Sint-Barbaracollege in
Ghent
Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, is a public
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
school, founded in 1833. It currently includes primary and secondary education.
History
The school is built on the location of a cloister, the "Sint Barbaraklooster in Jerusalem". The cloister was founded in 1420 for
Augustinian nuns, closed in 1783 by order of
Joseph II, briefly reopened but closed again during the
French Revolutionary War. In 1814 the building near the Ketelvest housed a secondary school, but that was closed in 1819 by order of
William I who had opened an atheneum in the nearby buildings of the old Baudelo Abbey. In 1833, after the
Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution (, ) was a conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium.
The ...
of 1830 the
Bishop of Ghent
The Diocese of Ghent (Latin: ''Dioecesis Gandavensis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropol ...
,
Jan Frans Van De Velde, gave the school to the
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s. The first students graduated in 1836. A school church was inaugurated on 6 November 1858.
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...
, who was sent there in 1874 (then aged 14) disliked the fact that in Sainte-Barbe works of the French
Romantics were scorned and only plays on religious subjects were permitted. His experiences at this school influenced his distaste for the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and organized religion.
Education and values
Though located in a Dutch-speaking Flemish city, the language of instruction at Sint-Barbaracollege was French, and as such it was considered in the 19th and early 20th Century as instilling a French cultural identity in its young Flemish pupils – though some of them later rebelled against this identity, such as
Joris Van Severen.
As of 2011, the Sint-Barbaracollege consists of K through 12: primary secondary education. Improvements since 2014 made way for a spacious new sports hall. In 2017 the school extended its Wi-Fi capability and increased the number of tablets available to students. There is an active parents' group which raises money for school improvements. The school persists in striving to implement and update the principles of
Jesuit pedagogy in dialogue with Christian values as it addresses the challenges of a secularized and globalized society.
Notable alumni
*
Karel Justinus Calewaert
*
Corneille Heymans
*
Charles van Lerberghe
*
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...
*
Gerard Mortier
*
Albert Nyssens (1855-1901)
*
Jozef Ostyn
*
Georges Rodenbach
*
Jacques Rogge, IOC president from 2001-2013
*
François van Rysselberghe, scientist (1846-1893)
*
Marcel Storme
*
Joris van Severen
*
Vincent Van Quickenborne
Vincent Paul Marie Van Quickenborne (born 1 August 1973) is a Belgian politician of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats who served as Minister of Justice in the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo from 2020 to 2023.
Backgro ...
*
Emile Verhaeren
*
Philippe Herreweghe
*
René Jacobs
René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera.
Biography Countertenor
Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his musi ...
See also
*
List of Jesuit sites in Belgium
*
Diocese of Ghent
References
{{Authority control
1833 establishments in Belgium
Educational institutions established in 1833
Education in Ghent
Jesuit secondary schools in Belgium