Blue glow

The Promenade of Our Lady and the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel of the Ateneo de Manila High School. Unlike the higher education levels, the basic education units (high school and grade school) of the Ateneo de Manila University are still only for boys. The low buildings on either side of the promenade are the classrooms of the 4th year students. I hear that the lights hang on the trees year-round but are only turned on during special events and occasions. This was at about 5:00 in the afternoon.



An hour later, this is what the promenade looked like. Even the chapel is outlined in lights! Please pardon the fuzziness of this picture—people and cars were beginning to crowd the driveway and I had a hard time getting a clear shot and couldn't take my sweet time about it.

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I am

Made by sculptor Juan Sajid Imao, seven of the eight bronze panels on the doors of the Ateneo de Manila High School's St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel represent the seven "I am" statements of Jesus in the Gospel of St. John:

• I am the bread of life.
• I am the light of the world.
• I am the door of the sheep.
• I am the good shepherd.
• I am the resurrection and the life.
• I am the way, the truth, and the life.
• I am the true vine.

The eighth panel, upper right in the first photo, contains the letters IHS, a monogram of the name of Jesus Christ.

Peek-a-boo

Looking out towards the garden…


and looking in towards the pews and retablo…

from one of the wrought iron windows of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel of the Ateneo de Manila High School.

Patron saint of youth

I have featured the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel of the Ateneo de Manila High School twice already, and now, here is the Jesuit saint for whom the chapel is named. Stanislaus Kostka was born of a noble Polish family in October 28, 1550. While studying in a Jesuit college in Vienna, he decided that he wanted to enter the Society of Jesus. The superiors at Vienna were hesitant to accept him, fearing the wrath of his father. So Stanislaus decided to appeal to the superior general in Rome. He walked from Vienna to Rome, a distance of 763 kilometers (474 miles) as the crow flies. He was accepted into the novitiate of St. Andrew in late October 1567. He had only spent ten months in the novitiate when he died in 1568, at the tender age of 17, on August 15, the feast day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

His name

The seal of the Society of Jesus is the letters IHS (a monogram of the name of Jesus Christ), with a cross over it and three nails under it, all surrounded by the rays of the sun. This delicately detailed version, which recalls the beautifully illuminated manuscripts of old, is on the ceiling of a small veneration alcove in the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel of the Ateneo de Manila High School. The Latin words "et vocatum est nomen eius iesus" surrounding the seal is from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verse 21: "and his name was called Jesus."

For a Polish Jesuit novice

The new retablo (reredos) and altar of the Ateneo de Manila High School's St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel, which was expanded and renovated in 2011.

Wood and stone

Because Ateneo de Manila is a Jesuit university, there are many small chapels and prayer spaces around its campuses. I've featured the Church of the Gesù several times, the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel of the high school and the Immaculate Conception Chapel of the college. This tiny chapel in the lower ground floor of the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center is my favorite because of its simplicity and its serene lighting. When the stone and bamboo fountain is on, it's perfect for prayer and meditation. For a tiny chapel (it can only accommodate about thirty people), it has quite a long name: the Prayer Room of Jesuit Saints and Blesseds.

Mary, for you

A daytime view of the statue at the Promenade of Our Lady and the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel of the Ateneo de Manila High School without the pretty white and blue hanging lights. I don't know who the artist is, but the sculpture features a young student (note the books in his hand) on one knee looking up towards the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is symbolic of how Ateneans of many generations view Mary: they venerate her, look to her for guidance and offer their studies and work to her. The title I chose for this post is actually a line from Ateneo de Manila's graduation hymn which is titled, not surprisingly, "A Song for Mary."

A special visitor from Portugal

On 14 October 2013, the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima visited the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel of the Ateneo de Manila High School for half a day. Sculpted by José Thedim and blessed by the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima in 1947, the statue was sent out to bring the Message of Fatima to the world.