Abstract

ESPINO MARTIN, Javier. Latin and Modernity in Female Education: the Schools of the Sacré-Coeur between the 19th and 20th Centuries. Nova tellus [online]. 2018, vol.36, n.1, pp.101-128. ISSN 0185-3058.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.nt.2018.36.l.786.

The following article intends to trace a trajectory of the teaching of the Latin language and literature in the French schools for mesdemoiselles of the Sacré-Coeur since its foundation at the beginning of the 19th century up to the present. In the first place, we intend to present an educational panorama of women in previous historical periods according to the educational parameters of male religious orders. With this, we want to see how these didactic models were applied to female education through congregations such as the Ursulines in the sixteenth century or that of Saint-Cyr in the seventeenth, direct precursors of the Sacré-Coeur. In this way, we will analyze the imprint of all this pedagogical and educational heritage in the future Sacré-Coeur and how this Congregation seeks a renewal of the educational landscape for “young ladies”. In this renovation, the teaching of classical letters and, especially, of Latin acquires a special relevance. With the passing of the nineteenth century the importance of the Latin language and literature will become increasingly prominent, while it will evolve conditioned by historical-social changes and the application of new pedagogical currents. Thus, we will reach the twentieth century, in which again we will witness profound changes in the teaching of classical languages and in their way of applying them to female education. In short, it is intended to trace an evolutionary historical-social panorama in the modern and contemporary period of feminine education of the classical humanities and Latin in a form of teaching marked by so many specific and interesting connotations.

Keywords : Latin; Female Education; French Religious; Sacré-Coeur; 19th and 20th Centuries.