Engraving of the Jesuit Theater in the Collège de Clermont

Engraving of the Jesuit Theater in the Collège de Clermont

With this image of the Jesuit theater in the Collège de Clermont, we return to one of the oldest established places of education in Europe—the University of Paris. The Collège de Clermont was one of the earliest schools established by the Jesuits, who were incredibly influential in shaping education in Europe. The Jesuits were a rigid and hierarchical Catholic sect that followed the teachings of Ignatius Loyola. They greatly valued education and founded schools across Europe where not just religious, but also scholastic teachings were embraced (Wiesner-Hanks 188). The Jesuits were rigorously trained, and this training was reflected in the effectiveness of their teaching. The Jesuit curriculum heavily promoted “languages and literature—the arts of communication” (Gordon 11). Communication may have been important to the Jesuits because of their large role in converting various peoples to Catholicism, which they did quite successfully in Eastern Europe (Wiesner-Hanks 189). The Collège de Clermont was one such Jesuit school, at which various influential figures studied, including the famous Voltaire. His education in these “arts of communication” is evident, becoming one of the most influential European writers of his time. His relationship with the Jesuits, however, was complicated, and for most of his life the Jesuits and Voltaire regarded each other with absolute animosity. One of Voltaire’s reasons for this was that “his Jesuit teachers had sexually used him when he was a schoolboy” (Gordon 9-10), a claim that reveals one problem in the Jesuit system. Because education was so tied to religion, and the Jesuits were the religious authority in the schools, they were the only authority present—there was no check present to stop them from abusing their students. While education had improved tremendously by this time, it was still powerfully tied to religion, and not always a safe environment for pupils.

Unknown (Engraving)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Th%C3%A9atre_j%C3%A9suite_au_coll%C3%A8ge_de_Clermont.JPG

Unknown

Benjamin Wightman