Os espaços de ensino e estrutura organizacional do Colégio Jesuíta de São Fiel em Portugal (1863-1910)

Abstract

This study addresses the Portuguese Jesuit establishment of the College of São Fiel (1863-1910), in the central interior of Portugal, from a historiographical perspective, focusing on organization, spaces, and teaching methodology, based on the Modus Parisiensis and Ratio Studiorum. Being a historical-documentary and descriptive research, we will use hermeneutic argumentation, spread across the following points of approach: understanding Jesuit teaching based on Ignatian pedagogy and Ratio Studiorum; analyzing the College in its governance and organizational structure; understanding the role of spaces in the socio-historical and cultural construction and the formative process of the students; analyzing school space and time as determining factors in teaching and as germinators of Jesuit methodology. The study anchors its reflection in school architecture (a place of memory), in spaces and formative time, and in the organizational model of teaching. This famous elementary/complementary and secondary school was sought after by many families at the time, and its alumni included Egas Moniz (Nobel Prize in Medicine), Cabral Moncada (Professor of Law at the University of Coimbra), and many others who went on to pursue civil life and the priesthood (renowned bishops). The results allowed us to conclude that the Jesuit teaching methodologies made many contributions to the History of Education, especially in the organization of the classroom and the learning system.