Celebrating the Anniversary
The Marist Brothers came to the Spanish city of Cordoba in l933. On October 4 of the same year they found in one of the city?s buildings an empty ground-floor which they converted into the semblance of a school. In June, at the end of the scholastic year, about thirty students were enrolled in the school, and three Brothers were looking after the establishment.
The times were not very auspicious for religious schools in Spain. At the start of the academic year in the City of the Caliphs (as Toledo is known), the school name became ?Cervantes? in order to keep the designation free of religious overtones.
On October 23, 2008, an anniversary celebration took place to commemorate the seventy-five year presence of the Marist Brothers in Cordoba. The first speaker was Brother Chano, the Head of School, who had the honor of introducing various important guests present for the occasion. Brother Manuel Jorques, the Provincial of Mediterranean Province was one. The second was the Doña Rosa Aguilar, Mayor of Cordoba, who was accompanied by a large number of city councilors.
In his comments, Brother Chano addressed all who are familiar with the Marist educational establishment: ?An establishment,? he said, ?that – God willing ? will soon be in a position to open its doors to more families of our neighborhood and our city.?
He then ceded the podium to Madame Mayor who offered a word of thanks to the Marist Brothers for the school?s educational work carried out over seventy-five years in Cordoba.
Afterwards, school graduate, Juan José Primo Jurado, presented the book he has written for the anniversary. The volume is entitled, «El colegio Cervantes (1933-2008) 75 años de maristas en Córdoba.» Then, Don Alfredo Romeo introduced CERVANTESPEDIA MARISTA, the first online encyclopedia in Spain to be linked to an educational establishment.
Brother Manuel Jorques? comments brought the ceremony to a close.
An ad hoc committee has been set up to prepare for the present school year, a series of events the last of which will take place on June 6th, feast of Saint Marcellin Champagnat. Publicity for the commemorative events features the motto, ?A Whole World to Share.?
Of the original nondescript school that started in l933 very little remains to be seen. Over the years, the school has had to move to various sites in Cordoba. At its present location, Colegio Cervantes now numbers 1000 students (from kindergarten to college prep). The teacher staff counts around seventy members.
To date, 260 Marist Brothers have carried out their apostolic work in the classrooms of ?Cervantes.? A still greater number of lay professionals have also worked at the school, their presence having became significant in the l970?s. The school holds the accreditation number ISO 9001:2000 International Standard of European Qualification, being one of the Cordoba schools to pioneer the pursuit of the certificate.
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Brother José Delgado García