St. Clare's Girls' School
| St. Clare's Girls' School Chinese: 聖嘉勒女書院 | |
|---|---|
| File:Maple Badge.jpg School Badge of St. Clare's Girls' School | |
| Location | |
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Hong Kong | |
| Information | |
| School type | Aided Secondary School Grant School, Secondary |
| Motto | Veritas Vincit or Truth Conquers |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Established | 1927 |
| School district | Central and Western District |
| Principal | Mr. Cheung Ngai Hung |
| Grades | F.1-F.7 |
| Campus size | 11,000 m2 |
| Colour(s) | Navy Blue, White and Red |
| Website | www.stclare.edu.hk |
St. Clare's Girls' School (Chinese: 聖嘉勒女書院) is a renowned Catholic English girls' school located on Mount Davis Road, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1927 by the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels from Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada.
School History
The Founding of St. Clare’s School in 1927
Our co-foundress, Mother Mary Garbriel and 3 other sisters arrived in Hong Kong in 1926.
They rented a flat in Nathan Road, one of the poorest parts of the community at that time and evaluated the possibility of the project.
On 7 Feb, 1927, an English Institute was set up with 7 students. The institute was named after St. Clare as suggested by Father Shak, and the school motto Veritas Vincit, which means Truth Conquers was adopted. It indicates that Christ is the foundation of the school as He is the way, the truth and the life.
At the end of Feb 1927, the sisters moved to 5 Peace Avenue in Homantin. With the increasing number of students, the house at Peace Avenue was too small both for the students and sisters’ quarters. At the end of October, 1927, they moved to 3 Argle Street at Homantin.
Moved to Prospect Place in 1936
Having taken the advice of Bishop Enrico Valtorta, the sisters started to establish themselves in the Chinese district. Eventually, Kennedy Town was chosen to be the new site of the school. The new school was opened in Sands Street in 1930. In 1936, the school moved to Prospect Place, Bonham Road.
In 1945-46, the school was reorganized under a new educational system, with 2 sessions, the morning session for secondary and the afternoon session for primary.
Mt. Davis campus completed in 1959
Due to the increasing number of students, Sr. Elizabeth du Portugal, the head mistress, started applying for a new school building in 1952. The new site at Mount Davis Road was granted by the government and officially opened on November 28th, 1959 by the Director of Education Mr. Crozier, and blessed by Bishop Lawrence Bianchi.
Sponsoring Body & Foundress
The congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels is the sponsoring body of the School.
The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels was founded by Sr. Mary of the Sacred Heart, a very young Canadian Missionary. In 1913, when Sr. Mary was in Canton, she decided to set up a novitiate for Chinese Girls. She returned to Canada to pray and work for the idea. Two years later, with a young Canadian girl, she returned to Swatow at the invitation of the Bishop there. After contracting a fever, her companion died. Alone and with the war on, the Bishop advised her to return to Canada and try to found a novitiate there. She then left Swatow in 1915, together with a young girl of 17 whom she had known as a pupil in Canton. That girl later became Sister Gabriel, the co-founder.
In June 1919, the first Novitiate was opened in Quebec, Canada. In 1922 five Sisters sailed for Kwei Yang in Kweichow. New groups continued to come to China until in 1949, when expelled from China, they had 14 houses, four of them in Canton.
Training of girls for the sisterhood was their first work and they did this in several dioceses, but they also had schools, hospitals and worked in leprosaria and in social work. Mother Mary Sacred Heart chose to follow the Franciscan rule due to coincidence. Their first house was near a Franciscan monastery, the Fathers there were her first mentors. So again she got what she wanted - to be a Franciscan with accent on poverty and humility, a badge that would distinguish the Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels to this day.
Today they have Missions In Japan, Tahiti, South America, Africa, Macau and Hong Kong besides a recruiting centre in Canada and the United States. Everywhere they have novitiates.
The Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels are strictly missionaries. Their Mother Foundress always said if God wanted the work to go on, He would send vocations. Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart died in 1979. Mother Gabriel died in 1974 in Canada, after long years of work in China and Canada and incidentally the opening of St. Clare's in Hong Kong.
School Song
The school song was written in 1947 by Sr. St. Raphael, Sr. Elizabeth of Portugal and Sr. St. Bertha. Sr. Elizabeth of Portugal was the Principal at that time while the other two were taking their drop in school on mission. Sr. St. Raphael chose the melody of a flower song as the backbone. Sr. St. Bertha, the musician, helped with some modifications and rearrangements while Sr. St. Raphael herself and Sr. Elizabeth of Portugal filled in the words. And the school song, which lasts for 5:10 minutes, is classified as the longest school song in Hong Kong.
| School Song Lyrics by: Sr. St. Raphael , Sr. Elizabeth of Portugal Melody by Sr. St. Raphael ,Sr. St. Bertha
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Curriculum
The school offers both Arts and Science streams in S4 and S5 for HKCEE and in S6 and S7 for the HKALE. A more balanced curriculum is offered in S1 to S3. Lessons are conducted through the medium of English except Chinese Language, Chinese History and Putonghua.
Motto
St. Clare's motto is "Veritas Vincit", which means "Truth Conquers".
The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels had this vision when they chose St. Clare as the school Patron.
"CLARE" means "BRIGHT LIGHT". So for the Clarians, to be this brightly shining light, entails: truth, honesty, loyalty, fidelity; simplicity without guile; wanting the best while giving the best of one's self.
External links
22°16′23″N 114°07′20″E / 22.27306°N 114.12222°E
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