By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic
The large Alma Mater statue was created with a donation from a woman in gratitude for the comfort the school gave her after her husband died.
Early members of the Jesuit order are remembered in bas-reliefs at each side of the entrance.
Early members of the Jesuit order are remembered in bas-reliefs at each side of the entrance.
A baldacchino, or shallow dome, arches over the chancel.
Paschal candle stands in front of the main crucifix.
Bas-relief of a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, flies over the main altar.
First-class relic of St. Ignatius of Loyola - a bit of a femur bone - was set into the edge of the altar.
Statue of St. Frances Xavier, a pioneer in the Society of Jesus, brandishes a cross in Our Lady of Belen Chapel. He took the Gospel deep into Asia in the 16th century.
Statue of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, looks heavenward in Our Lady of Belen Chapel. His book has the Jesuit motto, "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam," Latin for "For the Greater Glory of God."
Sunburst with IHS emblazons the altar. The initials stand for "In Hoc Signo," short for "In Hoc Signo Vinces" - "By This Sign Conquer."
Statuette of Our Lady of Belen presides over the chapel from a pillar at the back. The 15 Stars of David - a reminder of the Jewish roots of Christianity - stand for the Holy Trinity plus the original 12 disciples.
The statuette looks dressed in fabric, but it's artfully carved and treated wood.
Mary's pillar has three symbols inlaid in marble: a dove, for the Holy Spirit who came upon her; a Star of David, for her birth into Judaism; and a Fleur De Lis, a symbolic lily, for her purity.
St. Jose de Anchieta is featured in one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. Anchieta, who said the first Mass at the founding of Sao Paulo, Brazil, is shown here writing a poem for Mary in the wet sand at a beach.
St. Francis Borgia is featured in one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. The 16th century saint declined two offers to become a cardinal, instead becoming General of the Society of Jesus.
St. Jean de Brebeuf is featured in one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. Brebeuf, who ministered in 17th century Quebec, is shown dying under torture from Iroquois Indians.
Father Walter Ciszek is featured in one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. A Polish immigrant in Pennsylvania, Father Ciszek entered the Soviet Union as a Byzantine Rite priest. The painting shows him saying Mass in a Soviet labor camp.
St. Peter Claver is featured in one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. The Spanish-born Claver ministered in Colombia, where he taught and baptized more than 300,000 African slaves.
St. Roque Gonzalez is featured in one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. Martyred by a South American chieftain, he was the first Paraguayan native ever canonized.
St. Rene Goupil is featured in one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. The 17th century Goupil first served the sick and wounded as a layman at a mission near Quebec. He joined the Society of Jesus just a few days before he was martyred by Mohawks.
St. Alberto Hurtado is featured in one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. A strong advocate of Catholic social teaching, Hurtado founded a trade union association, plus a home for homeless children, in his native Chile.
The Martyrs of La Florida is the subject of this, one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. The painting honors more than 50 martyrs of various religious orders who are being considered for canonization. Featured are fathers Pedro Martinez, left, and Juan Bautista de Segura.
Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro is the subject of one of 10 artworks of Jesuit martyrs and missionaries, painted by Spanish artist Raul Berzosa. Pro ministered in his native Mexico despite a wave of government anti-Catholicism in the 1920s. The painting shows how he faced a firing squad: his arms stretched in cruciform position, holding a cross and a rosary.
Mural of El Colegio de Belen, the former Jesuit school in Havana, overlooks the lobby of the two-story administration building for the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, looks heavenward in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, the original chapel at the Belen Jesuit School.
St. Frances Xavier, a pioneer in the Society of Jesus, looks heavenward in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, the original chapel at the Belen Jesuit School.
Painting of the Assumption of Mary stands behind the altar at the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception.
St. Aloysius de Gonzaga carries a plague patient in this statue at the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. The 16th century Jesuit saint then caught the illness himself and died at the age of 23.
Metal sculpture sinks a hoop in front of the athletic building at the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, holds a skull and cross as a reminder of his Lenten Spiritual Exercises on mortality.
Photography: JIM DAVIS | FC
MIAMI | The new chapel at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School blends several architectural styles, but it strongly carries forward the heritage of the Cuban priests who founded it.
Jesuits launched the original school in Havana more than 150 years ago, then were driven out by the aggressively atheistic Castro regime. But they re-established the school in Miami in 1961, and it has flourished ever since.
The 14,000-square-foot building, dedicated May 1, 2022, draws from several motifs. It uses both the “lateral chapel” design, popular in western Europe for centuries, and the “hall” structure developed by Germany for concerts and lectures.
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Photographer: Jim Davis | FC
The statuette of Our Lady of Belen looks dressed in fabric, but it's artfully carved and treated wood.
The overall structure follows the six-by-10 proportions of ancient Greek esthetics. The ratio was considered a “vehicle of beauty” by ancient Greeks, according to Jorge Hernandez, chapel architect and himself a 1974 graduate of the school.
Even the Old Testament gets a nod in the sanctuary design, with an open-sided baldacchino arching over the space. Hernandez said it was meant to recall the Tabernacle, the tent that was the center of worship as the Israelites wandered in the desert.
A distinctive is the gallery of 10 paintings along the side walls, depicting Jesuits who took the Gospel to the Western Hemisphere – five from South America, five from the North. Jesuit Father Willie Garcia-Tuñón, Belen's president, said he wanted the chapel to be a "catechetical experience" for his students.
Many of the subjects in the paintings were martyred for the stand they took for Jesus. One is St. Roque Gonzalez, killed with a hatchet in South America in 1628. Another is Blessed Miguel Pro, who stretched out his hands in cruciform position – one holding a cross, the other a rosary – as he faced a Mexican firing squad in 1927.
Presiding on a pillar is Our Lady of Belen, with the Christ Child on her lap. The wooden sculpture is treated to make her robes look like fabric. Their relationship is underscored by an inscription on the pillar: “Ecce Mater Tua,” Latin for “Behold Your Mother” from the Gospel according to John. Behind her, the blue wall shows Stars of David, emphasizing her Jewish heritage.
“Our Lady of Belen is always pointing to Jesus, sending him on mission,” Hernandez said.
The original school in Havana, the Colegio de Belen, was established in 1854 by a charter from Queen Isabella II. The school occupied a building of a convent and convalescent hospital, Our Lady of Belen, and adopted its name.
The Colegio expanded in 1925 with a donation of 60 acres and several buildings, in a colonnaded complex that became known as the “Palace of Education.”
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Photographer: Jim Davis | FC
A baldacchino, or shallow dome, arches over the chancel.
Fidel Castro seized the school in 1961 and ordered the Jesuits out of Cuba, even having his soldiers march them through the streets and onto a ship. He then turned the Colegio into a military academy. This despite the fact that Castro himself was a graduate of the school.
The Jesuits, however, saw it coming: Representatives from Spain had already met with Bishop Coleman F. Carroll in Miami. With his permission, they re-opened the school at Gesu Church.
“The closure lasted only three months,” Teresa Martinez, spokesperson for Belen, said with a smile.
In 1981, the school bought 30 acres in western Miami-Dade County, where it now occupies 34 acres.
Over the decades, Belen has expanded in several directions. It added language and computer labs plus classes in robotics and engineering.
The Arts Center, opened in 2003, houses a theater, an art gallery and a music rehearsal hall. In 2012, the school went digital, buying e-textbooks and giving its students Apple iPads.
Athletics, too, have gotten attention, with a track and courts for tennis and basketball. In 2012, Belen finished an artificial turf field for football, soccer and lacrosse. Six years later, the school built an Olympic-size pool for its swimming and water polo teams.
Amid all the scholarship and athletics, however, Belen has kept its focus of mission, service and spirituality. Among its latest additions has been a 2022 statue of St. Aloysius de Gonzaga. The 16th century Jesuit tended plague patients, then died of the disease himself.
