Xavier Lyceum, Guatemala

Xavier Lyceum, Guatemala
Lyceo Javier

Logo of the Society of Jesus
Location
Villa Nueva, Guatemala
Information
Type Jesuit, Catholic
Established 1952 (1952)
Gender Coeducational
Enrollment 2,000
Color(s) White and red
Mascot Cardinal
Founder Jorge Toruño Lizarralde, SJ
Sister school San Ignacio Institute
Website JavierGuatemala

Xavier Lyceum (Liceo Javier) is a Catholic private school, located in the City of Guatemala and founded in 1952 by the religious order of the Society of Jesus.

History

Xavier Liceum in Guatemala opened in 1952, with students from kindergarten to third grade, in two small classrooms loaned by the Peyré family to supplement the prestigious private "French school" for young ladies with a school for boys.[1] The founder, Jorge Toruno Lizarralde, S.J., entered Guatemala surreptitiously, since under the liberal governments of Justo Rufino Barrios and José María Reina Barrios the Jesuits had been expelled from the country.[note 1][2] The revolutionary governments of Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Arbenz continued this liberal policy regarding the church and the Jesuits,[3] so Fr. Toruno initially opened a male section for the French Lyceum.[1]

After the overthrow of Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in 1954 by the National Liberation Movement,[note 2] the Catholic Church regained some of the power it had during the Conservative government of Rafael Carrera in the nineteenth century.[3] Thus, private religious education boomed after 1955, with the founding of several elite schools for boys[note 3] that gained the elite students who had previously attended the Central National Institute for men or Normal School for boys. Toruño used the fourth centenary of the death of St. Francis Xavier in 1552 to rename the school "Xavier Lyceum," and Xavier became the patron of the school.[1]

Shortly after 1952, the school moved from 4th Avenue Zone 1 of Guatemala City, "Simeon Canas" Avenue near the North Race Track, and with the help of grants and loans Toruño bought 17 blocks on the edge of the Calzada Aguilar Bátres, the location of the school since 1957. In 1956 construction began on the primary building, which was ready in 1957. That same year the college moved permanently to new premises.[note 4][1] The distance problem became apparent: in those years Guatemala City was small and the school was at 8.5 kilometers on the road to Amatitlan, which was one lane per side and not asphalted. To cope with this situation the Cofiño family donated a bus to the school.[1] In 1956 the basketball gym "Kostka Hall" was built.

When Orlando Sacasa, S.J., was rector, a granddaughter of General Justo Rufino Barrios donated $350,000 for the 3-storey secondary building. She made this donation to compensate for expropriations made during the government of Barrios (1873-1885)[1] – although the Jesuit properties were expropriated when they were expelled from Guatemala in 1767, while it was still a Spanish colony.

Social outreach

In the '70s and early '80s, Xavier Liceum helped many children of limited resources, in conjunction with the Salesian Don Bosco and Guatemala Liceum schools. The students of the schools went to the regions affected by the Guatemalan Civil War to provide this help. Following this, these three schools faced problems with the governments of General Carlos Arana Osorio, Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García, and Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia, since as Catholic institutions they were accused of teaching Marxism in their classrooms.[note 5] The fact that many Xavier students went on to the University of San Carlos in Guatemala compounded the problem because many of them became left-wing activists.

Prominent alumni

Rectors

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Jesuits were the most powerful religious congregation during the conservative government of Lieutenant General Rafael Carrera in the middle of the nineteenth century, and as such were the principal landowners of Guatemala. To weaken the power of the conservative party, the liberal revolution that overthrew Vicente Cerna (who succeeded Carrera after his death in 1865) in 1871, attacked the economic interests of its main member, the clergy of the Catholic Church.
  2. ↑ which Rossell Arellano supported, considering the governments of Arévalo and Arbenz as communists and atheists
  3. ↑ Guatemala Lyceum, Colegio Salesiano Don Bosco, besides Liceo Javier
  4. ↑ At that time, the school had approximately 515 students, from kindergarten to first basic, all males.
  5. ↑ During those years there were abductions, murders, and persecutions of both students and religious in general.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Brief history of Xavier Lyceum". Liceo Javier, sitio oficial. 3 October 2014.
  2. ↑ La Patria del Criollo, ensayo de interpretación de la realidad colonial guatemalteca. México: Ediciones En Marcha. 1990.
  3. 1 2 Guatemala, la historia silenciada (1944-1989), Tomo I, Revolución y Liberación, Guatemala: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007

Bibliography

Coordinates: 14°35′8.65″N 90°33′43.81″W / 14.5857361°N 90.5621694°W / 14.5857361; -90.5621694

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