Colegio de la Inmaculada (Lima)

Background

This school has its roots in the former Royal College of San Martin, created by the Society of Jesus in Lima in 1582, which was aimed at students between the ages of 12 and 24. Grammar, philosophy, and theology were taught. It also finds its origin in the Colegio del Príncipe for children of Curacas who worked in the Enclosed Reduction.

During that period, the Jesuits were responsible for various educational institutions, which included the Maximum College of San Pablo de Lima, the Prince's College, and 15 schools in other cities of the Viceroyalty of Peru. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Peru decreed by the King Carlos III of Spain, the school continued to function until 1770, when it was merged into the College of San Felipe and San Marcos, giving way to the Convictory of San Carlos and disappearing after 188 years of operation. The Society of Jesus was restored by Pope Pius VII in 1814.

Creation

With Peru’s independence, the Jesuits returned to the country after 104 years of absence and Inmaculada College began to function at the oldColegio Máximo de San Pablo de Lima in 1878. Classes began on April 8, next to the Church of San Pedro de Lima on Cascarilla Street, by the Public Library of Lima on Abancay Avenue.

Adversity: Reactions to the opening of a Jesuit college in Lima

Historian Armando Nieto, S.J., indicates that the opening of a Jesuit school in Peru generated different reactions, both favorable and critical. Thus, in 1878, the newspaper ‘’’El Nacional’’’ had on its editorial page a paragraph on the Society of Jesus and its members:

Exploiters of human conscience [said the writer], dark enemies of all advancement, Jewish exploiters of all rights who pervert the morals and intelligence of the people, angrily lifting the force of their crimes that have mocked religion to cover their wickedness; who, deterred by the chariot of progress, want to stop it in its triumphal march, to destroy it in outbursts of senseless wrath, writing with tears, blood, fire, and all the story of their life in the most dishonorable pages of human shame.

In line with this, in 1886 the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approved the expulsion of the Jesuits and ordered their eviction from the premises of San Pedro. This caused the closing of classes until 1888 when the president refused to approve this law of Congress. The College was reopened and in the meantime was moving to varous premises, including a house on Corcovado Street, until the Jesuits acquired the land of the French "Tivolí" Garden, located on La Colmena Avenue.

In the year 1901 the blessing of the first stone took place at the new premises at La Colmena Avenue (today Nicholas of Piérola Avenue) and in 1902 the move began. Also, next to the school the construction of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo Church began.

Early 20th century: the location of "La Colmena"

At that time, unlike today, school was covered 9 years: lowest, lower and upper high, preparatory, and secondary.

By 1913 the church construction was completed and in 1920 the main façade of the school was finished. Meanwhile, in the school different cultural, sports, and religious initiatives arose, such as the Berchmans Scout Troop, Alumni Association, Academy of Science and Geography, and traditions like the festival of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. As to sports, the championships with the Colegio Nacional de Guadalupe, the Colegio Sagrados Corazones Recoleta, and later with Colegio San Agustín, Santa María, among others.

When the children's section arose in 1950 the Servants of St. Joseph were put in charge of it. During these years enrollment grew from 182 students to more than 1,000. The school began construction of larger premises in Monterrico (Santiago de Surco), with the first stone laid in 1953.

Earthquake of 1940 in Lima

On 24 May 1940, an earthquake struck that severely affected several areas of Lima. Due to this, the School of Agriculture (now National Agrarian University) met for a time at La Colmena.

Location at Monterrico

In 1956, the infant school was inaugurated on a plot of 32 hectares in Monterrico, but the secondary section moved only in 1967 to where it presently meets. The school had been at La Colmena for 65 years. In 1968 the initiative began to offer a free afternoon shift, from which three groups graduated, in 1974, 1975, and 1976. In 1974 the Servants of St. Joseph left the children's school, celebrating twenty-four years of recognized labor.

During the following decades a coliseum and labs for science, computers, and languages were built, and the school infrastructure has seen continual improvements.

The school celebrated its centenary in 1978 with various events, attended by the President of the Republic General Francisco Morales Bermúdez, an alumnus of the school. He bestowed on the school the Order of the Sun of Peru. The same year the current school theater was inaugurated.

In the year 2003, the school celebrated 125 years since its founding, through religious ceremonies, speeches, special dinners, and other activities. A special logo was designed as an emblem of the celebration. The Congress of the Republic of Peru acknowledged the school’s important collaboration in the development of Peruvian education. Events were led by Carlos Ferrero Costa, Presiding Officer of the Congress.

Sports

Colegio de la Inmaculada has an extensive athletic infrastructure, which allows the development of various disciplines in the students with help from various teachers and coaches, that employs:

In the sports field, the school has won various competitions, the most important being the general cup of ADECORE (Sports Association of Religious Colleges). It has led in its number of championships, with 18 ADECORE Olympic Championships (1982 to 1990, 1992, 2001 to 2007, and 2012). It has also won the Magic Cable Playoff Cup in various categories: Medians 2006 and 2007, Mayores 2007, and Infantil 2010, which includes the winning schools of the various sports organizations in Lima.

Ecological projects

In the 1980s the bases were laid for Inmaculada to be a modern and ecological school, that serves as model in Lima and Peru. The school has projects of wastewater treatment, vermiculture, biodigestor, and farm and zoo of Peruvian animals and birds (some world birds like ostriches).

The wastewater treatment project made it worthy of the "Business Creativity" Award in 2003 in the category "Care of the Environment," granted by the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences.

Coeducation

In 2008, after a process of careful analysis and convinced of the need to open the school to the education of men and women for others, it was decided to propose to Father General of the Jesuits in Rome that we become coeducational, and approval came within a few months. The school made infrastructural and curricular changes to initiate the new program with children in 2010. The first coeducational class, called "Augusto Vargas Alzamora SJ," will graduate in the year 2021, bicentennial year of the Peru's independence.

Association of Former Students of the Society of Jesus - ASIA Inmaculada Lima

The school has an Association of Former Students (ASIA-Inmaculada-Lima), which is part of the Latin American Confederation of Jesuit Alumni and this in turn of the World Union of Alumni of the Society of Jesus. ASIA Inmaculada Lima (for its Latin acronym Antiqui Societatis Iesu Alumni) aims to encourage and preserve among former students of colleges and universities led by the Society of Jesus in general and among the alumni of the College of the Immaculate Conception, Jesuits, in Lima Peru in particular, the bonds of friendship, companionship, and solidarity acquired during their school or university education, for which they promote and carry out activities of varoius sorts: cultural, sporting, educational, recreational, religious, charitable, social, or others.

Lay persons

Priests