in Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain (1927-1935). His tenure at the Colegio Apóstol Santiago was during the time that this school operated from exile in Portugal due to the Jesuit expulsion from Spain. In 1935, Fr. Abad returned to Cuba and served as the superior of the Jesuit residence in Havana that was attached to the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola (1935-1941). He also served as the master of the novitiates at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario) in Havana (1941-1944), where he continued to serve until his death on August 31st, 1952.14
Antonio Galán, SJ (1883-1944) Rector (1925-1930) (1872-1947) Rector (1922-1924)
Claudio García Herrero, SJ was born in Santander, Spain, in 1872. After entering the Society of Jesus, he became a professor of law and social sciences at the Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain. During his years at the Universidad de Deusto, he helped found and establish the pedagogical methods for the Reformatorio San Salvador, which was founded in 1916. He also wrote and published about the legal rights of minors. He also served as the rector of the Colegio de la Inmaculada in Gijón, Spain (1919-1922). He served as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1922-1924) in Havana during the final years that the school was located the Compostela Campus. He died in Santander, Spain, in 1947. 15
Camilo García, SJ (1863-1942) Rector (1924-1925)
Camilo García, SJ was born in San Pedro de Cudeiro, Ourense, Spain, on July 19th, 1863. He entered the Society of Jesus on May 22nd, 1889, and he was ordained a priest in 1903. After finishing his education, he served as the rector of the Colegio Apóstol Santiago in Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain (1905-1907). He then served as the rector and the master of the novitiates at the Noviciado Jesuita de Carrión de los Condes and at the Noviciado Jesuita de Loyola (1910-1917). In 1917, he was sent to Colombia, where he served as the superior of the Jesuit Mission (1917-1920). He then returned to Spain to serve as the rector of the Colegio Máximo de Comillas (1920-1924). He was then sent to Cuba, where after his tenure as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1924-1925), he served as the superior of the Jesuit residence in Havana that was attached to the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola (1925-1930). He also served as the superior of the Jesuit Vice Province of Cuba (1931-1933). He then returned to the Colegio de Belén in Havana to serve as a spiritual director, where he remained until his death on December 21st, 1942.16
Antonio Galán Arias, SJ was born in 1883, in León, Spain. After entering the Jesuit order and conducting his studies, he was assigned to the Jesuit Observatory in the city of Manila in the Philippines. In 1914, as a result of his research in Manila, he published: The harmonic formula of Fourier and Bessel and its application to the study of the diurnal variation of the atmospheric pressure in Manila during the period 1890-1909. He was also a professor at Woodstock College in Maryland. As a result of the research he conducted while at that institution, he also presented the paper: “Climactic Fluctuations in Historic Times” at the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress in 1915. He taught physics at the Colegio de Belén when it was located at the Compostela Campus in Havana. His tenure as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1925-1930) began as the school opened its doors at its educational complex in Mariano. He died in Havana, Cuba, in 1944.17
Enrique Carvajal, SJ was born in Oviedo, Spain, in 1872. He served as the superior of the Jesuit Castile Province and of the newly-founded León Province in Spain (1918-1929). In 1929, he traveled to Havana to serve as the superior of the Jesuit Vice Province of Cuba. He served in the capacity of the province’s superior from June 10th, 1929 through April 11th, 1931, while he also simultaneously served as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (October 1930-May 1931). In 1931, however, he left Cuba. He was recalled to Spain because on July 6th, 1931, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus Wlodimir Ledóchowski, SJ had appointed him as the Jesuit curia’s special delegate in Spain. While serving as special delegate, he also continued to serve as the superior of the León Province. He also continued serving in both of these posts during part of the time that the Jesuits were expelled from Spain (1932-1937). His last two assignments were in Spain, as the instructor of tertianship at the Noviciado Jesuita de Salamanca (1935-1948) and as rector of the Noviciado Jesuita de Carrión de los Condes in Palencia (1951-1955). He died in Salamanca, Spain on May 17th, 1956.18
Ignacio Francia, SJ (1872-1956)
Rector (1931-1938)
Ignacio Francia, SJ was born in 1872 in León, Spain. He served as the rector of the Jesuit Noviciado de Salamanca in Spain until 1930. In 1931, he traveled to Cuba to serve as the rector of the Colegio de Belén, a post which he held until 1938. He was also appointed as the superior of the Jesuit Vice Province of Cuba, from February 11th, 1933 through May 17th, 1938. During Fr. Francia’s tenure as the superior of the Vice Province of Cuba, the fall of the Gerardo Machado government brought about violence and political unrest. During this time, Fr. Francia issued letters warning all the Jesuits on the island to maintain the strictest neutrality possible. He also requested who the Jesuits help to calm those that were engaging in politically passionate activities and urged them to soften their positions for the sake of stability and societal order. After his work in Cuba, he served as the rector of the Noviciado Jesuita de Salamanca in Spain, where he died in 1956.19
Ramón Calvo, SJ (1895-1983)
Rector (1938-1940) (1959-1961)
Ramón Calvo Hernández-Agero, SJ was born on May 13th, 1895, in Béjar, Salamanca, Spain. He was ordained as a priest on October 27th, 1918, in Plasencia, Cáceres, Spain, prior to joining the Jesuit order. He entered the Society of Jesus at Carrión de los Condes, Palencia, Spain, on September 7th, 1923. He served as a professor of canon law at the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (1929-1932), and at the Noviciado Jesuita in Ourense (1932-1933). He took his final Jesuit vows in Madrid, Spain, on February 2nd, 1934. He served as the rector of the Colegio Apóstol Santiago in Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain (1934-1937). In Cuba, he served as both the rector of the Colegio de Belén and as the Jesuit superior of the Vice Province of Cuba (1938-1940). He then returned to Spain, where he served as the superior of the León Province (1940-1946). Later he returned to Cuba, where he once again served as the superior of the Vice Province of Cuba (1947-1952) and as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1959-1961). He was instrumental in reestablishing Belen Jesuit in Miami, traveling to Rome in 1961 to ask Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ for his support. He spent many years conducting spiritual retreats in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, working with the local councilmen and their families throughout the islands. He died on August 15th, 1983, at the Haina Infirmary in the Dominican Republic.20
Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (1902-1990)
Rector (1940-1947) (1959) (1967-1972)
Daniel Gonzalo Baldor de la Vega, SJ was born in Havana, Cuba on November 25th, 1902. In May of 1919, he graduated from the Colegio de Belén, and soon thereafter, entered the Society of Jesus (August 14th) at Carrión de los Condes in Spain. He was ordained a priest at Oña, Burgos, on July 30th, 1931, and then went into exile with the Jesuits in Belgium (1932). He taught at the Colegio Nuevo de Curia in Portugal (1933-1936), served as the rector of the Colegio de Mondariz in Galicia (1936-1940) and of the Colegio de Belén (1940-1947), where he also served as a spiritual counselor (1947-1952) while he was obtaining a doctorate in philosophy from the Universidad de La Habana. He served as the superior of the Vice Province of the Antilles (1952-1958) and as the rector of the Colegio de Belén once again (1959). Then, he served as vice provincial of Venezuela (1959-1962), as the secretary of the Latin American Religious Conference in Colombia (1962-1964), as the rector of the Casa de Probación de Haina, as principal of studies for the Antilles Province (1964-1967), and as the rector of Belen Jesuit in South Florida (1967-1972). In 1972, he returned to the Dominican Republic, where he served as the province’s director of retreats, as the superior of the Casa Manresa-Loyola, and as the superior of the Centro Bellarmino in Santiago de los Caballeros. He died at the Manresa-Loyola Infirmary in Santo Domingo on July 2nd, 1990.21
Ceferino Ruiz, SJ (1909-1992)
Rector (1947-1953) (1964-1966)
Ceferino Ruiz Rodríguez SJ was born in Aguilar de Campo, Palencia, Spain, on August 5th, 1909. He entered the Society of Jesus on January 15th, 1928 in Salamanca, Spain. He studied in Spain, Belgium, and Italy, becoming a professor of mathematics and physical sciences. He was ordained at Loyola, in Guipúzcoa, Spain, on July 15th, 1939. He took his last Jesuit vows at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario) in Havana on February 2nd, 1945. At the Colegio de Belén, he served as the spiritual director of the third division and as its rector (1947-1953), during which time he also obtained a doctorate in physics and chemistry from the Universidad de La Habana. He also served as the rector of the Seminario Santo Tomás in the Dominican Republic (1953-1956), of the Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola in San Juan, Puerto Rico (1956-1958), and was appointed as the superior of the Jesuit Vice Province of the Antilles (1958-1963), during which time, he was expelled from Cuba by the communist government aboard the Covandonga transatlantic cruise ship, along with twenty-six other Jesuits and over one-hundred additional Catholic clergy. He also served as the rector of Belen Jesuit (1964-1966), of the Instituto Politécnico Loyola in San Cristóbal (1966-1979), and of the Colegio Agrícola San Ignacio de Loyola en Dajabón (1987-1991). He died at the Manresa-Loyola Infirmary in Santo Domingo on May 1st, 1992.22
Miguel A. Larrucea, SJ (1910-1960)
Rector (1953-1956)
Miguel Ángel Larrucea de la Mora, SJ was born on October 1st, 1910, in Reinosa, Santander, Spain. He entered the Society of Jesus on July 30th, 1927. He studied in Avigliana, Italy, and in Oña, Burgos, Spain, and was ordained on May 13th, 1942. He taught at the Colegio de Belén (1935-1938), and he returned (1944-1947) to teach and serve as the school’s spiritual director. He also served as the rector at the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores in Santiago de Cuba (1947-1953), after which, he was appointed to serve as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1953-1956) and later as its principal (1956-1958). During his tenure as rector of the Colegio de Belén, the school celebrated their one-hundredth anniversary in Cuba. He also served as the rector of the Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola in San Juan, Puerto Rico (1958-1959). In 1959, he started serving as the rector of the Instituto Politécnico Loyola in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic, a post which he held until his death in Santo Domingo on May 24th, 1960.23
Eduardo Martínez-Márquez, SJ (1906-1987)
Rector (1956-1959)
Eduardo Martínez-Márquez, SJ was born in Havana, Cuba in 1906. He graduated from the Colegio de Belén in 1923, and entered the Society of Jesus at Carrion de los Condes. In 1924, he went to Colombia, where he studied the humanities (1924-1931) and education (1934-1935). He also studied theology in Belgium (1936-1938), was ordained in Durango, Spain on July 15th, 1939, and completed his tertianship in Salamanca (1940-1941). He then returned to Cuba, where he taught at the Jesuit novitiate in Cienfuegos (1941-1944), served as the master of novices (19441956) at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario), and as its rector (1951). He also served as vice provincial of the Vice Province of the Antilles (1952-1956), and as the rector of the Colegio de Belén (1956-1959). In 1957, he published Vigencia del Ratio Studiorum en la Compañía de Jesús. In 1959, he went to Argentina, where he served as the instructor of tertianship in Córdoba (1959-1961) and as rector of the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires (1961-1966). In 1966, he founded the Universidad Católica de Salta, where he served as vice chancellor (1966-1974) and published La Universidad Autentica. In 1974, he went to the Dominican Republic, where he served as the superior of the Centro Bellarmino (1974-1976), as the academic director of the Instituto Politécnico Loyola (1976-1979), and as both superior and spiritual counselor of the Jesuit residence Manresa-Loyola (1983-1987). He died in Santo Domingo in 1987.24
Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (1918-1993) Rector (1961-1964)
Luis Gabriel Ripoll Galán, SJ was born in Havana, Cuba, on March 18th, 1918. He attended the Colegio de Belén (1927-1936) and the Universidad de La Habana (1936-1940), and obtained a degree in agronomical engineering. He entered the Society of Jesus in Salamanca on September 26th, 1940, and later taught physics, chemistry, and mathematics at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario) in Havana (1946-1948). He studied theology in Comillas, Spain (1948-1951), where he was ordained on July 24th, 1951. Shortly thereafter, he felt the first symptoms of a bone illness that caused him great pain and severely limited his mobility throughout his life. He taught at El Calvario (1952-1953) and served as a spiritual counselor at the Colegio de Belén (19531961). In 1961, he was exiled in Miami, where he became the vice rector of Belen Jesuit (1961-1964) and served as the director of the Operation Pedro Pan Camp Opa-locka facility (1964-1966). He also taught theology and served as a spiritual counselor at Belen Jesuit (1966-1987) and as the superior of the Jesuit community in Miami (1971-1980). In 1987, due to his illness, he entered the Archdiocese of Miami Rehabilitation Center, where he also served as chaplain (1988-1990). In spite of his crippling illness, Fr. Ripoll always kept a perennial smile, which professed the indomitable faith and profound spirituality with which he served many. He died in Miami on August 10th, 1993.25
Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (1908-1992) Rector (1966-1967)
Richard Chadbourne Chisholm Fernández, SJ was born in Havana, Cuba, on December 2nd, 1908. He graduated from the Colegio de Belén in 1925 and was president of the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (1931-1932). He entered the Society of Jesus in Marquain, Belgium, on October 9th, 1932, studied the humanities and philosophy in Comillas, Spain (1934-1938), and did his regency at the Colegio de Belén (1938-1940). After theological studies, he was ordained in Valladolid, Spain, on July 29th, 1943, and completed his tertianship in Salamanca (1944-1945). He served as the spiritual director, principal, and minister at the Colegio de Belén in Havana (1945-1949), oversaw the construction of the Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola in San Juan, Puerto Rico (1949-1952), and prepared the Colegio de Belén’s centennial celebrations (1952-1956). Fr. Chisholm served as the rector of the Jesuit seminary in Aibonito (1956-1961), of the Pontificio Collegio Pio Latino Americano in Rome (1961-1965), and of Belen Jesuit (1967-1968). In 1961, with a letter from Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, SJ, he traveled to every Jesuit province in North America to request financial assistance to reestablish Belen Jesuit in the United States. He served as a minister of the Curia Praepositi Generalis Societatis Iesu in Rome (1968-1979), where he took his final vows on December 22nd, 1977. He then served as the director of development at Belen Jesuit (1978-1992). He died in Miami on January 9th, 1992.26
Felipe Arroyo, SJ (1920-1984) Rector (1972-1980)
Felipe Arroyo Villar, SJ was born in Fuensaldaña, Spain, on June 3rd, 1920. He entered the Society of Jesus in Marquim, Belgium on January 7th, 1937. He studied the humanities in Salamanca (19391941), philosophy in Oña (1941-1944), and theology in Comillas (1947-1951). He taught at the Colegio de Belén in Havana (1944-1947), was ordained in Comillas on July 24th, 1950, and received an master’s in education from Fordham University. He served at the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores (1953-1954), and at the Colegio de Belén (1954-1961), as spiritual counselor and as principal. In 1961, he came to Miami to help establish Belen Jesuit, but went to serve at the Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in Santiago, Dominican Republic (1962-1971), where he established long-ranging programs in the study of education and served the Christian Family Movement. He returned to Belen Jesuit in 1971, where he served as both president and principal (1972-1974; 19781980) and as president (1974-1978). He conceived the Belen Intercultural Center Campaign, which called for the school becoming a true beacon of cultural diversity at its new West Miami-Dade campus. He returned to the Dominican Republic and served at Radio Santa María in La Vega (19811983), where he was in charge of radio schools. Sadly, in mid-1983, he was diagnosed with cancer. He died at the Manresa-Loyola Infirmary in the Dominican Republic on January 20th, 1984.27
Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (1924- ) Rector (1980-1983)
Francisco Pérez-Lerena Astiasarán, SJ was born in Havana, Cuba on December 27th, 1924. He studied at Miss Phillips School and at the Colegio de Belén, from where he graduated in 1944. He studied electrical engineering at the Universidad de La Habana (1944-1947) and entered the Society of Jesus at the Noviciado San Estanislao (El Calvario) on September 6th, 1947. He studied philosophy at the Colegio Máximo in Comillas, Spain (1951-1954), did his regency at the Colegio San Ignacio in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and studied theology at the Jesuit School of Theology in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was ordained on July 26th, 1958. He completed his tertianship in Tronchienne, Belgium (1959-1960). He taught at Belen Jesuit (1961-1963) and studied Ignatian Spirituality at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana in Rome. In the Dominican Republic, he served as master of the novitiates (1964-1973), taught at the Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, and served as the rector of the Filosofado Diocesano in Santiago de los Caballeros (1968-1974), as provincial of the Jesuit Antilles Province (1974-1979), and as president of the Conferencia Dominicana de Religiosos (19741979). He taught at Belen Jesuit (1979-1980), where he also served as rector (1980-1983) and as superior of the Miami Jesuits (1980-1983; 2003-2009). He founded and served as the director of Regis House (1983-1989). He presently lives at the Villa Javier Jesuit Residence in Miami, Florida.28
Marcelino García, SJ (1939- ) Rector (1983-2009)
Marcelino García Pérez, SJ was born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, on January 16th, 1939, where he studied at the Jesuit Colegio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, obtained his baccalaureate in science from the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de Sagua la Grande, and was a member of the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU). After two years of medical studies at the Universidad de La Habana, he entered the Society of Jesus at the Instituto Pignatelli, Los Teques, Venezuela, on September 8th, 1961. He completed one year as a novitiate in Los Teques and studied philosophy at the Fordham University College of Philosophy and Letters in Shrub Oak, New York (1965-1967). He also studied theology in Granada, Spain, and psychology at the Universidad de Madrid. He was ordained in Spain on September 24th, 1970. He then returned to the Dominican Republic, where he was a professor at the Instituto Politécnico Loyola, served as rector of the Colegio Loyola in Santo Domingo (1976-1983), and as president of the Unión Nacional de Colegios Católicos. He served as president of Belen Jesuit (1983-1992) and as president and principal (1992-2009), denoting the longest presidential tenure in the history of the school. He has also published two books: Discover your Character and La Psicologia de Carl Rogers. He presently serves as director of the Jesuit Casa Manresa Retreat House in Miami, Florida.29
Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (1941- ) Rector (2009- )
Pedro Antonio Suárez González, SJ was born in Havana, Cuba, on October 30th, 1941, where he graduated from the Colegio de Belén (1958) and studied architecture at the Universidad Católica de Santo Tomás de Villanueva (1958-1961). He entered the Society of Jesus at the Instituto Pignatelli in Los Teques, Venezuela, on April 9th, 1961, studied philosophy at Fordham University’s Loyola Seminary (19641966), and taught during his regency at the Colegio Loyola in the Dominican Republic (1966-1967). He received an master’s in mathematics from the University of Miami (1969) and a master’s in divinity from Loyola University-Chicago (1973). He was ordained at Gesù Church in Miami on June 24th, 1972, and received a doctorate in mathematics from Northwestern University (1977). In the Dominican Republic, he taught at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (1977-1985), at the Instituto Politécnico Loyola (1979-1982), served as socius to the provincial of the Antilles Province (1977-1979; 1983-1986), and as rector of the House of Studies (1979-1981). In Miami, he was a professor at Barry University (19872008) and chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science for eleven years. He has been a member of the Jesuit-founded Clavius Group of Mathematicians since 1971. He served as superior to the Miami Jesuits (1991-1997), and again since January 2010. Since 2009, he has been serving as rector of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami, Florida.30
REFERENCE
That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
Isaiah 41:20
Section I- The Society of Jesus
endnotesendnotes
n no endnot ndnotdnonottes es n no endnot ndnotdnonottes es
1 José Ignacio Idígoras Tellechea, Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1994), 45.
2 John W. O’Malley, SJ, “Ratio Studiorum: Jesuit Education, 1548-1773,” Ratio Studiorum: Jesuit Education, 1548-1773 Exhibit Boston College, John J. Burns Library, Fall Semester, 1999).
3 http://www.sjweb.info/resources/locatio.cfm
4 O’Malley, Ibid
5 O’Malley, Ibid
6 Daniela Novarese, Istituzioni politiche e studi di diritto fra Cinque e Seicento: Il Messanense Studium Generale tra politica gesuitica e istanze egemoniche cittadine (Milan: Giuffre Editore, 1994) as cited in John W. O'Malley, SJ, “How Humanistic is the Jesuit Tradition? From the 1599 Ratio Studiorum to Now,” Martin R. Tripole, SJ, Ed., Jesuit Education 21: Conference Proceedings on the Future of Jesuit Higher Education (Philadelphia: St. Joseph's University Press, 2000), 189-201.
7 Novarese, Ibid
8 O’Malley, “How Humanistic...,” Ibid
9 Judi Loach, “Revolutionary Pedagogues? How Jesuits used Education to Change Society,” John W. O’Malley, SJ, Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Steven J. Harris, and T. Frank Kennedy, SJ, Eds., The Jesuits II: Culture, Sciences, and the Arts 1540-1773 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006), 66-85.
10 O’Malley, “How Humanistic...,” Ibid
11 Fr. Andrés Pérez de Ribas, Historia de triunfos de nuestra santa fe entre gentes las más bárbaras y fieras (Madrid: 1645), 744. Translated by Daniel T. Reff Maureen Ahern, and Richard K. Danford as History of the Triumphs of Our Holy Faith Amongst the Most Barbarous and Fierce Peoples of the New World (Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1999).
12 Complete text of this letter is available in Fr. Pedro de Ribadeneyra, Vida del P. Francisco Borja, (Madrid: 1592), Lib. III, Cap. 6, 140b. As documented in Woodbury Lowery, The Spanish Settlements within the Present limits of the United States (New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1905), 266.
13 Adelantado was a military title held by some Spanish colonizers of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. The title, granted by the king, granted adelantados the right to become governors and justices of specific regions. They were authorized to communicate directly with the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies. Lillian Estelle Fisher, Vice regal Administration in the Spanish American Colonies (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1926), 81.
14 Lowery, Ibid
15 Avilés’s letter to Phillip II, September 11th, 1565, in Ruidíaz, La Florida tomo ii, 80-83. As quoted in Lowery, Ibid 162.
16 St. Ignatius of Loyola called this concept, perinde ac cadaver “[well-disciplined] like a corpse” in the Jesuit Constitutions adopted in 1554. The Society of Jesus is headed by a superior general who is elected by a General Congregation of Jesuits for life or until he resigns. The superior general is confirmed by the Pope and has absolute authority in running the Society. Franklin Verzelius N. Painter, A History of Education (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1903), 167.
17 Lowery, Ibid
18 Fr. Ignacio María Egaña SJ, Álbum Conmemorativo del quincuagésimo aniversario de la fundación en La Habana del Colegio de Belén de la Compañía de Jesús (La Habana: Imprenta Avisador Comercial, 1904). Based on Fr. Francisco Javier Alegre, Historia de la Sociedad de Jesús en Nueva España (México: Carlos María Bustamante, 1841).
19 In 1566, Cumberland Island was known as the island of the Tacatacuru, its Native-American inhabitants. John R. Swanton, The Indian Tribes of North America (Washington, DC: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003),144.
20 Egaña, Ibid, 20.
21 Rosemary R. Griffin, uan Rogel SJ: A typical Jesuit of colonial Hispanic America (Chicago: Loyola University of Chicago Press, 1938), 125.
22 Among the fourteen priests brought by Menéndez de Avilés were: Fr. Juan Bautista Segura, SJ, Fr. Gonzalo del Álamo, and Fr. Antonio Sedeño, SJ. Jesuit Brothers included: Juan Carrera, Pedro Linares, and
Domingo Agustín. The remaining eight Jesuits were scholastics. In 1568, Fr. Sedeño took over the mission established in South Florida by Fr. Juan Rogel, SJ and Br. Francisco Villarreal, SJ when the Jesuits returned to Havana. Egaña, Ibid, 18.
23 Egaña, Ibid
24 The Society of Jesus is headed by a superior general assisted by four Jesuits who serve as general advisors or inner council. Other regional assistants head either a geographic or a ministry area. The order is divided into geographic provinces, each headed by a Provincial Superior, and is assisted by a socius (chief of staff ).
Each individual Jesuit community within a province is normally headed by a rector and assisted by a minister who helps oversee the community's day-to-day needs. http://www.jesuit.org/index.php/main/about-us/ faqs/
25 Egaña, Ibid, 22.
26 Egaña, Ibid 33.
27 The facility was completed more than a decade after the bishop’s death, with funds donated by a wealthy military lieutenant, Juan Francisco Carballo. Jacobo de la Pezuela, Diccionario geográfico, estadístico, histórico, de la isla de Cuba (Madrid: Imprenta de Establecimiento de Mellado, 1863), 138. Domingo Rosain, Necrópolis de La Habana: historia de los cementerios de esta ciudad (La Habana: Imprenta de Trabajo, 1835), 127.
28 The official name of the order was Brothers of Our Lady of Bethlehem and was founded in Guatemala during 1656 by St. Peter of St. Joseph Betancourt. http://www.franciscanos.org/santoral/pedrojosebetancur.htm
29 MA Iglesias, “Early Physicians and Hospitals in Cuba,” Columbus and the New World: Medical Implications (Rhode Island: Edited by Settipane GA, Oceanside Publications, 1995), 75.
30 Fr. Gregorio Díaz Ángel donated the San Pedro del Paso hacienda and the Juan del Paso and Santo Domingo cattle ranches valued at 40,000 ducats. Egaña, Ibid, 40.
31 Charles E. O’Neill, Diccionario histórico de la compañía de Jesús (Costa Rica: Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, 2001), 190. Egaña, Ibid 42.
32 On April 4th, 1752, Colonel Ignacio Francisco Barrutia and his wife, María Recabarren, donated a sugar mill valued at 80,000 ducats to the church construction project. Egaña, Ibid 43.
33 Egaña, Ibid 43.
34 Hugh Thomas, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom (New York: Da Capo Press, 1988), 8.
35 Egaña, Ibid 53.
36 Thomas, Ibid 36.
37 Egaña, Ibid 67.
38 The sixteen Society of Jesus members expelled from Havana in June 1767 were Colegio de San José Rector Fr. Andrés Prudencio Fuentes, SJ as well as Fr. Juan Roset, SJ, Fr. Tomás Butler, SJ, Fr. Francisco VillaUrrutia, SJ, Fr. Juan Antonio Araoz, SJ, Fr. Miguel Ruiz, SJ, Fr. Pedro Palacios, SJ, Fr. Hilario Palacios, SJ, Fr. Lorenzo Echave, SJ, Fr. Bartolomé Cañas, SJ, Fr. José Romero, SJ, Fr. Simón Larrazábal, SJ, Fr. José Gregorio Cosío, SJ, Br. Joaquín Zayas, SJ, Br. Juan Coveaga, SJ, and Br. Juan Frenkenhieser, SJ. Egaña, Ibid 71.
39 Thomas Joseph Campbell, The Jesuits 1534-1921: a history of the Society of Jesus from its foundation to the present time, Volume IV (New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1921), 513.
40 For example, at the time of their Spanish expulsion, the Society of Jesus had 23,000 members, 800 residences, 700 colleges, and 270 missions.
41 Campbell, Ibid 545-555.
42 Campbell, Ibid 553.
43 Campbell, Ibid 552.
44 Egaña, Ibid 75.
45 Theodore Griesinger translated by A.J. Scott, The Jesuits: a complete history of their open and secret proceedings from the foundation of the order to the present time (London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1903), 668.
46 Other convents, hospices, and facilities, which either because of the suppressions of other religious orders or other reasons could be used to house a Jesuit school in Havana. Fr. José Luis Sáez, SJ, Breve historia del Colegio de Belén, Volumen I (1854-1961) (Miami: Belén Jesuit Preparatory School, 2002), 24.
47 David G. Schultenover, A view from Rome: on the eve of the modernist crisis (New York: Fordham University Press, 1993), 189.
48 William V. Bangert, A History of the Society of Jesus (Michigan: University of Michigan Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1972), 451.
49 Real Cédula de Isabel II estableciendo en La Habana un colegio dirigido por la Compañía de Jesús Madrid, 26 de noviembre 1852, as reprinted in Sáez, Ibid, 235.
Section II- Colegio de Belén Compostela
1 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961) 31.
2 Plan de estudios del Real Colegio de Belén, bajo la dirección de la Compañía de Jesús, 94-97, as cited by Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961) 36.
3 Agustín Udías Vallina SJ, Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories (The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003), 2.
4 Agustín Udías Vallina SJ, “Jesuit Contribution to Meteorology,” Journal of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 77, No. 10, 1996, 2307.
5 Agustín Udías Vallina SJ, Searching … 125.
6 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 53.
7 Navia García, “El observatorio del real Colegio de Belén,” Amanecer Diócesis de Santa Clara No.92 Año XVI, julio/agosto, 2010, 25.
8 Agustín Udías Vallina SJ. Searching … 126.
9 Bob Sheets and Jack Williams, Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth (New York: Vintage Books, Random House Publishers, 2001), 47.
10 Sheets and Williams, Ibid 50.
11 Luis Enrique Ramos Guadalupe, Benito Viñes SJ. Estudio Biográfico (La Habana: E Editorial Academia, 1996), 18-19.
12 Fr. Benito Viñes Martorell, SJ, Apuntes relativos a los huracanes de las Antillas en septiembre y octubre de 1875 y 76 (La Habana: Tipog Y Papelería, 1877).
13 Gordon E. Dunn and Banner I. Miller, Atlantic Hurricanes (Louisiana State University Press, 1960). As quoted in Agustín Udías Vallina SJ, Searching the Heavens... 129-130.
14 Sáez, Ibid 54.
15 Ramos Guadalupe, Ibid, 18-19.
16 La Unión Constitucional (La Habana: September 26th, 1894), 3; Egaña, Ibid, 220.
17 García, Ibid, 24.
18 Agustín Udías Vallina SJ, Searching the Heavens... 259.
19 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 139.
20 Ecos de Belén, September 1954, 47-50. Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 168.
21The United States strategic interest in Cuba grew significantly after its war with Mexico (1846-1848) yielded the California and Texas territories. The United States provided support for separatist and annexationist movements and attempted to purchase Cuba from Spain. Suchlicki, Jaime, Cuba: From Columbus to Castro and Beyond (Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2002), 58-59.
22 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 198.
23 Fr. General Luis Martín García, SJ, Memorias del P. Luis Martín, General de la Compañía de Jesús (1846–1906) ed. J. R. Eguillor, M. Revuelta, and R. Ma. Sanz de Diego, 2 vols. (Bilbao, Madrid, and Rome: 1988) as cited in David G. Schultenover, SJ, A View from Rome: On the Eve of the Modernist Crisis (New York, 1993), 164–168.
24 Letter to Francisco Serrano Domínguez cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 62-63.
25 Thomas, Ibid 245.
26 Alfonso W. Quiroz, “Corrupción, Burocracia Colonial y Veteranos Separatistas en Cuba, 1868-1910,” Revista de Indias, New York, Baruch College y Graduate Center, CUNY, LXI, no. 221 (2001), 93.
27 Fermín Valdés Domínguez, translated by Consuelo E. Stebbins, Tragedy in Havana (Gainsville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000), 22.
28 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 66.
29 César Rodríguez Exposito, Finlay (La Habana: Editorial de la Librería Selecta, 1951), 73.
30 Rodríguez Exposito, Ibid 96.
31 Omelio Sosa Jr., “Carlos J. Finlay and Yellow Fever: A Discovery,” Jean Ruth Adams ed., Insect Potpourri: Adventures in Entomology (Gainsville, FL: The Sanhill Crane Press, 1992), 50-53.
32 Lewis J. Amster. “Carlos J. Finlay: The Mosquito Man,” Hospital Practice (15 May 1987), 223-46.
33 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 71.
34 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961),70.
35 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 51.
36 The names of all the volunteers were inscribed in a commemorative plaque and placed at Colegio de Belén’s educational complex in the Marianao section of Havana in 1953. Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 72.
37 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 52.
38 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 53.
39 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 53.
40 Letter from William Crawford Gorgas to Walter Reed, February 6th, 1902, Hench Reed Yellow Fever Collection, accession number: 02604001. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/fever-browse?id=02604001
41 Phillip S. Hench, Walter Reed Yellow Fever Collection, Carlos J. Finlay. http://yellowfever.lib.virginia. edu/reed/finlay.html
42 Rodríguez Exposito. Ibid 148.
43 Ecos de Belén September 1954, 47-50. Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 168.
44 Suchlicki, Ibid 67-71.
45 José Manuel Hernández, ACU: Los primeros cincuenta años. Agrupación Católica Universitaria (Miami, FL: ACU, 1981), 3.
46 Fr. General Luis Martín García, SJ, Memorias del P. Luis Martín, General de la Compañía de Jesús (1846–1906) ed. J. R. Eguillor, M. Revuelta, and R. Ma. Sanz de Diego, 2 vols. (Bilbao, Madrid, and Rome: 1988) as cited in David G. Schultenover, SJ, A View from Rome: On the Eve of the Modernist Crisis (New York, 1993), 164–168.
47 Alberto Álvarez Insúa, Memorias: Mi Tiempo y Yo (Madrid: 1952), 30-52.
48 Alberto Álvarez Insúa, Ibid 27-28.
49 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 70.
50 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 86.
51 The Platt Amendment, formulated by Connecticut Republican Senator Orville H. Platt (1827–1905) as a rider to the Army Appropriations Act, stipulated that Cuba would not negotiate treaties, enter into debt, or transfer any land to any power other than the United States, and it also leased Guantanamo Bay to the United States. Some of the Platt Amendment provisions (except the lease to Guantanamo Bay) were repealed by the Treaty of Relations (1934) between the United States and Cuba, negotiated as a part of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's “Good Neighbor Policy” toward Latin America.
52 Formally named secretary to the president, this position is equivalent to that held in the present day by the White House Chief of Staff
53 Rafael Montoro, “Discurso del Sr. Montoro en el banquete del Colegio de Belén,” El Figaro, April 21st, 1904, 208.
54 A Cornell University engineering graduate, President Mario García-Menocal fought his way up the ranks in the War of Independence (1895-1898) to become a general in the rebel army. He served as Havana Chief of Police 1898-1899, and then went on to manage the Cuban-American Company, a USowned sugar producing operation, whose main mill, Chaparrra, was considered the largest sugar estate in the world at the time. Thomas, Ibid 468.
55 Hernández, Agrupación… 3.
56 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 90.
57 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961),92-93.
58 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 98.
59 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 95.
60 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 124.
61 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 160.
62 Francisco Basterrechea, Recuerdos de Belén, Unedited, 1985, 1.
Section III- Colegio de Belén Marianao
1 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961),132.
endnotesendnotes
n no endnot ndnotdnonottes es n no endnot ndnotdnonottes es
2 A description of the mural and its formal inauguration was included, along with a speech delivered by Colegio de Belén alumnus and the school’s Fine Arts professor Luis Soto in Pintura Mural de Hipólito Hildalgo de Caviedes en la Capilla del Colegio de Belén (La Habana: Ucar, García y Cía, 1937). Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 137.
3 Francisco Basterrechea (‘28), in discussion with the author, April 18th, 2011.
4 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961),125.
5 Emilio Cueto (‘60), in discussion with the author, December 6th, 2010.
6 El Mundo, December 13th, 1925, as quoted in Federación de la Prensa Latina de América, Libro de Cuba (La Habana: 1930), 235.
7 Federación de la Prensa Latina de América, Libro de Cuba, 235.
8 Thomas, Ibid 599.
9 Fr. Ernesto Fernández-Travieso, SJ, In The Pursuit of Happiness (Miami, FL: Ediciones Universal, 2009), 8.
10 Thomas, Ibid 572.
11 Thomas, Ibid 585.
12 Thomas, Ibid 585.
13 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 144.
14 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 144.
15 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada was the son of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo (1819-1874), the Eastern province of Oriente planter, who on October 10th, 1868, freed his slaves and demanded independence from Spain. His Grito de Yara call to war began Cuba’s Ten Year War (1868-1878).
16 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 144.
17 Thomas, Ibid 627.
18 Hernández, Agrupación… 33.
19 Phillips, J.D., “Mendieta Resigns Cuban Presidency; Steps Out After His Failure to Conciliate Political Parties Preparatory to Elections. State Secretary Named Barnet Provisional Executive; Ministry and Council of State to Meet Today,” New York Times December 11th, 1935.
23 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 145.
24 Hernández, Agrupación… 43.
25 Fr. Carlos Manuel de Céspeces y García-Menocal. “Sabiduría, Coherencia, Honestidad. Dr. Manuel DortaDuque in Memoriam,” Vitral May-June, Year 4, No. 19, 1997. www.vitral.org/vitral/vitral19/reflexiones.htm
26 Taken from the Boletín Parroquial de Marianao, June 1st, 1940 and published as “El Gran Mitin del Teatro Nacional,” Ecos de Belén, Año IV, No. 31-32, Junio 1941, 39.
27 José M. Hernández, El aporte de la Iglesia Católica http://cubalegaltransition.org/downloads/EL_ APORTE_DE_LA_IGLESIA_CATLICA_10_24_06.pdf and Fernández-Soneira, Teresa, Cuba: Historia de la Educación Católica 1582-1961 (Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1997), 88.
28 “¿Qué es la Confederación de Colegios Cubanos Católicos?” Ecos de Belén, No. 51-56, enero-junio, 1943.
29 Valentín Arenas, “Debate Parlamentario,” Ecos de Belén, 1945, 155. and “Doble debate científico-pedagógico sobre los actuales problemas de la enseñanza a cargo de los alumnos del Colegio de Belén,” Diario de la Marina, March 24th, 1945, 9.
30 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 70.
31 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 135.
32 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 136.
33 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 376.
34 Ecos de Belén 1954, 96.
35 John W. O’Malley, SJ, The First Jesuits (Boston, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), 220.
36 Christian Life Community website: http://www.clcusawest.org/aboutWorld.html
37 Cotanilla Historia… 111, 186 & 191. Carta del Padre Olascoaga 10/3/1958 al Padre de Blas; AHPISJ es-
tante 2, caja 58, Diario del Padre Cotanilla (1834-1864) en AHPTSJ C-95: 8/6/1862, as quotes in Francisco Javier Gómez Díez, Conflictos e intereses en torno a los colegios Jesuitas en La America Híspania Meridional Durante el Siglo XIX (Madrid, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria), 172. http://www.americanistas.es/biblo/ textos/s04/s-04-20.pdf
38 Carlos A. Fernández MD (‘31), Letter to Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40). March 6th, 1981, Belen Jesuit Archives.
39 Jesuitas de Cuba. (La Habana: 1998), 26. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 147.
40 Roberto Méndez Martínez. “Mariana Lola Álvarez. Ejemplo de maestra católica,” Palabra Nueva. Revista de la Arquidiócesis de La Habana, July-August, 2010, No. 198.
41 “Nuestro Proyecto, Los Alumnos de Belén vamos a levantar en los campos del Colegio una hermosa escuela gratuita, como homenaje a los Padres Jesuitas en el IV Centenario de la fundación de la Compañía de Jesús.” (La Habana: Hércules, 1940). As cited in Sáez, Ibid 147.
42 Hernández, Agrupación… 14.
43 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 208.
44 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 131.
45 BELÉN Revista de la Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén, Vol. XVII. No. 201-202, September-October 1960, 8.
46 Fernández-Soneira, Ibid, 89.
47 Jorge I. Domínguez, Cuba: Order and Revolution (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978), 115.
48 Domínguez, Ibid 115.
49 “Cuba: The Archbishop speaks,” Time Magazine, May 30th, 1960.
50 Joseph Holbrook, “The Church in Cuba: Ambivalence between Regime and Revolution: 1952-1962,” Florida International University, Prepared for delivery at the 2009 Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil June 11-14th, 2009, 6.
51 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 208.
52 New York Times February 2nd, 1959. As cited in Holbrook, Ibid 8.
53 New York Times October 31st, 1959. As cited in Holbrook, Ibid 9.
54 Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ, Mi consagracióon sacerdotal y religiosa Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana: 1983), 21.
55 Holbrook, Ibid 9.
56 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 208. Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40), in discussion with the author, June 21st, 2010.
57 Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil de Cuba, La Persecución de la Iglesia Católica en Cuba (Quito, Ecuador [no date]), 6. As cited in Holbrook, Ibid 10.
58 Directorio, 7- 8. As cited in Holbrook, Ibid 10.
59 R. Hart Phillips. “Catholic Church In Cuba Criticizes Communist Gains,” New York Times August 8th, 1960; “Circular Colectiva del Espiscopado Cubano,” La Voz 116-117. As cited in Holbrook, Ibid 13.
60 Juan Junco (‘60), in discussion with the author, January 31st, 2011.
61 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 185.
62 “Respeto y Justicia,” La Voz 1995, 167. As cited in Holbrook, Ibid 14.
63 “Cuba: The Archbishop speaks,” Time Magazine, May 30th, 1960.
64 Senior KGB agents Osvaldo Sánchez Cabrera and ‘Aragon’, both of whom died violently before and after the invasion, had warned the Cuban government. See Welch, David A and James G. Blight (eds)., Intelligence and the Cuban Missile Crisis (Frank Cass Publishers, 1998).
65 Mario Martínez-Malo (‘55),“Nuestra Conexión con La Brigada de Asalto 2506,” Belen Jesuit Wall of Martyrs Presentation, May 20th, 2009.
66 Father Macho remained in prison with the Brigade #2506 members (1,179), who were tried on March 29th, 1962 and sentenced to thirty years in prison. He, along with other priests who also remained incarcerated, celebrated Mass for prisoners with bread and wine smuggled into the prison. After much negotiation, Fidel Castro (‘45) signed an agreement with US lawyer, James B. Donovan, agreeing to exchange 1,113 prisoners for US $53M in food and medicine. On December 24th, 1962, Father Macho, along with some of the Brigade #2506 prisoners, flew to Miami. Others followed on the ship, African Pilot. See Marjorie L. Fillylaw, “Smuggled Bread for Mass, Jar a Chalice For Chaplains,” The Voice, January 4th, 1963. See also, Johnson, Haynes, The
Bay of Pigs: The Leaders’ Story of Brigade 2506 (W. W. Norton & Co., 1974, 1984).
67 Nine Brigade #2506 prisoners died from asphyxiation during the transfer to Havana. Enrique Ros, Girón la verdadera historia, (Miami, FL: Ediciones Universales (Colección Cuba y sus jueces), Third Ed., 1994 and 1998).
68 On September 8th, 1961, fourteen Brigade #2506 prisoners were convicted of various major crimes supposedly committed in Cuba before the invasion. Five were executed and nine were jailed for thirty years. See Tad Szulc and Karl E. Meyer, The Cuban Invasion: The chronicle of a disaster Praegar, 1962).
69 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 188.
70 Author unknown. Memorandum: “Algunos datos sobre la situación religiosa en Cuba; En las casas de la Compañía; Los colegios católicos,” La Habana, Colegio de Belén, April 24-30th, 1961.
71 Gaceta oficial de la República de Cuba Primera Sección, Año LIX, La Habana, miércoles, 7 de junio, 1961, tomo quincenal, número XI, número anual 109, 4 secciones, 10657- 10658.
72 The facility would eventually become the Instituto Técnico Militar (Military Institute of Technology) in 1966, the main education center for the Cuban Armed Forces (FAR), and the Ministry of the Interior (MINIT). In 1987, it was renamed once more as the Instituto Técnico Militar José Martí.
73 The complete passenger list of all the Catholic clergy expelled from Cuba on the ocean liner Covadonga on September 17th, 1961 (including twenty-six Jesuits) is available at: http://www.clerocubanoenexilio.org/ page3/page3.html
74 Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, SJ (‘40), in discussion with the author, June 23rd, 2010.
75 Letter from Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) to Diocese of Miami Bishop Fr. Coleman F. Carroll, November 4th, 1960.
76 Egaña, Ibid, 48.
Section IV- Belen Jesuit Centro Hispano Católico
1 Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), in discussion with the author, January 11th, 2011.
2 Fr. Ruiz was at that time still residing within Cuba, where he would remain until he, along with twenty-five other Jesuits, and over one-hundred other members of the Catholic religious community were to be forcefully expelled from the island by the Cuban government in September 1961.
3 Paul S. George, The Gesù in Miami. A story of God’s People in a Subtropical Metropolis, 1896-2006 (Miami, FL: Fort Dallas Press, 2006), 99.
4 George, Ibid 103-117.
5 George, Ibid 106-107.
6 Letter to Luis González Posada, SJ and Lawrence M. O’Neill, SJ, December 4th, 1960.
7 Letter from Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ to Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), June 20th, 1961.
8 Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ, Mi Consagración Sacerdotal y Religiosa (Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: 1983), 25.
9 Letter from Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ to Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), August 5th, 1961.
10 Letter from Fr. Alberto Moreno, SJ to Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ, July 27th, 1961.
11 Letter from Fr. General Jean-Baptiste Janssens to the Jesuit North American provinces requesting assistance for the Vice Province of the Antilles, September 8th, 1961.
12 Daily Notes of Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) during his trip to visit Jesuit Provinces throughout North America, August 5th,-September 8th, 1961.
13 Letter from Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ to Belen Jesuit parents, August 1961.
14 Letter from Diocese of Miami Bishop Fr. Coleman Francis Carroll to Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ, August 29th, 1961.
15 Letter from Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ to Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25). August 5th, 1961.
16 Carolina Carderín, Enrollment 1961-2011 September 16th, 2011.
17 Echoes 1962, 32.
18 Letter from Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ to Fr. Ramón Calvo, SJ, October 2nd, 1961.
19 Echoes 1962, 25.
20 Echoes 1962, 27.
21 Eloísa Echazábal Pi and Clemente C. Amézaga (‘63), “Miami Camps and Group Homes,” Unedited, 2011.
22 Don Branning, “Too Noisy, Cuban Kids Told to Leave House,” Miami News, September 22nd, 1961. 23 Branning, Ibid 19.
24 Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), in discussion with the author, October 25th 2010.
25 Echazábal Pi and Amézaga, Ibid
Section V- Belen Jesuit Little Havana
Father General Pedro Arrupe, Address to the Tenth International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe (Valencia, Spain: July 31st, 1973).
Owned by Harvey Lee, the Jesuits purchased the building on September 22nd, 1962, for $80,000, using $15,000 from the donations sent by the Jesuit North American provinces as a down payment and established a fifteen-year mortgage. As cited in Fr. José Luis Sáez, SJ. Una breve historia del Colegio de Belén, Volumen II (1961-2012) (Miami, Florida: Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, 2012), 9. See the two original ceremonies in Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story Section I, The Cuban Republic, and Section II, Moving Forward.
Pope John XXIII, Address at the Opening of Vatican Council II, October 11th, 1962, Echoes 1963, 80-81. Antonio Abella (‘59), in discusiion with the author, June 24th, 2011.
Fr. Román Espadas, SJ “Writings about Belen Jesuit Preparatory School during Fr. Luis G. Ripoll’s tenure as the school’s vice rector (1961-1964),” as cited in Sáez, Belén Miami Apéndice Documental (1960-1991), Unedited.
Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63) has had a long-standing career at Belen Jesuit that included roles as a theology faculty member, spiritual counselor, and director of peer ministry. He also started the mission trips to the Dominican Republic and was the school’s chaplain (1975-2004). In 2004, Fr. Álvarez became the pastor at Gesù Catholic Church, when the parish came under the direction of the Antilles Province. Fr. Ruiz was about to end his term as Vice Province of the Antilles Superior. He came to Belen Jesuit for the (1963-1964) academic year and served as rector (1964-1967) to help ensure that the school would become a permanent educational institution in South Florida. Reference letter from Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ (‘39) to the Jesuits from the Vice Province of the Antilles recounting the historical progression of Belen Jesuit (19611968) and its plans for the future, April 30th, 1968. Letter from Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) to Bishop Coleman F. Carroll explaining some of the ways the Jesuits from Belen Jesuit raised extra funds throughout the years to cover the operational costs of the school, in order to keep it open, July 9th, 1967.
10 Letter from Fr. Luis G. Ripoll, SJ (‘36) to Belen Jesuit parents, July 21st, 1963.
11 “Four Exiles Receive Grants,” Miami Herald, October 31st, 1963, 8-E. “Ayuda para becados cubanos., Diario de las Américas, November 1st, 1963.
15 Noticias de la Viceprovincia de las Antillas, Miami, FL, February, 1964, 2.
16 “Campaña del Ladrillo Belén,” Diario de las Américas, June 23rd, 1965.
17 “Bendición y Apertura Oficial del Colegio Preparatorio Jesuita de Belén el próximo Viernes,” Diario de las Américas, November 17th, 1965, 16.
18 “Ex-Havana Institution Comes to Life Again Here: Re-Born Belen School Blessed,” The Voice, December 24th, 1965, 27.
19 The Voice, June 10th, 1966, 14.
20 Echoes, 1965.
21 The history and accomplishments of Belen Jesuit Athletics are covered in Men For Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Athletics Section.
22 Jack Kofoed, “One of the Finest,” Miami Herald, February 19th, 1966, 7-B.
23 Eight graduating seniors from the class of 1965 listed Student Council as one of their activities alongside their graduation picture Echoes, 1965. These were: Raúl Bezos (‘65), Mario Dávalos (‘65), Ignacio Ferrer (‘65), Carlos García (‘65), Luis González (‘65), René Loyola (‘65), Francisco Pérez (‘65), and Roberto Rodríguez (‘65).
24 Fr. Izquierdo also served as the principal of Belen Jesuit from 1988 to 1992.
25 Echoes, 1966.
26 Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), class of 1966 Graduation Address, June 4th, 1966.
27 Carolina Carderín, Enrollment 1961-2011, September 16th, 2011.
endnotesendnotes
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54 John “Jack” Guiteras (‘48) and Luisa Guiteras, in discussion with the author, November 24th, 2010.
84 Leopoldo Núñez, in discussion with the author, May 21st, 2012.
28 “Miami. Colegio de Belén,” Diálogo V:39 (Santo Domingo, diciembre 1968), 11. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012) 19.
29 Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25) returned in 1978 to serve as Belen Jesuit’s director of development (19781992).
30 In 1967, the first academic year that Fr. Daniel G. Baldor, SJ (‘19) served as school rector, 255 students enrolled at the school. Enrollment reached 394 (1971-1972).
31 Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), in discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
33 The history and accomplishments of Belen Jesuit Athletics are covered in Men For Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Athletics Section.
34 Mariano Madurga y Jesús Iturrioz, eds., Congregación General XXXI. Documentos (Zaragoza: Hechos y Dichos, 1966), 253. Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos de los Padres Jesuitas de Cuba, Letter from Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ, December 1970. Boletín Informativo, December 1970, No.5 and 6.
35 María E. Saavedra, “Lleva 114 años formando generaciones de cubanos el gran Colegio de Belén,” Diario Las Américas, December 31st, 1967. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012) 19.
36 “Rasgos de la vida de Belén en el mes,” Díalogo, VI:62, December, 1970, 11. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012) 19.
37 “Miami. Colegio de Belén. Un ensayo con éxito,” Diálogo V:41, Marzo 1969, 8-9. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012) 19.
38 Fr. Pedro Carataya, SJ (‘54), in discussion with the author, April 23rd, 2012.
39 Encuentros Familiares developed into another Jesuit Ministry in South Florida and for years functioned out of several temporary facilities such as Sts. Peter and Paul Church (1971-1973), Assumption Academy (1973-1975), St. John Vianney Seminary (1975-1981), Immaculata La Salle High School(1981), and Belen Jesuit in West Miami-Dade (1981-1987). Since 1987, Encuentros Familiares has been functioning at its own facility in West Miami-Dade known as the Casa Manresa Retreat House, which hosts most retreats for Belen students and Catholic families throughout the community.
43 “History of Belen: excerpt,” Compiled for the kickoff of the Intercultural Center Campaign at the Sheraton Four Ambassadors in Miami FL, April 26th, 1978.
44 Women began to consistently form part of Belen Jesuit’s faculty for the 1972-1973 academic year, during the tenure of Belen Jesuit President/Principal Felipe Arroyo, SJ (1972-1980). That year, Berta Álvarez taught geography and Spanish, Vicky A. Chemerys taught English, María Suárez taught Spanish, Elizabeth Zoble taught English III, and María Pérez Paredes taught French I and II, English for the seventh and ninth grades, and also served as yearbook advisor. Echoes, 1973, 9-22.
45 Letter from Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ to Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll about Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, February 12th, 1969.
46 Boletín Informativo, Miami, March- April 1970, 3 and 4.
47 American Historical Society, Guiteras, Wardwell, and Allied Families, (New York: American Historical Society, 1926), 6-7.
48 American Historical Society, Guiteras, Wardwell, and Allied Families, 8.
49 National American Society, “Dr. Ramón Guiteras,”Americana, America Magazine, Volume XII, Jan-Dec 1918, 10-11.
50 Paul D. Davis, “To Cuba with Love: Legacy from Daughter of Cuban who settled in Bristol provides free library for his birthplace,” The Evening Bulletin, Providence, RI, May 25th, 1955, 34. 51http://www.radio26.icrt.cu/index.php/bendita-matanzas/67-efemerides/1816-una-biblioteca-bloqueada. html
55 The family of then novice Domingo Galdós Solauno donated the complete collection of the Encyclopedia Espasa-Calpe in 1963, Cfr. Ibid. (Miami, July 17th, 1963), 2. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia...Volumen II (1961-2012)
56 State of Rhode Island’s Superior Court Judge, the Honorable Joseph R. Weisberger ruling on November 12th, 1971 on display at the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library, Belen Jesuit West Miami-Dade Campus.
57 Office of Development, “Historia de Belen School Property, Miami, 1972”; Evaristo R. Savon, “Progresan las obras de ampliación de Belén,” Diario las Américas, January 18th, 1973, 11/B. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012)
59 María E. Eireos, Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library: A Guide to the Library, Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, 1981, 9.
60 Fernando Alloza, “Inaugurarán en el Colegio de Belén la Nueva Biblioteca Ramón Guiteras,” Diario las Américas, October 23rd, 1981, 1/B, cols. 1-4. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012)
61 Boletín Informativo, XVIII:1-2, Miami, May 1982, 1-3.
62 Boletín Informativo, XIX:1-2, Miami, June 1983, 36.
63 José Ignacio Rasco, “De Julián del Casal a José Manuel Cortina,” Alumni, XXVI, Agosto 1990, 41.
64 Boletín Informativo, XXI:3-4, Miami, Diciembre 1985, 65. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012)
65 Guillermo Cabrera Leiva, “Celebran acto por donación de libros a la Biblioteca Ramón Guiteras del Colegio de Belén,” Diario las Américas, May 12th, 1990, 2/B, cols. 2-6. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012)
66 Marta Alday, “Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library, Nine Years in Review (1993-2001),” Unedited (Miami, FL, August 10th, 2001.
67 Alumni, XXXIII, Agosto 1997, 30. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012)
68 Marta Cosculluela, “Annual Report, Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Board of Directors,” Unedited (2010-2011).
69 Sylvia Hernández, “Annual Report, Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Board of Directors,” Unedited (2001-2002).
70 Carmelo Mesa Lago, Economía y Bienestar social en Cuba a comienzos del siglo XXI Madrid, Spain: Editorial Colibri, October, 2003).
71 See also Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante, “An International Law Pioneer and Public Servant” in Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story Section II, Colegio de Belén Compostela.
72 Sylvia Hernández, “Annual Report, Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Board of Directors,” Unedited (2004-2005).
73 Marta Cosculluela, “Annual Report, Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Board of Directors,” Unedited (2007-2008).
74 Kay Abella, Fighting Castro: A Love Story, (Miami, FL: Wing Span Press, 2007).
76 Lily Prellezo and José Basulto, Seagull One: The Story of Brothers to the Rescue (Gainsville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2010).
77 Marta Cosculluela, “Annual Report, Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Board of Directors,” Unedited (2010-2011).
78 Marta Cosculluela, “Annual Report, Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library Board of Directors,” Unedited (2009-2010).
79 Boletín Informativo, XX: 1-2, May 1984, 1.
80 Evaristo R. Savon, “Progresan las obras de ampliación de Belén,” Diario las Américas, January 18th, 1973, 11/B.
81 See the words of Fr. Daniel Baldor, SJ (‘19) in Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section V, Belen Jesuit Little Havana, Growth and Challenges.
82 Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, “Riddles of the Sphincter: Another Look at the Cuban Choteo,” Diacritics, Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 14, No. 4, Winter, 1984, 67-77.
83 Jorge Mañach, Indagación del Choteo (La Habana: Editorial Libro Cubano, Tercera Edición, 1955).
85 Echoes, 1977, 146.
86 Echoes, 1981, 139; Eduardo Santamaría (‘82), in discussion with the author, May 20th, 2012.
87 Carol Ann Vila, Miami, FL, in discussion with the author, September 6th, 2011.
88 Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), in discussion with the author, July 13th 2011.
89 Belen Jesuit Intercultural Center Campaign Brochure, 1978.
90 Letter from Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ to Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ, February 4th, 1977.
91 Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), in discussion with the author, July 13th, 2011.
92 Letter from Fr. Felipe Arroyo to the Belen Alumni, Boletín Informativo, XII: 3-4, June-July, 1976, 2.
93 Three Kings Day is celebrated January 6th. It is also the Catholic Feast of the Epiphany, the day that the three wise men visited the baby Jesus. Hispanic communities in the United States celebrate festivities, and hold parades on January 6th in places such as East Harlem, Miami, and Los Angeles. In Miami, a traditional parade is held in Little Havana to celebrate Three Kings Day. http://www.npr.org/2012/01/06/144789992/for-somethree-kings-day-is-bigger-than-christmas
94 Michael Steinbacher, “Exile School Seeks Funds for New Campus,” Miami Herald, April 29th 1978, 4-B.
95 Belen Jesuit Intercultural Center Campaign Brochure, 1978.
96 Belen Jesuit Intercultural Center Campaign Brochure, 1978.
97 Belen Jesuit Intercultural Center Campaign Brochure, 1978.
98 Marina Hernández, in discussion with the author, August 26th, 2011.
100 Letter from Father General Pedro Arrupe, SJ to Fr. Felipe Arroyo, SJ offering his congratulations for the school’s 125th anniversary, February 26th, 1979.
102 Marina Hernández, List of Gala Chairpersons (1981-2011).
103 Olimpia Rosado, “Inaugurarán el Curso Escolar 1981-82 en el Belen Jesuit Intercultural Center,” Diario de las Américas, August 9th, 1981.
Section VI- Belen Jesuit West Miami-Dade
1 To read about the choteo/nómbrete tradition at Belen Jesuit, see Men for Others: The Belen Story, Section V, Bilingualism and Cuban Culture at Belen.
2 Fr. Richard C. Chisholm, SJ (‘25), Private Diary II (1981-1989), ff 7-8. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II, (1961-2012), 37. The problem was solved over time with the help of many, including students who picked up rocks from the field during physical education classes. See Men for Others: The Belen Story, Section VIII, Athletics, Second Phase.
3 Fernando Alloza. “Comenzaron las clases en el Colegio de Belén,” Diario de las Américas, September 17th, 1981, 15-B.
4 Fernando Alloza, “Oficialmente Inaugurado en Miami el Nuevo Edificio del Colegio de Belén”, Diario las Américas, September 23rd, 1981, 6/B. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II, (1961-2012), 33.
5 Alloza, “Oficialmente Inaugurado...,” 6/B.
6 Echoes, 1982, 1.
7 Echoes, 1982, 68.
8 “Se Organiza la Fiesta Benéfica de Belén,” Diario de las Américas, July 28th, 1981.
9 “Preparando el baile de gala de Belén,” Diario de las Américas, September 15th, 1981.
10 Echoes, 1986, 40.
11 Josefina Chirino. Notes about the Belen Jesuit Chapel given to Dr. Chirino over the course of several years by Spiritual Counselor Fr. Jorge Sardiña, SJ (‘45) and Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), who served as the school’s President when the Chapel was built. Josefina Chirino, in discussion with the author, September 30th, 2011.
13 Fr. Federico Arvesú, SJ “El Cristo de la Capilla del Colegio de Belén,” Inedited, 1985, 2.
14 The benches were graciously donated by Camilo Furniture. Boletín Informativo, XIX, November, 1983, 42.
15 Alumni, XIX, November, 1983, 42.
16 Among the Chapel donors were: Tomás Vara, International Die Casting Machines, Manuel F. Vergara, Carlos del Valle, Luis Parajón, Ángel Rodríguez de la Guerra, Lázaro Megret, Francisco M. Nava, and Manuel Ansolega.
17 Alumni, XXI, Miami, July, 1985, 39.
18 “Bendición de una imagen de la virgen de Belén,” Alumni, XXXI, August 1995, 15.
19 While serving at Gesù Catholic Church, Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44) established Regis House, an organization that over the last three decades has provided substance abuse and mental health counseling to over 35,000 Miami-Dade children, adolescents, and families. He was also instrumental in the Cuban American Bar Association’s (CABA) establishment of the Pro Bono Project.
20 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section VIII, Belen Jesuit Athletics, Second Phase (19811997).
21 The swimming pool was officially christened as the Gian Zumpano Swimming Pool in 1991, in memory of Belen Jesuit alumnus and Summer Camp Counselor Gian Zumpano (‘86). See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section VIII Athletics, Swimming.
22 Belen Jesuit Office of the President Memorandum, “Reasons which Belen Jesuit Preparatory School has for opening to sixth grade students,” 1985, 1.
23 Letter from Sister Marie Danielle, SSND to Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy, March 2nd, 1989.
24 Carol Ann Vila, in discussion with the author, September 6th, 2011.
25 Echoes, 1986, 84.
26 Echoes, 1989, 23.
27 Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, in discussion with the author, May 21st, 2012.
28 Alumni, XXIV, Miami, July, 1988, 14-17.
29 Echoes, 1989, 146.
30 José Ignacio Rasco (‘45), “La visita a Miami del P. General de la Compañía de Jesús Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ” Boletín Informativo, XXV, August, 1989, 4-5; “Realiza breve visita a Miami el Padre General de la Compañía de Jesús Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ” Diario las Américas, June 9th, 1989, 1/B.
31 Jim McDermott, “Let us look together to Christ: An interview with Jesuit General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach,” America: The National Catholic Review, November 26th, 2007. http://americamagazine.org/issue/635/article/let-us-look-together-christ
32 Echoes, 1992, 13.
33 Fr. Marcelino García, SJ “La Metodologia de la pedagogía Jesuitica.” Boletín Informativo, XXVIII, August, 1992, 24-25.
34 Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), “Belen Celebrates its 140th Anniversary,” Echoes, 1994, 6-11.
35 Echoes, 1994, 9.
36 Echoes, 1996, 36-38.
37 Echoes, 1996, 18.
38 Echoes, 1995, 3.
39 Alumni, XXXII, Miami, February, 1996, 4.
40 Vincam is the Latin word for “I shall conquer.” It has also been used as the name of the Agrupación Católica Pre-Universitaria (ACPU) publication at the Colegio de Belén in Marianao and as the students’ official newspaper/magazine publication once Belen Jesuit was reestablished in South Florida.
41 Donors for the Vincam Wing included at the Honor Club Level: Vincam, Inc. founder Carlos Saladrigas (‘67) and his wife Olga M. Saladrigas, as well as Vincam, Inc. founder José Sánchez. At the President Club Level: Eugenio Cosculluela (‘47), Carlos M. Barañano (‘52), Alfredo Estrada (‘50), Enrique Cuscó, and Eduardo Masferrer. At the Benefactor’s Club Level: Gerardo Larrea (‘48), Juan García, and Joseph Klock. “Belen Jesuit Crece,” Alumni, XXXII, Miami, October, 1998, 12.
43 Carlos Saladrigas (‘67), Commencement Address, May 30th, 1997. Alumni, XXXIII, Miami, August, 1997, 10-11.
44 First Annual Fr. José M. Izquierdo, SJ. Memorial Golf Classic. Alumni, XXXIV, Miami, March, 1998, 14-15.
45 Fr. Marcelino García, SJ “Memorial Mass for Roberto C. Goizueta Homily,” Alumni, XXXIV, March, 1998, 2-7.
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endnotesendnotes
46 “Alocución del Padre General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ en su visita al Colegio de Belén,” Alumni, XXXVI, July, 2000, 15-18.
47 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section VIII, Athletics, The Golden Years.
48 “Dedications 2003 of the New Additions to Belen Campus,” Alumni, XXXX, January, 2004, 33-34.
49 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section VII, Academics, Activities, and Service, The Ignatian Center for the Arts (ICA).
50 Cfr. Díalogo XXXVI, 364, September-October 2002, 18; José I. Rasco (‘45), “Homenaje al P. Juan Manuel Dorta, SJ,” Diario Las Américas, October 23rd, 2002, 5, cols. 1-3As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II (1961-2012) 33.
51 “From the Address by Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Belen to the former students, May 29th, 2004.” Alumni, XXXX, January, 2005, 15.
52 “Giving the Gift of Excellence,” Alumni, XLIII, Winter 2007, 12-13.
53 “Scholarships Open Door to Diversity: Belen Jesuit Prep’s new Agape Scholarship will pay for several African-American students each year to attend the school,” Alumni, XLIII, Winter, 2007, 12-13.
54 “High School Honor,” Alumni, XLIII, Winter, 2007, 54.
62 Adolfo Nicolás, “Homily at the Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina,” XXXV General Congregation of Jesuits Documents (Rome: January 21st, 2008)
63 Adolfo Nicolás, “Allocution of Fr. General to the World Congress of World Union of Jesuit Alumni,” Bujumbura, Burundi: July 26th, 2009.
64 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1711
65 “Time to Celebrate,” Alumni, XLVII, Winter, 2011, 7.
66 Letter from Curia Generaliza Della Compagnia di Gesù, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Father General Adolfo Nicolás, SJ, September 27th, 2011.
47 Jesse Lorenzo (‘12), “Farewell,” Vincam, Volume 18, No. 8, May 2012, 19.
48 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section III, Educational Achievements.
49 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section III, A Historic Debate.
50 Echoes, 1974, 106.
51 Echoes, 1977, 127.
52 Conchita Muñoz, “Un estudiante cubano ganador: Damián Pardo obtuvo el premio de declamación,” El Nuevo Herald, June 24th, 1979.
53 Echoes, 1983,177.
54 Echoes, 1984,165.
55 Echoes, 1988, 168-169.
56 Echoes, 1989, 77.
57 Echoes, 1990, 84-85.
58 Echoes, 1991, 78-79.
59 Echoes, 1992, 76-77.
60 Echoes, 1994, 50.
61 Echoes, 1996, 90.
62 Echoes, 1999, 104-105.
63 Echoes, 2000, 76-77.
64 Echoes, 2007, 117.
Humanities; Ignatian Center for the Arts
1 Micael Zampelli SJ, “Lascivi Spettacoli: Jesuits and Theater,” John W. O’Malley, SJ, Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Steven J. Harris, and T. Frank Kennedy, SJ, Eds., The Jesuits II: Culture, Sciences, and the Arts 1540-1773 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006), 550-571.
2 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 50.
3 Jesuit Fr. Charles Porée (1675-1741) was a French Jesuit poet who was not only a teacher to Voltaire (16941778) at the College of Louis-le-Grand in Paris, France, but who was regarded as one of the most important dramatists of his time. Jesuit Family Album Portraits. Fr. Charles Porée SJ http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/ jmac/jp/jppiri.htm
4 “Acto Académico de los Departamentos de Teología y Humanidades del Colegio de Belén en memoria del Señor Roberto Goizueta.” Alumni, XXXVI, Miami, July 2000, 24.
5 Letter from Olga Casteleiro de Goizueta to Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, December 10th, 1998.
6 Leopoldo Núñez, in discussion with the author, May 21st, 2012.
7 Leopoldo Núñez, in discussion with the author, May 21st, 2012.
8 Leopoldo Núñez, in discussion with the author, May 21st, 2012.
9 Existir en el Tiempo Catalog, February, 2005.
10 Leopoldo Núñez, in discussion with the author, May 21st, 2012.
11 Orlando Rossardi, Yesterday and Today, a Retrospective Catalog, February 24th, 2007.
12 Leopoldo Núñez, in discussion with the author, May 21st, 2012.
13 Leopoldo Núñez, in discussion with the author, May 21st, 2012.
22 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section VII, Science, The Belen Jesuit Observatory.
23 Echoes, 2000, 97-98.
24 Echoes, 2001, 135.
25 Echoes, 2002, 147.
26 Echoes, 2004, 150-151.
27 Echoes, 2007, 116.
28 Echoes, 2007, 131.
29 Echoes, 2008, 112.
30 Father Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), in a discussion with the author, October 12th, 2010.
31 “Se construye el nuevo observatorio de Belén en Miami,” Alumni, XXV, August, 1989.
32 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section II, Colegio de Belén Compostela, Observatorio del Colegio de Belén.
33 Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), “El observatorio de Belén de Miami conmemora el centenario de la muerte del Padre Benito Viñes, SJ,” Alumni, XXIX, August, 1993, 29.
34 Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54), “The Belen Observatory a Service to the Community,” Alumni, XXXI, February, 1996, 27.
35 Echoes, 1999, 90-91.
36 Fr. Pedro Cartaya, SJ (‘54) “Belén y el Observatorio Vaticano”, Díalogo, XXXIII:352, September-October 1999, 16. As cited in Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen II, (1961-2012), 42.
37 Yudy Piñeiro, “Head in the Clouds,” Miami Herald, March 13th, 2008, Neighbors Section.
38 Echoes, 2009, 124.
39 Alicia Rivera, “Nobel de Física para la aceleración del universo,” El País, October 4th, 2011.
Social Studies; Close Up; Student Council; Model United Nations; Overseas Study Program
1 Patrick Collins, in a discussion with the author, October 24th, 2011.
2 Echoes, 1977, 142.
3 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section VI, Academics, Activities, and Service, Social Studies, Close Up.
4 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section VI, Academics, Activities, and Service, Social Studies, Student Council.
5 Patrick Collins, in a discussion with the author, October 24th, 2011.
26 Patrick Collins, in a discussion with the author, October 24th, 2011.
27 http://www.closeup.org/
28 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1659
29 The story of the embassy aide escape was featured in Antonio Méndez, Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled off the Most Audacious Rescue in History (New York: Viking Press, 2012).
30 Joe García (‘82) quote about Close Up received via e-mail, September 25th, 2012.
31 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1658
32 After Congressman Dante Fascell passed away on November 28th, 1998, the Biscayne National Park Visitor Center in Homestead, FL was named in his memory, and Belen Jesuit students volunteered to help during the inauguration.
33 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1661
34 Patrick Collins, in a discussion with the author, August 30th, 2012.
37 Associate Justice Brennan served on the court for 12,330 days starting on October 16th, 1956 and ending on July 20th, 1990. http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members.aspx
38 Echoes, 1993, 30.
39 Patrick Collins, in a discussion with the author, August 30th, 2012.
40 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1661
41 Echoes, 1966, 64.
42 Conchita Muñoz, “Un nuevo honor para el Colegio Belén: La presidencia del Florida Association of Student Councils,” El Nuevo Herald, June 10th, 1979.
43 “Leadership with Class,” Echoes, 1985, 188-190.
44 “The Wining Council,” Echoes, 1987, 124-125.
45 “Belen presidirá la Asociación Estudiantil de la Florida-President’s Day,” Boletín Informativo, XXV, August 1989, 10-11.
46 Thomas de Quesada (‘94), in a discussion with the author, October 10th, 2012.
Theology, Christian Life, Ministry and Service; Belen Youth Missions; Key Club
1 Mater et Magistra was Pope John XXIII’s Encyclical on Christianity and Social Progress published May 15th 1961.
2 See Men For Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section V, Belen Jesuit in Little Havana, Steps to the Future.
3 Josefina Chirino, “Theology and Ministry at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School,” Unedited, June 2004.
4 Echoes, 1978, 19.
5 See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story. Academics, Activities, and Service, The Belen Jesuit Youth Missions.
6 Chirino, Ibid.
7 Echoes, 1991, 85.
8 Echoes, 1985, 70.
9 Echoes 2006, 99.
10 Chirino, Ibid.
11 Echoes, 1986, 100.
12 Echoes, 1989, 46-47.
13 Chirino, Ibid.
14 Echoes, 1987, 36-37.
15 Echoes, 1988, 150-151.
16 Roberto Suro, “The Papal Visit; The Pontiff Embraces Welcome in Miami; Deflects Queries,” New York Times, September 11th, 1987.
17 Echoes, 1996, 85.
18 Echoes, 2006, 129.
19 Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) took students to the National March on January 22nd, 2007, where they were greeted by Archdiocese of Miami Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Estévez. “Students Marching for Life,” Alumni, XLIII, Winter, 2007, 54.
20 Chirino, Ibid.
21 Echoes, 1995, 25.
22 Chirino, Ibid
23 Echoes, 2004, 222-223.
24 Echoes, 2007, 176-177.
25 Echoes, 2010, 196.
26 Echoes 2010, 121.
27 Echoes 2012, 101.
28 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=576
29 Mariano Madurga y Jesús Iturrioz (eds.), Congregación General XXXI. Documentos (Zaragoza: Hechos y Dichos, 1966), 253.
30 Fr. Eduardo Álvarez, SJ (‘63), “Belén y sus siete años de servicio en comunidades campesinas,” Alumni, XIV, January, 1988, 51.
31 Álvarez, Ibid
32 Echoes, 1987, 30-31.
33 Echoes, 1988, 48-49.
34 Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), “El viejo de Arroyo Caña,” El Nuevo Herald, March 4th, 2012, 16a.
35 Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), “Medicine Men-June 8th, 2010” A Blog for All Seasons (Miami, FL: Belen Press a Catholic School, 2011).
36 Echoes, 1995, 9.
37 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=641
38 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1711
39 Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) “Noche con Peste-March 19th, 2010” A Blog for All Seasons (Miami, FL: Belen Press a Catholic School, 2011).
40 Echoes, 1983,182.
41 Echoes, 1985, 184.
42 Echoes, 1986, 174.
43 Echoes, 1987, 128-129.
44 Echoes, 1988, 152-153.
45 Echoes, 1989, 80-81.
46 Echoes, 1990, 88-89.
47 Echoes, 1990, 80-81.
48 Echoes, 1991, 178.
49 Echoes, 1992, 81.
50Echoes, 1991, 75.
51 Echoes, 1994, 47.
52 Echoes, 2000, 94-95.
53 Echoes, 2002, 148-149.
54 Echoes, 2008, 117.
55 Echoes, 1993, 183.
56 Echoes, 1994, 52.
57 Javier Sobrado, “Belen Key Club provides relief for rafters,” Alumni, XXXI, February, 1995, 43.
58 José Flores, “Ceide Elected Key Club Governor for ‘95-‘96,”Vincam, 1995, No. 6, 1.
59 Echoes, 1996, 17.
60 Echoes, 1996, 74-75.
61 Echoes, 1998, 16-17.
62 Echoes, 1998,134-135.
63 Echoes, 2000, 92-93.
64 Echoes, 2001, 138-139.
65 Echoes, 2002, 152-153.
66 Echoes, 2003, 154-155.
67 Echoes, 2004, 154-155 and Echoes, 2005, 44-45. Thomas de Quesada (‘94), in a discussion with the author, October 10th, 2012.
68 Echoes, 2008, 120.
69 Echoes, 2010, 142.
Academic and College Counseling Echoes, 1983, 33. Echoes, 1985, 68. Echoes, 1996, 52-53. Dan Montesi, in a discussion with the author, October 24th, 2011. http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1711 Echoes, 2011, 100. http://wolverines.belenjesuit.org/enews/september2011/sept2011_2.htm
Spiritual Counseling/Vocations
See Men for Others: The Belen Jesuit Story, Section V, Belen Jesuit Little Havana, Steps to the Future. Ibid.
Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87) “You’re Crazy” A Blog for All Seasons (Miami, FL: Belen Press a Catholic School, 2011). http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1711 http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=640
Section VIII- Athletics
Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, 2011, 2. Mariano Loret de Mola (‘58), in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011. Echoes, 1966, 54. The Belen Jesuit cheerleaders remained a long-standing tradition at Belen Jesuit since 1964.
n no endnot ndnotdnonottes es n no endnot ndnotdnonottes es
endnotesendnotes
In recent history, squads compete at the state and national levels with much success and their dedication remains a true testament of their commitment to the success of Belen Jesuit’s athletic program.
4 Echoes, 1966, 4.
5 Jorge Cunill. “Evento ejemplar para el nuevo Colegio de Belén,” Diario de las Américas, February 9th, 1979, 16.
6 Carlos Barquín, in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
7 Belen Jesuit Athletics Department Coaching Manual
8 Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, 1990, 3.
9 Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, 1994, 2.
10 Alumni Magazine, February, 1996, 4.
11 Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, 2005, 3.
12 Alumni Magazine, Summer, 2012.
13 Fr. Pedro Suárez, SJ (‘58), “Letter to Belen Athletes,” Belen Jesuit Sports Banquet Program, 2009.
14 Echoes, 1965-1967.
15 Echoes, 1968-1971.
16 Echoes, 1972-1975.
17 Echoes, 1976-1982.
18 Leo Suárez, “Coach’s love for game comes from heart,” Miami News, February 6th, 1979, 5c.
19 Echoes, 1983-1988.
20 Echoes, 1989-1993.
21 Echoes, 1994-1998.
22 Echoes, 1999-2002.
23 José Roca (‘84), in a discussion with the author, September 30th, 2011.
24 Echoes, 2004.
25 Echoes, 2005.
26 Echoes, 2006-2008.
27 Echoes, 2009-2011.
28 Thomas de Quesada (‘94), in a discussion with the author, September 30th, 2011.
29 Echoes, 1965-1972.
30 Echoes, 1972-1976.
31 Echoes, 1977-1983.
32 Echoes, 1984-1986.
33 Echoes, 1987-1990.
34 Echoes, 1991-1996.
35 Echoes, 1997-2000.
36 Echoes, 2001-2002.
37 Echoes, 2003-2004.
38 Echoes, 2005-2006.
39 Echoes, 2007-2009.
40 Echoes, 2010-2011.
41 “Pitcher drafted by Major League Baseball,” The Maul Athletics News, June 8th, 2012. http://www.belenjesuit.org/page.aspx?pid=1552&storyid8736=969&ncs8736=3
42 Carlos Barquín, in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
43 Echoes, 1970-1981.
44 Carlos Barquín, in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
45 Echoes, 1981-1990.
46 Echoes, 1991-1996. Carlos Barquín, in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
47 Carlos Barquín, in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
48 Echoes, 2008.
49 “Cross Country Team Exceeds Expectations,” The Maul Athletics News, November 22nd, 2011.
50 Carlos Barquín, in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
51 Carlos Barquín, in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
52 Echoes, 1972-1981.
53 Echoes, 1982-1984.
54 Echoes, 1985-1988.
55 Echoes, 1989-1993.
56 Echoes, 1994-1997.
57 Echoes, 1999-2004.
58 Tammy King-Foster, “So I get to tell my story,” http://www.docstoc.com/docs/27534333/so-i-get-totell-my-story.
59 Echoes, 2008-2011.
60 Jim Rehn, Echoes, 1972, 89.
61 Echoes, 1976-1981.
62 Echoes, 1984-1985.
63 Echoes, 1987-1990.
64 Echoes, 1991.
65 Echoes, 1992.
66 Echoes, 1995-2000.
67 Echoes, 2001.
68 Echoes, 2002.
69 Echoes, 2003-2005.
70 Echoes, 2006-2007.
71 Echoes, 2010.
72 Patrick Collins, in a discussion with the author, October 19th, 2011.
73 Echoes, 1985.
74 Echoes, 1986-1991.
75 Echoes, 1992-1996.
76 Echoes, 1997-1999.
77 Echoes, 2000-2004.
78 Belen Jesuit Banquet Program, 2004, 18.
79 Timothy VanScoy, in a statement prepared for the author, October 19th, 2011.
80 Echoes, 2011.
81 Echoes, 1984.
82Joseph Zumpano (‘87), Belen Sports Hall of Fame. http://wolverines.belenjesuit.org/alumni/HOF2008/ zumpano.htm
83 Echoes, 1988.
84 Echoes, 1987-1991.
85 Carlos Barquín, in a discussion with the author, September 22nd, 2011.
86 Echoes, 1992-1994.
87 Echoes, 1995-1999.
88 Echoes, 2003-2006.
89 Echoes, 2007.
90 Echoes, 2008.
91 Echoes, 2009.
92 Echoes, 2010.
93 Echoes, 2011.
94 Echoes, 1977-1978.
95 Echoes, 1979-1980.
96 Echoes, 1981-1983.
97 Echoes, 1984-1987.
98 Echoes, 1988-1993.
99 Echoes, 1994-1995.
100 Echoes, 1996.
101 Echoes, 1997-2001.
102 Echoes, 2002-2004.
103 Echoes, 2004-2007.
104 Echoes, 2008-2010.
105 Fr. Guillermo García-Tuñón, SJ (‘87), “Tangerines-February 18th, 2011” A Blog for All Seasons (Miami, FL: elen Press a Catholic School, 2011).
159 “Patron Saints Index: Jean de Brébeuf,” Catholic Community Forum. http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-johnde-brebeuf/
Section IX - Rectors
Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 33. Manuel Revuelta González, La Compañía de Jesús en la España contemporánea, Volumen 1 (Universidad Pontificia de Comillas: 1984), 1004. Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 33; Guillermo Fúrlong Cárdiff Historia del Colegio del Salvador y de sus irradiaciones culturales y espirituales en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1617-1943, Volumen 2 (Buenos Aires: Colegio del Salvador, 1944), 290; La Compañía de Jesús en la España contemporánea, Volumen 1..., 259.
Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 66; José Gutiérrez Casillas, Los Jesuitas en México durante el siglo XX, (Porrúa: 1981), 46 and 353.
Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 68.
Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 55 and 72; Esteban Palomera, La obra educativa de los Jesuítas en Guadalajara, 1586-1986, (Universidad Ibero-americana: Departamento de Historia, 1999), 271. Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 72 and 79.
Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 72. Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 72; Cristóbal Robles, José María de Urquijo e Ybarra: opinión, religión y poder (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas: 1997); Revuelta González, La Compañía de Jesús en la España contemporánea, Volumen 1..., 354.
10 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 72; Manuel Revuelta González, La Compañía de Jesús en la España contemporánea, Volumen 2 (Universidad Pontificia de Comillas: 1984), 479.
11 Publicaciones del Instituto Caro y Cuervo, Volúmenes 78-79 (Colombia: 1944), 270; http://www.sanbartolome.edu.co/datos.html
12 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 72.
13 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 72
14 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 124.
15 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 72.
16 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 125 and 126.
17 Antonio Galán Arias, SJ, The harmonic formula of Fourier and Bessel and its application to the study of the diurnal variation of the atmospheric pressure in Manila during the period 1890-1909 (Manila Bureau of Printing: 1914).
18 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 143.
19 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 144.
20 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 145 and 146.
21 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 147.
22 Ecos de Belén (XIII: No. 1, December 1958).
23 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen (1854-1961), 167.
24 Sáez, Breve historia... Volumen I (1854-1961), 167; Boletín del Museo Social Argentino Volumen 50, Issue 354; Volumen 51, Issue 361); Boletín Informativo, 1987, 197.
25 Fr José Luis Sáez SJ “Elenco de los jesuitas que han trabajado a partir del 1961 en Belen Jesuit Preparatory School” (Miami, FL: Inedited, 2011).
26 Sáez, “Elenco de los Jesuitas…”, 5; Boletín Informativo, February 1992.
27 Sáez, “Elenco de los Jesuitas…”, 7; Boletín Informativo, February 1984.
28 Fr. Francisco Pérez-Lerena, SJ (‘44), in a discussion with the author, July 13th, 2011.
29 Fr. Marcelino García, SJ, in a dicussion with the author, December 15th, 2011.
30 Fr. Pedro A. Suárez, SJ (‘58), in a discussion with the author, January 11th, 2011.
Abella, Kay. Fighting Castro: A Love Story. Miami, FL: Wing Span Press, 2007. Alegre, Francisco Javier SJ. Historia de la Sociedad de Jesús en Nueva España. Mexico: Carlos Maria Bustamante, 1841.
Alloza, Fernando. “Comenzaron las clases en el Colegio de Belén.” Diario de las Américas, September 17th, 1981.
American Historical Society. Guiteras, Wardwell, and Allied Families. New York: American Historical Society, 1926.
Amster, Lewis J. “Carlos J. Finlay: The Mosquito Man,” Hospital Practice, May 15th, 1987. Arrupe, Pedro SJ. “Address to the Tenth International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe.” Spain: Valencia, July 31st, 1973.
“Ayuda para becados cubanos.” Diario de las Américas, November 1st, 1963. Bangert, William V. A History of the Society of Jesus. Michigan: University of Michigan Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1972.
“Bendición y Apertura Oficial del Colegio Preparatorio Jesuita de Belén el Próximo Viernes.” Diario de las Américas, November 17th, 1965.
Branning, Don. “ Too Noisy, Cuban Kids told to Leave House.” Miami News September 22nd, 1961).
Calvo, Ramón SJ. Mi consagracióon sacerdotal y religiosa. Republica Dominicana: Santo Domingo, 1983.
“Campaña del Ladrillo Belén.” Diario de las Américas, June 23rd, 1965. Campbell, Thomas Joseph SJ. The Jesuits 1534-1921: a history of the Society of Jesus from its foundation to the present time, Volume IV. New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1921. “Cross Country Team Exceeds Expectations.” The Maul Athletics News, November 22nd, 2011.
“Cuba: The Archbishop speaks.” Time Magazine, May 30th, 1960. Cunill, Jorge. “Evento ejemplar para el nuevo Colegio de Belén.” Diario de las Américas, February 9th, 1979.
Davis, Paul D. “ To Cuba with Love: Legacy from daughter of Cuban who settled in Bristol provides free library for his birthplace.” The Evening Bulletin, Providence, RH, May 25 th, 1955.
De Aragón, Uva. “Navidad en Belén de Miami.” Diario de las Américas, December 17 th, 2008.
De la Pezuela, Jacobo. Diccionario geográfico, estadístico, histórico, de la isla de Cuba. Madrid: Imprenta de Establecimisto de Mellado, 1863. Domínguez, Jorge I. Cuba: Order and Revolution. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.
E., R. J. “Yo visité la exposición de Belén.” Diario las Américas, March 14th, 1969. Egaña, Ignacio María SJ. Álbum Conmemorativo del quincuagésimo aniversario de la fundación en La Habana del Colegio de Belén de la Compañía de Jesús. Havana: Imprenta El Avisador Comercial, 1904.
“Ex-Havana Institution Comes to Life Again Here: Re-Born Belen School Blessed.” The Voice, December 24th, 1965: 27.
Federación de la Prensa Latina de América. Libro de Cuba. La Habana: Litografia Ocariz y Ca., 1930.
Fernández-Travieso, Ernesto SJ. In the Pursuit of Happiness. Miami, FL: Ediciones Universal, 2009.
Fillylaw, Marjorie L. “Smuggled Bread for Mass, Jar, and a Chalice For Chaplains,” The Voice, January 4th, 1963.
Fisher, Lillian Estelle. Vice-regal Administration in the Spanish American Colonies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1926.
“Four Exiles Receive Grants.” Miami Herald, October 31st,1963.
Fúrlong Cárdiff Guillermo SJ. Historia del Colegio del Salvador y de sus irradiaciones culturales y espirituales en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1617-1943, Volumen 2. Buenos Aires: Colegio del Salvador, 1944.
“Primera Sección.” Gaceta oficial de la República de Cuba, La Habana, June 7th, 1961: Number 09, Four Sections, 10657- 10658.
Galán Arias, Antonio SJ. The harmonic formula of Fourier and Bessel and its application to the study of the diurnal variation of the atmospheric pressure in Manila during the period 1890-1909. Manila Bureau of Printing, 1914.
García, Navia. “El observatorio del Real Colegio de Belén.” Amanecer, Diócesis de Santa Clara, Año XVI, julio/agosto 2010: No. 92.
García-Tuñón, Guillermo, SJ. “El viejo de Arroyo Caña.” El Nuevo Herald, March 4th, 2012.
García-Tuñón, Guillermo, SJ. A Blog for All Seasons. Miami, FL: Belen Press, A Catholic School, 2011.
George, Paul S. The Gesù in Miami. A story of God’s People in a Subtropical Metropolis, 1896-2006. Miami, FL: Fort Dallas Press, 2006.
Griesinger, Theodore. The Jesuits: a complete history of their open and secret proceedings from the foundation of the order to the present time. London: W.H. Allen & Company, 1903. Griffin, Rosemary R. Juan Rogel SJ. A typical Jesuit of colonial Hispanic America. Chicago: Loyola University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Gutiérrez Casillas, José. Los Jesuitas en México durante el siglo XX. Porrúa, 1981.
Harris, Steven J. “ Transporting the Merton Thesis: Apostolic Spirituality and the Establishment of the Jesuit Scientific Tradition.” Science in Context, Cambridge University Press, 1989, No. 3: 29-65.
Hernández, Juan Manuel. ACU: Los primeros cincuenta años. Miami, FL: Agrupación Católica Universitaria, 1981.
Holbrook, Joseph. “ The Church in Cuba: Ambivalence between Regime and Revolution: 1952-1962.” Prepared for delivery at the 2009 Congress of the Latin American Studies Association. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Florida International University, June 11-14th, 2009. Idígoras Tellechea, José Ignacio. Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint. Chicago, Illinois: Loyola University Press, 1994.
Iglesias, MA. “Early Physicians and Hospitals in Cuba.” Settipane, G.A. Columbus and the New Worlds: Medical Implications. Rhode Island: Oceanside Publications, 1995. Insúa, Alberto Álvarez. Memorias: Mi Tiempo y Yo. Madrid, 1952.
Johnson, Haynes. The Bay of Pigs: The Leaders' Story of Brigade 2506. W. W. Norton & Co., 1974, 1984.
Kofoed, Jack. “One of the Finest.” Miami Herald, February 19th, 1966.
Loach, Judi. “Revolutionary Pedagogues? How Jesuits Used Education to Change Society.”
O’Malley, John W., SJ, Bailey, Gauvin Alexander, Harris Steven J., and Kennedy, T. Frank SJ, Eds. The Jesuits II: Culture, Sciences, and the Arts 1540-1773. Toronto: University of Toronto, Press 2006.
López, Fr. Manuel SJ “Campaña del Ladrillo Por Belén.” Diario de las Américas, July 6th, 1965. Lowery, Woodbury. The Spanish Settlements within the present limits of the United States. New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1905. Madurga, Mariano; Iturrioz, Jesús Eds. Congregación General XXXI. Documentos. Zaragoza: Hechos y Dichos, 1966. Mañach, Jorge. Indagación del Choteo. La Habana: Editorial Libro Cubano, 1955. Méndez, Antonio. Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled off the Most Audacious Rescue in History. New York: Viking Press, 2012. Mesa Lago, Carmelo. Economía y Bienestar social en Cuba a comienzos del siglo XXI. Madrid, Spain: Editorial Colibri, October, 2003. Montoro, Rafael. “Discurso del Sr. Montoro en el banquete del Colegio de Belén.” El Figaro, April 21st, 1904: 208.
Muñoz, Conchita. “Un nuevo honor para el Colegio Belén: La presidencia del Florida Association of Student Councils.” El Nuevo Herald, June 10th, 1979. Muñoz, Conchita. “Un estudiante cubano ganador: Damián Pardo obtuvo el premio de declamación.” El Nuevo Herald, June 24th 1979.
National American Society. “Dr. Ramon Guiteras.” Americana, America Magazine, Volume XII, Jan-Dec 1918: 10-11.
Novarese, Daniela. Istituzioni politiche e studi di diritto fra Cinque e Seicento: Il Messanense Studium Generale tra politica gesuitica e istanze egemoniche cittadine. Milan: Giuffre Editore, 1994.
O’Malley, John W. SJ. The First Jesuits. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.
O'Malley, John W. SJ.“Ratio studiorum: Jesuit Education 1548-1773.” Ratio studiorum:Jesuit Education 1548-1773 Exhibit. Boston: Boston College John J. Burns Library, 1999.
O’Malley, John W. SJ, Bailey, Gauvin Alexander, Harris Steven J., and Kennedy, T. Frank SJ, Eds. The Jesuits II: Culture, Sciences, and the Arts 1540-1773. Toronto: University of Toronto, Press 2006.
O'Neill, Charles E. SJ. Diccionario histórico de la compañía de Jesús. Costa Rica: Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, 2001.
Painter, Franklin Verzelius N. A History of Education. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1903.
Palomera, Esteban SJ. La obra educativa de los Jesuítas en Guadalajara, 1586-1986. Universidad Ibero-americana: Departamento de Historia, 1999.
Pérez De Ribas, Andrés SJ. Historia de triunfos de nuestra santa fe entre gentes las más bárbaras y fieras. Madrid, 1645.
Pérez-Firmat, Gustavo. “Riddles of the Sphincter: Another Look at the Cuban Choteo.” Diacritics, Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 14, No. 4, Winter, 1984: 67-77.
Piñeiro, Yudy. “Head in the Clouds.” Miami Herald, March 13th, 2008: Neighbors Section.
Prellezo, Lily and Basulto, José. Seagull One: The Story of Brothers to the Rescue. Gainsville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2010.
“Preparando el baile de Gala de Belén.” Diario de las Américas, September 15th, 1981. Quiroz, Alfonso W. “Corrupcion, Burocracia Colonial y Veteranos Separatitas en Cuba, 1868-1910.” Revista de Indias (Baruch College y Graduate Center, CUNY) LXI, no. 221 (2001): 91-111.
“Raúl Ezparza (‘88) to perform at Arts Center.” Miami Herald, February 8th, 2012. Revuelta González, Manuel. La Compañía de Jesús en la España contemporánea, Volumen 1. Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, 1984.
Rivera, Alicia. “Nobel de Física para la aceleración del universo." El País, October 4th, 2011. Robles, Cristóbal. José María de Urquijo e Ybarra: opinión, religión y poder. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1997.
Rodríguez Exposito, Cesar. Finlay. La Habana: Editorial Libreria Selecta, 1951. Ros, Enrique. Girón la verdadera historia. Miami, FL: Ediciones Universales Colección Cuba y sus jueces, 1994 and 1998.
Rosado, Olimpia. “Inaugurarán el Curso Escolar 1981-82 en el Belen Jesuit Intercultural Center.” Diario de las Américas, August 9th, 1981. Rosain, Domingo. Necrópolis de La Habana: historia de los cementerios de esta ciudad. La Habana: Imprenta de Trabajo, 1835.
Sáez, José Luis SJ. Una breve historia del Colegio de Belén, Volumen I (1854-1961). Miami, FL: Belén Jesuit Preparatory School, 2002.
Sáez, José Luis SJ. Una breve historia del Colegio de Belén, Volumen II (1961-2012). Miami, FL: Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, 2012.
Savon, Evaristo R. “Progresan las obras de ampliación de Belén.” Diario las Américas, January 18th, 1973.
Schultenover, David G. A view from Rome: On the Eve of the Modernist Crisis. New York: Fordham University Press, 1993.
“Se Organiza la Fiesta Benéfica de Belén.” Diario de las Américas, July 28th, 1981. Sheets, Bob, and Jack Williams. Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth. New York: Vintage Books Random House, 2001. Shoer Roth, Daniel. “En la iglesia más antigua, los viejos rejuvenecen.” El Nuevo Herald, November 22nd, 2011.
Sosa Jr., Omelio. “Carlos J. Finlay and Yellow Fever: A Discovery.” Jean Ruth Adams, Insect Potpourri: Adventures in Entomology. Gainsville, FL: The Sanhill Crane Press, 1992, 50-53. Steinbacher, Michael. “Exile School Seeks Funds for New Campus.” Miami Herald, April 29th, 1978.
Suárez, Leo. “Coach’s love for game comes from heart.” Miami News, February 6th, 1979. Suchlicki, Jaime. Cuba: From Columbus to Castro and Beyond. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2002.
Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Washington, DC: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003.
Thomas, Hugh. Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom. New York: Da Capo Press, 1988. Udías Vallinas, Agustín SJ. “Jesuit Contribution to Meteorology." Journal of the American Meteorological Society 77, No. 10 (1996): 2307-2327.
Udías Vallinas, Agustín SJ. Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996.
Valdés Domínguez, Fermín, and Consuelo E. Stebbins. Tragedy in Havana. Gainsville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000.
Zampelli, Micael SJ. “Lascivi Spettacoli: Jesuits and Theater.” John W. O’Malley SJ, Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Steven J. Harris, and T. Frank Kennedy, SJ, Eds., The Jesuits II: Culture, Sciences, and the Arts 1540-1773. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2006.
Abad, Pedro SJ 412
AAbaroa, Franco (‘11) 302 377
Abaroa, Iñigo (‘08) 359 376
Abascal, Eduardo (‘15) 275, 277 397
Abaunza, Leónidas (‘95) 352 392
Abay, Armando (‘44) 71
Abelairas, Carlos (‘78) 296
Abella, Antonio (‘59) 102 108, 109, 114 119
121 122 138, 171, 194 238 239 244, 245 256
Abella, Antonio (‘85) 249 374, 375
Abella, Kay 126
Abreu, René SJ (‘38) 306
Abril, Alexis (‘89) 351
Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana 20, 22 29 59
Academia Literaria Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda 48, 56 60 92, 198
Academia Nacional de Artes y Letras 38, 40
Academic Achievement Awards 145
Acevedo, Carlos (‘14) 377
Acevedo, Edward (‘01) 265, 266
Acha, Alain (‘13) 275
Acosta, Antonio (‘11) 201
Acosta, Edward (‘99) 321 328 329 345, 346, 352 353
Acosta, Grace 158
Acosta, Joseph (‘14) 342, 343
Acosta, Julio 150
Acquaviva, Claudio SJ (Superior General Society of Jesus) 3 4, 64
Curia Praepositi Generalis Societatis Iesu 85 88 109, 136, 138
Curiel, Mike 343
Curry, Charles 224, 258
Cuscó, Enrique 425
Cutiño, Rodolfo 214
Dade Christian School 379
Dade County High School Foreign Affairs Program 264
Dade County Public Schools Board of Education 154, 155 320
Dade County Public Schools (DCPS) 154 258
Dade County School Board Court Observer Program 257
Dager, Daniel (‘16) 405
Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart 266
Daire, Juan Carlos (‘91) 352 357 390
Dalkranian Rugs 121 129 130, 317
Dalmau, Jorge (‘84) 321
Daly, Sean (‘04) 365
Darío, Rubén 125
Darmody, James (‘07) 274 392
Dartmouth College 359, 360, 402
Dávalos, Mario (‘65) 184 268 332
Dávalos, Sylvia 285 288
Dávila, Jorge 391
Dávila, José (‘05) 392
Davis, Imani (‘12) 360, 361 Days of Reflection 285 de Abete, Marta Fehrmann 117 de Aguiar, María Teresa 181 182, 196, 197 de Alaña, José Javier SJ 8 de Alcalá, Diego (Saint) 7 16 de Angulo, Andrés (‘93) 369 390 391 de Angulo, Guillermo (‘90) 369 de Aragón, Uva 242 de Armas, Andrés (‘86) 223 378 de Armas, Emilio 125 de Armas, Rafael (‘03) 340 de Armas, Ricardo (‘13) 342 de Armas, Roberto 398 Death of a Salesman 206
Debayle, Carlos (‘99) 394 de Brebeuf, Jean SJ 405 de Capdevilla, Federico R. 27 de Caralt, Fernando (‘12) 372, 377 de Cárdenas, Albert (‘86) 384, 385 de Cárdenas, María Luisa 8 de Castro Cid, José SJ 8 de Castro, Maturino SJ 42 60, 70 71
de Céspedes, Carlos Manuel 26 46 63, 123 de Céspedes y Quesada, Carlos Manuel 50 Deeb, Erick (‘85) 296, 357 de Goti, Alexander (‘12) 342, 343 de Goti, Christopher (‘08) 342 de Goti, José (‘84) 339 de Goytisolo, Agustín (‘07) 196 de Goytisolo, Agustín (‘47) 135 de Goytisolo, Agustín (‘76) 362 374 de la Cámara, Francisco (‘16) 377 de la Cámara, Francisco (‘80) 268 269 356, 374 375 de la Campa y Caraveda, Miguel Ángel 63 de la Cruz, Carlos (‘60) 135, 164, 327 De la Cruz Stadium 169 327, 361 de la Cruz, Carlos Jr. (‘81) 164 327 344 de la Cruz, Carlos SJ (‘60) 307 de la Fe, Ana María 148 de la Fuente, Manuel 135 de la Fuente, Manuel (‘78) 350 de la Fuente, Nicolás (‘07) 229 de la Hoz, George (‘80) 339 de la Iglesia, Gonzalo (‘92) 379, 391 de la Nuez, Héctor (‘11) 342 de la Torre, Armando SJ 307 de la Torre, José (‘08) 401 de la Torre y Madrigal, Alfredo 28 de la Torre y Madrigal, Carlos Augusto (1870) 27, 28 171 de la Torre y Núñez, Pedro 28 de la Vega, Agustín (‘76) 333 de la Vega, Javier (‘92) 340 del Casal, Julián 28 del Castillo, Raymond (‘05) 400 del Castillo, Sebastián (‘00) 194 del Cristo y del Cristo, Guillermo 28 del Cueto, Luis (‘13) 274 275 del Dago, José 224, 229 de León, Felipe (‘03) 398 399 de León, Jorge (‘03) 398 399 Delgado, Adriana Suárez 206 207 224 225, 228 229 261, 281 Delgado, Eduardo (‘91) 258 334 390 Delgado, Germán (‘90) 224 225, 226, 357 Delgado, Gilberto (‘12) 342, 343 Delgado, José (‘63) 103 Delgado, Juan (‘88) 269 Delgado, Luis (‘79) 199 Delgado, Marcello (‘07) 228 229, 273 Delgado Paving 322 de Llorens, Inés Guiteras 117 de los Santos, Roberto (‘78) 181 198, 239 286 del Pino, Martha 210 del Pozo, Eduardo 17
del Riesgo, Javier (‘10) 215 216 del Río, Alexander (‘07) 354 del Río, Luis 230 del Río Ratón, Juan SJ 80 del Valle, Estanislao 63 del Valle, Francisca Grau 63 del Valle, Jorge (‘84) 357 del Valle, Raúl SJ 307 de Marcos y Medina, José 27 Dembowski, Phillip 258 351 Demestre, Joaquín 38 de Ovin-Berenguer, Manuel (‘13) 403 de Pages, Inés Llorens 117 de Pawlikowski, Boleck (‘14) 328, 372 373 de Polanco, Juan Alfonso SJ 3, 4 de Quesada, Thomas (‘94) 159, 170 175 258 261 269 270, 271, 273 274 279 280 281 334 337
Deschapelles, Luis 302 303
Design and Construction Associates 253 Desktop Publishing Center 170, 226 de Toro, Lorenzo (‘91) 249 de Vega y Enríquez de Acuña, Juan 2 de Vera, Jonathan (‘98) 364 de Vera, Jorge 364 de Vera, Joseph (‘96) 364 de Zayas, Alejandro (‘07) 341 de Zayas, Armando (‘05) 340 de Zéndegui, Guillermo 123 de Zulueta, Julián 231 395
Holland, Stephen 181 188 Holland, Steve 188 333 Homans, Kimberly 303 Homs, Baltasar SJ 19 Hondal, Daniel (‘16) 405 Hondal, David (‘14) 405 Horner, Alfonso (‘12) 355 Horner, Dave 125
Hospitalidad de Convalecencia y Convento de Belén 7 16
Hospital San Juan de Dios 68 Hoyos, Alejandro (‘92) 319, 333 Hoyos DuBouchet, Pedro (‘55) 171
Huamani, Alejandro (‘12) 372
Hubert, Benjamin (‘09) 183
Huertas, Ted (‘16) 405
Hurricane Andrew 188, 253, 297 379
Hurricane Wilma 254
Hurtado, Emilio SJ (1886) 306
Hurtado Experience 289 Hyne, Oliver (‘12) 270
IIbarria, Ricardo (‘75) 198
Ibinagabeitia, Matías SJ 30 Icaza, Charmaine 179 300, 301, 302 303 Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y San Ignacio de Loyola 36, 41 63 65, 66 68 79 120 153 325, 412 413
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén 16 35 36, 40 61 411
Iglesia, Michael (‘12) 343 Iglesias, Daniel (‘09) 183 Iglesias, David (‘09) 181 Iglesias, Francisco (‘81) 199 Iglesias, Jennifer 181 Iglesias, Louis (‘88) 329 357 362 363, 366 Iglesias, Mercedes Sendros 181 Ignatian Center for the Arts 164 165 169 173
,
,
Ignatian Paradigm 289 Ignatius
Illera,
Ipiñazar, Evaristo SJ 30
Iriarte, Benigno SJ 30 410
Irigoyen, Kenneth (‘80) 375
Isabella II of Spain 13 16 25, 28
Isenberg, Joseph (‘13) 197
Ismail, Rashad (‘15) 403
Issac, Alexander (‘14) 348 349 355
Italian Club 243
Iturralde, Edward (‘82) 130 132 186, 269
Iturralde, Jeff (‘82) 374, 375
Iturralde, Santiago (‘04) 299
Izaguirre, Alfredo (‘99) 394
Izquierdo Díaz, Néstor (Electromecánica ‘59) 171
Izquierdo, José M. SJ 108, 124, 129 130 131
132 133 140, 154, 156 158 161 166,
185 203 306
Izu, Carlos SJ 30
Jackson, Peter (‘13) 275 403
Jacobs, Andrew (‘07) 328, 354
Jacoby, Juan (‘97) 370
Jacomino, Jennifer 181
Jaile, Chris 343
Jalil, Gregory (‘11) 191
Jalil, Michael (‘04) 346
Jalil, Michael (‘05) 354
Jane, Louis (‘04) 270 271 398 399
Janssens, Jean-Baptiste SJ (Superior General Society of Jesus) 84, 85 88 89 90, 103 104 306, 414
